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Dominic stared into her jeweled eyes. “It changes everything.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She backed away from him.

Seeing that she was getting upset, he let her see his own frustration. “Don’t think I don’t want to. Because, trust me, princess, I do.”

“Then what’s the problem? Because, five seconds ago, I was perfectly fine to fuck.”

“I watched my father belittle, beat, and even murder the women who carried his unborn children. He hated women, because he mistook their kindness as weakness, and being opinionated was being a bitch.” Dominic looked at her proudly and laughed. “He would have hated you.”

Maria stood stunned as she continued to listen.

“He didn’t want daughters, and the only reason Kat is here today is because he would have lost the best soldier he had if he didn’t let me care for her. I did the best I could to protect her and care for her, along with all my brothers. But do you know why I never once even pretended to think I could have a relationship with Bristol, or with any other woman, for that matter?”

Maria didn’t answer, her silence her only response allowing him the time to tell her.

“I would have rather been alone until my last dying breath, having never loved than force someone into the life that I was forced to lead. This isn’t the life I would have chosen, Maria, but it is the path I was given, and I started walking it to right my father’s wrongs.” Dominic’s hazel eyes suddenly glowed, revealing the man who had become the Luciano boss for a reason. “But now I walk it because I’m good at it. I’ve become addicted to it. The danger, the power …” His haunting voice trailed off for a moment, showing just how addicted he was to it. “All of it.

“And that is why I swore to myself I would never subject someone to this life, because you were right when you told me I was worse than my father. Lucifer did the things he did because he was born sick. I believed I did the things I have done because mine and my family’s lives depended on it. Now that he’s gone, I am not so sure of that anymore. I can’t walk away from this life, and I never will. But I would never forgive myself if it hurts the woman I love.”

Maria watched his tatted hand reach out to her. Letting him take her hand, she studied his inked, rough fingers, intertwining them with her slender, manicured ones.

“Then I met you … and I don’t think you being with me is going to change much about your life, Maria Caruso.” Dominic stared down at their interlocking fingers with her, seeing how opposite they looked, not only on the outside but the blood underneath. “But my life will.”

“So …” Maria slowly moved her gaze from where they were tethered, up his body, until she got to his eyes. “Why exactly are you not fucking me right now?”

Dominic smiled at her need at first, but it quickly disappeared, showing how serious he was. “Because I’m in love with you, princess—” Taking the hand he held, he brought it up to his lips, placing a light kiss on the back of her smooth flesh. “—and I want you to marry me.”

I—

Maria’s mind went blank, never thinking she would hear those words in her life. She even thought she had heard him wrong, that Dominic could not possibly be ser—

“You’re being serious, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

A part of Maria actually felt bad to do this … “Dominic, I can’t marry you.” Taking her hand away from his, she needed to make this clear. “That’s fine if you believe in marriage, but I don’t. I tried on those wedding dresses for a reason; because I never thought I would want to spend the rest of my life with someone, and because even if I did want it, I would never do it. For me to stand in a church and freely give myself over to a man is not something I call romantic. I thought you of all people would understand.”

“I don’t want to marry you for the reasons my sister had to marry Drago.” Dominic was quick to understand what she meant by the last comment. “Why I want to marry you has nothing to do with our last names and everything to do with how I feel about you.”

“Again”—Maria’s mind and body were getting even more confused—“what exactly does this have to do with us having sex?”

“Because I might go to hell, princess, but I would never do anything to take you with me.”

“Not only am I unsure if I believe in heaven and hell, but I certainly don’t believe that having sex before marriage makes you unworthy to go there, even if it’s real.” That made Maria angry. Virginity was a notion created by men that didn’t pertain to them, and if it did, wasn’t it ironic how a woman’s body gave a clear sign and a man’s didn’t? If heaven and hell existed, then Maria believed God was unfortunately a man for that sole reason alone.