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my joke fell flatter than a poorly baked soufflé.
strike fast, strike hard, and strike true.
No mercy sir!
Better get used to it, mia cara, because I’m also your future husband.
I would rather set myself on fire than willingly put myself in a position where I had to answer to someone else.
The thought of shackling myself to someone for the rest of my life was as appealing as walking into the ocean with concrete blocks strapped to my feet.
“I’ll treat her exactly the way she deserves.”
Oh shit
Dante was a billionaire, but he had the manners of an ill-bred troll.
Vivian’s voice was so sweet I could’ve drizzled it over pancakes.
I dragged my eyes away from Vivian, but her presence remained a tangible heat on my skin.
I was going to call her mia cara every chance I got.
The sight of a laughing, unguarded Dante was utterly catastrophic for my ovaries.
Most people would not appreciate being compared to a honey badger.
It was one of my favorite things about her, even though I shouldn’t have a favorite anything about her.
“Are you baiting me, mia cara?”
“It says you’re mine. Puoi negarlo quanto vuoi, ma è la verità.”
people whose heads were so far up their asses they’d require surgery to see daylight.
Franco had an ego bigger than his Napa Valley ranch.
She wasn’t my wife yet, but she was mine. No one threatened what was mine.
“How does he look at me?” Janis smiled. “Like he never wants to look away.”
Her laugh carried into the night like a soft melody.
The caveman in Geico’s old commercials communicated better than him.
I wanted the seedy underbelly.
“Touch Stella again, and you’ll no longer have a fiancée.”
“I hate the idea of you touching anyone else, or anyone else touching you. I hate that other people can make you laugh in a way I can’t. I hate how I feel around you, like you’re the only person that can make me lose control when I. Don’t. Lose. Control.”
being with her was like breathing. Easy. Effortless. Essential.
But I’d tried distance, and all it’d done was make me want her more. Her laughs, her smiles, the sparkle in her eyes when she teased me and the fire in her replies when I pissed her off. I wanted all of it even when I knew I shouldn’t.
“You can’t see the stars in New York,” Dante said. “So I brought the stars to you.”
She was my one spark of selfishness in a lifetime of reason.
Breathe. Do not yell. Do not throw the bowl of tomatoes at his head.
But what were my actual dealbreakers? Cheating and violence were non-negotiable. But what about lying? Different values? Lack of trust and communication? Where did I draw the line between what I could compromise on, like a little white lie about something small, and what I couldn’t?
Now, the organ lurched like a car on its last fumes, struggling to return somewhere it’d never belonged.
My sobs remained silent, felt but unheard.
“I read an article about the seven sins in my dentist’s waiting room.”
“Don’t let your pursuit of wrath ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
And the same way you can’t make decisions for me any longer…I can’t make excuses for you.
“Touch Vivian again, and I’ll kill you.”
“You’ve been gone less than a week and I already feel like I’ve spent an eternity in hell.”
“I love you, Vivian. More than I could ever hate your father. And more than I ever thought I was capable of.”
“Give me time, mia cara. That’s all I need, besides you.”
“You take the most ordinary or unexpected things and make them extraordinary. You see the silver lining in every situation and the good in everyone, even if they don’t deserve it. And I’m selfish enough to hope you’ll see how much I don’t just want but need you. Today, tomorrow, and all the days that come after that.”
I’d told her to dress comfortably, but even in a simple cotton sundress and sandals, she was so fucking beautiful it took my breath away.
Love wasn’t always about the big moments. More often, it was tucked in the small moments connecting the major ones.
“Tell me what you want, Vivian. Do you want me on my knees?”
But if you talk to her again the way you did at the dinner table tonight—if you hurt her in any way, if you make her shed a single tear or cause her a single fucking second of sadness, I will take everything from you. Your business, your house, your reputation. I will blacklist you so thoroughly you won’t even be able to get past the bouncer at your shitty local bar.”
“Per te aspetterei per sempre, amore mio.” “Spero non ci vorrà così tanto.“
“I spent thirty-seven years thinking my perfect match didn’t exist. You proved me wrong in less than one.
All thoughts of annoying brothers and equally annoying groomsmen ceased when Vivian appeared at the end of the aisle. Hell, all thoughts ceased, period. The only thing that existed was her.
an invisible thread connected those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance.
A part of me would always find my way to her. She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky.
even in a burlap sack, she’d be the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
