42. Enough #2
“I-I’m okay,” I choked, nodding. “Really.”
“Good. You’re a brave woman. You handled all of that like a true Buccini. The tracker? Bravo,” he praised, making me smile and my chest to inflate. “Are you sure you’re not mafia?”
He chuckled, stood up, and walked away from us, but his joke hadn’t landed as he expected. My stomach clenched with an uneasy feeling because of all the ominous things Callum had said about me.
You’ve spent your whole life not knowing what you are. For that you should be grateful. Some people are born into wars they never asked for.
What did that mean? Who the hell was I?
“You’re shivering,” Sani said, pulling me out of my spiral as he stood up and lifted me in his arms. “Let’s get you home.”
When we approached the cars, I deliberately kept my gaze from straying to the bodies being loaded into the back of the transit van and focused on the man waiting for us with a large blanket.
“Big-T!” Oh, thank goodness he was alive. I’d grown fond of my big, burly bodyguard. “Are you alright?”
He blinked at me, dried blood splattered across half his face, with a swollen cheek and a split lip. “Si, Signora. Are you okay?”
“Si,” I said, offering him a reassuring smile. His wary eyes darted to Sani as he placed me carefully back on my feet, and I watched the shame and apology shadow Belio’s expression. I peered up to find Sani glaring at my bodyguard, as if his eyes alone could put him six feet under.
“Hey!” I snapped, grabbing Sani’s wet shirt as he snatched the blanket from Belio. “It wasn’t his fault. He protected me the best he could and would have given his life to save me.”
“If that were true, he’d be dead right now,” Sani growled, his eyes still fixed on the man in front, who stared at his shoes.
“And then I would have been taken anyway! He needed to survive to be able to help you find me.”
“I still deserve to be punished, Signora,” Big-T muttered, without looking up. “You were taken under my supervision.”
“See. He understands. It’s code,” Sani said, rubbing my arms over the blanket as my eyes widened.
“No.” I looked between them both. “No way! I won’t let you ?punish him, Santino! He’s my bodyguard so he works for me, and I am not allowing it! As your wife…” I hesitated, but I’d already started, so I had to finish. “I’m putting my foot down.”
Sani’s dark eyes flicked across my face as a slow smile spread on his own. His eyes twinkled with amusement when my frown deepened.
“Well, you heard my wife. Belio, leave us,” Sani ordered, never taking his eyes off mine. Belio shuffled to the front of the car and climbed in.
Sani moved closer, pressing my back against the car door and trapping me in. The heat and firmness of his body, seeping through our wet clothes and the blanket, caused a delightful shudder to run down my spine. I lifted my chin, my lips parting as he brushed a strand of my damp hair from my face.
His voice dropped an octave as he leaned in closer and husked, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Make me fall more and more in love with you every damn day?”
My breath hitched, the world tilting as the ground shifted beneath my feet because those words had just rocked my goddamn world, leaving me utterly speechless. His smile widened when I stared at him like a startled doe.
“You love me?” I whispered, my fingers threading through his hair.
“Since the moment I laid eyes on you,” he said, flashing me that devastating, dimpled smile.
“And then every day since, I’ve discovered something new that makes me love you even more.
Imagine how hopelessly besotted and devoted I’ll be when we’re old and wrinkly, and I’ve loved you for an entire lifetime? ”
I leaned my head back against the car window and ran my fingertips over his face, smiling foolishly because… “I’m madly in love with you, Santino Buccini.”
“Well fuck,” he chuckled, lowering his forehead to mine. “And now you’ve done it again.”
With my hand on the nape of his neck, I drew him closer and pressed my lips to his, kissing him with every ounce of love I felt.
We moaned into each other, and the kiss deepened as he pushed me against the car, our tongues battling fiercely.
I could never get enough of how he made me feel when he kissed me like this.
His passion was all-consuming, as if he was both devouring me and drawing life from me at the same time.
The need rushing through my body and igniting every nerve ending burned with a deep ache. Fuck, I’d missed him so much.
“Let’s get out of here,” he groaned into the kiss, clearly feeling the desperation too. “I need to get you out of these wet clothes and bury myself inside you.”
“Hmm,” I moaned as his lips moved down my throat, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him closer. “But we won’t be alone at home, will we? I just need you. All to myself. Please.”
He pulled back, his mischievous eyes sparkling. “Bike ride?”
I grinned, nodding quickly as he grabbed my hand and shouted orders at his men to go on.
He tugged me over to his bike and placed his helmet on my head before straddling the machine.
With the corners of the blanket clenched in my hands, keeping it wrapped around my shoulders, I climbed on behind him, pressing my body against his back and wrapping the blanket around us both.
We flew back towards the city, zigzagging down the narrow streets of Rome until we reached the rural outskirts and ascended Janiculum Hill.
He parked in a quiet spot, sheltered by trees, and I climbed off, removing the helmet and wrapping the blanket more tightly around me as I took a few steps forward to admire the spectacular view.
The city stretched beneath us like a sea of warm amber lights, with the grand silhouette of St. Peter’s Basilica glowing softly in the distance.
The magnitude of what had so nearly happened to me hit me right in the chest. I’d nearly been taken away from all of this.
From Rome, from a life I loved, from Sani.
I’d never take it for granted again. All my life, I’d moved around and never truly felt like I belonged anywhere. Just a visitor passing by, never finding a place to let my roots grow and flowers blossom. I’d finally found what I’d always deep down been longing for. A place that felt like home.
Sani came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my body and lowering his chin onto my shoulder.
“Rome is so pretty from up here,” I whispered.
“I come here a lot,” Sani admitted, squeezing me tighter.
“Because you can look down on your empire like a king?” I teased, leaning my head back against him. He smirked.
“Partly, yes. But mainly because I love the nostalgia and intimacy I feel here—looking over a city so rich in history and imagining all the untold stories it holds, knowing that even for a brief moment, I’ll be part of it.
The power, the wealth and riches, the betrayals and wars...
and the countless love stories that bleed from every stone.
This city makes me feel so much.” He kissed the exposed skin on my shoulder.
“It’s strange because I wasn’t born here, but I’ve always felt a deep connection to it.
I love the way it feels like nothing is trying too hard or is too perfect.
I love the quirky way the streets twist and wander wherever they please, and how the ancient buildings lean into each other, all slightly different and unpredictable, yet with their own elegant charm.
It’s beautiful but not fragile. It’s been through hell and heartbreak, centuries of transitions, yet it still stands, more captivating than ever before.
I suppose Verona will always be my home, but Rome has my heart. ”
I smiled, turning in his arms to peer up at his face. “I thought I had your heart?”
He brushed the pad of his thumb over my lips as he gazed into my eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? You are my Rome.”
My heart gave a huge, involuntary somersault. This man. How was I ever supposed to survive him?
We both lunged for each other at the same time, our mouths colliding in an explosion of unrestrained longing and need.
I leapt up, wrapping my legs around his waist as the blanket slipped off my shoulder and fell onto the grass.
His hands gripped my ass as our tongues fought a dance of passion while I clawed his shirt open and tore it down his arms.
I’d never had sex outdoors in the open like this; I’d always been too afraid of getting caught that I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus on enjoying it.
But at that moment, the rest of the world ceased to exist. It was just us.
And I needed him so badly I couldn’t care less where we were or who might see us.