Page 110 of Italy Can Bite Me

“Excuse me? Since when do I make it all about me?”

His eyes finally meet mine, dark and distant. “Since the moment you walked into my life.”

“Why are you doing this?” My voice cracks like thin ice, betraying every emotion I’m trying to hide. “I see right through you, you know. Your eyes give you away.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“That’s such bullshit.” I step closer, my heart thundering against my ribs. “I know when you’re lying. I knew it the first day we met, when you tried to convince me your stupid Tower of Pisa pickup line actually works.”

His laugh is bitter, empty. “You mean whenyouwere lying about Jared?”

“What happened from last night to now? Because the man who asked me to stay with him, who held me like I was something precious—he wouldn’t be acting like this.”

He shakes his head, looking away. “It was a dream. A beautiful lie. We’d never last.”

“Why?” I move even closer, forcing myself into his space. “Give me the real reason.”

“Because we’re too different. We want different lives.”

“Different lives? I don’t even recognize the life I wanted before you. Miss Perfect Plan, with her five-year goals and retirement portfolio, started at twenty-five. You wrecked that woman. Made me dream bigger. Want wilder.”

“Katie.” My name sounds like a prayer for mercy. “Please don’t make this harder.”

“No, you don’t get the easy out.” Another step closer. The pulse in his throat betrays him. “At least Jared was a man about it—he looked me in the eye when he said he didn’t want me.”

Pain flashes across his face so raw it sends my stomach plummeting. “Cristo, no. Katie, you’re… you’re perfection. It’s not you—”

“Oh my God.” My voice trembles like a wire about to snap. “Are you actually going to say ‘it’s not you, it’s me’? Tell me, is that line just as pathetic in Italian?”

“Stop.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Please just stop.”

“Or what?” A tear escapes, tracing down my cheek. “You’ll keep breaking my heart? Too late.”

“Please.” His voice cracks. “I can’t watch you cry.”

“Then you shouldn’t have made me fall in love with you.” The words rip out of me. “But here we are. You get to hurt me, but my tears are too much? That’s not how this works. I can’t compartmentalize my emotions into a nice tidy binder and file them away.”

The silence hangs in the air, thick with everything he won’t say.

I continue, “I have never felt the way I do when I’m with you. I thought I knew what love was, but God, I was so wrong. I burn for you, ache for you, and every cell in my body recognizes you. So whatever you’re battling tonight? It’s tearing me apart because that’s what real love does—it binds you to someone so tightly that their pain becomes yours.”

I step closer until there’s barely a breath between us. His hands are still shoved in his pockets like he’s physically restraining himself from touching me, but he doesn’t back away. The air crackles with electricity, threatening to spark and consume us both.

“I love you, Matteo,” I whisper. “And you love me too. Your mouth lies but your body can’t. I see you’re scared.”

“I’m not afraid,” he whispers weakly as if he’s trying to convince himself.

“Liar.” I inch closer. “You’ve spent your whole life running away from love. But it caught you anyway. You fell for me.”

I’m so close that his hot breath is on my skin. Every muscle in his body is straining toward mine even as he holds himself back. The moonlight catches his face, illuminating the war in his eyes.

“See what you’ve done to me,” I rasp, the words scraping my throat raw. “I’m ruined just like you wanted. For every other man, for my old life, for every notion I had about love. I’ll never be the same because of you. Say something, dammit!”

He says nothing. The silence feels like a hand around my throat, squeezing until the last bit of hope dies. Tears spill over, each one burning like acid down my cheeks. The woman who plans everything, who has a backup plan for her backup plans, finally admits defeat.

“Right. Of course.” My voice sounds empty. “I guess I’ll add you to my collection of men who couldn’t love me back.”

I have to leave, right now.Each step away is like walking on broken glass.Don’t look back. Don’t—

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