He leaned back on his arms and smiled at her. “I’m not playing games.”
She rolled her eyes and picked up a muffin and took a bite. She decided to play along with the game. “Fine! We’ll get married, have a bunch of kids, a cute dog, his and hers Snuggies and start our own law practice.”
He grinned. “Sounds like a plan to me. Glad you’re in agreement.” He reached out and snagged his own muffin off the table and took a bite. “I’ll talk to the folks when I get back home and you can decide what kind of wedding you want and—”
“Hey,” Peyton said, reaching out and touching his arm. “I was teasing, and I hope you were, too.”
He leaned in closer and brushed a kiss across her lips. “I wasn’t teasing. I’m serious.”
Peyton didn’t say anything for a moment, just sat there and stared at him. Without saying a word, she removed the tray from her lap and sat it in the middle of the bed. She eased from the bed and crossed the room to grab her pajama bottoms off the floor and put them on. Then she gave him her undivided attention. “Would you like to tell me what this is about, Angelo? You know as well as I do that these two weeks were about having a good time. We did that, and after tomorrow things will go back to being normal for us.”
“And did you have a good time?” he asked her in a low, husky voice. He was staring at her with the intensity she had gotten used to over the past two weeks.
“Yes, I had a good time.” She decided not to tell him it was really incredible. Even if their lovemaking weren’t part of it, she would have still had a wonderful time with him. She’d enjoyed being with him, sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner, taking walks and sharing intimate thoughts—especially once she began to see a side of him she hadn’t known.
“And what about me, Peyton? What about our relationship now? Is it different than it was before?”
His question jarred her back to reality. Yes, their relationship was different. How could it not be? Before, he was Sam’s handsome-as-sin, fun-loving brother who women drooled over. He’d always been nice to her and spent time with her whenever she’d been around. But he had done the same with Mac. Now things were quite a bit more personal. He knew her physically in ways no other man did. But what was scarier was that he understood her emotionally.
He had made love to her more than any other man had. He had touched her. He had kissed her and tasted her in ways that made her blush just thinking about them. He had penetrated her, and even stayed embedded inside of her, seemingly making her womb a permanent home for a certain body part of his. Over the past two weeks she had begun to feel close to him, to cherish him, want him, need him and lo—
She shook her head, wondering why that one word…love…kept creeping into her mind. Why that one word wanted to settle into a place where it didn’t belong. Angelo didn’t love her, and she knew that. And she simply refused to even consider the possibility. She refused to be the kind of woman who saw an act of kindness, signs of lust and attention, as being more meaningful than they were.
“Peyton?”
He moved the tray out of the way and was now stretched out on the bed, with his head resting against the pillows. It might have been a relaxing position for him, but it wasn’t for her. He looked especially appealing stretched out in a lazy, relaxed pose—even with his clothes on. Mainly because she knew firsthand how he looked with his clothes off. And boy did she know.
She drew in a deep breath as she contemplated his question about their relationship. Was it different now than before? “Yes, Angelo, it’s different. How can it not be?” she finally answered. “We’d never slept together before. Now we’ve made love so much, it’s practically like we’re mating rabbits. Our relationship is more intimate.”
She paused. “But all that will end soon, after tomorrow in fact,” she said. “When we leave here, things will go back to being like they were.”
“Do you honestly think that, Peyton?”
She didn’t see why not. She glanced away from him to look out the window. She was a realist and understood reality versus fantasy just as much as she understood the underlying problems that would make a relationship difficult for them. It was all a part of life. She had been taught that lesson early, thanks to Matthew.
With Matthew, she had thought they would marry after finishing college and together they would live a perfect life. He would accept her as she was. But he hadn’t been willing to do that. And if Matthew, the first man she’d ever loved, the man who’d taken her virginity, the man who’d carved a place in her heart, had thought her unworthy, then why would she assume anyone else whose family was wealthy would feel any differently?
She glanced back at him. “Yes, I can honestly say that, Angelo. But why are you asking? What’s going on here? Why are you making what happened between us over the past two weeks a big deal?”
He shifted his body to sit up in the middle of the bed. “Because it is a big deal. The reason I came here in the first place was because of you.”
She stared back at him, drew her brows together, thinking surely she’d misunderstood what he had just said. “Excuse me? Can you repeat that?”
* * *
Angelo would gladly repeat it as many times as she thought she needed to hear it. But the big question was whether or not she was listening. Was she taking it all in? Would she be able to grasp what he was about to tell her and believe it as well?
“Yes, I’ll repeat it,” he finally said, fully aware the next few minutes would be the most important ones in his life. He knew now, at that very second, that he loved her. He hadn’t thought it was possible to love a woman as much as he did her. Over the past two weeks he had gotten to know firsthand why he had chosen her in the first place out of all the others. Now he had to convince her of that reason.
