“Fabiana—.”
“I don’t want to talk about Fabiana.” She stopped him. “I heard your apology, just go please. I’d like to finish getting ready for bed.” She turned away from him to reach for her nightgown. He seized her in a gentle manner. His hands on her arms, his forehead pressed to the back of her skull. She didn’t resist his touch and he was grateful. “You were right. I was never harmless. I was your nightmare. Have I ruined everything between us? Is it too late?”
“I didn’t mean what I said. You push too hard, Giovanni.” Her voice broke with emotion. She turned to him. She captured his face. “If you would stop trying to prove to me how tough you are and just talk to me, we could learn to understand each other. Talk to me. Help me understand.”
“I am a monster.”
“Don’t say that,” she kissed his lips, his face was cradled in her hands. The tenderness from her made him greedy for control. He struggled between indulging and pushing her away.
“I’m sorry,” Giovanni said. “Losing you hurt so fucking bad Bella. I couldn’t handle it. I just didn’t know loving you would be painful. I wasn’t prepared. Nothing my father, Flavio, nothing they taught me prepared for coping with what… what we lost. I’ve done things…”
“Giovanni, stop.”
He opened his eyes and looked into hers. She was real. Standing before him with forgiveness in her eyes was the woman who haunted him for two years. Could the nightmare finally be coming to an end?
“What are we going to do? We really don’t know each other. So much has happened,” she said her voice quivering. “It hurt me too. Really bad. It still does,” she said and tears dropped from her eyes. “How do we start over?”
Her hands slowly lowered from his face and went down his chest. He stared down into her lovely face drowning emotionally in the beautiful swirls of her eyes. He had lost himself more than once when looking into her eyes. He brushed his knuckles across the side of her face. She seemed to enjoy his touch. Her features softened with a renewed glow of love. Damn. If he lost her again it would kill him. To take her back into his heart was a serious matter. She’d never be free of him again. Should he warn her? What would it cost him if he did? What would it cost her if he didn’t? “Do you know what ti amo means Bella?”
“I love you.”
“Sí. I love you so much I’ll do anything to make myself worthy. I love you so much that I will never let you go again. Do you hear me? Never.”
She blinked as if she understood. He knew she couldn’t possibly conceive the meaning of his words. But her willingness to learn lessened his fear. “Now you tell me Bella, what will it take to have you love me again?” His voice faded when he felt her hands land on his sides. Every muscle in his abdomen tensed thanks to her gentle touch. She stepped toward him instead of away.
“I swear I never cried as much as I did for you cara.”
“I cried too,” she said.
“Mirabella such a beautiful name for my donna,” he whispered. “Ti amo cara. I want to make things right for us. Say you love me too.”
She pressed her warm damp body closer to his. “Ti amo,” she said softly to him.