My heart is heavy because I miss him so much and I know we have a lot of crap to talk about. But all I want to do is jump into his arms and tell him I love him. I want to kiss him and hear him say that back to me. I don’t want to deal with all this crap with my family.
I open the door to my apartment and pull my hair down. I drop my bag on the table and I freeze when I see Marco standing there. His hands are in his pockets and his expression is unreadable. His suit jacket is draped over the dining room chair and his sleeves are unbuttoned and rolled up.
“Don’t text me K, baby.”
That was not what I thought he was going to say. I stare at the handsome face of the man I know I’m going to marry and I see how this is going to go down.
“Don’t come at me with whatever mood this is,” I fire back, waving my hand towards him and he smirks. “Did they call you?”
“Yeah,” he answers casually.
“And?” Most men would be running scared, but he isn’t. He’s standing here looking as sexy as ever and I really shouldn’t be this turned on right now.
“I told your brother to fuck off.”
“Which one?” I ask as I take a step towards him. I’m enjoying it more than I should and I would’ve loved to have seen their faces.
“All of them.” A bark of laughter escapes me as he pulls his hands from his pockets and tosses his cell phone on the table.
“You let yourself in.” I motion towards my door that I know was locked.
“As one of your brothers mentioned, my past has sketchy spots. I picked up a few things.”
I know how Marco grew up and I admire him for it. He’s a fighter, but to hear one of them throw that in his face makes me boil. We came into this world given more than most and our dad taught us to remember that others aren’t so lucky. My dad worked hard to give us a good life and they know better. Hell, Dad’s start in life wasn’t much better than Marco’s.
“Which. One,” I demand. If they thought they saw me mad before, they have no idea what’s coming.
“Hmm.” His hand comes up to his mouth to stroke his beard. “I don’t think it’ll win me any favors if I rat one of them out.”
I don’t know how he does it, but he calms some of the anger I was feeling with his simple words.
“You need favors with them?” I lift an eyebrow and Marco moves closer to me.
“I’m not going anywhere, so…” He shrugs and my heart speeds up.
Marco doesn’t always say what he’s feeling. He’d rather take action. Doing something about a problem is what he understands, but I’m the type that needs the words. But I want to show him that I can speak his language, too.
“You love me,” I say, and it’s not a question.
His actions since the moment we met have shown nothing but love. From the very second he sat down at my table, he knew he belonged there just as I knew it, too.
“How could I not?” He moves to stand in front of me and I tilt my head back to look up at him.
I slide my hands up his broad chest and wrap my arms around his neck. His hands go to my hips as he pulls me tight to him and I’m showing him that I love him, too. He can tell me about what’s going on later. I don’t need his explanation right now. This is me showing him that I’m all in.
“Make love to me,” I say as I pull him down so I can press my lips to his.
Chapter Four
Marco
I kiss her softly before I place my hand lightly against her neck. “You’re not going to dictate how this goes, baby.” I rub my nose against hers and I feel her warm breath against my lips. “You can ask all you want, but we both know you like it when I’m in charge.”
I push on her slightly as I match her step for step until her back is against the wall. She looks up at me with her red lips slightly parted and I put my fists on either side of her.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me, Gia?” I can feel the heat between us pulsing like a living, breathing thing. “I’ve spent my life holding back, but from the moment I saw you, I lost all control.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she says, sliding her hands through my hair.
“I’m not good enough for you, but I can’t let you go.” I slide down her body until I’m kneeling in front of her and then I undo her jeans. “You had your chance to run.”