Giorgio put his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him. He kissed my cheek, and then he whispered in my ear. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I whispered back.
He smiled and kissed me again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and talking. We talked about everything, from our childhoods to our future together.
We talked about our families, and we talked about our hopes and dreams. We talked about what we wanted to do after we got married. We talked about having children someday, and we talked about traveling together.
By the time we had finished watching all of the movies we had chosen, it was already getting dark outside. Giorgio stood up and stretched.
“Are you ready for bed?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
Giorgio turned off the television and then led me up the stairs to our bedroom. We changed into our pajamas and got into bed.
“Good night, Allie,” he said as he turned off the light.
“Good night,” I replied.
We lay in bed together, holding each other close. I felt so safe and loved, and I knew that Giorgio was the only man I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with. He was my everything.
He was my whole world. He was the man I wanted to grow old with. I closed my eyes, and I drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Giorgio and I woke up early and got ready for the day. Giorgio went downstairs to make breakfast while I got dressed. I walked into the kitchen to see him cooking eggs and bacon.
“I’m making breakfast,” he told me.
I smiled. “Thank you,” I said.
After breakfast, we cleaned up the kitchen and then we got ready to leave. We left the house and walked down the street to the bus stop. We waited for the bus, and when it came, we got on and rode it to our destination.
We got off the bus and walked to the mall. We walked around for a while, looking at the different stores. Then we went to a coffee shop and ordered coffee. We sat down at a table and drank our coffee, talking about our plans for the day.
After we finished our coffee, we went shopping. We bought new clothes and shoes and other things. Then we went to the movie theater and watched a movie together. It was a romantic comedy, and it was fun to watch it with Giorgio.
We went back to the coffee shop after the movie and ordered more coffee. We sat down again, and Giorgio started telling me about his job. He told me about the new client he had been working with, and how they had been a pain to deal with.
He told me that he was thinking about quitting his job, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He said that he didn’t want to give up his career, but he wanted to be able to spend more time with me.
I listened to him talk, and I felt guilty. I had been so preoccupied with my own problems that I hadn’t even thought about how my issues were affecting him. I reached out and put my hand on his arm.
“I’m so sorry, Giorgio,” I said. “I never even thought about how much stress my problems were causing you. I feel so guilty now.”
He looked at me and shook his head. “No, Allie, don’t feel guilty,” he said. “This isn’t your fault. I chose to get involved with you, and I chose to stay with you. This is all on me.”
“But I’m the reason you’re in this situation,” I said. “If I wasn’t so messed up, you wouldn’t be having these problems.”
“Allie, I love you,” he said gently. He took my hand and held it tightly. “I want to be with you. I want to spend the rest of our lives together. If I have to deal with some stress to be with you, that’s okay. I’m willing to do that for you.”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this. You shouldn’t have to suffer because of my issues.”
He sighed. “Allie, you know that I would do anything for you, right?”
I nodded.
“Then just let me help you. Please. I don’t want you to suffer anymore. I don’t want to lose you.”
I nodded again. “Okay,” I said softly.
He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Then he pulled me into his arms, and we kissed.
I stared at him through the crack in the doorway, my fingers trembling against the wooden frame. Giorgio stood on my porch, rain dripping from his dark hair, his broad shoulders hunched forward as if carrying an invisible weight. My heart stuttered in my chest like a broken engine, fighting between racing forward and stopping altogether.
"Five minutes," I said, my voice barely audible above the patter of rain. "That's all you get."
I stepped back, letting the door swing open wider, allowing him into the small entryway of the apartment I'd rented after leaving our home, since three months ago. The scent of him, that distinctive Alpha musk that once meant safety and belonging, now flooded my senses like a cruel reminder of everything I'd lost.
Giorgio's eyes, those deep brown eyes that could command a boardroom with a single glance, now looked at me with something I'd rarely seen in them before: uncertainty.
"Allie," he began, his voice hoarse. "I know I have no right to be here."
"You don't," I agreed, wrapping my cardigan tighter around myself. The Omega in me wanted to curl into his chest, to breathe in his scent until the pain subsided. I fought against the instinct, digging my nails into my palms. "Your five minutes started the moment you walked through that door."
Giorgio ran a hand through his damp hair, droplets of water falling to my carpet. "I'm not here to make excuses. What I did, how I treated you when Magdalene returned, it was unforgivable."
I flinched at the mention of her name. Magdalene. The woman who had broken his heart years before I met him. The woman whose memory I'd competed with throughout our marriage, never quite feeling secure. The woman who had waltzed back into our lives and reclaimed him with barely a fight.