I always awakened before Sera. For a few minutes in the mornings, I could watch her sleep. It gave me comfort that I could guard her while she had more time to dream—hopefully the peaceful kind. She had nightmares of that night Santino held a gun to her head, but they’d grown less frequent. The last one she had was last week. She never remembered them when she woke up. I just knew it was about Santino because the thrashing around and sobbing “no” had never happened before that night. I wanted her to wake up knowing I would always be by her side, watching over her. That she would feel safe. And maybe, I never wanted to feel so helpless again. In a way, I suffered my own trauma of almost losing her, a taste of what life would be like without Sera.
Easy. There was no life without Sera.
She was my life.
Hopefully her subconscious was slowly burying away that event. Mom once said dreams were the mind’s way of healing itself from unwanted feelings and memories. Because isn’t that always why they say to sleep on it?
Sera started to stir.
When she opened her eyes, she smiled. “Are we going?”
“Of course we are,” I said.
The week after Thanksgiving, Sera and I returned to Maine. We arrived at the compound last night. The Archers and the De Lucci crime family had a meeting where we finally agreed that all threats to our members were over. So, unlike last time, we didn’t need guards.
Sera and I were staying a week before we rejoined the family for Christmas.
“But it’s so cold.” She burrowed her nose into the pillow.
“You were so gung-ho to watch the sunrise last night.”
“What’s the temperature?”
I grabbed my phone to look. “Thirty degrees right now.”
She didn’t say anything. I chuckled and offered words of encouragement. “I’ll keep you warm.”
She still didn’t say anything.
“I know you’re just pretending to be asleep.” I climbed over her to get to her side of the floor, then I bent and scooped her up. “Come on, baby.”
She groaned and nuzzled my chest. It was going to be one of those mornings.
Sera, it seemed, had sleep inertia during chilly weather. She was like a bear in hibernation. But no worries, I was at her service.
I grinned as I positioned her at the sink. “Gargle.”
“I hate you,” she mumbled.
“No, you don’t.” I walked over to our suitcase, which we had yet to unpack, and picked out some clothes for her. I wasn’t complaining. I loved pampering her. I loved stripping the clothes off her both in the morning when I’m forcing her to wake up before she’s ready, and when I’m about to fuck her blind. My groin stirred as I remembered our sex marathon the night before. Maybe that was why she was worn out.
Couldn’t say I wasn’t smug as fuck.
After I got her into her clothes, I pointed a finger at her. “Don’t crawl back into bed.”
“You’re like a drill sergeant.”
I smirked. “I’ll go make coffee.”
Sera seemed more awake by the time she strode into the kitchen and I had all our necessities packed including the all-important thermos of caffeine.
“I think I’m excited again.”
“Good, baby.”
Leading her out to the garage, I bundled her into the Suburban. My Jaguar was sitting at the mansion garage, still as wrecked as it had been a month ago. I wasn’t sure what I was doing with it, and frankly I didn’t care. My world had revolved around Sera and tying up loose ends. Besides, my priorities had changed.
Sunrise wasn’t until six forty-five. We had fifteen minutes to make it, so I navigated the SUV slowly through the unpaved road so she wouldn’t be cold for too long when we got there.
The horizon was already splashed with orange by the time we made it to the cliff. I helped Sera from the passenger side and sat at the tailgate and waited for the sunrise, huddled together. I brought a blanket to wrap around us. The ocean was cast in purple. A cruise ship was passing through.
“You okay?” I asked.
She glanced up at me. “I’m fine.”
Our breaths formed wisps of vapor in the cold. Sera had lowered her travel cup of coffee and had tucked her hands into my sides.
“I forgot the gloves,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I said.
“You’re treating me like a child,” she chided. “It’s not your fault you forgot. And it’s not your responsibility.”
“Oh, I didn’t forget,” I said.
“What?”
The sun started to clear the horizon. Perfect.
I untangled myself from Sera and she started mumbling, but her protestations cut off when she realized what I was doing.
“Matteo,” she whispered.
I dropped to one knee in front of her. “I didn’t do this properly before, but I sure as hell hope I’m doing it right this time.”
She wrapped the blanket around her, golden rays lighting her face. Fuck, she’s glorious.
“I can’t think of any place else that would be more perfect.” I extracted the ring from my pocket. There was no box. Just the five-carat solitaire I asked Mom and Bianca to help me pick out. “Our divorce came through two weeks ago, but I couldn’t wait to make you mine again.”
She gave a watery laugh. “This is crazy.”
My lips tipped up. “Is it? If it is, will you be crazy with me, because, baby, I’m crazy in love with you. I’ve never stopped calling you my wife because for me, that time I said those vows, I meant it. But I get it. We didn’t have a strong foundation. We’ve been through so much…”
“We have…and you wrecked your Jaguar for me.”
I gave a choked laugh. “Baby, I’m serious here.”
