Chapter 23
GIO
The shock on her face was worth waiting for. When everyone thought I had left the party, I instead went up to her bedroom, trying to calm the fuck down before I killed that son of a bitch Adriano downstairs.
When I saw him leave out the window, that’s when I finally relaxed enough not to go back down there.
But I remained in her room for hours, waiting for that damn party to end so I could finally get her alone. So I can remind her who she belongs to, whether she realizes it or not.
“What the hell are you doing here?” She stomps closer while I sit there on the edge of her bed, taking in the woman that I know in my heart is destined to be mine.
And though I’ve never been a patient man, I vow to wait for her for as long as it takes her to get that damn stick out of her ass and realize what we could be together.
I inhale a single sharp breath, climbing to my feet. And without my eyes leaving hers, I grab her jaw and yank her mouth close to mine.
The quick jerk of her inhale has her eyes glistening with something other than fear, something that smells and tastes like desire. It’s unmistakable.
I drop closer, my lips stroking hers.
“I’ve been waiting all this time to give you your birthday present,” I say, wanting to kiss her.
“The best gift you can give me is you going home,” she whispers, but nothing in her voice or the way her hands cling to my shoulders lets me know she means a word.
“Stop denying what you feel for me,” I tell her, pushing her body backward until it hits the door with a soft thud.
She gasps as she does, while my other palm slides up her arm until my fingers wind though her soft strands.
“You need to understand something, Red. I’m not the kind of man who’d allow another man to touch what belongs to him.”
When she opens her mouth to speak, I place a finger against her full lips.
“Shh…” A smirk tips up my mouth as the words die in her throat. “This will serve as your one and only warning. Pull that shit again…” Roughly, I yank her head back by her hair. “And I will show you what I’ll do to anyone who so much as looks at you. Do I make myself clear?”
The challenge in her eyes is mingled with her apparent yearning. She grits her teeth, her eyes narrowed.
“I asked you a question, bambina. And you will answer it.”
Her lashes flutter, and her mouth quivers.
What is it about her that makes me want to fight every war, to lay my life on the line just for a chance to have her?
I may not know her well. I may not know her past, nor her demons.
But I know one thing well, and that is that she’s mine.
Irrevocably mine. And soon enough, the whole world will know it too.
“Is it true?” Her voice grows raspy. Lustful and dangerous. And altogether inviting.
“What’s that?” I ask, unable to stop looking into those eyes, her steadfast gaze slowly undoing me bit by bit.
“Did you really not sleep with anyone since me?”
A small smile fastens to my mouth, and I draw my knuckles up and down her cheek. “I haven’t kissed a single soul, not so much as a touch since I’ve touched you, Red.”
She drags in a slow, shaky breath.
“Why?” The word falls out so softly that I wonder if it came from her at all.
“I told you, they weren’t you.” I cradle her cheeks in both palms and lower my mouth to the corner of hers, leaving a kiss there. “No one will be. Not ever.” I return my gaze to hers. “Since that very moment you tried to kill me, I saw something in you. I still see it, baby.”
I let my forehead meet hers, wanting to get lost in her.
In us.
Her arms entwine around my back, holding me tightly against her.
“Gio…” she murmurs like she wants to believe in what I’m saying, wants to believe in this feeling, this moment. “We can’t…”
She tears herself away, and her brows furrow.
“We can,” I remind her. “You can be the one I marry if you tell him you want to. I think you can tolerate me long enough to fall in love with me.”
An easy smile inches up my mouth, but hers never comes.
“Falling in love with you would be the easiest thing in the world,” she confesses, jumpstarting my heart.
It meant everything to me to hear her say that. She isn’t the kind of woman to say things like that so easily.
As she goes on, she sighs brokenly. “It’s falling in love with me that’d be the hardest part.”
I let out a chuckle, cupping her face tightly, blood rushing into my veins from the extent of my affection. “How could anyone not fall in love with you? Sei la donna più bella che abbia mai varcato questa terra.”
“What does that even mean?” she whispers.
“That you’re the most beautiful woman that ever walked this earth.”
She scoffs. “You deserve someone normal and kind like Eriu. She would be a good wife for you.”
But the way her face falls…she doesn’t mean it.
“I don’t want a good wife, Red. I want you as my wife.” My palm snaps around her nape, and in my eyes, I hope she sees the truth of my words.
“Well, I’m sorry, but that isn’t possible.”
I let out a frustrated groan. “Che cazzo, donna. Sei una spina nel fianco!”
