Chapter Seventy Nine

Chapter Seventy Nine
Camilla POV

I feel my forearm being rubbed ever so slightly, small circular motions that are barely a caress. "Nick, are you awake?" I ask quietly.

"I hope so," he says and then chuckles. "It would suck if this were a dream and not real." I roll over so that I'm now facing him. "God, you're beautiful," he says, a half-smile on his face. "I wasn't sure I’d get to see you again."

"Of course you were," I say. "You promised."

"Indeed," he sounds tired still, and I look over at the clock to see it's just after seven in the morning.

"It's still early, aren't you tired?" I ask.

"Yes, I am. But we have things to discuss," he says. "I don't want to have this conversation in front of my parents and as soon as they know I'm back, they will want me to tell them everything."

"Oh," my throat suddenly feels thick. "Umm, what conversation?"

Nick stares at me, like he's looking for something. The tension is eating at my nerves. "Nick?"

"Camilla, I love you," he finally says. "I meant it when I said I wanted to marry you. I've never wanted to get married, truth be told, but you," he pauses. "You are different. You're both everything I should want and everything I shouldn't. You are so headstrong that I know we are going to butt heads. You are independent and want to know too much information, and sometimes you don't want to know enough. It's frustrating as hell."

"Thanks, I think," I say. I'm pretty sure he both complimented me and insulted me at the same time. "Where are you going with this?"

"You probably never thought you'd be in a situation like this and I'm sure your family did what they could to make sure it didn't happen," Nicholas entwines his fingers with mine and looks down at our joined hands. "Your Nonna though, I don't think she necessarily agreed with your fathers plan. We've gotten to know each other well in the past couple of days. She's kind of crazy you know," he says this with a laugh. "I'm a little scared of her."

I smile at him. I'm sure I know her differently than what he's referring to, but I imagine she probably can be scary as a Mafia queen or whatever they call her. "She's tough," I say in response. "But she’s completely amazing."

"Hmmph. That's a good way to describe her, I suppose." Nick looks into my eyes. "There's a point I need to reach here, and I promise I will. I'm just a little fuzzy, is all. Turns out that bouncing your head off a hard-packed dirt parking lot can cause a concussion, among other things."

"Oh," I say with my eyes wide. "What else happened?"

Nicholas reaches down and pulls his shirt over his head. It takes me a moment to realize what he's showing me as my eyes trail up from the patch of dark hair at his waistband and up over his defined abdominal muscles. I'm immediately horrified, scooting back a bit so I can see. "Oh my God, Nick, what is that?"

"Bruising," he says.

"Clearly, but how?" I ask as I reach my hand out to touch the purple area that completely covers his left pectoral muscle.

"A bullet," he says quietly. My eyes fly up to his.

"I'm sorry? But what bullet does that?" I ask.

"One that hits a ballistic vest," he says. "I had on a vest, the bullet lodged into the ballistic vest, but it hit hard enough to knock me back and momentarily stop my heart. One of your grandmothers' men gave me a few thumps, I guess, and my heart restarted immediately. It was more like a shock, that's what the doctor says anyway. I'm fine. Just sore."

"Nicholas, you could have died," I say breathlessly. I realize at that moment that had he died, I'd be devastated. "Don't you dare do that again."

Nicholas chuckles softly and pulls me closer. "I don't intend to, besides, Cain is dead now. You're safe and that's what matters."

"He's dead? How?"

"Your Nonna, actually. She's kind of wicked. I was unconscious for much of it, but I heard she tortured the prick. She was waiting for official word before she actually killed him."

"Official word about what?" I ask inquisitively.

"Word that Michael had taken out Vince. This way, there's no retaliation. All the Cains are dead. You are safe, Camilla. And Free. Free to do what you want, be who you want, marry who you want, without fear." I stare at him. What does he mean by " free"?

"Nicholas, you asked me to marry you." I state.

"I did," he says. "But that's just it. You don't have to if you really don't want to. You're free. And I love you enough that, if it's what you want, I will let you be the woman you planned to be before you knew me. That's why I wanted to talk to you before my parents knew I was back. I don't want you to feel pressured by my mother; I know she's already thinking of you as her daughter-in-law. She told me as much. I need you to make this decision for yourself," he brushes his thumb over my bottom lip, a look of pure adoration on his face.

"Nicholas," I say forcefully. "You'd better kiss me right now and stop talking nonsense." Nick looks into my eyes, and I know I have to tell him the truth. "I love you and the thought of losing you absolutely crushes my heart."

With a smile that would light up the room, Nicholas pulls me close and wraps his arm around me so I'm flush with his chest. I try my best to not push up against his bruised pectoral muscle and place my hand on his cheek. "I've never heard anything so fucking good in my life," Nick says, and then his lips find mine.