Page 87 of Luca
The woman who isn’t afraid of his world.
The woman who belongs to him completely.
Chapter 34: Luca
The light wakes me slowly.
For the first time in years, I don’t rise before dawn to claim control of the day. I don’t slip out from between the sheets and leave her behind. Instead, I stay.
And now, with sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains, I’m on my back, my wife curled against me, the weight of her hair spilling across my chest like a silken chain I never want to break free from.
It’s disorienting—this stillness, this peace—but I don’t move. I just watch her sleep.
My Gabriella.
Her lips are parted in sleep, her hand resting lightly over my heart. She’s warm against me. She is everything I never should have allowed near my world and everything I cannot imagine it without.
My hand slides down, slow and careful, tracing the curve of her hip, the dip of her waist, the softness of her breast. My thumb circles over her nipple until she stirs, a sleepy sound escaping her throat, half sigh, half moan.
Her eyes blink open, hazy with sleep, and when she sees me, surprise flickers there. “Luca?” Her voice is rough, sweet, still thick with dreams. “You never sleep in.”
“I know.” My thumb presses again, firmer now, drawing another small gasp from her lips. “But you’re here so I stayed.”
Something changes in her face then. Her lips curve into the smallest smile, soft, almost shy, but certain. I see that she understands.
This is new. This is different.
I roll her onto her back, covering her with my body, pinning her against the sheets. She looks up at me with wide, dark eyes, her hair spilling across the pillow, her smile tugging at the corners of her mouth like she can’t hold it back.
I kiss her slowly. Not with fury, not with the hunger that drove me to claim her in the shower, but with the quiet, dangerous tenderness of a man who has finally stopped fighting what he feels.
When I pull back, my mouth hovers against hers. “I love you.”
Her eyes widen, her breath catches, and I feel stripped bare—not by violence, but by truth.
“Luca…”
“I’ll burn the world down to protect you. Do you understand? Whatever it takes, whoever it costs, you are mine to love and protect. And no one will ever take you from me.”
Her hand slides to my face, her thumb brushing over my jaw with a gentleness I’ve never known. Tears gather in her eyes, not of fear, but of something fierce.
“I love you too,” she whispers, and then more comes, pouring out of her like it’s been waiting all along. “Every lie I told, every risk I took, it was worth it. All of it. Because it brought me here. To this bed, to this moment, with you.” Her chest rises sharply, her lips trembling even as her gaze holds steady. “I don’t regret any of it. I never will. I’d do it all again if it meant ending here, with you.”
My chest tightens, a pressure I can’t fight.
“And Luca…” she continues, “I will stand by your side. I will walk this world with you whatever it brings.”
I kiss her again, harder this time, my hands fisting in her hair, my body pressing her deep into the mattress. I take her slowly, savoring every inch of her, every gasp, every shiver. This isn’t punishment or possession, it’s something far more dangerous.
It’s worship.
She wraps her legs around me, her body welcoming mine, her nails dragging down my back as I push into her with a rhythm that’s unhurried, steady, meant to last. Her lips part in a moan that vibrates against my mouth, and I drink it down like it belongs to me.
I am no longer Luca Romano the boss, the feared. I am a man in love with the woman beneath me, a man who will burn empires to hell if it means keeping her in my bed.
Her climax comes in waves, soft at first, then violent, tearing through her until she’s crying out my name, her body tightening around mine and dragging me under with her. My release follows, hot and deep, and I bury my face in her neck, my teeth catching her skin as I brand her as mine in the only way I know how.
Afterward, I don’t move. I stay inside her, my body heavy over hers, her chest heaving against mine. Her hand slides into my hair, stroking softly, and I know with bone-deep certainty that this is it.
