Page 78 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

She could tell he wanted to argue with her, but after a slight hesitation his expression softened. “Follow me.”

Gio’s room was two floors up. Judging by its size, he’d been given the presidential suite of hospital rooms. He was lying on the bed asleep, a little pale, but nowhere near as bad as she’d imagined. But she didn’t relax until his broad chest moved up and down in deep even breaths.

Without waiting for help, she went to the side of the bed and climbed in. Luckily, it didn’t seem to be a standard size. Apparently, the presidential suite meant bigger hospital beds too.

Alex made an approving little noise as she arranged herself to cuddle up on Gio’s right, avoiding the bandage on his left side. Once his good arm was touching hers, she fell asleep instantly.

When she woke, she was staring into bright gold eyes.

“I’m so sorry,mi amore,” Gio whispered.

Raising a brow, she gave him a mock scowl. “You better not be apologizing for saving my life.”

He didn’t smile. In fact, it looked like she’d broken his heart.

“I’m sorry for killing you.”

“What?”

His amazing eyes grew red and he blinked rapidly. “In the car, when you were trapped. We had to shut you in the trunk to work the seat loose. We hoped there was air at the other end, but it had sunk too far.” He raised his hands and gave them a damning glance. “I pushed you away, and you drowned. You were dead.”

Sophia’s mouth dropped open. She didn’t remember that, but her memory was still pretty fuzzy about last night. Inhaling deeply, she moved until she was burrowing into Gio’s arms.

“I was dead the minute Richard locked me in the trunk. The only reason I’m still alive is because you saved me.” She tilted her head to meet his eyes. “What were you doing there, anyway?”

He bit his upper lip and sucked in a breath. “Um, after I received your text I decided to wait for you outside of Richard’s.”

Her eyes widened.

“Don’t get mad,” he said quickly. “I was simply concerned for you. It turns out I had good reason to be.”

Sophia buried her face in his chest. “Man, you’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

His good arm came up from underneath her to pass over her back before stopping at her butt. Pushing her tighter against him, he lowered his head to kiss her forehead. “I’m not going to say I told you so—after today. I told you so,” he added playfully.

She wrinkled her nose at him and reached over to twist one of his nipples through his hospital gown.

“Ow!” he said, laughing. “All right, I'm sorry. I won’t say it again.”

Mollified she gave him a quick kiss. “You weren’t right about everything. Richard didn’t attack me because he was obsessed with me. He believed I’d be easier to control if we were still together. He knew I’d find out about the stolen research sooner or later. And I was sort of a pushover back when we were a couple.”

Gio snorted. “Well, you’re not one now. In fact you're the strongest, most fierce woman I know. Enzo said if you hadn’t kicked the seat open as far as you did we might not have been able to free you in time.”

He paused to run a finger down her cheek. “I can’t believe Richard thought he was going to get away with it. He should have known I would turn the world over if you disappeared.”

Hugging him tighter, Sophia rubbed her cheek against him. “Have I told you I love you lately?”

He smiled down at her, a soft hot grin lighting up his face. “No, but you did yell it not so long ago.”

She giggled. “Now you can hear it at a normal volume. I love you.”

Gingerly, he moved his bad arm so he could trace her lower lip with his fingers. “And I love you,mi amore. More than anything.”

Epilogue

Sophia spun in her office chair while she tried to find the right words to say to Maia over the phone. She knew Calen wanted everyone to be as honest as they could about the possibility of a happy ending when it came to the disappearance of her friend, Thalia. But she couldn’t dash all of her new friend’s hopes, either.

“Maia, I think you’re right. Until they find a body, you have to keep looking—as long as you’re not knocking down doors yourself. You’re a mother, right? You have a little girl, and she has to be your priority.”

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