Page 128 of Brutal Devil
“To give you this book.” He holds it out to me.
I take it from him. “Thanks. I guess it got left behind in the shuffle.”
“It didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I kept it.” He passes a hand over his jaw again, looking uncomfortable. “When the guys packed up your things, I took this book.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to keep some small part of you, even if I couldn’t have you.”
My stomach bottoms out. “I don’t understand.”
“When I got that call from Bruno telling me you’d been taken, it was the worst fucking day of my life, Luna. And when I saw you being held hostage at gunpoint, I lost it. I realized that I had to free you from me, from the marriage, from the fucked-up world I live in. I couldn’t risk you getting hurt again or worse.” He pauses, runs a hand through his dark hair. “So I walked away from you. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. This last month has been hell without you.”
My heart is pounding so furiously that I wonder if he can hear it.
“If it was so hard, why did you stay away for so long?”
“Because I didn’t know you were here. I just found out this morning that you never left. This whole time, I’ve been thinking that I made the right decision. That you were back in Iowa where you wanted to be, that I’d given you back the future that I’d taken from you. But the second I learned you were here, I knew I had to come to you. I’m a selfish motherfucker because I couldn’t let you have your space. Not without telling you that I love you.”
He loves me.
Priest just told me that heloves me.
I set my book down on the counter before I drop it, because my record isn’t currently that great. And then I stare at him, a slow, steady burst of hope blossoming deep inside me. Growing bigger with every second.
“You love me,” I repeat.
“I should have told you before,” he says solemnly. “I should have let you make the choice for yourself a month ago. But I didn’t, and I was wrong, and I’m so fucking sorry. I’ve been a wreck without you, baby.”
Tears sting my eyes. “Same.”
He comes to me then, hauling me into his arms. It feels right. So right. It feels like coming home.
He buries his face in my hair and inhales like he’s desperate to drink me in. “The choice is yours, Luna. You know what my world is like. I can’t change who I am. And I can’t promise that there will never be danger. It comes with the territory. But I can promise you that I’ll love you forever. That I’ll treat you like a queen. That I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.”
I tip my head back to look at him. “You don’t want a divorce?”
“I never wanted a divorce.Amore mio, I’m so fucking in love with you that I can’t think straight.”
“Good, because I don’t want a divorce either.” I stop, taking a breath, because this is a huge step for me. It feels a little like jumping off a cliff, taking the leap from the life I thought I wanted for myself to the life I can build with him. “And I feel the same way. I love you too.”
“You do?”
I cup his face in my hands, my heart squeezing painfully in my chest. “I do.”
“Fuck, baby.” His face hardens then. “Consider this your warning. I set you free once, but I’m not strong enough to do it again. If you go home with me today, I’m never letting you go.”
I know how much an admission like this cost him, and it makes me love him even more.
“I don’t want you to let me go,” I tell him. “I want to be with you, Matteo. Always. Whatever that means for us. We’ll figure it out together.”
With a growl, he slams his mouth onto mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back. He lifts me off the floor, ravishing my mouth like he’s been starving for me.
We’re breathless when we come up for air.
