Page 100 of The One Night Match

The next laugh that tumbles out makes my chest ache uncomfortably, but I don’t care. All I care about is that I survived by some miracle.

Against all odds, even when I’d given up, I still made it through.

“Did you mean it?” I ask.

“Did I mean what?”

“What you said in the clearing. That you love me.”

Cruz drops his face until his breath whispers across my cheeks. “Fuck yes, I did. I love you so fucking much it hurts. I love you with every damn beat of my heart, and every breath through my lungs. I love you with every single piece of me.”

“I love you too,” I whisper. “When I landed in the water, I thought I was going to die, and all I could think about was all the things we never got the chance to do.”

“Me too, Kitten. Me too.” He brushes his fingers through my damp hair. “Once we’ve sorted everything out in the business, we’re taking a long honeymoon. Anywhere you want, for as long as you want.”

“You can’t be away for that long,” I argue.

“I’m the boss, I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

I roll my eyes and lean into his hand. “I think I want to go back to work.”

He frowns.

“Not right away. Maybe after the honeymoon. But I don’t want to just be your wife and the mother of our kids if we have any. I want to have my own identity.”

He nods. “I have a friend at the University of Washington. I’ll talk to them to see if they’re looking for a librarian.”

Tears well in my eyes again as I choke on a rough sob. I misjudged Cruz. I allowed my preconceived ideas about men in the Mafia to cloud my judgment, but my husband is nothing like them, or at least not with me.

Cruz may be a lethal mob boss to the rest of the world, but to me, he’s anything but.

Asteady beep pulls me from my restful sleep, and I crack open an eye to find a sterile white ceiling.

Hospital.

“Lexi, you can’t stay all night. The hospital has rules,” Mary says calmly.

“Cruz is staying.”

“Cruz is Riley’s husband.”

“And I’m her sister.”

She sighs, and I tilt my head to the side in time to see her run a hand down her face. “Your brother will be back shortly, and they have some things to work through. Things that Cruz won’t want his little sister being a part of.”

Lexi huffs, which makes Colten snicker.

He’s so quiet it took me a minute to realize he was here.

“You’ll stay with her until Cruz is back?” Mary asks.

“Of course, Ms. De Luca.”

Mary shakes her head. “Colten, I’ve known you since you were knee high to a grasshopper. I think we can drop the Ms. De Luca nonsense.”

“If you say so, Mary.” He smirks.

“You kids are going to be the death of me, I swear,” she mutters on her way out of the room, leaving me alone with Colten.