"Okay, but it's just because it was the longest shopping trip of my life," he finally agrees and shoves his hand in one of the bags.
I'm as curious to see what's in there as the girls are. I don't even know what he could possibly give them after he bought them cars. Yachts, maybe? How do you choose a present for people who have everything?
But he did that for me, I remind myself. He rented the whole observatory for me, and it was the best present of my life—more valuable than all those million-dollar clothes hanging in his closet in London for me.
"That's for you, Fran." He holds out something to her, wrapped in lovely pink packaging with a big bow on top.
Fran rips off the packaging with the speed of a rocket and rounds her eyes in surprise when she sees what's inside.
"Oh my God, I can't believe you bought me a first edition of To Kill a Mocking Bird!" Fran screams happily and jumps on the spot before hugging Ricardo. "I wanted it so badly, I was looking for it everywhere. How did you know?"
He smiles back at her, obviously satisfied with her reaction.
He doesn’t answer, getting an envelope from another bag and holding it out for Vi.
When the other sister opens the envelope, she has precisely the same reaction as Fran had just a couple of seconds ago.
"Tickets to a private Ed Sheeran concert? VIP seats?" She screams just as loudly, and Ricardo smiles even wider, if that’s possible.
"With the opportunity to go backstage for a photo and a chat with Ed," he says proudly, and she screams so loudly that even my ears hurt.
Finally, our eyes meet. The whole time as the sisters continue speaking, screaming and hugging him in rotation, Ricardo looks at me. As if he did this partly for me. As if he’s trying to show me that he genuinely cares, and how he’s changed from the man he was—a real shark, chasing success and money—to a caring man who takes the time to buy thoughtful presents for his sisters.
I swallow. I can't force myself to look away even though I want to. My heart jumps out of my chest at that gaze.
He takes a bouquet with light pink roses that he placed on a small table next to the door when he came in and walks to Alberta. She receives the flowers with a smile and so much happiness that I feel my eyes are getting wet.
That's ridiculous. Why am I so sensitive?
I guess it feels to me like I’m in a movie where I’m living the life of my dreams. The most gorgeous and the kindest guy in the world is mine. And we're here, in Tuscany, surrounded by family, sitting by the table overlooking the mountains, celebrating. This is my dream life, the life I always wanted but never thought I could have.
I wish that this moment could last forever…
"Mom," he says, leaning toward her with a smile. "Although it was the hardest day of my life when you gave birth to these noisy little monsters, I figured that from now I needed to share your love with others."
Everybody laughs as he says it. I see that Alberta's eyes shine as she smiles at her son.
"But it was also the best day of my life," Ricardo continues, "because these little monsters became my family. Thank you for that."
He gives her another kiss, gently touching her forehead as she barely holds back her tears.
It’s a heartbreaking speech.
I wish my mom could see this. I wish she were still alive…
The next moment Ricardo turns around, I understand that he's coming to me.
He says nothing, just comes closer, places his palm on my cheek and leans for a kiss. And it's not a quick kiss to the cheek like he kissed Alberta and the girls. It's a soft and tender kiss to my lips that lasts more than a couple of seconds.
I have no time to grasp what’s really going on before he’s kissing me right in front of everyone.
When he finally pulls away, I feel my cheeks are burning embarrassingly. I lick my lips and force myself to look at the others. They’re all silently staring at me.
"Do you want to sit next to your woman, Ricardo?" asks Enrico, for some reason looking at me. I guess it's because I'm as red as a tomato right now.
The moment I want to reject his offer, Ricardo spills, "That would be very kind of you, thank you."
After a moment, the waiter replaces the plates and the cutlery, and Ricardo's uncle, holding a glass of wine in his hand, rapidly changes his seat, placing himself at the other side of his wife.
What the hell just happened? I chose a seat to be as far away from this man as possible—how did he do this?
When he takes a seat next to me, he turns to me with a smile and leans closer.
"Tried to put me off, huh?" he whispers quietly into my ear, and I feel goosebumps cover my skin. "It'll never happen."
And then he gives me another kiss, to my cheek, right next to my ear, where he knows I like it the most because he used to do exactly the same thing each morning while waking me up.
I inhale his aromatic scent, the blend of sea salt from his shaving gel and the smell of his skin, hot, as if he just spent a day lying under the sun.
When he pulls away from me a little, just to brush his nose over mine, our eyes meet, and I feel how desperately I need to touch those lips one more time.
I want to say something. I need to say something.
But I can't…
Chapter Five
Ricardo
Angie went to the bathroom, and I decided to follow her to spend some time alone with her, at least a couple of minutes before we both come back to the table again. She hasn't talked to me during dinner, avoiding my gaze. She answers when I ask something, and that's it. She doesn't seem angry to me, more like afraid, and I don't understand why she’s acting so weird.
And now I'm waiting outside the bathroom for her to come out.
"Wow!" she exclaims in surprise when she opens the door and sees me standing right in front of her. "You scared me."
I say nothing and just enter the bathroom, not letting her out, closing the door behind me and locking us inside.
"Why are you avoiding me?" I ask, looking straight into her eyes. "You left me. I should be the one bashfully hiding in the corner."
She finally looks at me, her eyes wide, her glance fearful, and she breathes heavily with her mouth open. She's scared, and I don't know the reason. Is she afraid to tell me something?
"I didn't leave you. I just wasn’t ready to stay…" she starts, but I cut her off with a kiss.
She doesn’t resist, opening her sweet, full, rose lips for my tongue to penetrate deeper. She's trembling in my arms as I stroke my hand against her neck, my other hand holding her by the waist.
Gosh, how I missed this. I can't believe it's been less than a week since I've tasted her, because it seems like forever. She feels so good, like a sweet cinnamon roll with salty caramel on top. I could devour her like this forever.
“I didn't leave you…” she just said, and that's all I needed to hear to move in. Not that I ever wanted to give up on our relationship, not after everything we've been through, not after I finally told her how much I love her. I just needed to hear her say that she didn't give up either.
When my hand slides up from her waist to her breast and finds her nipple already hardened under this light blue silk dress, she makes a quiet moan, and it turns me on even more.