The Millionaire's Bride

Chapter 24

Lucy

A guilty feeling settles into my throat as if a hand was squeezing down on my windpipe, and I struggle to speak for a moment. For some reason I felt really bad that Luca had heard me cry, and more importantly he seemed sadden by it. He had a dark look on his face that I couldn't decipher and he was avoiding eye contact with me, which I was glad for. If he looked into my eyes now, I'm sure he would have seen the unconditional love I felt for him.

The hopeful in me couldn't help but be happy that he seemed upset with the idea of me leaving him, I didn't know what this meant and these days that seemed to be a reoccurring pattern, my confusion and his silence.

I decided to focus on the things I did know, which were that, some where along the line, I had fallen in love with Luca and I concluded that it was okay that he didn't feel the same way back. Also, I didn't want this marriage to end, it wasn't great but it had the potential to be something amazing, like my grandma said, when something was broken you don't throw it away and replace it, you take time and effort to fix what's broken.

'I'm not going anywhere, look..... I know this marriage isn't what we may have wanted but its the card we have been dealt with. And I know that you'll not only get the money somehow, but this hotel will be a huge success because its you Luca, you'll make this work. I....I believe in you." I finally reply back to him, meaning every single bit of it.

I lift his face up gently so that I was looking into his eyes directly, needing him to believe my words. And I'm faced with those beautiful blue eyes that I love,  gazing back at me. I don't know where I got the confidence from but I knew I had to make him believe what I was saying was true. I saw something change in his eyes but couldn't tell what that emotion was, I tried not to think too much off it. Overthinking after all was the biggest killer of happiness.

Instead, I thought back to the time in the elevator where I had assumed that he was just another sliver spooned child, who had inherited his position in the company. Luca showed me that day that he wasn't like anything I had imagined him to be, nor what the tabloids portrayed him as. And the more time I spent with him, the more I saw glimpses of the real him.

Luca, I had concluded, wasn't like most guys that had to announce their power and status. It was just something that you could feel just by being in his presence, something that radiated off him. That, mixed with his good looks, reassured me that he would be able to convince more investors to invest in his project and get this hotel up and running soon.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a bit helpless by his side, my role as trophy wife was now seeming more like reality than just something I joked about in my head.

"So che io non ti meriti il ​​mio gattino, ma im troppo egoista per lasciarti andare" He replies after a few seconds in that beautiful Italian language, that rarely comes out. I hate that I don't understand any off it but I think I can make it out by the look in his eyes.

His hand comes forward to caress my cheek in a tortuously slow movement, which causes those familiar butterflies to form in my stomach again. They always seemed to go crazy whenever he touched me. His movements are slow and soft.

Actually, even a look from him was enough, there was just something about his gaze that felt like he had said a thousands things to me in that single glance. Or it could have been due to how inexperienced I was, I didn't want to think about how many girl he had been before me.

"I told you I don't understand it when you speak Italian to me so why do you insist on it?" I question him, scrunching my nose up unintentionally.

He lets out a deep laugh that I can feel between my legs, and smoothes out my frown, his fingers remaining on my lips.

"I told you, I love how it annoys you that you don't know what I'm saying. You scrunch up your face like an annoyed toddler." He replies still touching my lips, rubbing the bottom lip now, his eyes no longer smiling but turning dark again and I find it hard to breath.