Page 86 of Saved By A God
“I’d like that.” I grin at her. “And a haircut would be nice.”
“You’ve got it.” Gianna kisses my cheek before she gets up. “Oh, everything is ready for you. I went to thrift stores and tried to get you as many retro pieces as possible.”
“Aww.” I grab hold of her hand and squeeze it. “Thank you so much. Come over tomorrow.” I jab a thumb at Enzo. “His overprotective ass can deal with us catching up for an hour or so.”
She nods and quickly gives me another hug before leaving.
When I get up, Enzo asks, “Where are you going? Do you need something? I’ll get it.”
Again, I sit down and turn my body to face his. “What’s with all this weirdness?” I frown at him. “Just tell me so we can clear the air and get back to how things were.”
For a moment, he doesn’t move, then he takes hold of my hand, and I feel the roughness of his scars.
“I fucking lost my mind.” He shakes his head, moving his other hand to cup my cheek as he leans closer. “I can’t live without you, Rosie. Having you back…”
My heartbeat speeds up drastically as emotions tighten his features.
“I love you, Rosie.”
Holy shit.
I blink at him, unable to process the words he just said, the ones I’ve wanted to hear for over a decade. It becomes almost too intense to keep eye contact with him.
“You are…” He pauses for a moment. “Fuck, you’re my soul. Without you, I’m nothing but an empty husk.”
My lips part as surprise crashes through me, and still I can only stare at him.
Enzo loves me? Like friendship love, brother love, or romantic love?
He must see the question on my face because he says, “I want to be with you in every way. A couple. Dating. Marriage. Kids. All of it.”
Again, I’m hit with a wave of surprise, and utterly overwhelmed, I can’t form a single word.
When I keep quiet for too long, he asks, “Why do you look like I just told you I’m an alien from outer space?”
I blink rapidly as some brain activity returns. “Are you?”
Jesus, this is the last thing I ever expected to hear from Enzo.
Wait…
“I know you missed me, but damn, don’t say stuff like that to me if you don’t mean it.”
“Rosie.” He leans even closer, and there is no doubt he’s being very serious when he says, “I love you.”
For a second, I forget how to breathe.
There’s no warning. Just those three words, spoken like they’ve been sitting inside him for years and he’s finally done holding them back.
Enzo loves me.
The realization hits so hard it hurts, and a breath whooshes from me as happiness bursts through me like fireworks.
After all the years of wanting him, of telling myself to stop, of pretending it didn’t hurt every time he walked away, he’s sitting here, holding my hand and giving me the one thing I never thought I’d have.
For one stupid, perfect second, I almost smile, but then the secret I’ve kept pops into my head, killing the tiny seed of hope that was starting to sprout.
Enzo doesn’t know I was the virgin from the club, and if he ever finds out, it would be the end of our friendship.
