Chapter 6 #3
“Have a little faith in me, principessa,” Angelo said.
“Principessa… princess?” She guessed at the translation.
“Yes, my Irish Princess,” he replied with the smooth, natural charm of a man with a kind, but fierce heart.
“Why would you do all of this for me?”
Angelo still held her hand with both of his. Even laid up in a hospital bed, she was amazed at the strength that emanated from him.
“Do I need a reason?” Angelo asked.
God, those brown eyes… They did funny things to her lower belly and made her knees weak. “Shouldn’t you?”
He laughed, the husky sound made her tremble as she imagined them lying in bed next to each other.
“Kara, while I do not need a reason to care I, in fact, have several.” He pulled her closer and she found herself leaning over the hospital bed rail.
“Oh?” She breathed. “And what are they?”
“Well, in no particular order: your fine blue eyes, my need to see you smile, my desperate addiction to making you laugh, how you made me feel that night we met at the soup kitchen… and my wild, probably frightening need to kiss you to see if the experience lives up to my fantasies.”
“You… want to kiss me?”
“Very much so,” he replied with an intensity that should have frightened her.
Her head grew dizzy, and she made what had to be the biggest mistake of her life by saying, “Then kiss me—”
He tugged her the last few inches closer, their lips meeting in a sweet explosion of fire.
Angelo’s kiss was everything she had never known a man’s kiss could be.
She’d been with a few men since her mother had died; they had been one-night stands with strangers.
But no matter how much she wanted to say Angelo was a stranger, that had changed.
Everything had changed. The kiss was simply more, more of everything.
His lips parted and his tongue slipped in and caressed hers, enticed hers, and she moaned as a wave of need swept through her body.
He cupped the back of her neck, his mouth coaxing hers, sweetly yet also seductively, so that her body couldn’t help but respond.
Colors burst against the back of her eyelids and for the first time she understood what people meant when they said they saw fireworks during a passionate kiss.
It had ignited something in her that she’d been too afraid to indulge in… her desire to be wanted, to be loved.
A childish squeal broke the moment. “Uncle Angelo is kissing Kara!” Angelo smiled against Kara’s lips an instant before she pulled away.
“Millie!” Alessia gasped. “Sorry, guys. She was anxious to get back in here to see you, Angelo.”
Millie broke free of her mother’s arms and ran to the hospital bed. She looked up, searching for something.
“Where’s the mistletoe? Dad says you need mistletoe to kiss people.”
Angelo laughed and winked at Kara. She knew her face had to be bright red right now.
“You don’t need mistletoe when you’re engaged,” Angelo said to Millie as the rest of the family trickled back into the room.
A nurse rushed into the room on the heels of his family.
“I need to check his morphine drip in the IV,” she explained as Francesca and Nicholas stepped out of her way. The nurse winced as she looked at his IV. “It’s a bit high. Let me just adjust it…” She fixed the dosage and slipped out of the room.
Kara’s face stayed red as she realized Angelo might have been kissing her, flirting with her just because his painkiller dosage was too high. That was embarrassing, because she’d really enjoyed that kiss and all the things it had made her feel.
“I’m sorry you missed opening the presents, Uncle Angelo,” Nicholas said interrupting Kara’s thoughts. “Mom said you wouldn’t mind, though.”
“I don’t mind,” Angelo assured his nephew. “Besides, having you here is the best gift.”
“Grandma said Kara was your best gift,” Millie added with a cheeky grin.
“I definitely agree.” Angelo shot Kara a heated look, and she almost wished she could vanish into a hole in the floor because everyone was staring at her. She wasn’t used to all this attention.
“We should let you rest,” Matteo declared. “Luigi said the restaurant is doing fine, so you don’t have to rush back to work. He said the kitchen will be ready for you whenever you are.”
“Give Uncle Luigi my thanks,” Angelo said. “Now, you all should get home.”
“He’s right,” Dante said. “Let’s go, everybody.” Angelo’s brother started ushering everyone out.
“Kara, wait.” Angelo caught her wrist and pulled her back to him. “Call me before you go to bed, okay?”
“Okay…” she hesitated. “Why?”
“Because talking to you helped me sleep. Your voice is music to me.”
“Oh…” She had to be blushing again. “I’ll call.”
She didn’t want to leave, but Dante was hanging by the doorway, waiting.
“Remember, he’s looking out for you.” Angelo reminded her.
“Right.” She leaned in before she could think twice and kissed Angelo on the cheek. Then she rushed toward Dante and out the door.
You’re so stupid, Kara… letting that man into your heart when you know you’ll have to leave him.
But she didn’t want to keep him out.