Chapter 123

• Chapter 123: She Says I Love You
• The moment they cross the threshold into the bedroom, Luca doesn't give her a chance to catch her breath or find her bearings. His movements are swift and purposeful, driven by an urgency that stems from something deeper than desire—something that feels dangerously close to desperation. He knows she's already been pushed to her limits after that intense physical ordeal, coupled with the harrowing experience back at the warehouse where she came face-to-face with death itself. The memory of how close he came to losing her makes his heart clench with an emotion so foreign, so overwhelming, that it threatens to consume him entirely. It's an emotion he hasn't allowed himself to feel in years—decades, even.
• But he forces those thoughts into the darkest recesses of his mind, burying them beneath layers of practiced control as he suddenly sweeps her up in his arms. Her body is still wrapped in the soft hotel towel, droplets of water from their shared bath clinging to her skin like diamonds. He carries her as though she weighs nothing at all, his strong arms cradling her against his chest with a tenderness that contradicts everything the world knows about Luca Deluca.