Assigned to Her [Mafioso Book#4]

Chapter XV: Alcuri

It had been a little over a week since Marco had come back to the apartment. 

Up until Salvatore got discharged he was in the estate, but Sofia couldn't wait for him to be back in the apartment. Finding his constant visits and the discovery of his belongings rather endearing; he even asked her to come and help him pack up from his room in the estate. Sofia would never admit it, but she couldn't stop the relief from flooding her to know that he was back in the same vicinity as her, and now she could actually keep an eye on his recovery process.

It came as no surprise to her that the Regnante family would be attending psychiatric therapy, the two years had been hell on all of them and left them traumatized for various reasons.

But they wouldn't be starting until February, all of them needing some time on their own to recover.

Even now, Sofia lay with her head propped against her knuckles, watching Marco sleep soundly beside her. Curled beneath the covers with his hair tousled and falling onto his forehead with every muscle relaxed and his lips slightly parted. 

Smiling to herself, she brushed his hair away from his face before dragging her fingers to the side of his face, cupping his cheek into her hand and rubbed her thumb against his cheekbones, biting her lip to feel him nuzzle into her palm.

Without her permission, her eyes drifted down to his parted lips, holding her breath to recall the way it felt when he kissed her in the middle of the hospital waiting room. Her fingers trailing down to his chin as she swiped her thumb over his bottom lip with a feather-light touch, a warm exhale against her skin.

Sofia had promised herself that no matter what, she would not fall for him. She promised herself that she would not see him in that light, because he was Marco Regnante, he was Salvatore's brother and Arcangelo's son, and the pressure of being with someone of that Mafia was hazardous. But that wasn't what had led her to those self-proclaimed promises, it was the fact that he had this habit of sleeping with girls and Sofia didn't know if he could commit. That had been her initial hesitation, but when he told her that the only reason he had been sleeping around was that he couldn't tolerate the hollowness that enveloped him at night, or that was his strange way of keeping the nightmares at bay, it allowed doubt to creep into her mind. 

Doubt that maybe...he could actually commit...to her.

But the thing was...they never talked about the kiss, and it left things unresolved between them.

Sighing to herself, Sofia kissed his forehead before slipping out of her bed, watching him from over her shoulder and hoping that he wouldn't wake up from the movement. 

Since he had been back, he was catching up on his sleep and slowly regaining his appetite with Sofia there every step of the way. Pulling on her robe, she went and freshened up before stepping out of the room and decided on popping in breakfast for both of them.

She had finished dishing it up for them and was just starting on the coffee when her bedroom door opened. Looking over her shoulder, she found Marco stumbling out of the doorway, petulantly rubbing his eyes as he made his way across the floor and into his room, leaving the door ajar as Sofia chuckled.

Putting the plate of croissant and jam on the bar counter, she put Marco's coffee next to the plate – prepared just the way he liked it – before leaning against the counter opposite and biting into her own pastry.

Marco returned with his eyes wide open and his face washed, his brown hair slicked back by the water and had changed into an olive green sweater with black jeans. Wishing her a good morning, he settled on the barstool, eating in silence.