Page 119 of Chasing Caine
My eyes and jaw clamped shut. This was why I didn’t talk about things. Because talking about one thing turned into another and another and eventually you were sharing everything. Of course, that was also the point of this visit, wasn’t it?
His thumbs brushed my cheeks, and he waited. He was so good at that.
“Yeah, there was someone else.” I opened my eyes and stared at the spot on his chest I’d kissed. “The summer I studied in Amelia.”
“So, youdidlearn Italian customs from a man?” He winked, breaking my tension. That was one of the earliest things he’d teased me about during our first meeting. When I’d been so shy around him, I blushed every time I looked at him. Palms sweating, words twisting on my tongue. Barely a month ago.
I couldn’t help but smile. We’d come so far in such a short time. “You don’t actually want to hear this.”
He slid his hands back from my cheeks to hold the sides of my head. Forcing me to nod.
“Alright. It was a guy in the art crimes program. His name was Vincenzo and he was local, planning to join the TPC. But we met and…” I pivoted my face so one cheek was in his palm, and my lips moved against his skin. “He said he wanted to move to the States to be with me.”
“But he didn’t, I assume?”
I shook my head and kissed his hand. “One delay after another until it was just…” One shoulder barely shrugged, trying to tamp down the memory of walking into Vin’s apartment, seeing nothing was packed. “Over.”
Antonio wouldn’t do that to me. There was more to us than there was with me and Vincenzo. Vin was always up for everything, never argued with me, never told me I was wrong. Just went along for the ride, promising the world, but not backing it up with anything.
“Look at me, bella.”
A pricking started at the backs of my eyes. I loved it when he called me ‘bella.’ I’d never tire of that. It was special. Just for me.
“And so here we find ourselves,” he said. “On opposite sides of the same coin.”
“What?” One tear escaped my eye.
He brushed it aside and whispered, “You, heading back to the States to wait for your man to come home from Italia. And me, here, waiting to go home to my woman. And both hoping the result will be different from the last time.”
My jaw clenched and I gave a tiny nod. How did he understand me so well?
“It will be different, I swear.”
“I hope so.”
“Which brings us to…” He craned his neck toward his bedside table, which was out of his reach.
Taking the hint, I slid off him so he could retrieve something from a drawer. I pulled the sheet over myself—naked was easier when it was against him, rather than on full display—and propped my head up on a hand.
He rolled back over to face me, the rare nervous smile making an appearance.
My stomach dropped and I clenched the sheets tighter to my chest.
Oh my god.
In his hand, a small white jewelry box.
Chapter 39
Antonio
Myheartbeatharderin my chest, my stomach churning. The way to Samantha’s heart was to push her gently forward. But she never said she loved me in response to my declarations. Was this a push too far?
Her body tensed with silent panic. I knew she loved me, deep inside, but her scars held more sway than she would admit. All the same, I needed a commitment from her. And I wanted to give her a symbol of mine. Once I had creaked the box open, her face relaxed, confusion replacing terror.
“What’s that?”
Inside the jewelry box was a thick black ceramic men’s ring. Next to it, a smaller trinity ring of three bands; black ceramic, white gold, and more white gold encasing a channel of diamonds.