Page 146 of Wicked Rivals

Then he handed me the remote and headed for the door.

But I didn’t want him to go. I craved the comfort of his warmth, his presence.

“Stefano, wait. Is there something that needs your immediate attention?”

He stared at me. “It can wait.”

“Then will you stay with me for a little while?”

He didn’t say anything. Shit. What had I just done? I lowered my eyes to the comforter and fiddled with the edge, scrunching it, and then smoothing it straight again.

“Look at me, Valerie,” he finally said, and when I did, he went on. “Depends on what you want to watch.”

“What?”

With his stare locked on me, he kicked off his shoes, got on the bed. Then he chuckled and took the remote.

The fucker.

Always the boss. He’d just answered that question.

I curled against his side beneath his raised arm.

“No gangsters and no Disney, please, but anything else is fair game,” I said.

Stefano kissed my head while scrolling the options.

The next thing I remembered was his voice, deep but softly speaking into his phone. I didn’t even know what movie he’d picked because I fell asleep so quickly.

I looked up at him.

He stared down at me, then tossed his phone away.

Another kind of hunger consumed me. Consumed us.

His kiss, in that moment, it was all I wanted. All I remembered. All I needed to heal.

I lifted my face, pushed my fingers into his hair, and tugged on his neck, asking him to give it to me.

Careful with my arm, he angled himself over me and kissed me. A tender Stefano Salvatore kiss.

He couldn’t be that man ever again, and I knew he was telling me so with that kiss. He had evolved as a man, as a leader, becoming more than he ever had been.

His kiss would also change and evolve.

And it would change me.

Truth be told, I had evolved too.

Valentina Moscatelli was back. She’d always been there, lurking in my soul, waiting for her time, just as the Vignali blood had always been strong in Stefano.

But who we were as individuals, who we wanted to be, that could all wait. I didn't want it to define who we would become together.

“Ace,” I whispered.

“What do you want?” he said against my lips. “Tell me.”

“I want you. All of you. The man you are now.”

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