The Woman at the Docks (Grassi Framily)

half because it was ridiculous, the other half was because I could actually see that group of women pulling something like that off.

"They were really nice. They were all really worried about you. And they are happy you found someone who can cook."

"They show their love with food in this family," he told me, leaning down to press a kiss to my lips.

"I like that," I admitted. "I want to learn it."

"You already do it, sweetheart," he told me, giving me a squeeze.

Did he mean that the way I was taking it?

That he knew I loved him?

There was no denying it anymore. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't be even halfway believable.

I loved him.

With everything I had.

"Do I?" I asked, hoping to get more from him.

"Say it, Romy," he demanded, pulling me closer. "I know you feel it. I want to hear you say it."

I had said it.

Over and over and over.

To him in the hospital after he fell asleep. In the late nights when bad dreams woke me up and I found him still sleeping soundly. To the door right after he left to go out for a few minutes to run some work errands.

I said it in my head a million times a day.

But I had been so worried it was too soon to say it to his face.

But there was no use denying him if he was explicitly asking it of me.

"I love you, Luca," I told him, voice a little breathless.

"Yeah? One more time," he demanded, eyes going soft, gushy.

"I love you," I told him, voice louder, more sure.

"I love you back," he told me, wrapping me up tight. "I was sure I wasn't going to make it out in that parking lot," he told me, surprising me. We hadn't done much talking about that night, at least not about the getting shot part. We discussed Celenia, the rest of her crew, Bishop Blake, the hospital afterward. But not about how we felt right before and right after getting shot. "And as I felt myself drifting off, I remember thinking that if I had to go, at least I got to have you as my last sight."

"Luca..."

"I love you, Romy. More than I ever thought I was capable. And I am going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much."

My heart felt close to bursting.

My mouth opened to say something, only to be cut off by Adrian.

"Okay okay," Adrian called out the back door a few minutes later. "Dinner!" she told everyone. "Wait wait, Luca and his girl first," she insisted, holding the door open for us. "We have a real treat from Romy tonight," she told everyone as they filed into the massive dining room with a sideboard that ran along the whole room for the sole purpose of laying out the impressive amounts of food served at a family dinner. "Make sure everyone gets some."

"Might have missed it," Lucky said, moving between Luca and me, "but that was my ma's stamp of approval," he told me, making my heart swell.

Luca kissed my temple. "Welcome to the family, Romy."