Page 166 of The One
And it’s all for me!
I only register now that Teo is kneeling in front of me. He’s pulled on a pair of sweatpants, his upper body still deliciously on display.
Oh, this man is beautiful!
My heart skips a beat. It happens every time I look at him. I hope it will never change.
“Will you play for me?” he asks, gesturing toward my guitar leaning against the wall.
So that’s why he disappeared, to fetch it from the living room downstairs.
My stomach sinks with disappointment. This isn’t a proposal after all.
Damn.
But I’m being ridiculous. Teo always has a plan, and of course, he’s sticking to it. That’s just who he is.
I let out a quiet breath, forcing the disappointment aside.
Patience, Mari.
After years of waiting for him to notice me, I should be an expert, emphasis onshould.
He hands me my guitar with a contented smile.
“I love hearing you play,” he murmurs, his voice like a warm embrace. “It brings me so much peace.”
I’ve played for him every day since we arrived, mostly in the garden. We usually sit on a blanket beneath one of the olive trees, him leaning back against the trunk, me nestled between his legs. It’s become our ritual. Simple, intimate, and entirely ours.
Today, though, he mixes it up. Instead of settling behind me, he sits on the tiles in front of me. Leaning against the balustrade, his dark eyes are fixed on mine, smiling.
“My favorite, please,” he says, his voice laced with unmistakable affection.
I trace the horses engraved on the guitar’s body, my fingers brushing the familiar grooves, before pivoting to the frets and beginning the tune. The classic Rolling Stones song flows naturally, the notes imprinted in my muscle memory.
I close my eyes, letting the pull of the melody take over, but I still sense Mateo’s gaze on me.
When I reach the chorus,wild, wild horses,I open my eyes, locking onto his. The lyrics feel like they’re meant for this moment, for him. Because it’s true. Not even wild horses could drag me away from him.
I don’t dare look away, captivated by the way he’s staring at me.
When the song ends and the last chord drifts into the night air, Teo kneels, gently taking the guitar from me. He sets it aside, then reaches for my hands, his larger ones enveloping mine.
“This song,” he begins, “when I first heard you play it at Carloso, it settled something deep inside me. My soul knew then what my mind took a little longer to figure out.”
His thumb brushes over my knuckles, and the warmth in his gaze is almost too much.
“Those lyrics, they’ve never been truer than they are right now. No matter what life throws at us, no matter how unpredictable things get, there’s nothing that could ever keep me from you. I love you, Mariella, more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone.”
His words are raw and unguarded.
“You’ve been right under my nose for years, and I was a fool not to see you. All this time, I searched everywhere for someone, not realizing the woman I was looking for had been there all along.”
My heart swells, even as the sting of having been invisible to him for so long flares briefly. But I push it back to where it belongs, in the past.
What matters now is this moment, this new beginning where my dreams seem to be finally coming true.
“I’ve waited for you since the day my father told me how he loved my mother. He said when I met my One, I’d know right away, that everything would just click. And he was right.”
