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“I completely agree with you. Traveling can be overwhelming. I’m still checking where I am sometimes.” She reached over and hugged me, then whispered in my ear. “I also have moments when I cry when I have to leave Paul. It’ll get better, especially when he returns to you.” She let go, and I put on a smile. “You have a great flight, and I’ll call you soon. Okay?”
“Okay. Thank you Nadia. Thank you Paul.”
Paul hugged me, and then Rocco placed his arm on my shoulder. “We’ll see you both soon. Dinner at ours?”
“We’d love that,” Nadia said, and Paul agreed.
I turned back to Rocco. “Thank you so much for what you did for Jacob. I can’t express enough how much that means to me.”
“Jacob’s an amazing artist. I’m glad Paul loved his work as much as me.”
I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. When we broke apart, Zane and other security guards became a wallaround us, blocking all access out of the stadium. We stayed together all the way to the waiting car in the secured, blocked-off area. We climbed in and stayed with our sides touching as we rode to the airport.
“Rocco,” I whispered.
“Yes, Bella.”
“I want to tell you…the same. But I—”
“I didn’t tell you I love you for you to say it back. When you’re ready, it will be much better.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’ll come from your heart and I’ll cherish it.”
I melted and leaned my head on his shoulder. “I cherish you.”
He pulled me across his lap, and I snuggled, inhaling his heat and sweat. I closed my eyes and was back in Mustique, where we’d lay naked for hours, getting lost in each other.I wish we never left.
“Hum, Rocco?”
“Hum, Adelina,” he mused.
“Paul didn’t seem so sure about your trip?”
“He’s annoyed with George, and so am I.”
Rocco looked exhausted, and I cursed all the pressure Luca left him with. All the legal proceedings were pushing him further away from his movies.
“So you’ll be gone longer than a couple of days?” I asked, my voice raising octaves.
“Yes, if I’m being honest.”
My shoulders dropped, and I hid my eyes. “Oh.” His news of traveling longer felt like a storm rolling in on a sunny day. I touched my hot face. “God, I’m acting like a baby. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
He squeezed my waist. “I do. Me.”
I groaned and tried to move, but he closed his arms around me.
“Just let me go, Rocco.”
“So you can hide away and put some distance between us? No way.”
“I don’t like myself like this,” I mumbled.
“Like what? Mine. That’s what you don’t like?”
“It’s…it’s not uhm…I don’t know. All this…I don’t know….”Bonding.“It’s making me feel….”Like I need you every waking minute. Like I can’t breathe without your touch.