Page 244 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 5-8
This one had been chosen with exactly as much care as that other one. She had wanted to make an impression both times, to look and feel her best. It wasn’t just the dress, anyway. It was the fact she had come here at all, knowing full well he would be here. She had wanted to see him.
And he knew it. He was pointing out the harshest truth: she hadn’t been able to stay away from him any more than he could stay away from her.
“I know you love me, bella. I couldn’t have hurt you this badly if you didn’t.”
“You warned me that you would,” she said to the floor, eyes hot. “You said I would hurt you back.” She looked up, tentative. Fearful.
“You have.” There was deep pain around his eyes. Suffering in the weighted corners of his mouth.
It pained her to see those signs of torment and know she had inflicted them. It was deeply humbling.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “I’m so afraid that you’ll only hurt me again.”
“Do you know how hard it was for me to decide to let you into my heart?”
Because of his aunt? She shook her head, starting to think maybe, if he was willing to be brave and take that kind of chance, she ought to be brave enough to do it as well.
“It wasn’t hard at all.” His mouth twitched with gentle irony. “It just happened, bella. You arrived here because you belong here.” He touched his chest.
“Rocco.” Her expression was crumpling, defenses falling away.
“Mirabella.” He started toward her and she met him halfway. “Ti amo.” He grasped her close and spoke into her hair, then against her cheek. “Amore della mia vita. Sei la mia vita.” His lips kept forming endearments and words of love even as they sought hers. “Non piangere tesoro. Per favore.”
“Happy tears,” she claimed as she brushed them away. They carried the last vestiges of hurt, but were more an expression of relief from the anguish of being apart from him. “I missed you.”
“I don’t ever want to live without you, amore. Stay with me always. Promise me.”
“Always?”
“Forever.” His hold on her tightened as their kiss deepened.
The need to be together, as close as she could possibly be to him, lit like a match within her. It was the sensuality and fiery excitement that always combusted between them, but there was a softer, more acute emotion underpinning it. A need to give herself to him wholly. It went beyond physical trust to entrusting herself to him. Entrustingthemto him.
“Amore, mio. Are you still on the pill?” he asked in a shaken whisper.
“No.” She had thrown them away in a fit of temper, as though she was throwing away everything they had had. It hadn’t worked.
“I didn’t bring condoms. What is it about this villa?” he asked with a frustrated glance around. “Do you trust me to pull out? Take a pill later?”
“I do.” But if dreams were coming true today, she thought she would push her luck. “But what if we see what happens? Would you want— Oh!”
He swung her up into his arms and took the two steps up to the level of the bed, then dropped her onto the poofy cloud of the duvet.
“I am trying to be a gentleman,” he said with exasperation as he came down over her. He began pulling at their clothing one-handed, braced on the other elbow so he wouldn’t crush her. “First, I convince you to take me back. Then, I ask you to wear my ring again. I beg you to marry me quickly. When I have you firmly and legally mine,thenI ask if you want children.”
“I want six,” she said with a teasing laugh and pushed his shirt off his shoulders.
“Be careful, amore mio.” He cupped her cheek and dropped a hungry kiss on her mouth. “I will hold you to that.”
A giggle of pure happiness left her. She combed her fingers into his hair. “Do you really love me? Because I love you so much, I feel like it will break me in half.”
“Finally, she says it.” He caressed her cheek and there was such tenderness in his eyes, such wonder, that emotive tears came into her own.
“It means that much to you?” she asked in a whisper, tracing his mouth with her fingertip.
“Your heart? Oh, yes. I promise to take very great care with it, now that you’ve given it to me.”
How could anything about her be so precious to him when no one had ever seemed to want it?
