I smiled, nodding, blushing. “I wanted to kiss you so badly that day.”
“Me too,Miss Meneceo. In the hole, I fucked you every night twice.”
Arousal heated my flesh. “I… Well… I might have…you know…”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Might have what?”
“Stop teasing.” I rolled out of the bed and headed for the wardrobe to get some fresh clothes. “You just like to see me blush.”
“You’re already blushing. I like to hear you talk dirty, tell me how you fingered your pussy thinking about the bad things I’d do to your body,Miss Meneceo.”
I hiccupped a nervous giggle, rummaging through the drawers, unused to where everything was. HisMiss Meneceogot me every time.
“No, Jo, this ain’t—”
I froze as he jumped out of bed and stood behind me. “—the right drawer.”
Inside, nestled a tiny, velvet jewelry box. My heart skipped a beat.
“What is this?” I breathed.
When he didn’t answer right away, I forced myself to look at him despite the hammering in my chest. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. Then he grabbed the box and stared at me. “This…is how much I love you.”
“W…w…” I laughed under my breath, the beating of my heart uncontainable. “When…”
“I bought it the first thing when I came back home.”
Tears of shock and joy sprung to my eyes. I touched my chest, as if it was going to stop my heart from leaping out. “But…we’ve only known each other for a very short time.”
“That’s why I’ve been waiting for the right moment so I won’t freak you out. I know what I want, though.”
“You said it yourself. You don’t know me.”
“And we’re being tested daily, but how I feel about you doesn’t change.”
“My feelings for you didn’t change either.” Even when I thought he was in love with me because of my mom. Even when I slept with someone else. Especially, after I’d slept with someone else. When Ty had asked to give him one night, I’d been scared to fall out of love with Laius. Yet yesterday, after the fear of losing Laius that outweighed everything else, proved nothing but how deeply I was in love with Laius Lazzarini and that nothing would ever change that.
“I’m old enough to know whatIwant, Jo, and I want you. For life. The only question here is, do you want me to open that box?”
To be tied to this beautiful criminal, to be one of the notorious Night Skulls, to live the life, to forsake all others and be with that one protective yet dangerous and ruthless, gorgeous man?
The first conversation I’d had with Michele about Furore flashed in my head. I felt exactly the same now as I’d felt then. I loved Furore enough to forgive everything he’d done and to accept the risks that came with being his.
All but one.
“I’ll repeat the same question I asked you this morning. When you said you were murderously jealous over me that you’d have killed someone. That someone you’d have murdered, would it have been Ty?” I was being shamefully blunt, but there was no room for coyness here, not when blood was involved.
If I’d stabbed him in the back, he wouldn’t have looked at me like that. “What am I supposed to understand from that question?”
That when the roles were reversed, Ty’s answer terrified me and prohibited any chance I’d ever choose him over Laius. Considering how much alike the father and the son, I had to know what Laius would do. “All I want is that you promise me you’re not going to hurt him no matter what. That’s all I’m asking for, and then I’m all yours, heart, body and soul.”
“All mine, Jo? Because I can’t take any more lying, and I’m sure as fuck I can’t fucking share you.”
“I promise,” I vowed without hesitation. “Do you promise me?”
His eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I promise.”
A relieved grin stretched my lips, and I flung my arms around him. “I love you. I love you so much.”