Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
He likes that I've actually fallen in love. He was the one that said it would happen. I couldn’t care less now who won that bet.
"Starla is with Marialena and Rosa," she says. "Quinn is going to join them later, too."
"And me!" Flo waves from the bar, where she has a drink in each hand, and probably didn't pay for either one of them.
It's a regular girls’ night out.
Mario gets a funny look on his face while he strokes his chin. "Guys. Hold the phone. I just had a literal brainstorm. I know where you can go!" I raise my eyebrows at him.
“Obviously a hotel isn’t where you want to stay. How about The Castle? Hardly anybody lives there anymore, and my mom and Nonna are the only full-time residents. We all visit, but you know that place is huge."
Eden’s eyes widen. “Oooh, I’ve heard about this castle."
"It's my family home," Mario says. "We grew up there. Sergio’s family visited all the time, but they didn't grow up there like we did."
Eden looks at me, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses. "Where is this real castle where people actually live – in Never Never Never Land?"
Mario grins. "Only the best place on earth. North Shore of New England. Cape Anne.”
"Well, how far is it from here, though?"
I shrug. “That doesn't matter. Could take an hour with traffic but I don’t care. I can do most everything I want to do remotely."
Mario snickers and I kick him under the table. He knows as well as I do that I cannot do everything I want to do remotely, but I'll find my way back here with her.
I turn to face Eden. "We’ll have to ask Tosca, since it's her family home. But there's a rich tradition of Montavios living in The Castle. What do you say? Would you be okay with that? We'd have our own place, and so would your sister."
She laughs out loud, her happiness bubbling up until her entire being is shaking with laughter.
"So you mean to tell me that you want to take me and my sister to a castle to live with Nonna, who cooks the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life, Tosca, who's like the mother I never had, where it's safe and secure, next to an ocean … is there a beach?”
Mario nods.
"Of course there's a beach. Why would we live near the ocean if there was no beach? We work hard but we play harder, you know. Yeah, there’s a private beach."
"Of course there is," she grins. “Starla is going to lose her mind.”
And then I realize what Eden said to me a minute ago. "Wait. You told me that your sister’s situated with the other girls."
"And twelve armed men," Mario adds.
"Right." I turn to Eden again. "So you're here alone? Of your own accord? With no sister to worry about, no job tonight because it's your night off, and nothing to worry about except”—I take her chin in my hand and hold her gaze— “How to please your dom…"
Her cheeks flush pink.
Mario groans. "Okay, so that's my cue to hightail it out of here. Serg, do you want me to talk to my mother?”
I nod. "Please."
"Done. You kids have fun. I'm outta here." He snickers. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
As he leaves, I shake my head. God, it's so good to see him feeling better.
I turn my attention back to Eden. She will never dress like the other women here. A seductive outfit for her means a skirt that’s slightly above the knee and maybe a top that shows just the barest hint of the base of her neck.
“I love you.”
She stares at me with widened eyes that grow soft like falling stars as she clasps my hands in hers.
"Marry me, Eden. I want to marry you. I don't want there to be a single doubt in your mind that you belong to me. I want you to take my name, I want you to live with me. I don't want even the smallest shred of guilt between us anymore. Marry me. Please."
“You want to marry me?”
I nod, my tone desperate. “More than anything in the world.”
“I—told myself for a very long time that I was not worthy of love, Sergio. But I'm doing my best to put all of those lies behind me. Because…everyone deserves love. And I love you."
I tug a lock of her long hair. "Is that a yes, or a no?"
"Of course it's a yes. Yes, yes, yes. Let's get married. Let's make it official. We’ll have to take care of my sister, though, for a while?”
"Of course we will. Mario knows a guy that can make it legal. We’ll have to be her legal guardians, at least for the next two years."
"Did you tell Timeo that?”