Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“You want to be a lawyer, Chloe? Prove it,” Adalyn dared her. “You can’t be afraid to hurt people’s feelings.”
“Um …” Chloe looked into her friend’s eyes, preparing to tell her the unadulterated truth. “Adalyn, sometimes …”
Rolling her eyes, Adalyn bit the head off her dino nugget. “Oh, just spit it out already!”
Welp, someone has to say it.
“College isn’t for everyone.”
EIGHTEEN
A PROMISE ONLY A BOOGIEMAN COULD KEEP
It was already Friday as Chloe walked up to the Caruso family home. Lately, she and Lucca spent the weekdays at the Casino Hotel, while they spent their weekends here.
Waving goodbye to Henry, she opened the front door to find flickering tea lights winding a path upstairs. Warmth began to fill her heart at knowing he was trying to make up for their fight earlier in the week. He had even already set the table romantically with long, tapering candles and flowers.
Damn, she was going to have to thank Maria the next time she saw her; she was a freaking miracle worker.
Entering their bedroom, she found it empty as the tea lights continued to the bathroom. She dropped her backpack onto a chair before she walked inside to see Lucca waiting for her in the steaming tub.
Amused, she sat on the edge of the bath. “Is this an apology?”
“No. This is me making amends.”
Chloe raised a scarred brow. “There’s a difference?”
“I don’t have to say I’m sorry if I’m making amends,” he stated simply.
Knowing her fiancé didn’t have the word sorry in his vocabulary, she continued to tease him, wanting to milk this whole “non” apology for all she could. “You don’t?”
Waving the water, he hoped to entice her. “At least not until you get in.”
Chloe didn’t have to be told twice. She quickly took off her clothes, carefully stepped over the edge to immerse herself in the warmth, then laid her head back on the awaiting cushioned bath pillow.
A hungry-eyed Lucca spread his legs to allow her more room as he took one of her feet in his hands to massage it.
No, Maria was no miracle worker; she was the man whisperer.
“I could get used to this.” Chloe sighed, her toes curling in pleasure. “I should get angry at you more often if this what I have to look forward to.”
“I’m just setting the bar high for you for when I get angry at you.” Switching feet, Lucca skillfully started kneading her other foot.
“I’m never going to do anything to make you mad at me.” And both of them knew that to be true.
Yawning, she had to grab the side of the tub when Lucca used her foot to pull her closer to him, forcing her legs to wrap around him.
“You can’t go to sleep yet, darlin’.” His lips went to her jaw, placing tender kisses along it. “I made us a special dinner, then we’re going to make passionate love while I tell you I’m sorry. I have it all planned out.”
“You never do anything halfway,” she murmured appreciatively as he now trailed kisses over her collarbone.
“Not when it comes to you,” he admitted wholeheartedly.
All sleepiness gone, Chloe gazed at the man she was about to pledge her life to, amazed that he still wanted her when he could have his choice of any woman in Kansas City.
Sliding her bottom on the tub, she pressed her breasts to his chest. “Dante and Melissa must have loved each other very much.” Her words came out in a whisper.
Lucca gazed back at her quizzically. “You sound pretty sure considering you never saw them together.”
“I didn’t have to. They created four beautiful children, and you”—Chloe smiled sweetly—“were their masterpiece.”
“I’ll never deserve your love.” His voice turned a bit gruff while his eyes fiercely bore into her gray depths. “I wish I could be the man I see in your eyes, but I’ll never be. There won’t be a place for me in heaven, and I can’t let you go there one day thinking I’ll be there waiting for you, Chloe.”
The thought of a life without Lucca was incomprehensible to her, and she was sure it was the same for him.
“There’s no way of knowing which one of us is going to die first.”
Lucca’s blue-green eyes no longer pierced hers, but her soul. “Darlin’, not even God is powerful enough to take you away from me as long as there’s breath in my body.”
“Careful, Lucca, I wouldn’t tempt Him to prove you wron—”
He laughed. Like everything else, Lucca wasn’t afraid of any man, and especially not the big guy upstairs. “I’ll to go confession if you want, but it’s still the truth.”
Elle had once warned her that, when Lucca got angry, everyone in Kansas City locked their doors, but God help her, when Lucca was good … he was so good. He made her heart melt, and any concerns about what he was capable of melted away with it. Lucca was more religious than she was, and if the pearly gates weren’t going to open for Lucca, she didn’t much care if they didn’t open for her, either.