like it. I wouldn’t have cared that I was still in high school. All I have ever wanted was to be yours and for you to be mine.”
“I realize that now.” Placing the present in her hand, I wrapped her fingers around it. “I’m so sorry I wasted so much time. If I hadn’t been such a pussy about your feelings for me fading, or of scaring you off, then we could have been together this entire time.”
The beginnings of a smile teased at her lips. “Jordan, you seem so worried about me being scared of your feelings, but I don’t think you truly understand my own. I’m just as possessive of you as you say you are of me.” The ghost smile disappeared, and her gaze hardened. “And I can promise you, if you cheat on me or I see any other woman who isn’t related to you or me within two feet of you, I will destroy you both.”
A relieved laugh escaped me. “Baby, you will never have to worry about that. I swear on everything I love, I am yours. Now and always.” Kissing her to seal the vow, I tucked her closer and lifted my head. “Please open your present.”
She huffed like it was the biggest inconvenience of her life, but I saw the glitter in her eyes. Taking her time, she lifted one edge of the wrapping paper. I sat there holding her as she finally unveiled the jewelry box and lifted the lid.
When she looked down at the necklace, her free hand touched the one that was still around her neck. “It really is the same,” she murmured.
“Not quite.” I took the box and pulled out the necklace. Laying the charm in my palm, I turned over the double hearts to show the inscription I’d had added.
Now and always, our hearts are one.
I watched as she read the words. Her chin began to tremble, and tears spilled over her lashes as she lifted her gaze to mine. “Jordan,” she sobbed. “You… Damn it, I should have opened this that night.”
“No,” I told her, wiping away one of her tears. “I should have given it to you personally.” Reaching around her, I unhooked the necklace her parents gave her for Christmas and placed it in the now-empty jewelry box. “You can pass this one on to one of our daughters. But this one…” I placed the one I’d bought around her neck and fastened the clasp. “I want to see it around your neck often, love.”
As it fell into place, she touched her fingertips to the double hearts, her thumb rubbing over the diamond that held them together. “I don’t ever want to take it off.”
I trailed my fingers down her neck to the valley between her breasts. “I haven’t had sex with anyone but you in over two years,” I confessed. “And I’ve never touched Letizia. She’s drunkenly tried to seduce me, and the international tabloids have hyped it up that we were together. But I swear it was all lies. The only relationship I ever had with her was as her babysitter. My dad figured since I had so much experience in the past with being a spoiled and overprivileged brat, I should keep some of his friends’ and clients’ kids out of trouble too.”
Arella pressed her hands against my chest, pushing me onto my back. She came down over me, a sad smile on her face. “Promise me that no matter what, from now on, we tell each other everything that is on our minds. So much pain and heartache could have been avoided if we’d just talked openly to each other this entire time. We both made so many assumptions that weren’t even close to reality.”
“I promise.” Tucking a few locks of hair behind her ear, I let my fingers trail over her shoulder and down her back. “Now tell me when we can go house hunting and start planning the wedding.”
Her eyes widened for a moment before she rolled them. “The wedding planning usually happens after a proposal, Moreitti.”
“I have to ask your dad first.”
Her eyes darkened. “Um, yeah, about that…”
I tensed. “What?”
“Daddy kind of… Well, he isn’t your biggest fan at the moment, babe.” She sighed. “After my birthday party, he told me to give you a little while. That sometimes guys take a little longer to pull their heads out of their asses. But then you didn’t show up again until Pop-Pop died. By then, Daddy had been