“I didn’t stop loving you when I left Italy.” Now, she lifted her hands, pressing them to his hips, a shiver running through her at the relief that came from touching him freely, openly. “I’ll never stop loving you.”
His lips brushed hers as though he couldn’t help himself, but sanity was pulling at Elodie, demanding her attention.
“I love you, but it’s not that simple.”
“Oh?” His lips stayed pressed to hers.
“It’s not just about us. There’s Jack to consider. He needs stability and us dating could be really bad for him. What if it doesn’t work out?”
“I don’t want to date you, Elodie, I want to marry you.”
She stared at him with obvious surprise.
“As soon as we can arrange it. I want to live with you, husband and wife, and I want to make Jack a brother, a sister, then another brother and sister,” his hands curved over her stomach. “I want to wake up beside you every morning for the rest of my life, kissing you here,” he pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, “and here,” the tip of her nose, “And here,” the top of her head. “Do you truly think there is any way on this earth we will not work out?”
“I…”
“I love you,” he said again, and now his smile was wonderfully arrogant, so that his confidence was completely contagious.
She smiled back, her heart bursting inside of her.
“Well, Elodie? What do you think?”
Her smile showed how certain she was, how utterly confident in this. “I think you’re a very, very slow learner,” she said thoughtfully, “but that once you catch on, you really catch on.”
He grinned. “Is this a yes?”
She tilted her head, pretending to think about it but her smile told him everything he needed to know.
He groaned as the silence stretched around them. “I warn you, Elodie, I will resort to less than honourable methods soon.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “Is that a promise?”
He sobered, his expression serious. “It is a promise to love you and care for you and make you happy in every single way for the rest of your life.”
Her heart exploded. “Then what are you waiting for?”
He arched a brow.
“Take me to bed, Fiero Montebello.”
“And then make you my wife?” He demanded, his determination so familiar to her that her smile spread from ear to ear.
“Yep.” She lifted up and kissed him now, her pulse throbbing at the perfection of that contact. “Forever and ever.”
“As long as we both shall live.”
Later, much later, when the morning sun was high in the sky and their bodies were finally sated, she pushed up on one elbow, a frown on her face.
“What is it, cara?” He stroked her side distractedly and she wriggled closer, craving closeness even then.
“Did you say a brother and a sister and a brother and a sister?”
He nodded, smiling.
“Five children?”
“At least.”