The morning after Luca's proposal was different. It wasn't the silence of suspicion or the tension of power plays. It was soft, almost surreal. Aria woke up wrapped in his arms, the sunlight slipping through the curtains, and for the first time since this marriage began, the word "forever" didn't terrify her.
"Stop staring," Luca mumbled, eyes still closed but a smile tugging at his lips.
"I'm not staring," she lied, her voice a whisper.
"You're burning a hole in my face," he murmured, cracking one eye open. "If this is what marriage is going to be like, I might not survive it."
She smacked his chest lightly. "You're dramatic."
"Only for you," he said, catching her wrist and kissing the inside of it, slow and deliberate. "And you said yes."
Her cheeks warmed. "I did."
"Say it again," he whispered.
"Yes."
"Once more."
"Yes, Luca," she said, laughing now.
