The phones hadn’t stopped all night. The world pressed against us in buzzing reminders—calls, missed messages, Rome waiting on reports. I ignored all of it. Luca ignored all of it too. Nothing mattered outside this room. Not afterst night.<fn3dde> This content belongs to find?novel</fn3dde>


    Emiliay between us, naked, the sheet on her hips. She breathed softly, face turned toward Luca.


    I could have watched her for hours. I did.


    Every part of me wanted to wake her. To roll her onto her back and kiss her until she gasped, to worship every inch until she forgot there was a world outside this bed. It took everything I had not to. I held still instead, memorizing the weight of her against the mattress, the way her hair clung to her cheek, the faint tremor of her chest as she slept.


    Last night had been a beginning. She had given us pieces of herself she had not let go of in years.


    She had let herself be vulnerable again, even if only for moments. That didn’te easily for her. She had been raised to hide every crack, to smile through pain, to keep the dynasty mask in ce until she couldn’t breathe.


    Letting us see her soft was an act of defiance against everything she had been taught.


    And she had done it. For us.


    I was proud of her. Really fucking proud of her.


    Luca was awake, too. I didn’t need to look to know. His hand moved in a steady rhythm against her arm, fingers tracing lightly, keeping her anchored even in sleep.


    He hadn’t looked at his phone once, though it vibrated just inches away on the nightstand. Neither of us would move. Rome could carry the empire until we were ready to answer.


    She stirred then, shifting in the sheets. Her hand slipped out before her eyes opened—one palm finding my chest, the other wrapping around Luca’s arm. She reached for us without thought, her body remembering what her mind hadn’t yet caught up to.


    I nearly groaned at the feel of it. That instinct. That pull back to us.


    She blinked waking. When her eyes opened. She didn’t reach for the sheet, didn’t cover herself. She justy there, naked, ours.


    I bent down and pressed my mouth to her shoulder. “Morning, baby.”


    Luca leaned in from the other side, lips brushing her neck. “Morning, angel.”


    Her lips curved into a small smile, fragile but real. “Morning.” She stretched arms sliding above her head.


    The movement ended in a wince. The sound of it shot panic through me. My hand gripped her hip before I realized, and Luca’s hand closed over her arm. We both froze, braced to catch what hurt her.


    “I’m fine,” she whispered, eyes soft but steady. “Just sore.”


    It eased me, but only a little.


    She pushed up onto her elbows, her hair falling around her face, and nced around the suite for the first time. Her mouth parted in surprise. “Geez… this room is impressive. I’ve never seen windows like that before.”


    The floor-to-ceiling ss curved around the room in a perfect arch. Cut low to the floor, it framed the endless ocean beyond.


    I knew what she was seeing. What she didn’t know was why. We’d had the windows cut lower so the view would meet her eyes the moment she woke. Reinforced them with tech that made them one-way so no one could ever look in. So no one would ever see her naked.


    I didn’t tell her. Luca didn’t either. We just let her believe it was about the view.


    She sighed, dreamy. “Imagine waking up at a tropical ind. Crystal blue waters.” She grinned at the thought.


    My eyes hadn’t left her. Neither had Luca’s.


    But my mind filled instantly. I saw her in bikinis, stretched out on the deck for weeks. I saw her sprawled across every inch of this yacht, letting us feed her, cook for her, carry her inside when she fell asleep. I saw her fucked on ss, on wood.


    “Sounds like a honeymoon,” I said, the words slipping out.


    “Sounds like next weekend,” Luca answered, voice just as low, just as raw.


    Herugh cracked, and I felt it in my chest. God, I had missed that sound. “I missed you two.”


    My hand found her chin. I tilted her face until she looked only at me. “Say that again.”


    “Louder,” Luca added from her other side.


    She rolled her eyes at us, amused. “You two are impossible.”


    “We’re yours,” Tracing her jaw with my thumb.


    Her eyes flicked between us, teasing. “That so?”


    “Always,”


    “Forever,” Luca added.


    Her hand finding mine and then Luca’s. “Maybe… maybe we should just try for just now.”


    I saw the fear in her even as she smiled. She was scared to trust us. Scared we’d let her fall again.


    And she was right, that fear was our fault.


    But I’d have patience. We both would. We’d prove to her that this doesn’t end in maybe.


    It ends only one way