Page 105 of Broken Deal

I take a step back, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. “Is this why you wanted me to come over today? Some sort of goodbye thing?” I force a laugh, placing a hand on my stomach as I try to calm my breathing. “If so, it wasn’t necessary. I know this was another game for you.” I’m babbling now, and I’m trying my best to shut up, but if I stop talking, I’ll start crying instead. “Hell, maybe it was for me, too. A fun game. Yeah. A really fun game.”

He grips my hand, frowning. “What are you talking about?”

“You. Me.Us. Whatever this was, it’s over now. Got the message, loud and clear.” I pull out of his grip and hug myself. Having this conversation under the rain is probably not the best idea, because now I’m shaking.

He takes a step forward. “You didn't let me finish.”

I take a step back. “You don’t need to finish. Iunderstand. We were supposed to break it off before going to Vegas. You did the right thing.”

“Blue—”

I shake my head, my voice barely a whisper. “Don’t.” My chest tightens, and I hate myself for not being able to hold back the sadness gripping it like a vise. I look up as a flash of lightning splits the sky, illuminating the rain as it pours down around us. With a sigh, I turn around and start walking away.

At least it was nice while it lasted.

Lorenzo is quick to eat the distance between us and stand in front of me, gripping my shoulders. “Sophia.”

My name rolling off his lips makes me stop, because heneversays my name. It always catches me off-guard when he does. He takes this opportunity to grip my chin, forcing me to look at him. Droplets of rain fall from his hair, and even with how disheveled he looks, clothes hugging his frame and hair sticking to his forehead, he still manages to look painfully handsome. And I can’t take it. I can’t take looking at him any longer. So I don’t. Even as he tries to get me to look at him, I keep doing my best to avoid his gaze.

He sighs, dropping his hand and stepping back. “If you’d let me finish, I would’ve told you I’m head over heels for you.”

My eyes snap to his, searching for any sign of humor, but there’s none. His jaw is clenched, shoulders stiff, his expression dead serious.

“Goddamn it, Blue.” He gestures between us. “I can’t keep pretending this is all I want from you.” He fists his hair, tilting his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he struggles for the right words.

I let out a small gasp at this confession. “Lorenzo?—”

He interrupts me. “I know I’m not worthy of you. God,you’re so far out of my league it’s comical.” He laughs, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He grips the nape of my neck with both of his hands. I look up, locking our gaze. His eyes are wild now, and his chest is heaving rapidly. “Be mine, Sophia. And I will work every goddamn day to be worthy of you. Let me prove to you I can be the man you need. Let me look after you. Please.” His voice breaks at the end. “Be mine,” he repeats.

Little does he know, he has nothing to prove. I’m the one who feels like I’m not worthy of all he has to offer me. Because without any attachments, he has offered me the world. I’ve always been his. I don’t think there was ever any question.

“What about our deal?” I ask breathlessly, barely above a whisper.

It’s a stupid question. I don’t know why I ask it. Maybe I want some sort of reassurance that this isn’t just a game to him. Maybe I need to convince myself I still have control over the whirlwind of emotions tearing through me. But I had to ask it—for myself, for us.

His eyes lock onto mine, and the silence between us grows heavy. Our breaths are shallow, in sync with the sky’s rumbling above, but I don’t dare move. I don’t dare speak. My heart pounds in my throat. Hope builds inside me, and the weight of anticipation crushes me. I don’t blink. I don’t look away. I get lost in the depths of his brown irises that have grown to feel like a home I never knew I wanted.

With a strained, low whisper, he rasps, “This was a broken deal from the start, Blue. Because you were always destined to be mine.”

His words hit me harder than the thunder rumbling above us, and my breath catches in my throat. Every ounce of doubt I had dissolves in an instant, leaving me withnothing but the raw, overwhelming need for him. My heart races, pounding against my chest like it might burst from happiness.

The words are stuck in my throat—there’s so much I want to say, but I don’t know how. My body takes a life of its own, and before I realize it, I wrap my arms around his neck and crash my lips against his. The kiss is explosive and desperate, like never before. Lorenzo’s hand tightens around the nape of my neck, anchoring me to him, while the other slips down to my lower back, pulling me flush against him. I can feel every muscle of his body against mine with how drenched our clothes are. His tongue invades my mouth, and I melt into him, into his firm yet soft lips and the way our tongues dance with each other. I can’t get enough. Every time his lips meet mine, it’s like my heart flutters uncontrollably. I’m losing myself in him. And I simply don’t care.

My fingers tangle in his damp hair, pulling him closer still, causing him to groan, which I eagerly swallow with my lips. Heat pools in my stomach, and I feel like I’m on fire despite the cool rain cascading over us. The intensity of it all makes me feel alive in a way I never thought possible, like every nerve is awake, every sensation heightened. He takes a step back, a whimper bubbling out of me at the miss of his lips on mine.

With a ragged breath, he asks, “Is that a yes, Blue?”

“That’s a yes, Ace,” I say with a smile so big it makes my cheeks hurt.

He brings me in for another kiss, and we get lost in each other’s bodies. All. Night. Long.

“Vegas, Baby, Vegas!” I shout, arms spread wide as we stride into one of Damian’s hotels. It pays to have a cousin in the hotel business, not that it ever stops us from doing our thing. But, you know, it’s still a nice perk.

Matteo groans beside me, rolling his eyes. “This whole weekend is so fucking stupid,” he mutters then gives my shoulder a shove. “And cut it with those stupid quotes only your girlfriend gets.”

The wordgirlfriendstill feels surreal. I’ll never get used to hearing or saying it. I, Lorenzo Mancini, have a fucking girlfriend. Who would have thought?

The girls went to the spa while we checked into our rooms, but the flight here was...well,interesting, to say the least. Matteo and Isabella didn’t even look at each other once, and that’s probably why he’s been sulking since we arrived.

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