27. Ravenna
Ravenna
O ur getaway was lovely, but as soon as we’re home, I realize how much I miss Elena. This place isn’t the same without her. Even though she refused to leave her room, I knew she was close by and that proximity eased some of my worry. Now she’s on the other side of the Atlantic.
I check in on my sister, probably one too many times, to make sure she’s settled in okay. Elena arrived safely at great aunt Antonia’s house in Parma, Italy. There, she’s under Pontrelli protection for the duration of her stay. I hope our extended family takes good care of her.
“You’re crowding her from four thousand miles away.” Cian arches a scarred brow.
I set my phone on the bedside table and snuggle into my husband’s tattooed body, taking comfort in his heat. “I know. It’s just that she’s the only close family I have left now that my mother, father, and brother are all gone.”
His muscles flex, turning to stone. “I’m sorry I had to be the one to take them from you,” he says quietly.
I sit up, peering at him. That’s an apology he said he’d never give me. But I’m sure I heard him right. My pulse flutters.
“I’m in no way trying to make you feel guilty. They were messed up people and my life is so much better without them. I can’t even begin to…”
“I know.” Cian clenches his jaw. “For you, I’d kill them all over again if I could. But I’m still sorry that I took your family from you.”
“Thank you for that.” I lean down to kiss him when my phone chimes five times in a row with incoming text messages. I reach for it.
Sophia
He did it to me again.
Sophia
I’m supposed to be on a date with Nik right now and he just texted to postpone. Again!
Sophia
I’m starting to think he doesn’t like me.
Sophia
How am I supposed to marry a man who doesn’t like me? To spend the rest of my life with him?!
Sophia
Is it me? Did I do something wrong? You’re married. What do men want?
“That stronzo ,” I murmur, angry on my cousin’s behalf.
“Who pissed you off?” Cian asks, arm resting behind his head and his scarred, tattooed chest on full display. My mouth waters. I tear my gaze away from his delicious muscles.
“It’s that Russian that Sophia’s engaged to marry.
He stood her up again, and she thinks the problem is her .
This is how men make women doubt themselves.
It’s despicable. She’s done nothing wrong.
I wonder what she can do to get his attention and hold onto it?
” I muse. If his wandering attention is even the problem.
From what I can determine, he’s just a jerk.
“She could always date another man. Irish, Italian, Russian, it doesn’t matter, we’re all possessive of what’s ours. If that doesn’t get his attention then he’s not into her at all.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “She can’t do that! Her father would murder her for being unfaithful. The Russians would probably call off the deal. It would destroy them all, and my cousin would be caught in the middle.”
“You forgot to mention that they’d kill the man she dated too. Hmm, maybe that’s not a good idea.”
“You think?” I laugh when he reaches out to tickle me for my sassy mouth. “What if he’s not into her? What if that’s what’s going on?”
Cian shrugs. “They’ll have to make the best of it.
Arranged marriages aren’t based on love or attraction—only duty.
” He pulls me onto his chest. “You and I got lucky, broc meala. We like each other. Attraction isn’t an issue.
And someday, we might even…” His breath tickles my ear.
The ghost of the words he’s left unspoken hang in the air between us. Someday… we might love each other.
So he feels it too? This giddy sensation.
The way butterflies swarm inside my stomach when he touches me, looks at me, kisses me.
I thought I was alone in my deeper affections, but now I’m beginning to think they’re mutual.
His emotions for me could run deeper than duty and vows. Deeper than protecting what’s his.
He rescued me in my darkest hour. Before that, he went with me to save my sister, no questions asked. He listens when I speak. He values whatever, and whoever, I cherish.
It’s a one-eighty from our animosity-clouded beginning. Sure, it’s been bumpy since then too. But something has shifted in our dynamic since the auction house.
Then shifted again after that cage fighting match. And once again following that nightmare-induced morning.
Am I too optimistic to think that we might have smooth sailing from here on out?
I want a life and relationship that I love. After all the hardship I’ve been through, I just want happiness. Being in Cian’s arms makes me think that God has finally answered my prayers.
My husband nuzzles my neck. “What are you thinking about, baby?”
“Nothing. Everything.” I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips. “I should respond to Sophia before she spirals any further.”
“Take your time. I have some work I need to get done.” He crawls out of bed, then bends down to plant a kiss on the top of my head.
Naked, he saunters to the bathroom and I take my time enjoying the view. Taut ass, rippling muscles, dark ink covering his myriad scars. My insides warm. I have absolutely no shame in admiring my husband’s physique.
Damn. I already want him back in bed.
As if he knows I’m having dirty thoughts about him, he glances over his shoulder at me and winks. I melt into a puddle of goo.