“I’m being serious. You loved that car, Matteo.”
“I’m telling you now, it’s just a car.”
She looked at me dubiously.
“Now, will you let me finish?” My lips twitched. She was messing with me. Was I nervous? Not really. Fuck, what if she said no? I took in a deep breath.
“You’re missing the sunrise,” she said softly.
I stared at her. “No, I’m not.” And I meant it. There would be no sunrise without her. My sun rose and set with her.
Her mouth trembled before she burst out, “Don’t make me cry.”
Chuckling lightly, I held up the ring. The diamond caught fire in the sun’s rays. “Seraphina Moretti De Lucci.” She was still a De Lucci after the divorce. Another reason for me to be a smug bastard which in no way made me complacent. I’d learned my lesson. “Will you marry me? Again?”
“Oh, Matteo, it’s beautiful.” Her hands reached out.
I held the ring away. “Is that a yes?”
She bit her lower lip, her eyes focused on the ring, before she lifted them to me with all solemness. I couldn’t read her expression. Was she weighing her options now that she was about to commit to me again?
“Baby,” I said, my confidence stuttering. “You know there’s no escaping me—”
“Yes,” she breathed.
I wasted no time slipping the ring on her finger and I hauled her out of the SUV, so I could kiss her senseless. When we broke apart, I growled, “You were teasing me, right?”
“You know I was.” She laughed lightly.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I muttered, capturing her lips again. Our bodies molded to each other, and heat raced through my veins.
After a while, she broke the kiss this time, saying, “I’m going to enjoy paying for it.”
“Oh, you will,” I promised and started to remove her coat.
Her eyes flared. “Matteo…”
“Why do you think I brought a blanket?”
“It’s cold!”
“I’ll keep you warm.”
Sera
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
Matteo collapsed beside me. “That was fucking fantastic.”
“Yes, but now I’m too hot.”
“You’re always hot.”
I giggled. “That’s not what I meant. Turn off the heat.”
He groaned. “Woman, you just sucked the life out of me, I don’t have the energy.”
My man could be so dramatic. I rolled to all fours, crawled between the console, unconcerned about my nakedness, and lowered the heat. I spied my phone and grabbed it. Ivy would never forgive me if I didn’t send her a picture of the ring at least.
I knee-walked back to the tailgate and opened the door. Freezing air rushed in and I heard Matteo curse. “You’re going to catch a cold.”
“That’s a fallacy.”
I hurriedly took a picture and sent it to Ivy.
“Come here,” Matteo growled. He slammed the back door shut and we dove under the blankets again.
“Turn up the heat.” I laughed as I lit our little cocoon with my phone. Matteo nuzzled my neck.
“I’ll keep you warm.”
“That seems to be your standard line.” My breath hitched and I erupted in a full-body shudder when he kissed the pulse that got me so sensitive.
He started a trail down my body, getting on top of me, my legs spread for him to get settled in between.
But I was distracted with a voicemail from Luca. I hadn’t heard from him in a while.
I pressed play and put the phone to my ear.
“Are you seriously listening to your messages right now?”
I would have laughed if my uncle’s message hadn’t caught me off guard. “What the fuck, Luca.”
Matteo, hearing the alarm in my voice, made his way back up my body.
I stared at him. “Luca beat us to it.”
His brows furrowed. “What?”
“He’s gotten engaged to Natalya.”
“How the fuck did that happen?”
Matteo wasn’t the only one baffled. It made me so mad. Natalya was still staying with us at the mansion. “He’s flying back to the U.S. tomorrow and straight for Manhattan.”
“Does Natalya know she’s engaged?”
“What time is it in Italy right now?” I was getting worked up. I was going to give my uncle a piece of my mind.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Matteo plucked the phone from my hand, lifted the blanket, and tossed it on the front seat.
“Are you being high-handed again, Mr. De Lucci?” I sighed.
“Right now, your duty is to your husband, wife,” he murmured. “We’ll deal with your uncle later.”
“I can still be annoyed.”
“I can help with that.”
I smiled and linked my arms around his neck. My fiancé soon to be my husband for the second time always found ways to make me happy. I was his obsession as he was mine.
“You know…” My voiced cracked. “You’ve helped me realize my hopes and dreams. I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d love to spend a lifetime with.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Because you’re spending forever with me.”
A black curl dangled from his forehead, and I remembered the first time I saw him out of a suit. I didn’t know it then, but it was my future walking toward me. I lovingly combed the errant hair back in place, raking his scalp in the process. He gave a rumble of satisfaction, reminding me of a contented lion. “How could I not after everything you’ve done to get us here?”
“It was worth it, but I don’t think I can stand the torture of not having you in my bed a second time.” His eyes searched mine. “Tell me you love me, wife.”
“I love you, Matteo De Lucci.”
His eyes gleamed. “Now, where were we?”
