Page 61 of Mine Again (Mafia Bride #2)

Chapter Sixty

Isabella

I throw on a nightshirt and towel off my hair after a shower, getting ready for bed.

The rest of the day passed without any more distressing revelations or emotional detonations.

Thank heavens for that!

When we got back to the house, we cooked and enjoyed a scrumptious meal. Then we cleaned up and watched a movie.

It was all so… domestic. Normal, yet refreshingly new. Because it’s not something we’ve had before. It felt like the life we might’ve built if we’d ever had the chance.

Settled, but still laced with that constant urge to touch. To stay connected, even in the smallest ways. And oh, did I bask in those small gestures.

Him grabbing both sides of my hips to peek over my shoulder, pretending he was checking if I was cutting the carrots thin enough.

Pressing a kiss to the top of my head while we were curled up on the couch.

Rolling his eyes as he rearranged the spice jars into his preferred order after I’d shoved them back in haphazardly.

Okay, I might’ve done that on purpose. I knew it would bug him .

We both held back, though. Not with the teasing, but with the affection.

It’s not that I didn’t want to shower him with the love and longing I’ve stored up for five long years, I just wasn’t quite ready to open that door again. And Luca, honorable as ever, has respected that.

My mind kept circling back to what he said at the archery range. Listening to him lay it all out, the plans he made, the boundaries he wouldn’t cross, the quiet ways he tried to get back to me… it softened the sharp edges his absence from my life had left.

He walked a razor’s edge to protect what we had, even if that meant waiting in agony.

I slip beneath the covers, bracing for that first shock of cold sheets against bare skin. Instead my legs meet delicious warmth.

Curious, I lift the blanket and spot a hot water bottle near my feet.

Damn this man.

Luca’s thoughtfulness tugs at my heart, melting away yet another layer of resistance that wants to cling to the hurt of the past.

The sound of running water drifts from behind the bathroom door. He’s still in the shower, and honestly, I’m relieved.

He doesn’t need to see the emotional tug-of-war I’m sure is playing out all over my face.

I feel like I need to make a decision. About us .

Am I all in again ?

I lean over and press my face into his pillow. Just for a moment. Just to inhale his scent.

As if that alone somehow holds the answer I’m looking for.

Do I actually have to decide? Some things work themselves out naturally.

After this morning’s gym moment, I wasn’t sure of anything.

Not about him. Not about the last five years. Least of all, myself.

Everything I thought I knew had blurred, like someone had smeared the edges of my reality.

It’s left me doubting the world around me, and my own ability to read it.

To trust what I feel.

I hadn’t realized how deeply that uncertainty had gotten under my skin until I found myself hesitating. Holding back. Afraid to reach for him. Afraid of dragging the past into every new moment.

But our time at the archery range grounded me. It reset the way I look at him, the way I look at us .

Because being with him is so damn easy.

We slipped back into our old rhythm like no time had passed. We bantered and laughed like we’d never hurt each other.

And perhaps that’s what scares me most.

It shouldn’t be this easy.

Not after everything. Not after five years of silence and ache.

But it is.

And this emotional roller coaster I keep talking about?

Right now, I’m on the rise. Climbing. Hopeful.

But everyone knows what comes after the peak.

Even with Luca’s promise that he’s on this ride with me, even with his arms ready to hold me when we fall, I still fear the drop.

I try to take comfort in his presence. In his steadiness.

In the way he’s here. Now. Always just a breath away.

The water cuts off, yanking me from my thoughts. My gaze drifts to the door, just like that first morning I woke up here. I expected Sebastian to emerge from the bathroom then.

My stomach knots. I want to erase the memory of how he played me.

Was any of it real?

The way Sebastian looked at me, kissed me. The conversations about our dreams and hopes.

I hate that I’m questioning myself… everything, really.

I don’t want to be cautious and guard every decision with doubt.

And I really don’t want to let fear hold me back from what’s rekindling between Luca and me.

Because it’s there.

Simmering. Waiting .

The belief in my own instincts is shaky. And maybe the only way to rebuild that is by choosing better now.

And here’s the thing: I spent years wishing for this… for exactly what I have right now.

Luca back with me, loving me as fiercely as ever, and a life away from the Mafia.

Luca didn’t just think of me these past five years. He built his entire world for me.

Every detail in this house—every cup, every book, every tucked-away memory—is our old hideaway, remade into something permanent.

It all speaks of a man who never moved on. Who, unlike me, never even tried.

He held on. To me. To us.

So should I really let the past get in the way and ruin this?

Now that we’re back together, it’s like no time has passed.

Except it has.

We can’t pretend we didn’t lose those years or that there isn’t pain between us.

But maybe it’s not a mountain we have to climb.

Maybe it’s a balloon.

Albeit a giant one. Like a zeppelin, carrying all this emotional baggage. And it’s tethered to me by ropes I’ve been gripping so tightly I forgot I could let go.

But I can .

I just have to choose to.

Untie the knots. Release it. Watch it rise and float away.

And in its place?

Clear skies. Warmth. Sunlight.

And Luca.

The bathroom door opens, and he steps out. Barefoot, damp hair tousled, wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers.

Despite the emotional wringer I’ve been through today, despite how bone-deep my exhaustion runs, my hormones clearly didn’t get the memo.

The moment I take him in with his tanned skin, defined muscles, and that sharp V leading straight to territory I know I’d enjoy, something low in my stomach almost growls.

My nipples turn into hard points, my breasts aching with need. Suddenly, all I can think about is his mouth on them.

Down, girl!

I pull the sheets up a little higher to hide how much the sight of him affects me.

He doesn’t say a word, but I’m sure he saw. The slight upturn at the corner of his mouth gives him away.

Luca lifts the covers and slides into bed beside me. The mattress dips with his weight, and the heat of him curls instantly around my side.

Now, sleep is the furthest thing from my mind.