‘Because I need you to believe me when I tell you this.’
‘Tell me what?’ she said unsteadily, barely able to breathe for the wild flurry of emotions in her chest.
He held her gaze as he brought his hands up and framed her face.
Annah sucked in her breath, some deep intuition telling her what he was going to say. Panic and hope flared in equal measures. His lips parted, but she jerked her hand up and pressed her fingers against them. ‘Don’t you dare say those words unless you mean them, Luca Cavallari.’ It was meant to sound like a fierce warning, but her voice was little more than a shaky whisper. ‘If you’re here to seduce me with lies—’ She broke off, the rapidly expanding lump in her throat making it too hard to talk.
Gently, Luca pulled her arm down and then cupped her face in his hands again. She closed her eyes, afraid that her burgeoning hope would sprout wings and take flight prematurely.
‘Please look at me, cara.’
She swallowed. He asked so nicely, how could she resist? She opened her eyes, her breath catchin
g at the raw emotion etched on his face.
‘I love you,’ he said, looking into her eyes, forcing her to see the truth in his. ‘I should have realised it three weeks ago, but I was so afraid of failing to do the right thing by you and Ethan that in the end I did the worst thing possible—I let you go.’
Tears scalded Annah’s eyes. Blinking them away, she brought her hands up between them and placed them against his chest, assuring herself he was real. That this wasn’t just another tantalising dream she’d awaken from to find herself alone and suffering with a broken heart. ‘Oh, Luca.’
Dipping his head, he pressed a tender kiss on her mouth.
She kissed him back, finally allowing her heart to soar. After a long moment, she drew back and asked, ‘What made you realise?’
‘Besides the hole in my chest after you and Ethan left?’ A wry smile twisted his lips. ‘A surprising conversation with my mother, for starters.’
She looked at him in amazement. ‘You and Eva talked?’
He held her close, his hands stroking up and down her back. ‘It was a conversation we should have had years ago, but I never gave her the opportunity.’ Regret roughened his voice. ‘Did you know she tried to leave Franco once and take Enzo and me with her?’
Annah’s eyes widened. ‘No. She did say that your father never would have let her take you and Enzo away, but I didn’t know she’d actually tried. That must have taken tremendous courage.’
‘More courage than I’ve ever given her credit for,’ he admitted.
‘What happened?’ she asked, even though she feared the answer. Had Eva’s husband punished her for trying to leave?
Luca’s expression turned grim for a moment. ‘My father brought her back. Gave her a choice. Stay and be a dutiful wife, or leave and never see me and Enzo again.’
‘It wasn’t really a choice, was it?’ she whispered.
He shook his head. ‘She sacrificed so much—her freedom, the chance to find happiness with someone else—so that she could stay for me and Enzo.’
‘Because she loved you.’
‘Yes,’ he said hoarsely.
‘Eva’s a strong woman.’
‘And I’m a fool for having ever thought her weak.’
Annah put her hand to his cheek. ‘You’re not a fool, Luca.’
He smiled ruefully. ‘Don’t let me off so easily, cara. I am a fool. I believed I could choose not to love—that doing so made me stronger. Less fallible.’ He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. ‘But I was wrong. I don’t think we get to choose love. I think love chooses us whether we’re ready for it or not.’
Tears clogged her throat. ‘It broke my heart to think you might never let yourself love our son.’
‘Trust me,’ he said, his eyes intent on hers, ‘Ethan will know every single day of his life how much his father loves him.’ He lifted her into his arms then and carried her to the sofa in the living room. The instant she was settled on his lap he kissed her again and she felt the familiar, delicious heat begin to build inside her.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered against his mouth, ‘I love you, too.’