These were words he never thought he would utter, and yet they felt like the truest thing he had ever said. Catarina’s lips trembled as he opened the jewelry box. She looked at the ring, and then back at him. “You’re carrying an engagement ring? In case the need arises?”
“My grandmother would be appalled at your reaction to this family heirloom,” he said with a hint of humor.
Her eyes flared with longing, but she turned away. “You want someone who will play the role of a wife.”
“I did say that,” he admitted. “I’ve said a lot of stupid things.”
“You did,” she said evenly.
“Because I didn’t allow myself to want more,” he said softly. “I didn’t think happiness was possible for me. Not with parents like mine.”
He reached up and gently guided her chin so she was looking at him. She needed to see the truth he spoke. “I want you. I want to learn to be the husband you need. I want to love you the way you deserve.”
Her gaze turned hot, and it blazed through him.
“You’re all I think about,” he continued, letting the thoughts he had so desperately tried to resist pour out of him. “I have spent the last week trying to find a way to deny this desperate ache for you, trying to tell myself that feelings this strong are toxic, but I’m done with that.”
“This is going to hurt sometimes, Massimo,” she said softly. “You said it yourself.”
He ran his thumb over her lips, reminding himself that it wasn’t too late to change. Not when he wanted to be with her like he wanted his next breath. “I’m going to need to learn to deal with the hurt. Someone much wiser than me pointed out that I have learned everything else out of sheer determination. Why would love be any different?”
“How sensible. Was this wiser person Alessandro?”
“That’syour first guess?” He chuckled. “No. It was my grandmother.”
Her gaze flickered with emotion, but she didn’t speak. He told himself Catarina had every reason to hesitate. How many times had he distanced himself, driving her away? It was all in the name of denying this feeling of restless passion that had grown into something much stronger. And yet, despite all the ways he had pushed her away, she was still here. She saw him clearly for all his faults and shortcomings, and still, she was here.
Her eyes were soft, and finally she spoke. “You’re not afraid of…?” Catarina gestured to the building around them, all the windows that gave a view of the most pivotal moment of his life.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “I had planned to do this somewhere private.”
A hint of a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, and his heart surged.
“But I am here, down on my knee, in front of anyone who is watching, because my love for you is far stronger and far more important than any fear. I do not want to live without you.”
His heart felt as if it was going to burst as she reached for the ring and slipped it on her finger.
“Yes, I will marry you, Massimo.” Her voice sang in his body as she brushed her palm over his cheek.
He closed his eyes, soaking in the softness of her touch, the heat of her nearness, the desire that would never go away. And in this beautiful moment, he let himself simply feel all of it. When he looked at her again, he saw a hint of tears in Catarina’s eyes, but she was smiling with a kind of joy that made his heart feel as if it were expanding inside his chest. She leaned closer and kissed him with the lightness and hope she had on the first day, in her father’s library. This time, he would not squander the opportunity she promised with it.
“I love you, Massimo,” she whispered.
It was as if these words reached into his soul, then grew, permeating every part of his being. He could feel the truth that resounded in them, speaking to a truth inside himself. There had been joy and an overwhelming relief when she had agreed to marry him, but these words of love were different. They were everything.
He kissed her the way he had ached to kiss her from the moment he had seen her. The kiss was full of promises and dreams and the satisfaction that they had all the time in the world to explore. It tasted of the future.
Massimo pulled back. “Now will you come up to my flat?”
Her eyes were wild with heat. “Your neighbors will talk.”
“Then let’s give them something to talk about.” Massimo slid one arm under her legs and the other around her body. She laughed as he lifted her and started for the elevator. There would be time to talk about their future later. But for now, it was just the two of them, and there was nothing else on earth he wanted.
Epilogue
CATARINA LOOKED OUTat the sparkling fjord and the beach that spread out in front of them, a long, empty stretch of white sand below the green hillside and rocky cliffs. They had hiked down the winding trail from their house to the shore in search of the perfect picnic spot to celebrate their second anniversary. The sun was warm on her skin, and the sky was a bright, cloudless blue that her mother would have loved. The thought of her mother no longer held the sharp pain it had before she met Massimo. The ache of her loss was a larger part of the passage of time in her life, and time had brought her not only great sorrow but also great joy, particularly in the form of the man who now held her hand.
“Here?” he asked, gesturing to their favorite spot, just above the tide line.
