Ava was no longer a pawn.
She was mine.
Ours.
Her lips brushed mine, soft and gentle, opposite what I liked. Although, when it came to Ava, my tastes were changing. I would always enjoy rough, kinky sex. But with her, I wanted to be different, somewhere in between.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ava said in a hushed tone. “I meant what I said, Dante. We need you.”
I grabbed the back of her head and kissed her, parting her lips with my tongue. This time, the kiss lasted until the air drained from my lungs. And when our lips separated, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Marry me.”
Eyes wide, she gasped. “What?”
“You heard me, good girl.” I slid my hand beneath her chin, feeling her pulse pounding. “Marry me.”
“What the fuck?” Angelo shouted, the legs of the wooden stool scraping across the tiled floor as he got up. “You can’t ask Ava to marry you without us.”
“Yeah,” Stefan said with a groan. “This is a team effort, big bro.”
“Not quite,” I said to correct him.
“I’m with the twins,” Nico said to add his two cents. “We’re in this together.”
They were so fucking annoying.
All three of them.
Deal or not, I didn’t owe them anything. But for some idiotic reason, I felt they were right about this. Ava wasn’t letting any of us go, and my brothers were too stupid in love to walk away.
Ava shifted her weight on my lap and licked her lips. “Why do you want to marry me?”
“Because it was my father’s dying wish.”
At least, it was the truth.
Not the best answer, though.
A slight frown tugged at Ava’s mouth. “I want you to want to marry me.”
I tightened my grip on her hip and pulled her closer. “I do.”
“I want to marry for love,” she whispered.
“You love me.” I yanked on her hair and kissed her pink lips. “I know you do. So marry me.”
“But I want you to love me.”
What I felt for Ava was something.
Was it love?
Maybe.
I had no fucking clue what it felt like to be in love with someone. I never had a girlfriend or allowed myself to get close to a woman. Until Ava, I hadn’t even fucked a woman while looking at her.
Never even kissed.
