Page 20 of Humility

“Fine, then tell me truthfully, what is all this about?”

The usual arrogance that Angleo held up like a shield melted away. “I love you,” he said shocking me. “I don’t know when it happened, but I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell you.” He cupped her face, and her body pressed closer to mine. “You said you want something more. I am promising you right now if you choose to marry me…I will never touch another woman other than you. I cannot deny my past, but I needed to wait until you were of age before your father would listen to an offer of marriage.”

“You’re serious?”

Angelo lowered himself down onto one knee. “Say you accept, and we will forever be yours.”

“Why do you keep saying we?”

Angelo looked up at me, and Jasmine followed. “Like…marry both of you?”

It was my turn to chuckle. “No, your father would never let you marry a soldier. I’m Angelo’s bodyguard. I don’t have the right money, power, or connections to move up, you know that.” She nodded slowly. “But I would be in the relationship if you’ll have me. He knows how I feel about you.”

Jasmine stepped around me, and I let her go. Angelo rose to his feet as we watched her pace the room with her hand on her forehead.

“This is crazy. I’ve spent my entire life wondering when the next prank will be or what embarrassing and mean thing you’ll decide to insult me with. Now you both say you love me and want to marry me?”

“Yes, that’s what we are saying,” Angelo answered.

Jasmine laughed. I should’ve expected that response, but I was hoping for a different result. She marched across the room, pulled open the sheers and shook them out, then got down and looked under the bed.

“Where is it?”

“Where is what,” I asked.

“Where is the camera?” She pulled open the dresser drawers, then walked to the closet and whipped the doors open. “Because I don’t believe one word of this.”

“We are not playing you,” I said, but she snorted.

“I don’t believe you.”

Angelo stomped across the room and had her pressed up against the wall, kissing her before she could start another lap of the room. Walking to the bed, I removed my ruined shirt and kicked off my shoes before pouring glasses of wine from the complimentary assortment.

“I love you. No jokes. No lies. No pranks. No insults. This is me, the me that only Dario and now you see. I want to marry you. Say you’ll marry me, and I’ll speak to your father and make it happen. But if you say yes, I plan on devouring you tonight. I’ve waited too long already to claim you.”

Jasmine looked between Angelo’s intense expression to me and licked her lips. It was subtle, but I could tell she was thinking it over and not just planning her escape.

“And you’re not just doing this to better your family holdings,” she asked as her eyes scrutinized Angelo’s face.

“I don’t need to marry a Falcone to better my fortune. It helps speed up the process without you having a brother to take over the throne, but that’s not why I want to marry you. I’m telling you the truth.” Grabbing her hand, he placed it over his heart, much like I had. “My heart is yours.”

She lifted her chin and stepped in close to Angelo. “Why do I need to make this decision tonight?”

“Because there are things you don’t know about. Things that will force you to marry someone not of your choosing.”

“My papa wouldn’t do that.”

“But, he did. He was going to broker an arrangement with Lucas.” Jasmine’s mouth fell open.

“No way.”

“Way, but Dario and I stopped it,” Angelo said.

“How?”

“The how isn’t important. What is important is that my father and yours have never seen eye-to-eye. More recently, my father has lost favor with some of the other Dons, which would make an arranged marriage between our families more difficult.”

“I’m not sure what to believe. I can’t picture my father agreeing to anything that involved Lucas.”