Page 68 of Protected By the Mafia

A slow, watery-eyed smile lifted Taylor’s face. “I’ve never been a traditional kinda gal. Hell yeah, I’ll do that for you.”

They hugged, textbook and all, and Felicity wiped tears from her eyes as she stepped back to Cristiano’s side. He curled his arm around her again and spoke to both of them. “Felicity will text you our hotel information, if you want to swing by in about two hours for pasta and that overdue conversation?”

Taylor laughed. “We could just go to the restaurant.”

“No,” Felicity said. “We have this unreal suite, full kitchen and everything.” She grinned, salivating a little at the thought. “So he’s cooking. Which means it’ll be so much better.”

“He cooks?” Taylor asked.

“He does,” Cristiano replied.

Taylor laughed again. “Sorry.”

Felicity pulled out her phone and quickly texted Taylor the information Cristiano had promised. “There, I sent it. If two hours isn’t enough time, since we kinda surprised you, we can push it back a bit.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Taylor lifted her phone, checking the message. “Yeah, definitely fine. I could swing by earlier, even.”

“A good sauce needs time to build flavor,” Cristiano said. “We’ll see you in two hours.”

Felicity laced her fingers with his when he adjusted his hold, offering Taylor a finger-wave. “I promise I’ll tell you everything you want to know, and probably some things you don’t. I really am sorry. See you soon!” She watched Taylor grin back at her, then let Cristiano turn her away, in the direction of their rental car.

His sauces did not need two hours to build flavor. But that was fine. Time in his arms would help give her strength for the sordid details she had to relive after dinner. So she would soak up every second she could get, for tonight, and for every night and every day moving forward.

The End…

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