Marriage by Bravery - Book 3

Chapter One

Kim

From the moment I arrived on the doorstep of Luca's home things had been going great, for me at least. The tension between us was thick, not that it deterred me at all and he was doing his damned best to avoid me in an effort to ignore the connection even a blind iguana could see we had. Maybe our encounter when I first arrived had shook him more than I originally thought. Either way, he was going to be mine even if he sulked and resisted throughout the entire process, I knew it and now so did he.

The drive through the country side to Luca's personal home in San Marino was beautiful and left me with a feeling of such peace that I had actually convinced myself that things would go well despite my initial nervousness and uncertainty; we'd spend sometime getting to know each other properly, then together we would visit his family and explain to them that we were in love and that the only woman he would be marrying was me. Just thinking about it made me dizzy with anticipation. I continued to admire the greenery as we drove past it all, allowing myself this peaceful moment before the storm to lose myself in my many thoughts and plans.

A few minutes later, the driver took an almost imperceptible exit off the main road and started driving up a long,winding, upward climbing pathway that was lined with what had to be the most perfectly trimmed hedges in the world. I was no expert, but even my amateur eyes could tell they were done by a someone who had years of experience in this kind of thing. I found myself wondering if they ever thought of breaking away from the monotonous straight lines and giving the hedges a bit more personality. This just screamed Luca, he was always so straight laced and serious, rarely deviating from a carefully planned course of action. It was going to be hard to convince him that he shouldn't go through with this marriage, but I was sure I would have my way and loosen him up in the process.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm no homewrecker but if I sincerely thought that he loved this woman he was engaged to then I'd totally back off but I just knew he wasn't. I had enlisted the help of my best friends to pump their men for information before finally deciding that I would go through with my plan to win my man. Between the two of them I had discovered that the marriage was an arrangement between the his family and his fiancee's to foster good business relations. I had also sat Damian down and asked him if he honestly thought his brother was making the right decision in marrying this woman and even he had to admit that he didn't agree with the archaic practice.

So no, I knew he didn't love her, especially not after the way he had let his guard down with me during the time Naia had been missing. When he had had enough of being the level headed one he would come and find me in the library and we'd spend hours talking about absolutely nothing, but it wouldn't matter because even the silence between us was comforting. I knew not long after his arrival that he was more than the hard faced Italian mob boss he was required to channel and it didn't take long for my initial judgement to be proven right.

I was pulled from my thoughts as the car came to a smooth stop in front of a large, intricately designed black gate that immediately swung inward to grant us entry. My heart pounded in my chest and I felt a brief moment of doubt before pushing the negative thoughts from my mind. It was a little too late to be backing out now.

The house was something out of a dream, I could hardly even call this big beautiful structure a house. Then again this entire place was like walking into a fairytale. I mean, the city itself was a historical site near the coast of Italy, with a surprisingly small population, old castles and quaint little towns surrounded by large, old stone walls; basically a great tourist destination for hopeless romantics like myself. I made a note to myself to go on one of the castle tours while I was here. I'd get Luca to take me.

As if summoned by my very thoughts I heard his deeply accented voice call out to me from somewhere off the side of mansion, "Kimberly, what on earth are you doing here?!"

The sharpness of his voice brought me back to reality and deepened the pit in my stomach. I wasn't nervous that he didn't sound happy to see me, the love of his life, at all. No, it was the way my heart thudded against by ribs that made me uneasy. I was going to have to give this my all because letting him slip through my fingers was simply not an option. A fortress of cuddly kitties and mountains of pizza wouldn't be able to protect me from the absolute devastation I would experience if this didn't turn out the way I hoped it would.

I reigned in my negative thoughts, refusing to allow them to take root and schooled my expression before turning to face him. Maybe I should have braced myself for the way I'd feel when I came face to face with him again after being away from him for a while. My heart tripped over itself as I took in every detail of his appearance. His perfectly formed jaw line, the way his hair looked as if it had been styled to perfection by the wind, his full lips and light brown eyes. I couldn't bear to look any further or I'd positively explode from the barely contained need that enveloped my body. The point was, he looked just as good I remembered, maybe even better now that he was in his natural habitat. My devious mind couldn't help but go into animal planet mode.

"Now watch as the wild Luca tentatively approaches his prey, with his muscles tensed in anticipation of the moment he would pounce on the unsuspecting Kim gazelle and devour-"

"Kimberly!" He snapped with impatience as he came to a stop in front of me.

I grinned widely, threw my arms around him and planted a firm kiss on his sweet, full lips. He froze in shock for a moment before bringing his hands to my hips, in a feeble attempt to push me off of him. I squashed that intent tangling my fingers in his short, silky hair and deepened the kiss, sighing in satisfaction when his body relaxed as he gave in. This was our first kiss, there was no way I was going to let him deny us this. His response told me everything I needed to know. For the first time since I laid eyes on that prissy sham of a wedding invitation, I was undoubtedly sure that I was in fact making the right decision for the both of us. He would thank me for this when he was saying his vows to me, when he was wrapped around me as we made love and even after few years when he was cradling our new born baby. Call me presumptuous or whatever but there was nothing that could be more right than us being together, whether he was ready to admit that to himself or not.