Revenge in Rio
Page 15
“I wasn’t sure what you would need, so I asked Maria to pack three of everything.” He lowered his voice.
“Thank you,” she whispered before catching her trembling bottom lip between her teeth.
“It’s only some clothes and personal necessities. Please, I haven’t come to upset you.” He moved closer and hovered at the end of the bed.
He had showered and changed clothes, and was cleanly shaved with the scent of fresh cologne filling her nostrils. Jeans teamed with a loose white cotton shirt, the first two buttons undone, revealed his signature dark curls scattered across his chest. She tried to blink and tug herself away from him, but that ever-powerful magnetic force had taken hold over her once again.
“No, I mean…thank you for saving my life. Again.” She stumbled over her words.
He shoved his hands into his jean pockets and shrugged. “There’s no need to thank me.”
“I want to…need to. It doesn’t feel right not to.”
He shrugged again and scuffed at the floor. “Well, there really is no need. Besides, it makes us even now, I guess.”
“No, it’s two-one to you actually.”
“Hey, who’s counting?” A faint grin crossed his mouth. The light nod of his head told her that he accepted her gratitude.
Heat rose in her cheeks as his gaze lingered on her. This was ludicrous, she reminded herself of how he’d treated her less than forty-eight hours ago.
Sensing his stare leave her, she looked slowly up to see him watching her daughter.
“How is she?” He took a couple of steps closer to the small crib.
“She’s fine, a real sleepyhead.” Her heart pounded so loudly she was sure he could hear it.
Was he there to take her daughter? Was that why he was being so civilized—to distract her?
“Have you chosen a name?”
Daniella nodded. “Yes. I’m going to name her Lara, after Doctor Menezes.”
He kneeled down on his haunches and reached for the child’s tiny fingers, which instinctively closed around his large digit.
“Just perfection. It suits her. Little Lara.”
The sincerity in his tone tugged at her heart.
“You should be very proud,” he said.
“I am.”
The intense look in his hooded eyes was back on her. “And how are you feeling?”
She fiddled with the robe tie. “I feel fine.”
That’s a lie. I’m beyond exhausted. I’m sore and aching in places I never knew I had. And my heart feels as if a train has hit it.
“Your ability to lie has clearly weakened over the years.”
Daniella dropped the robe tie in her lap and straightened her posture. “Why are you really here? You’ve done what you needed to do.” She nodded toward the overnight case. “You can leave now.”
“We need to talk.”
“What else could you possibly want to talk about? Why won’t you leave us alone?”
Luca moved closer to the head of the bed, each step taken with hesitation and not the usual self-assurance she was used to seeing.
“There is nothing left to talk about. Nothing.” Her heart pounded in her chest, her throat, her head; the sound was deafening as emotion flooded through her. She loved Luca, but hated him. She worshipped him, but despised him. She needed him, but wanted rid of him. She wanted him as the father for her baby, but wanted him nowhere near her.
“Everything you said yesterday, it was all true?”
“Why would I lie?”
Luca’s stare fixed on hers, his dark eyes bored through to her soul, to reach deep within her for the truth. He tucked his index finger under her chin and rested his thumb on her cheek.
Closing her eyes, her shoulders fell as the confidence that had held her steady since his arrival swiftly left her.
“I am so sorry, Daniella. If I had known—”
“You would have done what?” Daniella leaned slightly into the palm that now cupped her face.
“I would have protected you. I would have fought for you.” He cupped the other side of her face with his free hand.
“You couldn’t have fought for me when you were dead.”
“I could have tried.”
“I truly believed it wasn’t possible. I couldn’t have had you killed right in front of me. I had to let you go, even if it meant breaking both of our hearts.” She opened her eyes, aware of the familiar stinging sensation at the corners. “I was always yours and nobody else’s. Every single day I was just yours, in here.” She peeled his hand from her flushed cheek and placed it above her galloping heart.
Luca rested his forehead against hers. “Nothing I will ever say or do will prove just how sorry I am for all of this. I will spend the rest of my life showing you how truly sorry I am for my brother’s cruel, twisted mind. I’m sorry for…for…” He glanced at the innocent child caught in their turmoil and shook his head. “Most of all, I am sorry for how I treated you. It was unconceivable. There is no excuse for it.” His fingers moved to the back of her neck and wove between her curls. His grip on her tightened as he spoke. “I wanted to hurt you as I thought you had done so easily to me. My stupid, childish mind. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. I don’t expect you to understand me nor forgive me, but I ask of you…I beg of you to please try. Please let me be a part of yours and my niece’s life.”
