Page 82 of The Honest Affair

Chapter Twenty

Matthew

Later, after the sun had fallen beyond the hills and the sky outside our window was black with night, I held Nina in my arms. The room was a mess and our stomachs were empty, but I still wasn’t sure if this was real. I was a damn sinner, and I was pretty sure I was ending up in purgatory, if not hell when I finally croaked.

But if there was a heaven, this would be it, wouldn’t it?

“You’re still awake,” she murmured, her voice huskier than normal. From all the screaming, I thought with a smirk.

Yeah, yeah. I could still get it done when I had to.

I looked down at where her left hand lay on my chest, idly playing over my skin. Nonna’s ring gleamed in the moonlight. Holy shit.

I didn’t know why I’d brought the thing until that moment when Nina had looked at me with fear that tore a hole through my chest. She had been trembling, like a baby deer caught in a wolf’s gaze. I wanted her to know I wasn’t the wolf. Or maybe I was, but she would never be my prey. I’d protect her with every animalistic urge I had. I was hers body and soul.

I wasn’t stupid. She still belonged to another man in the eyes of the law. Just like we’d have to face the mess of clothes and broken lamps in this room in the morning, we’d have the rest of our mess waiting for us still in New York. But those days would come to an end eventually, and then Nina and I would be free. Really, truly free. We couldn’t run forever. But we could still return together. I hoped.

“I’m still awake,” I confirmed after a minute.

“Thinking of what?”

“Of us,” I said honestly. “About tomorrow.”

I picked up her hand and examined it in the dim light. I hadn’t actually expected the ring to fit, given the fact that there was a solid eight-inch difference between Nina and my grandmother. But for all her height, Nina’s bones were delicate. The ring looked perfect on her long, slender finger.

“Tomorrow,” she echoed faintly. But I didn’t tense. That wasn’t doubt in her voice, I didn’t think. Fear, maybe, but not doubt.

“It’s not the ring, is it?” I asked.

Nina’s tastes were at least as particular as mine. I’d be disappointed, maybe, if she didn’t want Nonna’s ring. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I wanted her to be happy more than anything. Even if it meant I had to take out a second mortgage to pay for the one she wanted.

“Absolutely not,” she said, holding it up to examine it. “It’s perfect.”

Relief washed over me. “Well, that’s good. I wasn’t sure. It’s an antique, that ring.”

“More than an antique,” Nina said. “This is an heirloom, Matthew. Vintage Damiani. Art deco.”

I frowned down at her. “How did you know that?”

She smiled up at me, preening proudly. “I do know a bit about fine jewelry, you know.”

I raised a brow. She was good, but was she that good? I hadn’t seen much in the way of antiques on Nina’s person.

“All right,” she admitted. “I looked at the marking on the inside when you were in the bathroom.”

I snorted. “I see. Connoisseur, clearly.”

“Did you find it in town?” she wanted to know.

“Ah, no. It was…” I didn’t know why I was so damn nervous to tell her this. “It was Nonna’s. She gave it to me after Nonno died. To give to the woman I was going to marry.” I picked up her hand again and passed my thumb over the familiar stone. “I’ve had it ever since. Never thought about giving it to anyone until I met you. Not even Sherry.”

Nina was quiet for a long time at the sound of my ex’s name. I didn’t talk about her much—you tend not to when the story involves her fucking around while you’re on the other side of the world getting shot at. But Nina knew about her. She knew what it meant.

“I’m…I’m honored,” she said at last. “Truly I am.” She blinked against my chest, her eyelashes tickling my skin. “What about your grandfather? Do you know how he got it?”

I relaxed against my pillow and told her the fable of how my grandparents met on the subway platform only a few months after Nonno got off the boat from Naples. How Nonno had seen the girl who turned out to live only a few blocks from him and proceeded to escort her to her catering job, waited hours until she was finished, then took her right back home, safe and sound.

“Well, you’re right about the heirloom. It’s been in the family for a while. The story goes, the day after he met Nonna, he booked a ticket right back to Naples. But not to stay—to get his mother’s ring. He was only seventeen, but he knew the moment he saw her that she was the one he was going to marry.”

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