“I said the reason I’m even here is because of you. I knew you would be here, and I came to spend time with you.”
He watched her brows knit into a frown. Then he saw how anger spread from her eyes to other parts of her face. And when she placed her hands on her hips and her spine stiffened, he knew she was fit to be tied. “Wait a minute. I get it now. Sam mentioned to you that I was coming here and joked about me needing to get laid and you decided to take it upon yourself to be the one to do it.”
Now it was his time to frown. He hadn’t been aware that Sam thought she needed to get laid. But knowing how his sister’s mind worked, he wouldn’t doubt she’d said it or thought it.
“No, that’s not how it was. I knew you were coming here. In fact, I’m the one who suggested this place to Mac and Sam,” he said.
He saw confusion settle in her face. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to be alone with you.”
She shifted her hands from her hips to settle them across her chest. “So I was your primary target?”
He nodded. “Yes, if you want to say that. You were my primary target mainly because for the past two years I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”
He rubbed his hand through his hair and said in a frustrated tone, “Hell, it’s been more than a lot, Peyton. I’m surprised I was able to win any cases for thinking of you so much. So I decided it was time to spend time with you to figure out why. And now I know.”
Peyton narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, I don’t. So tell me what you know. Just why have I been on your mind lately?”
He could see the curiosity in her eyes; also the confusion. Little did she know that what he was about to tell her would probably confuse her even more. “I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Chapter 19
Peyton hadn’t been aware she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled deeply, but her heart was still beating fast in her chest and a huge knot had settled in her throat. She backed up a little, needing space. More than that, she needed a stiff drink. She needed—
“Peyton?”
She blinked. Angelo was now standing on his feet by the bed. She backed up some more, trying to make sense of what he’d said. It was like she was in another world and crazy things were happening. She swallowed and asked in a quiet tone. “How can you say something like that?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Easy, since I know it’s true. I love you.”
She turned her face to the side as if she’d been slapped. In a way, she had. The only other man who had professed his love for her had said it just that way, like he’d meant it. But then that same man hadn’t thought she measured up to his family’s standards. He had been ashamed of her. And if Angelo Antonio Di Meglio thought he would put her through that kind of situation again he was crazy.
She turned back to him, filled with fear more than anger. She didn’t believe in love at first sight, nor did she believe you could simply wake up one morning and decide you were in love with someone. She believed feelings had to grow, and that took time. She had watched Mac fall in love with Luke and knew that Sam had fallen in love with Blade even before Sam probably knew it herself. Her two best friends shared loving relationships with their husbands. She both envied them and was happy for them.
Maybe there was a man out there who would love and cherish her one day. But there was no way on earth she would even consider the possibility that that man was Angelo. First of all, she didn’t love him. She enjoyed his company, his lovemaking skills were off the charts and he’d always been the most handsome man she’d ever met…but she didn’t love him.
She quickly turned away to look out the window, wondering why she’d had to reassure herself that she wasn’t in love with Angelo twice now. Okay, maybe a part of her had some feelings for him. She’d had a crush on him for a while, and she knew it was still buried somewhere in her heart. And maybe on occasion, she had looked at him and felt some sort of tug at her heartstrings. She would even admit that he had found his way—and quite easily—into a few of her fantasies. And over the past two weeks, he had done things that had rekindled those feelings so deeply embedded within her. But she was convinced that none of that meant anything. The bottom line was that he was who he was and she was who she was. And the two didn’t mix.
“It won’t work, Angelo. The feelings aren’t mutual,” she heard herself say. There, he had needed to hear that and she had needed to say it. There was no need for both of them to act foolishly, especially about something as complicated as love.
“Then I’m going to make it work, and I feel confident in the end the feelings will be mutual,” he stated quietly.
She shook her head. “You can’t.”
“I will.”
A feeling of dread coursed through her body. The fear she felt began tightening in her lungs and old anxieties began eating away at her as memories came flooding back. She would never forget how she felt when she’d heard Matthew’s words, how painful they had been and how she had to endure all the heartache of leaving Yale, the friends she had made, the teachers she had come to know and respect. She assumed she was well on her way, that with the scholarship she’d gotten she’d be set for life. All it had taken was a broken heart to make her run in another direction—home.
When she returned to Chicago, if it hadn’t been for her grandmother’s love, Ms. Lora’s kind words of wisdom and the hardworking people of the Third Ward and their acts of kindness and encouragement, she might not have been able to finish her last two years at the University of Illinois and go on to law school. Once at law school, she’d met two women who were destined to be her best friends for life. Now, Angelo’s words threatened to break her and could end her relationship with his sister, her best friend. What on earth could he be thinking?
