Page 86 of Secrets of the Brother
He kissed the top of my head. “Actually, babygirl. I know for a fact you don’t. That’s your problem. Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
He was right. I didn’t hate him.
And itwasa problem.
CHAPTER22
ENZO
God, she was gorgeous in the morning.
Her dark hair was a tangled mess of curls fanned out over the pillow. Her lips were slightly open as she snored softly. There was the smudged shadow of mascara under her eyes, the remnants of last night’s makeup… and she couldn’t have looked more beautiful.
My jaw tightened at the faint scratch and slight bruise under her eye, both of which had faded significantly.
I was going to thoroughly enjoy destroying both her parents’ lives.
When it had just been me they had wronged through their machinations with Renata, I had been resigned to letting the past be the past as long as I was able to reclaim Bianca as mine.
Now that I knew they were actively trying to keep Bianca from me—no, worse, trying to marry her off to another man— all bets were off.
It was scorched earth time.
It would be tricky since there was still an ongoing investigation into their daughter’s death and I was a primary suspect, but I would manage it.
I brushed the hair back from Bianca’s cheek. She stirred as her eyes fluttered open. There was one perfect moment when her sleep-hazed eyes stared up at me with pure warmth and tenderness.
Then reality crashed in.
The wall between us slammed down.
Her gaze iced over.
She leaned up on her elbows, clasping the blanket to her naked breasts. She shoved her hair out of her face. “OhDio! Oh no!Madonna santa! What have we done? How could you have let me sleep here last night? Where are my clothes? What am I going to tell my parents?”
I leaned onto my side, propping my head up on my hand. “It’s a proper scandal. Father Luca will be especially horrified. I’m sure he will insist we marry immediately for the sake of the sanctity of the church and your reputation.”
She swiveled on her torso to glare at me. “You’ve got a lot of nerve talking about the sanctity of the church!”
With that she shimmied out of the bed, taking the blanket with her. She wrapped it around her middle as she raced into the bathroom. She returned to the bedroom seconds later, holding three pieces of badly wrinkled fabric. “I distinctly remember youunzippingthis dress.”
“I faintly recall something similar.”
She marched to the bed and tossed all three pieces at my head, one by one. “Mind telling me why it’s inthreepieces now?”
I laughed as I caught each piece before they hit me in the face. “Now that you mention it, I also seem to recall, at some point later in the evening while you were sleeping, feeling as though I couldgreatlyimprove the dress by tearing it to shreds.”
“That wasGucci!”
“I will buy you a thousand Gucci dresses to replace it.”
“I would rather strut naked through the piazza than wear one stitch of clothing bought by you!”
“As much as I can get behind the idea of you walking around naked, it will be difficult as the wife of a Cavalieri to get away with it.”
“Wife?”
“Yes, wife.”
