Page 40 of Vow to Me

“What? Luca! Where the hell are we going? I haven’t packed my things! We can’t just up and go away somewhere!” she bursts, clearly not on board with the last-minute plans.

“It’s a surprise, I had Tommaso pack us some things and he’s meeting us at the airport. I want to get you away for a couple of weeks, give you the honeymoon I should have given you after the wedding. You deserve the world Izzy, let me give it to you,” I say as I take my hand in hers and give it a squeeze.

We arrive at the private hangar at the airport and Izzy looks out at the jet while mumbling something that sounds a lot like “Ofcourse the asshole has a jet” before she jumps out of the car and waits for me to do the same.

“Where are we going? I’ve never left the country before,” Izzy says casually, and it makes me pause. What the fuck does she mean she’s never left the country? She grew up the same way as I did, it’s not as though her father ever struggled for money. Fuck, I bet he has billions sat doing nothing but gaining interest.

“Why haven’t you left the country?” I ask, my voice gruff. I’m pissed she’s never had the experiences she should have. Hell, she should have at least visited Italy before, she’s fucking Italian and I’m sure she has cousins that live there.

“Sheltered princess, remember?” Sarcasm is evident in her tone. “My father left me at home with Alessi whenever he travelled, he always said that there was no need for me to leave Chicago.”

It takes everything in me to control my anger and not plan a stop by the Windy City so I can strangle Bianchi, the fucking asshole.

We board the jet and take our seats; Izzy rolls her eyes as the embroidered seats with our family emblem on. I’ve learned my wife isn’t one for over the top, pretentious things most women in her position would be.

By the time we take off, she’s asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. As soon as the flight attendant informs me that we can remove our belts, I unfasten her belt and lift her before walking to the back of the jet and placing her on the king size bed. I grab my laptop that Tomasso had left in the jet along with our things and sit next to where Izzy lays asleep to get some work done, I’ve never been able to sleep while flying.

Izzy sleeps for six hours before I finally give in and wake her up for dinner. I at least had the foresight to have a coffee ready for her because Izzy when she’s just woken up? Not an Izzy I like engaging with.

Okay, that’s a lie, I’ll take her any way I can get her.

We eat dinner and Izzy peppers me with questions about where we're going, she really fucking hates surprises.

I sigh, she’s not going to stop unless I tell her. “We're going to an island just off the coast of Italy. My father bought the island for my mother as a wedding gift, we visited every year until she died. None of us have been since but we have staff who live on the premises to maintain everything,” I say, and she gapes at me with wide eyes.

“We don’t have to go if you’re not comfortable Luca, it’s clear it was a very special place for you to visit with your mom. I don’t want to take away from that,” she says and bites her lip like she does if she’s nervous.

I lift her and sit her on my lap so she’s straddling me. “I want to go there with you, I think it’ll make me feel closer to her. And she would have wanted me to take you there. She would have loved you.”Just like I do.

It’s getting harder and harder to not blurt the words I mean with every piece of my soul every time I look at her.

Finally, after the longest fucking eight hours of my life, the pilot announces over the speaker that were getting ready to land. I liftIzzy off me and strap her into the seat next to me while she huffs and complains that she’s fully capable of doing it herself.

After we land at Naples International Airport, we jump in the helicopter and make the short flight to the island just off the coast of Capri.

Once we reach the island, I help Izzy jump down from the helicopter and walk her up to the mansion that sits in the middle of the island. It’s a huge villa that was built around the time I was born with another two houses sitting at the back of the property for staff.

Rosita, the housekeeper who lives on the island comes out to greet us and envelopes me in a hug. Even though it’s been nearly twenty-three years since I visited, I still remember the small woman who would dote on me and Marco when we visited.

“È così bello vederla, signore,” she whispers in my ear. I return the sentiment before ushering both women inside the house.

“Welcome to our home for the next two weeks,mia regina,”I say and wrap my arms around Izzy from behind and press a kiss to her temple.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Izzy

The island that the Romano’s own is truly beautiful. I’ve never seen sand so white, water so clear, skies so blue. I was apprehensive about coming here once Luca told me the story of his mother. This place is clearly a very special place for his family so I felt like I would be intruding on their sanctum or something.

I’m sitting on the kitchen counter nursing a coffee while looking out of the patio doors at the view of the ocean as the sun rises. For the first time ever, I’m awake before Luca and it’s fucking weird, but I think it may have a little something to do with the six-hour nap I took yesterday on the jet.

Once we arrived, Luca gave me a tour of the villa—if that’s what you can call it, its fucking huge—before Rosita cooked us supper and he took me to bed and cuddled me to sleep. He still hasn’t fucking touched me, and the man is driving me insane.

Before I met him, I would go months without sex and it wouldn’t never bother me, now I’m reduced to a pile of crazy lustful hormones which he won’t fucking satisfy for whatever ridiculous reason he’s cooked up in that head of his.

I’m so lost in thought that I don’t even notice Luca stood in the doorway staring at me. Considering I usually pride myself on beingable to sense people, I’m a little pissed that I didn’t hear him come in.

“I woke up and you were gone,” he states casually, but there’s an emotional storm behind his eyes, yet I can’t pinpoint what emotion it is.

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