Chapter 44

She dropped the bag the moment she closed the door then turned and wrapped her arms around me. “You did wonderfully, cara mia,” she whispered against my shoulder, squeezing me tighter. “Welcome

to my family.”

A tear escaped and slipped down my cheek. I was sad. I was mourning the loss of the life I should have lived. And yet, something sparked to life inside me hearing her words. Whether I wanted it or not, I was part of something now. I was part of Maria’s family. I was a Luca.

And then, in what I was coming to see as usual-Maria fashion, she leaned away, picked up the garment bag, and did what needed to be done.

“We have to get you changed in a hurry,” she said, maneuvering me around so she could unfasten the long row of tiny pearl buttons down my back.

The woman could have been a quick-change artist. I was out of my gown and into a long, white sheath with a slit all the way up the thigh in two minutes flat.

She stepped back and looked me over.

“Bellissima,” she exclaimed before returning me to the doors outside the hall where Dominic waited, talking in quiet tones with Vincent.

Following Maria and Vincent, we walked inside the hall to an uproar of applause. Again, I wanted to cover my ears, but I focused on the sage green and light terracotta décor instead. The earthy colors were broken up by a veritable sea of white flowers. Lilies, I realized—the same flowers Dominic had given me after our disastrous date.

I stared at the flowers as Dominic held out a chair, laden in silk, for me at the head table. I wondered what would have happened that day if I’d rejected the flowers and sent him on his way. Would that have been the end of it? Somehow, I doubted it. Still, it made no sense that he’d bothered with all those dates if this was going to be the outcome no matter what.

He was trying to make this easier for you, a voice whispered inside my head, but was that right? It was true he could have just dragged me down the aisle the day we’d met. I had a feeling the priest would have been no more help than he’d been today.

I looked over at him. He sat next to me, conversing in Italian with a middle-aged man and the twenty- something pretty brunette that hung off the man’s arm. I tried to wait patiently, fiddling with the ring that was wrapped around my finger. I could feel the weight of it, the strange pressure against my skin, but it didn’t feel quite like the noose I’d expected. Constricting, but not strangling.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he said as the couple wandered away, leaning in so that his lips brushed my ear.

A warm shiver rushed through me. “Why did you wait?” I blurted out.

Dominic leaned back and raised a brow at me, waiting for me to explain.

“If this was going to be the outcome all along, why did you bother with those dates? It doesn’t make sense.”

He shrugged.

“I thought we’d have more time. There was no reason to rush you if there was any chance it could have gone more smoothly.” His words were spoken lightly, but it felt like they’d been chosen carefully.

“Would you like to dance, limone?” he asked, standing up and effectively putting an end to the conversation.

He offered his hand, and I took it, pausing to look around. There were already couples dancing on the pale wood dance floor. It seemed there would be no official first dance for husband and wife, for which I was grateful. I’d had enough of strangers staring at me for one day.

“Satisfied?” he asked with a quirk of his brow and a smile playing at the corners of his lips. Cocky mind reader.

I let him pull me up, and he kept my hand in his as he led me around the head table and out to the dance floor.

Once there, he kept my hand in his and placed his free hand on the small of my back, leading me into an easy waltz.

We floated across the lacquered dance floor like we were weightless. Around and around we went, as though each movement had been meticulously choreographed.

Fuck. He was good at this.

He pulled me closer until no more than a hair’s breadth separated my chest from his. I could feel the heat of his body seeping through the thin fabric of my dress and licking along my skin.

If I closed my eyes, it was so easy to get lost in his warmth. Despite the friction that was ever-present between us, this part seemed to come so naturally. If I just shut off my mind and let my body take over, I had no doubt the result would be cataclysmic. And it was so damn tempting. To turn off the anger, the frustration, and bitterness. To get caught up in the heat and the lust and the sexual energy that was sparking between us.

“Give in, limone,” he whispered close to my ear so I’d hear him over the music. So tempting.

“Did I tell you how amazing you look in that dress?” he asked, his words slipping over my skin like a caress.

He twirled me around then pulled me back against him with so much force it left me winded.

He leaned in even closer until I could feel his lips graze the shell of my ear. “Did I tell you how amazing you’ll look when I get you out of it?”

Tiny jolts of heat shot through my body, setting a fire burning low in my abdomen. “Just give in,” he’d said, and all the hot, sparked up parts of me cried out in agreement.

“I’d like to leave, Dominic,” I said. ‘Then what are we waiting for?”

He pressed his lips against my neck, just beneath my ear, sending a fresh wave of heat through my body.

Without waiting for the song to finish, we left the dance floor, walking hand-in-hand toward the exit.

I caught sight of Leandro just before we left the hall. He was standing with his back ramrod straight and his hands clasped in front of him, next to one of the exits. He nodded to me as Dominic and I passed

by, but I didn’t miss the quirk of his lips.

“…you and Dominic may be better suited for one another than you think,” he’d said. I bet my maid of honor was feeling pretty smug now.