Gangster's Girl (Complete)

Chapter 27 - Part 2

I was so deep in my head that only when Angel's hands settled on my waist pulling me against him did I notice I wasn't alone anymore. He wrapped his arms around me and I leaned my head back against him.

"See it wasn't that bad," he murmured. It had gone better than I had expected.

"It wasn't," I agreed, remembering James' advice.

I turned in his arms to kiss him. It was hot and heavy, my breath labored by the time it ended.

"I love you," I murmured to him, needing him to know how much he meant to me. There was nothing like nearly losing someone to heighten the emotion.

He kissed me again.

"You love me?" I asked.

He seemed reluctant to say the words, I wasn't unsure if it was bugging me or not. Maybe I was just feeling a bit more needy than usual.

"If you want me to say those three little words I will. But you mean more to me than just that. Like I told you before I've lived my whole life being taught that loving someone is a weakness and to be avoided at all costs." He let out an emotional breath and I watched fascinated as an array of emotion played across his features.

"You are my weakness Kira. The only one I have."

"What about the other woman?" I asked, unable to stop myself from feeling jealous about the woman who had shared his life.

"Like I told you before Kira, I'd been taught sex to be a physical release with no emotion. You were the first girl I fell in love with and the first woman I made love to."

His eyes held mine and I held my breath. His words were heartfelt and sincere.

It was hard to think back at how much I had doubted that he had felt anything but responsibility for me. Watching him now I could see his love in the way he talked about me, how he looked at me and how he touched me.

It wasn't in three words people uttered insincerely all the time.

"There were times you were so hard on me I really believed you hated me."

He shook his head. "Never. I had to be hard on you to make you take the threat of the Vincents more seriously. I was trying everything to keep you safe and you were doing everything to screw it up."

"If I had known, maybe we could have avoided some of my mistakes." Like stripping to get his attention and going without a bodyguard. And running away when I had believed he had married me for revenge.

"Let's not linger in the past because I don't want to waste a moment of our future."

"Well you're finally getting the big wedding you wanted," I said to him.

He shrugged. "You being my wife is all that matters. I only wanted the big wedding to make a statement like your father is trying to make. It's to ensure that every knows the importance of our union and what it means for our families. It will be bringing the two biggest crime families together Kira. It's big news."

I had never thought of it like that. I had believed it more to be the request of a dying father to his daughter and not a gangster to his heir and successor.

"Before it didn't feel right, doing the whole thing. The dress, cake and guests. But this time it will be different."

"How so?"

"Before you were only doing it to protect me and now we are going to do it because we love each other."

"I've always loved you," he said. "Even when I fought against it, even when I knew the risks, even when I didn't want to."