Page 99 of Better Left Unsaid

Then, of course, being the good guy he is, he gave me another chance to speak my truth. And still, nothing. But in all fairness, I was fighting hard against my feelings. So hard I wasn’t even sure how I felt.

Until I realized this complicated web we’d tangled left me alone and without the one person I wanted to spend all my days with. The thing is, I really don’t think you can uncomplicate FWB. What you can do, though, is uncomplicate your feelings by being honest about what you’re feeling and speak your truth.

If I would’ve done that after we’d had sex during a chess game (long story), then maybe my life wouldn’t be the mess it is today. Now he’s gone and all I have to hold on to is the memory of the way he looked at me when he said he loves me. There will never be anything in this world that will ever compare to the way I feel when I think about that moment. I don’t believe anyone will ever love me as much as this man loves me. Now I know what you’re thinking—it’s not too late. But it is. For me, it is. He’s about to move to Europe for a job, a job that I know he’s destined for, and I can’t stop him. So here I’ll be, broken because I’ll have to live my days without him—no turning back—and let go of the love I do, in fact, feel for this man.

So would I do it all over again if I had the chance? Yes. Even knowing how thin that line is, how complicated it is, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But maybe I’d tell him just how much I do love him. How I can’t fathom the idea of taking one more breath without him in my life, so we can skip right past the messy part and get to the good part.

Fuck, Maria. You love me.

She laid it all out there for her readers.

I read the last two paragraphs again. She fucking loved me.

Why didn’t she tell me? How could she think I’d ever sacrifice her for a job? The job didn’t mean shit to me. Not compared to her.

I scrubbed my hand over my face and closed the binder.

My phone rang, and I assumed it was Jeff since I wasn’t on the plane, but he’d have to wait.

I needed to go to Maria. I had to see her. To hear her say it to my face, to tell me in person—she loved me.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Maria

My front doorswung open, startling me, and in stormed Dom. What was he doing here? Before I could even open my mouth to ask, he was asking his own question. “Where’s Isabella?”

I looked around and brushed my hair back from my face. “What? She’s at a friend’s.”

My heart was suddenly pounding in my chest. Why was Dom here? What was he doing here? Same question, but you see how it was all that was floating around in my mind?

“Good,” Dom said and made a beeline right for me, taking my face in his hands and kissing me.

My hands slid around his neck, my fingers playing with the hair on the nape of it. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into my mouth, and dug his fingertips into my scalp, pulling me close. Closer.

A moan sounded in my throat as the dam that was there to keep us from this moment broke wide the hell open, water rushing in by the second. With each languid stroke of his tongue against mine. With every feral sound that came from me as he raked his teeth over my lips and sucked on my bottom one before tracing it with his tongue.

When we finally came up for air, I looked into his eyes, searching them for an answer to the question that wouldn’t shut up in my head. “What are you doing here?” I finally voiced it.

“Say it, Maria.” His words came out harsh and demanding, like this was life or death and I needed to do as he commanded.

The stakes felt incredibly high, but I wasn’t entirely sure I understood what he was getting at. Call me stupid, but I had to make sure. My eyebrows furrowed. There was no way— No. He couldn’t be telling me to say I love him. Could he? How did he know?

“Say it,” he repeated. Then, “I know you love me. Say it.”He knows.

My heart burst in my chest, and I couldn’t deny him, couldn’t lie to him. My pulse sped up, my mouth went dry, and I swallowed. “I love you, Dom. I love you, Dominic Deluca. You’re my best friend and the love of my life.”

Boy, that felt good to get off my chest. I hadn’t even known for long, and yet, it felt like I was in a prison of my own making, keeping it to myself. From him, the one person I wanted to know more than anything.

His eyes were transfixed on my lips, and the next thing I knew his lips were slamming down on mine. He swiped his tongue along the center of my lips, so I parted for him. He’d been all I’d been able to think about lately. He consumed my every thought. I’d missed him more than I cared to admit. More than I knew what to do with. It was like when Dom wasn’t around, a piece of my heart was missing and it was torture to go on, to take a breath. Everything felt like a chore and a half.

Now I knew what people were talking about when they talked about soulmates.

It wasn’t one thing. It was every little thing combined to make it where this one person, this chosen person, was yours, meant to be yours forever. For all eternity.

I truly, deep in my soul, believed that Dom was mine. He was my soulmate.

I knew it might have sounded corny, but I didn’t care.

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