My blood warmed. “No kidding. I’m getting hard again just thinking about how good it was. I felt everything. You’re lucky I didn’t know about that before.”
She pushed a hand against my chest, shoving me to my back in the grass as she braced herself on her elbow and looked down at me. “Are you saying that was your first time?”
I smiled, recognizing the victory in her eyes, loving that I’d been able to give her that. “First time ever, angioletto. I think that officially makes me yours.”
She bit her lip, glanced at my mouth, then looked back up to my eyes with a heat that told me she wasn’t the least bit sated. Not even close. “You are mine, Luc. All mine.” She climbed over me and kissed me. “Take me inside and I’ll prove it to you all night.”
I groaned against her mouth. She didn’t need to prove anything. She’d already given me more than I could have ever expected.
She’d just given me a future. And I would never let anything tear us apart again.
8
Natalie
A whisper soft brush against my nape roused me from sleep.
Drawing in a deep breath, I snuggled into my pillow, then smiled when that brush moved to the side of my neck and I felt Luc’s tempting lips press a kiss right below my ear.
“Wake up, sleepy,” he whispered. “You can’t spend all day here in bed.”
I reached for his hand at my hip and pulled it against my chest, tugging him tighter to my back. “You wore me out last night. I need my beauty sleep.”
He chuckled in my ear, and unable to resist, I rolled the other direction and curled up against his chest, then pressed my face to his neck and inhaled his spicy masculine scent.
“Mm.” I licked a spot on his throat, then bit down gently. “You taste good.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest as his hand slid to my lower spine, and he pulled me close. “Keep that up and I might get back in this bed with you.”
I eased away and looked at him, realizing he wasn’t naked the way he’d been when we’d finally made it to the bed and fallen asleep wrapped around each other. His hair was damp at the edges, telling me he’d showered, and he was wearing a dark blue button down rolled up to his forearms and open at his chest.
I looked down to discover he wasn’t even under the covers with me. The blanket was separating our legs, and his were most definitely covered by a pair of taupe slacks.
Alarm immediately registered because he hadn’t said anything about having to go back to his family today. I’d hoped maybe we could have one day alone together before the craziness of his world consumed us again.
Pushing against him, I sat up and dragged the sheet to my chest with one hand while I brushed back my unruly curls with the other. “Are you leaving already? What’s going on?”
He sat up next to me and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Only for an hour. I have to go pick up the priest.”
“What priest?”
Grinning, he brushed the hair over my shoulder and kissed me, right behind my ear, right where he knew it drove me absolutely wild. “The one who’s going to marry us.”
“We’re doing that today?”
His smile widened. “You bet your ass we’re doing it today. I’m not giving you any reason to change your mind.”
He swung his legs over the side of the mattress, grabbed something from the foot of the bed, then came around to my side.
“It’s already after ten, sleepy, so come on. I’ve got things to do and you do as well.” He held up my robe so I could slip my arms through the sleeves. “Bianca’s in the other room waiting for you.”
I tugged the light blue silk robe around me and pushed off the bed. “Bianca who?”
Luc moved to the dresser. “Bianca Ciccone.”
My eyes widened as I stood and tied the sash at my waist. “From the Bandini fashion house?” Luc had introduced me to Bianca in Rome over a month ago when we’d been meeting with designers for Covet. “What is she doing here?”
“I called her. Told her we were getting married. She was more than thrilled to help out.”
I must have looked as stupefied as I felt, because Luc smiled, crossed back to me, and said, “Trust me. She picked some really great gowns for you.”
I didn’t doubt that. The dress Bianca had picked for me to wear to the Cipriani party in Rome had knocked Luc’s socks off. The night I’d worn it had been the first night we’d spent together but...
“I don’t need a wedding gown. I don’t need anything fancy. When I asked you to marry me, I just meant—”
“I know exactly what you meant, angioletto. But I want to do this the right way. It’s important to me. To us. Let me handle the details. All I want you to do is relax, pick your gown, and let Bianca’s crew pamper you.”
Still in complete shock, I looked up at him in the sunlight shining through the windows of our bedroom, all handsome and perfect and mine. “But your family—”
“The family that matters to me will be here today. Don’t worry.” He pressed his lips against mine, soft and swift and gone way too fast. Then he grinned, and his smile was so sweet, so happy, so full of excitement, it erased all the stress and worry I’d seen on his face the last few weeks and made him ten thousand times more handsome than I ever remembered.
“Here.” He slid a small rectangular box into my hands.
Still dazed by all the wedding news, I looked down at the purple box with its pretty white bow and said, “What’s this?”
“Early wedding present. Or late, depending how you look at it. Open it.”
I tugged the top off and stared dumbfounded at the cell phone inside. My cell phone.
Confused, I pulled it out and hit the power button. The screen flashed and booted up. “You’ve had this the whole time?”
“You left it in Tuscany. I didn’t want my family to find it. I planned to give it back to you sooner than this, but, well...” He scratched the back of his head. “Things were complicated.”
Meaning, he’d been afraid I’d try to call for help. Which, considering how angry and irrational I’d been, I probably would have done. And that would have put dozens of other people in danger.
“And before you go thinking I invaded your privacy,” he said quickly, “I didn’t. When I plugged it in when we were on the island, it downloaded dozens of texts, the last of which was from your mother. I didn’t look at anything else.”
Understanding dawned. That was why he’d made me leave that message for my mom. Not to scare or intimidate me as I’d foolishly assumed, but because he’d known she was worried.
“I know it’s too short notice for her to get here today,” he said softly, “but I thought you might want to call her.”
Tears filled my eyes. Absurd, senseless tears all because of a stupid phone.
Pushing to my toes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close. “Thank you. It’s the best wedding present ever.”
He huffed and slid his arms around my waist. “Your own phone? We both know that’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. Because it’s not about the phone. It’s about what it represents.”