Chapter 19 #4
When they got his house, Angelo shook Asher’s hand gratefully. Kara hugged the private security specialist and wiped her eyes.
“I don’t think either of you need me anymore, but my team is going to stay in town a few weeks just to make sure,” Asher said with a reassuring smile. “I trust Leo Cabrini to see to the work of the disposing of Callahan and O’Leary.”
Kara flinched and Angelo put an arm around her shoulders.
“You go on inside, you’re both freezing,” Asher said. He didn’t seem to notice that he was also still wet and cold.
“Thank you,” Angelo said. “For saving our lives.”
“I’d say ‘any time,’” Asher chuckled. “But that means I’d have done my job poorly if you end up in mortal peril again.”
“Good point. In that case I hope we never see you again.” Angelo laughed and they headed for his front door.
Once inside, they were rushing for his bedroom, their clothing dropping to the ground as they moved beyond his bedroom and into the bathroom.
Within a few minutes they were stepping into a hot shower together, their bodies brushing together until Angelo couldn’t resist pulling her into a hug and closing his eyes.
They breathed together for a long moment, their hearts uniting in one steady beat.
“We always end up here, don’t we?” Kara asked with a bemused look at the steamy shower around them.
“Because I love getting you wet,” Angelo teased.
It earned him a laugh which turned to tears. He shushed her softly, rubbing his hands up and down her back. Embrace by gentle embrace, soft kiss by soft kiss, he helped Kara ride through the fear, the grief, the relief, and at last the joy.
“We’re safe,” she finally said. “Aren’t we?”
Angelo knew what she meant. They were finally done with her past. Done with running. He kissed the shell of her ear. “We are. You never have to run again.”
She stared at him finally as if realizing what he’d been trying to show her all along.
“You’re right. I’ve spent my entire life running, but I don’t have to any longer…
because I found what I was looking for. I thought I was running away from something, but I was actually running toward you this entire time, I just didn’t know it.
Not until you got into the car with me.”
He nodded. “I chose you Kara. In this life, and in every life.” He brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips. “Marry me, Kara. Marry me and be my world, my hope, my every dream. Be my best friend, my lover, my partner.”
Kara’s lips parted slightly as she drew in a breath.
He knew she had spent a lifetime believing she couldn’t have a real life, and now she was given a choice. His heart stilled as she spoke the single word that would change his life forever.
“Yes.”
“Tesoro mio,” he whispered. “You know… I never told you what that really means?”
“I thought it meant something like sweetheart?”
He chuckled. “Kara… tesoro mio, it means my treasure. Because I’ve searched for a love like this my whole life. And at long last, I finally found my greatest treasure.”
Angelo captured her mouth in a kiss carried such love that changed every cell in his body. It wrote their names in the stars. It was a kiss that someday… years from now… he would tell his own grandchildren about. It was a kiss to build dreams upon.
When they broke apart Kara was grinning impishly up at him, her gaze carrying as much love as he felt in that moment.
“I guess that fake post New Year’s breakup isn’t going to happen. Your mom is going to be so happy.”
Angelo threw his head back and laughed. His mother had gotten what she wanted… but then again so had he.
“Principessa,” he murmured between kisses.
She tilted her head back to let him trail kisses down her throat, and he took full advantage of covering her beautiful neck wherever he could with his lips.
“How do you say my prince charming in Italian?” she asked, her voice breathless and he grinned against her silken skin.
“Il mio principe azzurro,” he whispered in her ear before he flicked his tongue against the delicate shell, making her shudder.
“Il mio principe azzurro…” she echoed. “I like the sound of that. Mi—oh!” She gasped when he slid his hand down between their bodies to caress her slick entrance, then slide one figure inside her.
She rocked against his hand in hungry encouragement.
Angelo lifted her up, pinning her against the wall of the shower, driving into her.
Kara moaned and his jaw clenched as he held back the rush of pleasure at her tight heat closing down around his cock. It felt so good… like coming home.
“Come for me, principessa,” he urged as he thrust up, harder, faster, just the way she liked. Their faces were inches apart, and he watched the way her pupils darkened. Neither of them looked away as the orgasm hit her. His body tightened a second later as he chased her into pure bliss.
Panting together, their bodies still joined, their hearts racing, they continued to gaze at one another.
“Mio principe,” Kara breathed. And the smile she gifted him with was the brightest star in his night sky. He’d finally found his fairy tale ending… and his princess.