Our eyes meet and my heart stutters inside my chest.
‘It’s not just my mother who has changed.’
‘Wh-what are you saying, Rafael?’
‘That I too believe love is worth the risk.’
I take a shallow breath. He can’t mean... It’s not possible.
‘These two weeks without you, Faye, I’ve been grieving. Grieving as though you were dead, when in actual fact you were here, living your life without me. I’ve been tormented, lost. And yet it was me that pushed you away, it’s me that let you leave, it’s me that couldn’t commit.’
‘And now?’
‘Now I want it all, Faye. I want to let love in, I want to give us a chance. I know I can’t change overnight, but if you’ll have me I can try to be that man. I can love you and do everything in my power to make you happy, to make us happy.’
My lashes flutter closed, pins and needles creeping over my skin. I feel faint. The rush inside is so intense, so...
‘Faye...’ He pulls me against him, his arms so strong, so reassuring.
I look up into his eyes. ‘Am I dreaming? Is this some cruel trick and any second now Dante’s going to jump out of the woodwork and shout, “Surprise!”?’
He laughs, the gruff sound vibrating through his chest and into mine.
‘No, cara mia. I am in love with you. Not even my fear could stop that from happening. And it turns out, once you love someone, losing them just isn’t an option, not when they still walk the earth.’
‘Are you saying I left you no choice?’ A smile plays about my lips as I look up into his eyes and see all that I’ve come to love looking back at me.
‘I’m saying exactly that.’
‘Doesn’t sound very romantic.’
He laughs again and rakes a hand through my hair, reminding me of the hair tie that’s still in it, and the crazy mass that has escaped, and my unmade, sleep-deprived face, and... Oh, my God, I really do look a mess. But he doesn’t care. He loves me. I can see it all in his molten-chocolate eyes that blaze and love in one.
‘I admit to needing help in that department.’
‘In being romantic?’
‘Si.’
‘Lesson one.’ I smile widely. ‘Close your eyes so you can’t see what a mess I look.’
‘No, I’m not closing my eyes when they have been starved of you for two weeks. And you look incredible.’
‘Still exquisite?’ I ask, my eyes wide with teasing pessimism.
‘Si.’ He strokes his fingers along my jaw and cups my head in his hands as he studies me intently, the amber flecks in his gaze glinting with emotion. ‘Molto bella.’
My eyes well up, the pain of the last two weeks fading in the warmth of his love and acceptance of his love.
‘Lesson two...’ I whisper.
‘Si?’
‘Kiss me.’
I glimpse the joy in his smile seconds before his lips brush over mine and I tremble in his hold.
‘Ti amo, Faye.’ He whispers against my lips and kisses me again. ‘Ti amo molto.’