“What d—”
“Wanna know what that means?” My nostrils flare. “It means you’re a pain in my fucking ass.” I shake my head as I stare up at the ceiling for a second until my eyes are back on hers. “I can’t wait until we’re married so I can remind you how crazy you made me before we got there.”
She snickers. “When are you going to get it?”
She tries pushing me away, but I stay where I am, tugging her closer around the back of her neck.
“Get what?”
“That we’ll never be together. It just won’t happen. This was fun, I won’t deny that, but it’s over now. I can see you’re a good guy and you’ll treat my sister well, and I’m happy with that.”
“Fuck!” I growl in absolute frustration, throwing my hands in the air as I fall back a step. “Are you ever going to get tired of lying to yourself? Of denying the truth?”
“This is the truth, Gio. You may not like it, but it is.”
A cold, brutal chuckle wisps out of my throat. “Just answer me one thing, Red.”
“And what’s that?” She folds her arms around her chest and glares.
It’s like a protective shield she wears, a mask of sorts, to keep people away. But I see right through it.
“Why the hell are you really pushing me away?”
“Are you kidding?” Her tone is laced with annoyance. “Because you’re supposed to marry my sister! Because we have to keep the peace between our families, and this is how we can do that.”
“No.” I erase the steps between us, our bodies mere centimeters apart. “That’s not the real reason.”
“Well, I’m telling you it is.” She remains against the door, her eyes tracking me as I take another step toward her.
“A woman like you does not just back down that easily, especially when you know your own sister doesn't even want to marry me.”
“How the hell do you know that?” She grimaces.
“Because I heard you two talking in the kitchen during your party.”
“You were spying on me?” Her eyes widen.
“Not exactly.” I shake my head. “You two are loud, and I just so happened to be standing very close.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose and stares at me with a glower.
“So why are you really pushing me away, Red?” I grip her chin in my palm. “You make me want to be a better man, Iseult. You make me want things.” My voice falls. “So why? Why won’t you give us a chance?”
“Because,” she whispers, her eyes falling to a close. “I just can’t.”
“You can’t what?”
Her lashes flutter until she looks at me again. “I can’t fall in love with you!”
“Why not?” I graze her lips with my thumb, my heart damn near breaking.
“Because…” Her whole body sags and she lets out a defeated sigh. “Love is fragile. It makes you weak. And I’m done being weak.”
I search her eyes, wanting to erase every instance of pain written within them.
“You're afraid of getting hurt, aren’t you?” I ask, pausing between the next set of words.
I know they may hurt her, but sometimes the only way to heal is to push on the wound deep enough until it gives you all its pain. Until you can let it heal for good.
“Is this about your mother?” I ask. “Are you afraid of losing the ones you love?”
Her nostrils widen, her eyes full of wrath. “Don’t you fucking talk about my mother!”
“Why not? You still miss her, don’t you?”
“Fuck you!” She shoves past me, but as she does, I grab her wrist and bring her flush against me.
“I’m sorry, Red.” I cup her jaw and kiss her softly. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I know what happened to her, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that she left you and that it still hurts.”
“Get out!” she grits, her voice almost to the point of shattering. “Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back!”
Tears shimmer in her eyes, but she won’t let them fall, holding them hostage like the calming sea before the storm.
“One day you’ll realize she’d want you to let go and be happy, piccolina.”
“You have no idea what she would’ve wanted!”
I heave a ragged sigh and let my hand fall away from her, knowing I have said enough for one day. “You should rest.”
My hand hits the doorknob, seconds trickling as I stay there with my back to her, not wanting to go.
“Wait!” she calls, and my pulse punches in my throat.
Ask me to stay.
“Call me when you get home,” she says instead.
I turn toward her, her features clouded in despair.
“You worried about me, Red?” A tiny smirk lines my lips. “I love it when you worry about me.”
“I’m serious.” Her voice grows alarmed, and she appears before me in a few quick steps and grabs my hand. “Don’t forget. Promise me.”
Something dark crosses her face, like a ghostly shadow.
“I promise.” I squeeze her fingers like an oath. “As soon as I step inside that door.”
She nods and lifts up her chin.
“Goodnight, beautiful.”
She swallows hard. I can see her throat vibrate.
“Oh, and before I go, don’t forget to open the gift I left you.” With my head, I gesture toward the box I placed on her bed.
“Thanks.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
She shrugs a single shoulder. “Doesn’t matter.”
Fuck.
And she thinks it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to fall in love with her.