Page 56 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

Mimi welcomed it. She hated it when he looked…tired. Or burnt out. Or as if he was losing a battle. Which was exactly how he had looked that night in their bedroom.

Ten odd days of distance from him, from her own confused thoughts, gave her crystal-clear clarity. There had been a kind of resignation when he talked about his family, but there had been acceptance too. Like setting down a burden that he had carried for so long. So, his unhappiness had been because of her? Because of where they stood with each other?

Should she have had more patience, more courage and faith in their relationship? In him and herself?

He’d even taunted that she was running away again. But she hadn’t paid attention, miserable in her love for him. How had she not even told him? How had she failed herself without even trying?

“I didn’t want to ruin your moment,” he said, bringing her to the present. “I didn’t want to make it about us.”

“Ruin it?” Her voice broke. And her self-control lay in shreds at her feet, knowing that it was her own fault for not verbalizing what she needed from him. For failing him and herself both. “Renzo, you being there was the only thing that would have made it feel real.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he said nothing.

She swallowed hard. “Why did you come? Why not tell me that you’re here? Why…”

His eyes flickered, something raw passing through them. The intensity of it stole her anger and her words. “Because I’m a coward who’s still trying to figure out how to tell you that I’m in love with you,bella.”

The breath whooshed from her lungs, and she swayed on her feet, the entire day catching up with her.

Renzo set his glass down with a thud and caught her.

Renzo kicked the door of the bedroom shut behind him with a kick. Not that anyone from the staff would dare disturb them. But with Massimo around, he didn’t want to take any chances.

He gently deposited Mimi on the bed and sat down by her side.

Like a prickly cat, she pushed away from his hold and scooted up to sit against the tufted headboard. The hem of the pink silk dress she wore bunched up against her knees and higher, exposing long, smooth limbs to his greedy eyes. The sweetheart neckline fought against the heaving thrust of her breasts, revealing the upper swells.

He gritted his teeth—it was hardly the time for him to drool over her—and met her gaze.

Color dusted her cheeks. Her hair, smooth and silky like a rainfall in the pitch-black of the night, danced around her bare shoulders. She looked…so beautiful that it was an ache to look at her and not touch her.

“Did you…” she licked her lower lip nervously “…say what I thought I heard?”

He nodded.

Tears filled her big brown eyes, overflowing instantly. “You’re not playing with me?”

It cleaved him to see her so hurt, so disbelieving. “I’ve never said anything to you that I didn’t mean,bella.”

“But all those gifts…”

A self-deprecating laugh escaped him. “After that party, I realized I was already falling for you. Seeing Rosa…” he thrust a hand through his hair “…made me realize you were the only person in my life who didn’t want my power or wealth or influence. I had nothing you could possibly want. So I decided, with my twisted logic, that I would drown you in so many lavish things that you would see the value of having me in your life.”

“Thatistwisted,” she said, honest to the last. “I wouldn’t have minded those…gifts so much if you hadn’t retreated from me. One minute, you’re engraving yourself into my flesh, my heart, and the next, you’re treating me as if I’m another burden you couldn’t escape. You stopped teasing me, provoking me, touching me… I felt desolate.”

“Not touch you?” Renzo said, shaking his head. “I couldn’t keep my hands off you.”

“Sex is not the only intimacy we shared. In fact, it was the last thing that fell into place. The grand finish that told me how perfect you are. But suddenly, outside of sex, you didn’t…touch me at all. Here I was, sitting with the realization that I was in love with you, and you couldn’t bear to look at me.”

Renzo stilled. Every inch of his body pulled toward hers as if she were using her very own gravity on him. “You love me?”

She swiped at her tears with the backs of her hands. “It feels like forever already.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Even he could hear the awe in his tone.

“You know my mother and I have issues, right?”

He laughed at her dry tone.