38. Isabella
38
ISABELLA
“I sabella,” Nicco says, and he moves toward me but stops when he notices me doing the same. There’s a hesitation in his steps as if he’s trying to gauge where my head is at. With all this back and forth we’ve been doing, I can’t say I blame his doubt.
“Okay, well, I’m going to leave you both to it,” Liana says. “I’m going to lock myself in the fabric room so Gianni and Tito think I’m back here with you doing fashion stuff. Just text me whenever you guys are done, but don’t rush.” She’s about to shut the door, closing Nicco and me in, but before she does, she throws in one last thing over her shoulder. “Don’t forget what I said, Nicco.”
I slide my gaze back to Nicco, who’s looking at me like I’m the only thing in the room—which I am—but he’s looking at me like there’s nothing else in this world. It’s how he used to always look at me, and now that I’m thinking about it with a clearer mindset, it’s how he’s always looked at me. Even when I was too busy being mad at him, he has always looked at me like no one else matters.
Gosh, how stupid have I been? Blinded by my stubbornness and wrapped up in my anger this entire time.
“Nicco, I?—”
He closes the distance between us in a few long strides and wraps his arms around me. My hands immediately find their home around his neck, and we embrace each other in a hug that feels like it’s been in the making for a lifetime.
“I’m so sorry, Isabella,” he mumbles into my hair. “I never wanted to hurt you, but it was the only way back then.”
I pull my head back from Nicco’s chest and stare into his eyes. “You don’t have to apologize anymore, Nicco. I know you did it to protect me, and while I might not wholeheartedly agree with it, I know you did it out of pure selflessness. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch to you about everything.” I drop my gaze at the disappointment I feel in myself for all the time we’ve wasted.
Nicco lifts my chin with his finger, and his piercing gaze nearly takes my breath away. “You never have to apologize. I deserved it all.”
“I don’t want to go into detail about everything again,” I whisper to him, suddenly feeling intoxicated by the heat of our lips being so close. “Just promise me one thing, Nicco.”
“Anything,” he whispers, surely feeling the same effect I’m feeling from him.
“Just please promise, moving forward, we’ll communicate with each other. No matter what it is. You won’t leave me in the dark about anything ever again.”
“I promise,” he says, and I can’t help but be a little surprised at how quick he was to agree. The widening of my eyes and the hitch in my breath must give me away because Nicco frowns down at me.
“This was the only secret I’ve ever kept from you, and it nearly killed me not being able to tell you when I wanted to. I will never let something come between us ever again. I’ve spent far too long away from you. There’s not a chance I’ll ever risk going back to that.”
Nicco glances down at my lips, and I run my tongue along the bottom one. He follows the movement, and before I know it, a set of warm, soft lips meet mine, consuming my entire being.
The heat from his lips radiates through me, and I rise up on my tiptoes to deepen the kiss, not able to get enough of him.
He runs his tongue along the seam of my lips, causing a small moan to escape me. Nicco takes advantage, sliding his tongue in to meet mine, and now it’s his turn to groan in approval. The sound vibrates through me, straight to my core.
“I’ve missed you so damn much, Isabella,” he mumbles against my lips. Pulling back slightly, he peers into my eyes and cups my cheek with his hand, rubbing the pad of his thumb along the soft skin at my jaw. “I’m so sorry for hurting you, but you have to understand,” he pleads with me, the desperation shining through his words, “I would’ve never done it had I thought there was another solution. There’s no extent I won’t take to protect you.”
“I know,” I whisper, giving him a small nod. “I know, Nicco. Just kiss me. Kiss me like the past three years never happened.”
His eyes darken, then he slams his lips back to mine, and we take from each other what we’ve needed for so long now.
This kiss is different from the kiss we shared in the bathroom of Cucina del Sole. That one was filled with a rushed need of desperation and fueled by anger. This one is filled with a longing we’ve had for each other for years now. I might’ve buried those feelings, trying to mask them with resentment, but now that they’re free from the cage I put them in, they’re fueling everything behind this kiss.
He steps back, holding my hands in his, and smiles down at me with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“What’re you looking at me like that for?”
“You want to go for a ride?” he asks, causing me to raise my brows in interest.
“A ride?”
“Yeah, you used to love riding on the back of my bike.”
Gosh, if that isn’t the truth. There was nothing like wrapping my arms around him while we found an open road to ride down.
Luckily for me, I’m wearing a pair of jeans, black boots, and a leather jacket, perfect for the fall weather, but there’s just one thing missing. “I don’t have a helmet,” I say.
He breathes out a chuckle. “You didn’t think I’d come unprepared, did you?”
“You still have?—”
“Your helmet? Of course. It’s been sitting around waiting for you to use it again.”
I shake my head. “You and your confidence,” I laugh out.
“I always had a plan, Isabella. You might’ve not known it, but you were always the end goal. You were always meant to be mine since the day I laid eyes on you.”
He gives my hands a light squeeze. “And I don’t mean when we met again in college. I might’ve only been eleven the first time we met, but there was something about you. I didn’t understand what it was at the time, but I know now. You were always meant to be mine.”
The way he says mine sends a shiver up my spine and causes my heart to flutter. I never thought Nicco’s words would have that reaction on me again, but I’m sure as hell glad I was wrong. “I’m starting to believe you,” I say.
The corners of Nicco’s lips turn up into one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen from him. “So, what do you say? You want to take a ride?”
I consider the potential repercussions if Gianni or Tito find out I’m no longer here, but the thrill of being on the back of Nicco’s bike again supersedes any trouble I could get in with my brother, so I smile up at Nicco in excitement and say, “Let’s go.”