The outside world vanished. Time became distorted. He didn’t know how long they stood there, kissing, locked in each other’s arms. Only the sudden dampness on his cheek pulled him back to reality. He lifted his head and saw her tears. He looked deep into her mismatched eyes shimmering with tears and swore he saw a vision of an old couple, walking hand in hand on a sandy shore. Was it a glimpse of their future?
Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. His chest felt tight. To hell about it being too soon.
“I love you,” he blurted out, fearing his heart might burst if he kept it in any longer. “I love you,” he repeated, because the first time sounded rushed and his chest still felt tight. “I love you.” The third time was the charm and finally, he eased into breathing.
He realized he had been gripping her hands throughout his declaration. She was still crying. She opened her mouth several times, attempting to speak. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it in reassurance.
But Sabrina’s tears fell faster. “I told you not to make me fall for you,” she sniffed, “but you went ahead and did it anyway.” She sniffed again. And again.
While he waited…
And waited…
He wanted her to say it again, declare it, and not make it just a slip of the tongue like what happened earlier when she gave him the bracelet.
He tamped down the acute disappointment he felt. It didn’t matter that she didn’t say it back. He could wait for the words. He already knew what was in her heart. “So now it’s my fault, witch?” he teased, striving for composure.
“Totally,” she replied, swiping her knuckles across her cheeks. It further messed up the dark mascara tracks her tears had made. Before he could wipe them off with his handkerchief, she had grasped the lapel of his coat and pushed herself up on her toes. She touched her lip to his ear. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
Her words sent tremors racing through his body. The relief and happiness that surged in him almost brought him to his knees. Sabrina stretched higher, balancing on her toes, and tried to wrap her arms around his neck but fell short and stumbled.
Luca caught her and brought her body flush against his. “I got you. No matter how many times you fall, I’ll catch you.”
Sabrina smiled tremulously up at him. “You always do.”
He wanted to beat his chest. Punch his fist in the air. Do backflips. Anything to expel this giddy, nervous energy.
She gasped when he swooped her into his arms. He lay her down gently on the wide couch that had been pushed near a wall to make space for the interview.
“Time to go up in flames, strega,” he rasped, his body covering hers. Time to channel that giddy, nervous energy into something mutually pleasurable.
“Bring it on,” his witch purred.
And he did.
Olivia knocked three times. Loudly. With sufficient intervals in between.
She sighed, turned the handle of the doorknob, and stepped inside the mock-up press room. She cleared her throat, waited a few moments, then cleared it again.
No response.
Drat.
“Sir,” she said in a carrying voice. “The fashion show is about to start in fifteen minutes.”
A curse rent the air. There was the sound of fabric rustling. The rasp of a zipper. And giggling.
Olivia gave them two minutes before she turned around to assess the damage. She gazed at her usually impeccably dressed billionaire boss in bemusement. His hair was sticking out on ends. He had a smear of lipstick on his white shirt. She turned to his equally rumpled girlfriend, her chignon a disaster and her gown creased beyond recognition.
She spoke into her handheld radio. “Get me hair and make-up to the salon, second deck, right now. I need a fresh white shirt and a steam iron. Stat.”
Her boss and his girlfriend looked like naughty children caught with their hands inside the cookie jar.
They also looked nauseatingly hearts-in-their-eyes in love. The way they were staring at each other…God, couldn’t they just get a room…?
They did, her inner voice snickered, and you barged right into it.
The handheld radio crackled. A female voice spoke in a torrent of Italian. Worried Italian.
“I found them, Antonia,” Olivia answered reassuringly. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Her boss flashed her an unrepentant, cocky grin.
His girlfriend blushed a bright red.
And Olivia, she couldn’t help it. She cracked a smile.
THE END