Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 23250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
“You’re mine,” I boorishly grunt and strengthen my own grip. “Of course, I’d fucking come for you.”
“I am yours,” she swears back and leans away just enough for our stares to meet. “And I’m not pretending, Nero. I really do wanna be with you. And maybe it’s crazy because of how all this shit started, but I don’t care! I love when we’re together. I love that you care about me. I love that you wanna protect me. I love that you love me.” She offers me a slightly bashful smile prior to proclaiming, “And I love you, too.”
Growling possessively is done at the same time I smash our lips together. They part in unison, yet it’s my tongue that invades her mouth first to whip and whirl and echo the words that I’ve already said but am willing to say all over again.
Words that I mean now.
Words that I know I’ll mean always.
I do love Elle.
And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her.
Epilogue
About Five Years Later…
Nero
Strolling into our walk-in closet, I begin the process of loosening my tie for removal yet am abruptly stopped in my tracks by our three-year-old daughter, Lily, who is sitting on the light blue rug wiggling her feet into a pair of her mother’s stiletto heels.
It’s impossible not to smile brightly as I ask, “Baby girl, what are you doing?”
“Dettin’ ready for dimmer,” she sassily answers in a tone that reminds me of Elle’s.
She’s so much like her mother that if it weren’t for the fact I fucked Elle endlessly the entire week of our official honeymoon, I would wonder if there was some way, she managed to knock herself up.
After her bloody rescue all those years ago, things were finally able to be put in their proper place. Debts were settled. Deliveries properly made. Inheritance collected. Financial mistakes were corrected and new opportunities for growth given. Adding Elle and her two best friends as a permanent branch to the company gave us an upper hand we weren’t aware we’d been lacking. She loves her job, and I love knowing at any given time where her job has her. I also enjoy random pop-ins made especially easy by the anklet she still wears. We’ve christened more location properties than most of my clients would ever believe possible.
Once Special Agent Perrault did his part to assure the department and prove that Elle nor myself were anywhere near their cabin crime scene, things got even better. He received a promotion that has been beneficial for keeping the DeLuca family under the radar, and he was also gifted his own beach vacation home on prime real estate as a congratulations gift.
I waited until the sand was settled before actually proposing to Elle. She said yes, yet when I suggested we have an “official wedding” on our one-year anniversary of signing the paperwork, she declined. Insisted she didn’t need a wedding, just a honeymoon.
And where did she pick?
Italy.
It was the perfect opportunity for her to see my family’s roots, eat amazing food, shop until she literally refused to look at another store, and most importantly, get pregnant with our first contribution to the next generation of DeLucas.
I lean over and lift Lily into my arms, oversized heels falling comically to the floor. “And where is mommy? Is she getting ready for dinner, too?”
“She was,” Elle teasingly snips at the same time she rounds the corner. “You know letting our little princess play in my shoes always buys me a few minutes of peace.”
The grin on my face that was initially spurred by having our daughter in my arms expands wider over the sight of my pregnant wife sporting a pair of silver pumps and a light blue, off-the-shoulder cocktail dress that frames her growing stomach.
She may have started out as Mrs. DeLuca as payment for a savage debt owed, but now that she is the real Mrs. DeLuca, it’s me who owes her a debt for giving me all the love I didn’t think I needed or deserved.