How had he managed to lie to himself for weeks?
She stepped away from him as he got closer, tearing his heart right out of his chest.
He had done this. He had hurt her so badly she did not love him anymore. But maybe he could still salvage this situation. Maybe he could still keep her, make her love him again…if he begged. Funny to think that begging someone to care for him—letting them see all his weaknesses and vulnerabilities—had always been the thing he had been most terrified of, but it wasn’t anymore… Because not doing so would mean losing Tallulah.
‘Dario, why are you here?’ she finally whispered, her face a picture of…what? Was that panic, disgust, shock? Why could he not read her expression anymore?
She stared at him, those luminous blue eyes making the regret and guilt slice through him like a knife, because he could see no hate in her eyes when there should have been—only compassion. Was this good? Or was she just too kind a person to hate anyone—even him?
He clung to the thought, though, desperate to believe he hadn’t destroyed his chance completely.
‘I came to say I’m sorry,’ he said, his voice breaking on the inadequate word. ‘I want another chance.’
‘A ch-chance for what?’ she said, but then her eyes grew round, and the hurt shadowing them had the knife twisting in his gut. ‘If you need this marriage to get ownership of your palazzo, y-you don’t have to divorce me yet, but I can’t be with you, not anymore, you must understand that… It’s too painful for me.’
Hope swelled against his ribs, hope he didn’t deserve but would grab with both hands.
He brushed his thumb over the reddened skin of her cheek, disgusted with himself when she flinched.
‘I already own the palazzo,’ he said. ‘The legal transfer of ownership was completed yesterday.’
‘You…wh-what?’ she asked, the transparent expression—confusion and concern—almost as beautiful as she was to him.
‘I didn’t tell you because I did not want you to leave me.’
‘But…’
He cupped her cheeks in his palms, grateful that she did not flinch again. Pressing his fingers into her silky curls, he drew her into his body. He held her, stroking the soft skin, needing to breath in her ragged breaths, needing to share this connection, which had always felt so visceral, so right, so perfect, even though he had tried so hard never to acknowledge how much it meant to him.
He must confess everything now and place himself at her mercy.
‘I see now, what I should have realised the first time we made love…’ He swore softly when she shuddered. He was doing this wrong. ‘No, the first time I kissed you.’ He lifted his forehead from hers, stared into those bright, luminous, honest eyes and forced himself to be honest, too. ‘No, the first time I touched you… That I wanted more from you, too.’
Her brow furrowed, but her hands flattened against his waist, her fingers curling into his wet shirt. ‘Do you really mean that, Dario? Please don’t lie to me again.’
‘I have been so lonely, for so long. I thought…’ He swallowed, controlling the familiar panic, forcing himself to tell her the truth. ‘I thought if I owned the palazzo, it would be enough. But I don’t want to be there without you,’ he replied, without hesitation this time, without anger, without cowardice. ‘I know now, it was never my safe place, that was always you. Even when you were Tali, and not Tallulah, you were the only person who ever made me feel unbroken. I’m sorry it took me so long to admit the truth to myself as well as you.’
‘Dario…’ she whispered, but the sadness remained in her eyes when she pressed a trembling palm to his scarred cheek. ‘I want to believe that so much. But I’m scared… You shut me out. And that hurt. I want to be with you too, to see if we can make this a real relationship but I can’t…’
‘Shhh…’ He held her face up to his. Pressed his lips to hers. ‘It is already real, Tallulah.’ Taking her palm from his cheek, he pressed it against his wet shirt. ‘Do you feel how hard my heart is beating?’
She nodded, her eyes widening, the love in them so transparent he felt humbled.
‘That is because I am scared, too,’ he said, finally forced to admit his greatest fear. ‘In fact, I am terrified, that I have messed this up so badly—by not trusting you, by accusing you of things you did not do to protect myself—you will decide you do not love me after all.’
‘Don’t be scared, because I do,’ she said with such courage it humbled him even more.
How could it be so easy? he thought. All he had had to do was trust his feelings, to trust her love, and she’d let him back in.
The pain in his heart lifted as he clasped her head and covered her mouth with his, devouring her sweet lips, feeding the surge of desire and letting himself be swept away on the wave of love.
When they were finally forced to break apart, to breathe, she whispered, ‘Does this mean we’re really married?’
‘Absolutamente,’ he said, and then sealed their deal with another kiss.
Epilogue
Two years later
