Page 146 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
Gio blushes, which is deeply appealing. “Grazie.”
“Watch out for the gambling, though,” I warn. “And he can never figure out what he wants to eat at a restaurant. It’s the worst. You’ll be there all night. You’ll age years before he decides on an appetizer.”
Brad makes a sound of impatience. “Enough about me, we’re talking about you!”
I have to close one eye because the room is gently spinning. “Oh, me? Let’s see. Where to start? I was dumped at the altar by my fiancé. Well, you know that part. My father died. I inherited everything. My dress shop burned down. I moved to Italy and took over my father’s business. I hated my new stepmother, but then I didn’t. My fiancé came out of the closet—oh, you know that, too. Then I fell in love with my stepbrother—”
“What did you say?”
I blink, startled by Brad’s loud interruption.
“That last part,” he insists. “About your stepbrother.”
I think about it, then realize my mistake. “Oh right. My ex-stepbrother.”
Brad groans, dropping his head back to stare at the ceiling. “What about him? The other part!”
“The falling-in-love part?” I say faintly, a wash of tears blurring my eyes.
Jenner and Brad shout, “Yes!”
I grumble, “Geez, guys, dial it down a notch. Man down over here, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
When they both glare at me, I relent. I have no idea what’s happening anyway. These drugs are marvelous. “Yes. I’m in love with him. I didn’t want to fall in love with him, but how could I not? He’s very . . . he’s just so . . .” I sigh again, wistfully this time. “Wonderful. He’s the most wonderful man in the world.”
Brad is grinning like he just won a bet. He probably stopped at some gambling hall on the way to the hospital. “So he wasn’t a rebound.”
“No. Oh. Are you looking for some credit for dumping me so I could find someone better? Is that what’s happening here?”
Brad looks vaguely insulted. “Better? I mean, he’s a great guy, but better?”
Jenner says sharply, “Let’s not get off track, Satan.”
“You know I don’t like it when you call me that!”
“Fine. I’ll demote you to Beelzebub. Happy?”
Poor Gio looks totes confused by all the demon references.
“Even if he did use all my designs in his show, I still love him.”
That makes the conversation come to a screeching halt, but I’m on a roll now. A drug-induced emotional roll that doesn’t want to be stopped, so I blather on, feeling numb and sad and more than a little pathetic.
I wave my good arm through the air. “I know. You don’t have to tell me. It’s silly. But it’s the truth. Even if he’s been lying to me, and using me, and planned it all from the beginning, he still has my heart. It’s like that thing you said, Jenner, what was it? Oh yes. ‘Because I’d rather die than live a single day without him, come what may.’ It’s not the dresses that are important, or my pride, or anything else. It’s him.”
I inhale a deep painful breath. “I accidentally walked in on his backstage area when I was looking for the bathroom. I saw all my dresses on his models . . . and I was so angry, and shocked, but most of all hurt. I was devastated. I ran away. Then I got to the top of the stairs and couldn’t take another step. I wanted to hear him out. I wanted him to explain because even though I saw it with my own eyes, I didn’t believe he’d betray me. My heart wouldn’t let me believe it.”
My voice breaks. “Then I tripped on the hem of my dress and went ass over teakettle, and that’s the end of that sad story right there.”
Matteo rips aside the curtain. “Only it’s not,” he growls, his eyes a luminous, incandescent blue. “It’s just the beginning.”
I stare at him, more confused than Gio about all the demon talk.
I’m not entirely sure Matteo’s really standing there, so beautiful and wild-eyed, so incredibly intense. I’m pretty drugged up. This could be another hallucination. Though he is wearing different clothes from last night . . . but that doesn’t prove anything—I had Brad in a leisure suit on a unicorn a few minutes ago.
Then he speaks, and nothing matters except what he’s saying.
“I wasn’t lying to you. The only thing I planned was to make sure your talent got all the accolades it deserves. Because I love you, too. More than I want my next breath. More than anything. More than life itself, bella, I love you.”
