HIS FORBIDDEN BRIDE

CHAPTER 10

I had lived in this mansion for three weeks, but I had never actually lived in Luca's room.

His room was different from the guest room. Darker. Bigger. Everything black and grey and expensive. Floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the whole estate. A king bed that looked like it could fit five people. His cologne everywhere.

And now, my small bag was sitting on his bed.

I stared at it.

"You're overthinking," Luca said from the doorway. He had just come out of the bathroom, hair wet, in black sweatpants and no shirt. Tattoos on full display.

"I'm not overthinking," I lied.

"You are. I can see it. You're doing that thing where you bite your lip."

I let go of my lip. "It's just... weird. Yesterday we had a contract. Separate rooms. Rules. Today you kicked Sophia out for me and now I'm moving into your room."

He walked to me. Slowly. Like he didn't want to scare me.

"It's not weird, Lila. It's overdue."

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled my bag closer. Zipped it open.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping my wife unpack."

"Luca, I can do it."

"I know you can. But I want to."

He pulled out my folded clothes — mostly old things I brought from home. Two cheap dresses, leggings, a faded t-shirt. Next to his designer suits, they looked so out of place.

His jaw tightened, but he didn't say anything. He just placed them carefully in an empty drawer he had cleared for me.

"There. Your side."

"My side?"

"Yes. Left side. I sleep on the right. Closer to the door. Closer to danger."

That was such a Luca thing to say.

He stood, opened his closet. "And you need new clothes. We will go shopping tomorrow."

"I have clothes."

"You have my shirts. Which I love seeing you in. But you need more. My mother invited the board wives for dinner tomorrow. I want you next to me, not hiding in my shirt."

I panicked. "Board wives? Luca, I don't know how to talk to them. They will eat me alive."

"Let them try," he said. He came back to me, took my hands. "Lila, listen to me. You handled Sophia. You handled my mother. You handled that man who lied about you on the stairs. You can handle a few bored rich wives. And if they say one wrong word, I will throw them out like I threw Sophia out."

I laughed despite myself. "You can't throw board wives out. They are important for business."

"Watch me."

That made me laugh more. He smiled — that rare soft smile that was only for me.

"Okay," I said quietly. "Dinner tomorrow. But you have to stay next to me the whole time."

"Deal."

He looked at the bed. At my bag. At me still standing awkwardly in the middle of his room in his white shirt from this morning.

"You are still standing like a guest," he said.

"Because I feel like a guest."

"You're not a guest. This is your room now." He tapped the bed. "Come. Sit."

I sat, but on the very edge.

He sighed dramatically and sat behind me, pulling me back against his chest so we were both leaning against the headboard.

"Better," he murmured.

We stayed like that. His arms around me, my back to his chest. It was comfortable. Safe.

"Luca?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why did you clear a drawer for me so fast? Like... you knew I was going to say yes to moving in."

He was quiet for a second. Then he said, "I cleared it three days ago."

I turned to look at him. "What?"

He looked a little embarrassed — which was impossible for Luca Romano. "After the night you wore my black shirt to the kitchen and made coffee. You left a hair tie on my bathroom counter. I didn't want to throw it away. So I cleared a drawer. Just in case."

My chest felt tight. In a good way.

"You planned this?"

"I hoped," he corrected. "There's a difference. I hoped my wife would finally realize she belongs in my room."

I didn't know what to say, so I leaned back again.

His phone buzzed. He ignored it. Buzzed again.

"You should answer," I said.

"It's my mother. She's probably telling me I was too harsh with Sophia."

"Maybe you were a little harsh. Smashing her phone..."

"She recorded my wife," he said coldly. "She is lucky I only smashed her phone."

He finally answered. Put it on speaker.

"Mother."

"Luca, Sophia is at the hotel. She is very upset. She said she will tell everyone that Lila—"

"Let her tell everyone," Luca interrupted. "Let her tell everyone that Lila Romano is my wife and I protect what is mine. What will they say? That a husband loves his wife? Scandalous."

His mother sighed on the other side. "You have changed."

"I have a wife now. Of course I changed."

He hung up. Looked at me. "See? Handled."

"You are impossible."

"I am your husband."

Dinner that night was just the two of us and his mother. Quiet. Awkward but better than morning. His mother actually asked me where I was from. I told her about my father, my small town, how I used to sell puff-puff after school to help. She listened. Really listened.

After dinner, Luca said, "We are going to bed early."

It was 8 PM.

His mother raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

In his room, I finally took a shower. When I came out, wearing a simple nightgown — my own, not his shirt for once — he was already in bed, reading something on his tablet, but he put it down immediately when he saw me.

He stared.

"What?" I said, self-conscious.

"Nothing," he said quickly, but his ears were red. "You just... you look like you belong here."

I climbed into the bed — my side, the left side. The bed was huge. The sheets were cold and soft and smelled like him.

I lay stiff. Like a board.

He noticed.

"Lila."

"Hmm?"

"You are on the edge. You will fall."

"I'm fine."

"Lila Romano, if you don't move to the middle in three seconds, I will come and get you myself."

"Luca—"

"One."

I didn't move.

"Two."

"I am moving, I am moving!"

I scooted a tiny bit.

He didn't wait for three. He reached over, hooked his arm around my waist, and dragged me to the middle, right against him.

"Much better," he whispered.

I was face to face with him now. Close. His eyes on mine.

"Are you still scared of me?" he asked softly.

"No."

"Good."

He pulled the duvet over both of us. His hand found mine under the covers and laced our fingers. His ring cold against mine.

"Sleep, wife," he said. "Tomorrow we have dinner with vipers. You will need energy."

"Will you be there the whole time?"

"The whole time. I promise."

I believed him.

For the first time since I came to this mansion, I fell asleep not worrying about Sophia, or his mother, or the contract, or debt.

I fell asleep holding my husband's hand, in his bed, on my side.

And downstairs, Ms. DeLuca smiled when she saw my small bag no longer in the guest room.

Because finally, the house felt like it had a Mrs. Romano.