Peyton gazed back at him and studied his features. The same determination and stubbornness she’d seen in Sam so many times was there in his face. She wasn’t sure just what kind of breakdown he was experiencing to make him think he had fallen in love with her. But he needed to get a grip on things and not drag her into it. Had winning the case done such a number on him that he was trying to escape his newfound celebrity status by mistakenly believing things that just weren’t true—like he had fallen in love? It was time for Angelo to come to his senses. When it came to juries, she was good at that. Hopefully, she could be just as persuasive with him.
“When did you realize you had these feelings for me, Angelo? When did you, uh…fall in love with me?”
Angelo stared at Peyton knowing full well what she was trying to do. She was cross-examining him like he was a witness on the stand. That was fine, if that’s what she felt comfortable doing to get some answers. Being a lawyer, he was obviously prepared to respond to every one of her questions.
“I think I’ve always had this thing for you,” Angelo said. “I thought you were pretty damn hot, but it really hit me about two years ago.”
Disbelief contorted her face. “Two years ago?”
He nodded. “Yes, right after I spent time at your place when Sam was out of town.”
“And you think you fell in love with me then?”
“I’m not sure exactly when it happened, Peyton. All I know is that I was drawn to you in a way that I’ve never been drawn to another woman. You had an effect on me, and I wanted to explore what that feeling was about.”
“So it was sexual?”
He didn’t intend to let her lead him down that road. “No, if you remember, we didn’t sleep together. In fact, there was nothing sexual between us. It was just two friends getting to know each other better. That was the first time I’d ever really spent time alone with you without Sam being around. I got to know you. You shared a lot of yourself with me. We talked. We laughed. I didn’t have to worry about you coming on to me, and you didn’t have to worry about me coming on to you. It felt good. It felt right.”
He paused, probably a moment too long for her taste. “And?” she asked.
“And I returned to New York thinking I had a great time being around you. After that, you were on my mind constantly. I would think of you at some of the oddest times. And I would remember certain things, like the way your eyes would light up when you smiled. The nervous way you would lick your lips with your tongue when you were thinking really hard about something. And your playful side that you don’t often show others. I remembered those things, although I tried not to.”
“Sounds like infatuation to me,” she said as if diagnosing his symptoms.
“Yes, it was that, but it became even more. First, there was Luke and Mac’s wedding and all those guys who tried coming on to you. I got angry. I was pissed to the point where I wanted to hit somebody. Then after that, at all the family gatherings, I found myself seeking you out, having jealous fits if a man got too close to you. I tried coming up with excuses to come to Oklahoma just to see you.”
He paused briefly. “It was pretty bad at Sam’s wedding, but at Reese and LaKenna’s wedding it was even worse. I wanted to punch one of Reese’s friends from college when he made a comment about how beautiful you looked and that he planned to check you out.”
Angelo felt his jaw clench in anger remembering that day. “There was a group of us standing around, including six of the Madaris cousins and Reese’s friend from college. The moment the guy made the comment, all eyes turned to me.”
He paused a second then said, “The Madarises weren’t surprised by my anger, and it was then that I realized that I hadn’t done a good job of keeping my feelings for you in check. The cousins took me aside and let me know I needed to take action regarding you or move out of the damn way. It was then that I decided to find out just what my feelings for you were and whether they were for real. Spending time with you these past two weeks verified that they are.”
She didn’t say anything. She just stood there, staring at him as if she was trying to digest what he’d said. But he knew what she was getting ready
to say wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“I should be flattered, Angelo, and I am—really. But I think you’re getting lust confused with love.”
She was still fighting it, making excuses. But he intended to make her see the truth. “I love you, Peyton, whether you want to believe it or not.”
“I don’t want to believe it.” She drew in a deep breath and added, “I can’t believe it, Angelo.”
And then in a tortured voice, she said, “And please don’t try and make me. You don’t know what you’re asking of me.”
“Then tell me. Why is it so hard for you to believe that I love you? Why are you so hell-bent on rejecting me?”
She didn’t say anything for the longest time, and then he saw the single tear fall from her eye and flow down her cheek. “Okay, I’ll tell you,” she said softly. “The reason is because I can’t handle another heartbreak.”
Pain. He heard it in the very depths of her voice. But he never knew she’d been seriously involved with anyone, let alone suffered heartache. If so, why hadn’t Sam ever mentioned it?
“I think you need to tell me about it…so I can understand.”
Peyton moved past him and sat on the edge of the bed. “Yes, maybe I should,” she said, glancing over at him. “Then you’ll know why I can never get seriously involved with you, Angelo.”
Peyton watched Angelo walk to the wingback chair and sit in it, his penetrating dark eyes keeping her in constant focus. “All right, Peyton, tell me.”
She mulled over his request. What she was about to tell him was something she hadn’t shared with anyone—not her grandmother, not the lady back in Chicago whom she considered her godmother or the two women who were her best friends.
It was something she had tried to forget about. Something she’d sworn she would never reveal. She knew Angelo was waiting for her to speak. “Have you ever heard of the Elton family from Boston?”
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