Page 127 of Made to Sin

My breath hitched as a hoard of butterflies uproared at his response. I thought it was his heart pounding against my head, but it was my blood burning hotter than normal.

The confession grabbed my heart and threw it in his hands. Without overthinking anymore, I blurted what I was too scared to say the other day. “I love you.”

I held my breath.

He froze.

The only sound between us was our hearts beating in synchronization. The few seconds of silence stretched out to a few hours.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

I had never seen this man unsure of anything in his life, but my admission had him stuttering. “You- You love me?”

“Yes, I also fell in love with you, Luciano Beneveti.”

This time, my voice was clear and sure. Any other answer was simply wrong.

I barely finished talking when he captured my lips with his. The kiss was filled with passion, all our unsaid emotions taking over. Neither of us pulled away when it ended, clinging onto each other like liferafts.

“I love you so much,” he said again against my lips.

That night, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Despite our declaration of love, the next morning, he still made me take an oath not to leave before he left for work. To be exact, he said he’d hunt me down and tie me to his bedframe if I dared.

“Very romantic of you,” I teased.

He shrugged and gave me a small peck on the lips. “I try.”

How romantic indeed.

It didn’t stop me from giggling into a pillow and kicking my legs in the air once the front door shut. It was so bad, Maria came in shortly and told me I reminded her of her neighbor’s yappy chihuahua. I annoyingly continued doing it for another twenty minutes or so, too lovesick to be offended.

—

“Maria, what happens after people fall in love?” I questioned, taking a bite of the strawberry waffles she made for breakfast.

“In my days, people go get hitched and start engaging in sexual acts to reproduce. You heathens skipped the marriage and jumped straight to the reproducing.”

I rolled my eyes at her traditional ways. Asking her was like asking someone in the 1900s if women could have rights. Well, that was a bad comparison, considering we were in 2023 without much of a difference.

“We’re not reproducing, I’ve been on birth control. Plus, we never planned it this way,” I defended.

I mentioned it nonchalantly, but my heart pinged at the idea of having children. It never occurred to me that I would have a chance of starting a family when I was with Marco, but it was different now. I was happy, financially stable, and in love. It kind of felt like I was missing out on my prime if I didn’t.

Would Luciano want to marry me? Loving someone and wanting to commit your entire life to them was different. Then again, he was a Made Man, he needed an heir to the Beneveti Empire, and I would be a willing tribute. I mean, like Maria said,we were already having sex, so it wouldn’t be anything new.

Merda, I needed a brain scan. What was I saying?

I had time, and we just said the big three words yesterday. I couldn’t be expecting a proposal the day after. This was why I shouldn’t take advice from my housekeeper— she was purposely messing with me at this point.

I shook my head and returned to my waffles.

—

---