Page 148 of The Temptation

“I just know,” she says, her voice soft but certain.

The room falls silent, and I will my mind to stopoverthinking … to stop overanalysing everything when it comes to this woman.

“Remember when I told you on the other side of fear, you’d find happiness?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s true, you just need to accept it, let the negative go and watch the magic that is us unfold.”

I chuckle. “The magic?”

She lifts her head off my chest. “You can’t deny that what we just did was magic. Imagine how good it’s going to be once you’re fully recovered.”

“I wish I shared your optimism.”

“You will in time, you just need to chill out and accept this is your life now. Relax and enjoy the ride.”

“I enjoyed your ride,” I admit as my hand moves down to palm her luscious arse.

“Mmm, same. Who needs book boyfriends when I have the real deal?”

“I still hate all of those fictional fuckers.”

A soft laugh falls from her lips. “None of them compare to you.” She shifts slightly before adding, “You deserve good things, Romeo. I hope you know that.”

My throat tightens, but I don’t say anything.

“You keep waiting for someone to take it all away from you, don’t you? Me, this, whatever peace you manage to grab, but not everything has to come with a price.”

I glance away and swallow thickly because she always sees straight through my facade.

She presses a kiss just beneath my collarbone and continues. “You didn’t get love the way you should’ve growing up, so this is foreign to you. I see it in the way you flinch sometimes when I’m kind to you. Like you don’t trust it.” Her voice breaks a little as she speaks her truth … my truth. “Please believe me when I say I love you. And not because you earned it, or fought for it, or even bled for it. I love you just because you’re you. That’s enough. Youareand always will be enough for me, Romeo.”

I feel her hand smooth over my heart, steady and warm, and for the first time in a very long time, I start to believe maybe she’s right. Maybe I am worth loving.

“Lucia,” I whisper into the darkness, needing to give her something in return for all she’s given me.

“Yeah?”

“I love you too, baby.”

I’m standing at the basin in the bathroom, shaving, when Lucia comes up behind me, snakes her arms around my waist, and places a soft kiss on my bare back.

Even when we lived in the safe house, I had some privacy. I’ve done things solo for so long; this new part of my life is going to take some getting used to.

“I’m going to head out for a bit,” she says, poking her head out from behind me and shamelessly running her eyes over my torso in the reflection. “Our borrowed driver is on his way here now.”

I pause the razor midair and meet her eyes in the mirror. She’s already dressed for the day, her hair is pulled back, and those plump fucking lips of hers are glossed. She looks like a goddamn angel wrapped in sunlight. And she’s leaving, and for some reason I’m not happy about that.

“For what?” I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“To run some errands. I shouldn’t be gone long.”

“You don’t want me to come?”

“And do what? Push the shopping cart around thegrocery store, while I have to fight off all the desperate housewives fawning all over you?”

I smirk at her reflection in the mirror. “Could be fun. It will give you a chance to show off your new husband.”