Chapter 234: Chapter 99 - Gabriella (2)

We both lost people we loved. He doesn't say that, but essentially that's what happened, right?

How tragic and yet also beautiful…heartbreakingly beautiful.

And I don't know what to say to that.

When I stay quiet, he continues, "I think I was meant to find you one way or another. Because after that, I was determined to look for you. I couldn't get you off my mind. I had to have you."

Mariano pulls me to him, straddling me to his lap, my hand coming up to rest on his chest as he adds, "I needed to get off my father's hell and you were the only one I was willing to walk my own with." He kisses the column of my neck, eliciting a soft gasp from me. "I then went to New York to find you."

"W-What?"

"You were sitting in that cafe with your friend." Kiss. "Drinking a cup of hot beverage." Lick. "Wearing that fucking short leather skirt that rode up your thigh, and all I could think about was sinking my fingers between your legs." Nip.