Epilogue #2
I take a hesitant step forward, my bare feet silent on the carpet. I search her face, trying to read her expression, but the tears make it difficult. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and her cheeks are flushed. She looks up at me, and her gaze meets mine.
“I'm sorry,” she whispers, sniffing into the sleeve of her sweater. “I can't stop crying. Sorry.”
I approach her then drop to a crouch in front of her, taking her hand in mine. “Talk to me. What's wrong?”
“This ring is an heirloom,” she whispers, her eyes dripping with more tears.
“There are two. They belonged to my mother who got them from her mother who got them from her mother, and they are meant to be worn together, but Mamma……” She stops, sniffing back tears.
“When she had twins, she said she'd give one to each of us when we got married.
She said I would get the emerald because I'm steady and grounded—like a forest, she said—and Arianna would get the sapphire because the wild, untamable ocean suits her adventurous soul. As long as we stayed together, then the rings would live on as intended.”
I bring her fingers to my lips, kissing the ring. “She sounds like an incredible woman.”
“She was,” she whispers. “I…I know this sounds stupid but I think I felt her today. When we opened the bakery, I felt her presence, even just for a little bit, and it made me incredibly happy.”
“Where else would she be, biscottina, if not with her precious daughters?"
“God!” I laugh when she throws her arms around me, forcing me on my back on the floor. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close as a feeling of warmth and possessiveness sweeps over me. “The ring is beautiful, baby. Your mother would be proud of you.”
“Thank you.” Her voice is muffled in my chest when she speaks. We stay on the floor and only break apart when we hear a knock on the bedroom door. “I'll get it.”
Matilde pushes back, and my skin burns fiercely as she runs her eyes over my naked skin and to the hard cock tenting the towel. “Not while you're dressed like that. I'll get it.”
"Your tears...never mind," I laugh when she wipes her tears on my shoulder. I follow her to the door but stay out of sight when she opens it.
"Tilly?" Arianna's voice comes out worried. "Why are you crying?"
"I was just thinking about mom and the ring," Matilde says. "Thank you for keeping it safe, Ari. I don't know how you hid it from Bianca."
"I have my ways." I can almost see Arianna's cheeky smile. "Bianca took most of the jewelry from Mamma's safe, but I stole them all back. Remember back when she threw a fit, thinking the cleaning lady took them?”
Matilde gasps at her sister's words. “That was you? Ari, that poor lady.”
“She knew,” Arianna says. “The cleaning lady saw me take them but didn’t say a thing to Bianca. She didn't care that she'd lose her job. She hated Bianca, too, and now that we have our inheritance, I'll ask Matteo to help me track the lady down, so I can make it up to her.”
“Ari…”
“Anyway, I just came to say congratulations.” She grins at me. “You’d better take care of my little sister, Luca, or I’ll come back and hurt you.”
Oh, I don't doubt it. “Take care, Arianna.”
“She’s older by two minutes,” Matilde protests.
“Still older," she laughs manically. “Oh, and I’m staying at Gabriella’s tonight. Figured you two lovebirds could use the privacy.”
“Thanks, Ari. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Tilly. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She winks and disappears.
Matilde turns to me with a smile. “She’s something else.”
“She’s your sister,” I say, walking to my fiancée and wrapping my arms around her, pulling her flush against me. “And she loves you.”
“I know.” She melts into me. “I’m so lucky.”
I press a kiss to her hair. “We both are.”
I shove my face into her throat, breathing her in. “Hmm, you smell nice, biscottina. My precious little cookie.”
“You're trying to distract me from my tears.”
“Not really. I just want to make love to my fiancée.”
“Fiancée,” she practically melts in my arms, cupping my face when I move to lick down her neck. The ring glints between us, the emerald gleaming brightly, a reflection of the love I have for this woman.
“Luca,” she moans when I slide a hand under her sweater and squeeze her breast, pinching her nipples. She cries out when I tweak them between my fingers and twist, before soothing the sting with my thumb.
“You're mine,” I say possessively, sliding my hand down her stomach before shoving up her dress and sliding my hand between her legs to peel down her panties. “I need you, Matilde. I can't stop needing you.”
"Need you too," she whimpers, arching into my touch when I slide my finger along her slit and into her pussy. Fuck, she's soaking wet, dripping with arousal. “Oh God…Luca.”
I attack her neck with long, greedy kisses and licks, groaning into her skin as I drive my fingers in and out of her until the wet sounds fill the room. “I never thought one could want another person with as much desperation as I want you, Matilde. With as much need."
Her back curves when I add another finger, her pleasured cries echoing the walls as I thrust faster into her.
"Luca…so close…oh!”" She climaxes with a scream, her thighs shaking from the intense tremors, her breasts trembling with every heaved breath.
I draw my hand back and shove off the towel, then I have her pressed against the wall with my cock buried inside her wet heat in record time.
She wraps her arms around my shoulders, those pretty eyes adoring when they meet mine.
“I love you, baby,” I rasp, searching her mouth, kissing with need as I drive my aching cock into her, pinning her to the wall and taking her in fevered thrusts.
Perfect.
So fucking perfect, and she's all mine.
She holds onto me as I drive into her, moaning into the kiss when I tilt my hips to press down on her clit with every thrust.
I lose myself in her. The scent of her hair and the taste of her lips. How she feels in my arms—a perfect fit. Like she was made for me.
Mine.
“Yours,”" she whimpers, her grip on my shoulder tightening as her legs begin to shake. Her mouth finds mine in a breathy kiss, body trembling as I push us both closer to the edge…
“Fuck,” I growl into the kiss as I empty my cum into her. Her nails dig into my shoulder, her breath coming in short pants as I hammer into her. She follows with a sob, her pussy clenching hard around me and milking me of every drop.
I kiss her like a man drowning, looking for air in her lips. I rock gently into her until I've poured everything, heart and soul.
“Christ, do you think we'll make it to bed?” she says, dropping her head against my shoulder.
“Tired?” I ask, kissing her forehead.
“I could use a glass of water,” she says, making me laugh.
I carry her to the kitchen but forget all about the water when she finds herself on her back on the kitchen island, taking me back inside of her.
We barely make it to the bedroom before we’re on each other again, professing our love to each other.
There's promise in every kiss and...in every touch.
It's the word forever on my tongue, in my mind and heart when we finally fall asleep, holding each other.
~The End
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