Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

“They know you’ll be safe, so it’ll be different.”

“I’ll be in a different time zone on the other side of the world. I’ll never see them. After I was captured, it made me appreciate what I have. I don’t want to take them for granted again. I don’t want them to suffer again.”

She was the only child of these two people. She’d already suffered enough, and she shouldn’t suffer anymore. But I didn’t know how to fix the problem. “I can’t stay here, even for you.” My eyes held their determination despite my sorrow. “I don’t belong here. There’s nothing for me to do here. It makes more sense for you to come back with me. We have the winery, a beautiful home overlooking the fields, and we have millions. I can’t just bring that money here. Your country has very different laws from mine.”

“I know…”

“So we need to make it work, Bellissima. I’ve spent the last six weeks without you, and I don’t want to do it anymore. You’re coming back with me—even if I have to make you.”

She smiled because she thought I was joking. “Back to being bossy, huh?”

“I’m just telling you how it is.” Now that she told me she loved me, there was no going back. She was my possession, my everything. I owned her, even if the law didn’t recognize it. If she had any hope of slipping out of my grasp, she shouldn’t have said those three little words.

“I don’t know what to do, Cane. I’ve only been back for a few weeks.”

“Your parents will understand. Children get married and move away all the time.”

“It’s different, and you know it is.”

I did know. I sighed as my softening cock remained buried inside her. When the mood picked up, I’d be ready to go again.

She stared at me with a pleading gaze, as if she was asking me to help her.

“What do you want me to say?” I whispered.

“I don’t know…”

“I can’t move here.” I repeated it because I knew she would ask me. “I have Crow, Pearl, and my future niece or nephew. Crow won’t admit it, but he needs me nearby. I’m all he has left, and he’s all I have left. You know I would do anything for you, Bellissima, but I can’t do that.”

When she released a deep breath, all of her hope vanished with it. “I understand.”

Even now, I wanted to give her what she wanted. But this was one compromise I couldn’t make. “Let’s talk to your parents. I’m sure they’ll understand when they see us together.”

“I don’t know…”

“What other choice do we have?” I wasn’t returning to Tuscany without her, and she couldn’t continue this lonely existence in a world where she no longer belonged. “This isn’t your home anymore. You tried, but it wouldn’t stick. You know you belong with me in the Tuscan sun and in the fields of gold.”

Her eyes shifted back and forth as she looked into my gaze. She pressed her lips tightly together, thought it through, and then finally nodded. “Okay…let’s talk to them.”

* * *

I turned off the engine, and we sat in front of her parents’ house. It was after five, so they were both home from work. I stayed behind the wheel while she looked out the window of the passenger seat. We’d spent the afternoon making love all over her small house. Her shower was tiny, but we somehow made it work. We didn’t eat much because we were too absorbed in each other.

Now those moments of happiness were gone. Dread had replaced them. Adelina didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t have any other option.

“We can always visit them whenever you want,” I whispered. “It’s not like it’s forever. I see Crow and Pearl every day. We can spend every holiday with your family. That’s a fair compromise.”

“I know…but we’re so close.”

My hand glided up her shoulder, and I massaged her gently. “It’ll be alright, Bellissima.” Her mother had thanked me for getting Adelina back home, but that didn’t necessarily mean they liked me. She was my prisoner at one point. I did business with the man who did this to her. I wasn’t the knight in shining armor they’d been hoping for for their daughter. I was dark, brooding, and dangerous.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Adelina finally got out.

We walked to the front door, knocked, and then we were face-to-face with her parents.

They both recognized me. They definitely remembered me.

Her mother stared at me, not smiling or frowning. She just looked.

Her father didn’t know how to react either.

“Can we come in?” Adelina asked.

“Of course.” Her mother backed inside, still looking at me. “I’m sorry…you just startled us.”

We stepped into the living room, the smell of dinner in the air.

“Everything okay?” her father asked.