Daniella bit down on her lip, not quite sure how to respond. Part of her wanted to leave Rio and him behind. Things couldn’t be the same as before. Could they?
Yet another part of her wanted him more than anything. Her heart wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anybody. She had always loved just him from the very second he had caught her in the street.
“Luca, I–” She looked from him to the crib.
Words failed her, could she really forgive him for his actions? Truly forgive him?
He reached into his jean pocket and a retrieved a small, neat square box. “This is far from the most perfect of timings and a long way from Sugarloaf and champagne, but I have to fight for you this time around. I cannot lose you again.”
Is he really about to do what I think?
She watched cautiously as he looked toward the crib. “Daniella, I don’t want to be her distant relative, a vague memory as she grows up.” Luca looked back at her, his eyes ablaze. “And I don’t want you to be a distant memory either. You are the most amazing thing to ever happen to me. I love you.”
I love you. How could those three words offer the illusion of safety and warmth and yet so flippantly that of dishonesty and lies? Only Luca could manage that.
He knelt down on one knee and took hold of her trembling hand. “I promise to love you, honor you, and worship you with every inch of my being. I promise to protect you and never allow anyone to cause you pain, most of all me.”
As if in slow motion, he pulled back the top of the sleek black box to reveal the familiar patterned platinum band, iced with a square polished diamond. It looked just the way she’d remembered it over five years ago.
“That’s…it’s impossible,” she muttered as she ran her fingertips over the ring.
The band was firmly tucked between the velvet material that held it in position, but Daniella was able to catch a glimpse of the words engraved on the inside.
Always thankful for faulty bags and runaway oranges. All my love. L.
It was definitely the ring. The same ring. Her ring.
“Is that the ring? My…my ring?”
“Yes.”
“But how? Where did you get…”
She’d been made to pawn it only days after she had left Luca and thought she would never see it again. How Luca now held it in his very hand was beyond her.
“It doesn’t matter how.” He softly kissed each of her knuckles. “No more games. No more lies. No more wasting our lives.”
Daniella covered her face with her palms as hot tears streamed down her cheeks and through the gaps between her fingers. He gently
pulled her hands away from her face and held her gaze.
“Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
She couldn’t contain the cry that finally escaped her lips and quickly turned into ragged sobs.
Leaning forward, he whispered into her ear. “Will you be my wife?”
There he was. Her Luca. The honest, sincere, and magnificent man she had met all those years ago. It was really him. No lies or charades in tow, just him wanting her.
“Yes!”
Luca took the ring from its box and carefully slid it on to Daniella’s finger.
She reached for his shirt collar and pulled him close with such fervor that it hurt as her lips pushed hard against his.
All of the hurt, the anger, and the unconditional love had amounted to this moment in time and neither was ever letting go again.
They were finally together as if they had never been apart.
About Samantha Darling
I live in Essex, not too far from London, with my very understanding husband, our identical twin boys, and two Bedlington Terriers. We’re crammed into our rather cozy two-up two-down terrace and we can barely swing a cat, but hey, we love it. I work part-time as a nurse, but when I’m off duty, you will find me either chasing the toddlers around like a headless chicken, head buried in a book, or tapping away at my stories.
I have always loved to read and romance is by far my favorite genre! You can easily escape into such promising worlds, where sexy Alpha males lead the way and strong heroines often can’t help but fall head over heels in love. I adore a Happy Ever After, as I’m sure we all do if we’re honest, right?
Reading and writing go hand in hand, and from the day I could read, I enjoyed writing. To put pen to paper and conjure up weird and wonderful little stories was what I thrived on. English was my favorite class at school right throughout to secondary, and I will always be thankful for the teachers who gave me the opportunities to develop and be creative. If I remember rightly, one of my first stories was called The Turkey Who Could Talk…but I’ll tell you more about that some other day!
Samantha’s Website:
www.samanthadarlingromance.com
Reader eMail:
Samanthadarling1986@hotmail.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13