28: The Birthday Girl

Bella

I feel the bed beside me dip, and I stir a little in my sleep but decide to keep my eyes close. I didn't want to wake up right now. I was in the middle of an amazing dream, more like a lovely, sweet dream. And yes, of course I was dreaming about my man, my love - Lucca.

We both were alone on a beautiful cruise, touring around the Europe. Enjoying the sea breeze and the warmth from the sun above us. I snuggled close to Lucca's naked chest and rest my hand over his beating heart. I inhale deeply enjoying his closeness and his scent way too much.

And Lucca is busy playing with my hair, running his fingers through my soft waves and rubbing them gently between the tips of his fingers. It was one of his favorite habit that I was starting to love more and more by the passing day. I never let anyone touch my hairs because they were so fragile and it hurt whenever someone tried to style them or touch them. That's the only reason I have messy buns or braids all the time, that's the best I can do on my own.

But every single time Lucca touches my hair he is always extra careful with them. It is like he knows how much I hate people touching them but for some reason his touch doesn't bother me. His touch is always gentle and soft, caring filled with so much love and affection.

I was still enjoying the sea breeze in my dreams when I felt a warm hand circle my waist from side - knowing too well whom it belonged to my traitors body melted right into his touch. It was like my body belonged to Lucca more than it belonged to me. He had control over me and for some reason I wasn't sad about it.

Lucca was the only man who makes me feel special and loved. The only man who would do anything for me.

I smile dreamily as I keep my eyes close enjoying the moment - taking in Lucca's warmness. If this all was a dream, I would want it to last forever and ever.

"Happy birthday Angel," Lucca whispers softly close to my ear before kissing my bare shoulder and pulling me closer to his chest. I smile deeply and squeeze my eyes close with excitement.

When he is around me or touching me I swear I lose all self control and melt right into his arms just like now. I mold and fit with him.

I try to roll over, so I can look into his beautiful eyes but instead of letting me. I feel his arms around my waist tighten up. His possessive side makes me smile even more and the crazy butterflies in my stomach run wild again. "Lucca, let me turn. l want to see you." I laugh as I beg him to loosen his hold around me.

You would think a big mafia head would hate to cuddle or express his emotions. But you are wrong he loves to cuddle with me every single chance he gets. I am like his favourite stuffed toy whom he loves to snuggle with.

"Oh in that case," I hear Lucca whisper under his breath before his strong arms loosen up around me and then I turn around to face the love of my life, Lucca Massimo.

"Morning," He says when our eye meets. He had a beautiful smile on his face and just by looking at him a smile pulls up on my lips too. He has this effect on me, every time he is around I feel a strong pull towards him. Glancing down I notice he was all dressed up, as always. Though he looked impeccably handsome today.

"Morning," I say shyly as I ogle him one more time in a totally not so subtle manner.

As usual Lucca was dressed to impress. He was wearing his cobalt blue formal suit with the pearly white shirt, which was my all time favourite. Lucca in white, in general, was my favorite. It was like the color white was just made for him, it compliments each and single of his feature. His olive golden skin, his beautiful full lips and don't get me started on mesmerizing sea blue eyes. They are the one of the million reasons I don't want to leave this man ever. I want to sleep next to him and wake up with him next to me and keep gazing at those beautiful eyes forever and ever.

"Morning birthday girl." He says as he dips his face closer to mine and kisses me on my forehead sweetly.

"Thank you so much Lucca." I whisper softly and circle my arms around his waist and move closer to him.

For the last couple of days, Lucca has been celebrating my birthday making it my birth-week instead of a day. According to him angels celebrate the entire week and not just a day cause they were special and so were I.

He is always a mile extra than the rest of the people and I love it cause he does it all just for me. Only me.

Two days back, Lucca made me a special picnic basket and we went for a beautiful long drive. We drove around aimlessly enjoying each others company. Then we drove to the city watching the amazing sunset and taking in the beauty of the night.

Lucca makes everything seem so easy and perfect for me.

"Angel, I hate that I have to share you with everyone," Lucca says before pulling me further closer to him that I had to tilt my head a bit back to look at him. "But everyone is waiting for you at the breakfast table." He informs me in a defeated tone and I giggle at his declaration but quickly sober up when his words register.

"What do you mean everyone is waiting for me?" I ask him.

"Your family, my family they all are waiting for you downstairs." He says nonchalantly like there is nothing wrong in keeping people waiting for you as he carefully pushes my hair out of my face and behind my ear.

"What??" I scream as I try to pull back and sit up. "How long was I asleep?" I ask him as I try to look past his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand. But he doesn't allow me too.

"Lucca, why didn't you wake me up early?" I ask him as I try once again to crack my neck to the side to look at the clock but Lucca block it again. He was still holding me close to his chest and didn't even let me move an inch.

"Relax angel; it is just thirty minutes past ten." He says in a chilled tone "Plus you were up all night kicking my butt in board games."He adds as he pretends to look defeated and sad at that thought. But I know he is anything but sad about it.

Remembering about last night, I start to giggle softly and relax in his arms.

Last night Lucca planned another surprise for me. It was family game night and we all played different board games. And among all of them Lucca didn't even win once - literally not even one game. At first I thought he was just letting me win but later on I realised he was really bad at them - all of them.

"I see you enjoyed yourself a lot last night," Lucca says faking a sad tone when I continue to giggle and then burst out laughing at his pout expression. It is not that my Lucca is a sore loser but it was funny seeing how my Mr.Oh-So-Perfect couldn't even win a single game. And something about it makes me fall for him even more.

I don't need a man who is perfect in everything. I need a man who is perfect for me. One who knows what I need and when I need that. One who stands next to me like my pillar, like my rock. One I can always trust on, no matter what. One who makes me feel complete.

"It is okay Lucca next time we play, I will let you win." I huff as I try to act cool in front of him.

Hearing that Lucca just smiles and shakes his head. "I am ready to lose every single game in my entire life. If it makes you this happy angel." He whispers as he gets his lips closer to my ear and kiss the side of my head.

Lucca doesn't say anything lightly, and he doesn't let anyone close to his family. So for him to trust me and to love me make me feel clung to him even more.

I shift my head back and smile up at him, like a love sick puppy and he does the same. Then he uses his fingers to gently move the hair on side of my face that had fall back again, as he keeps my eyes trapped with his.

"Also your surprise is still not here," At his words my eyes light up with so much excitement.

"Surprise." Over the period of a week Lucca has been showering me with sweet and romantic gifts. And every single one of them had a special place in our story. They all weren't expensive gifts but they all were special one. Like the picnic basket he made for me, the breakfast he was cooking for me for the last week and the bouquet of red roses he has been giving me every morning. It is not the price that make them special, but it's the thought that counts. And for me they all were special because they all came from him.

"Tell me, tell me, tell me..." I beg him to tell me what the surprise is, but he just throws back his head and laugh. This has been going on for a week now. He doesn't tell me what surprise he has planned for me and then bam the most amazing surprise. And every single one of his surprise is better than the previous one. They leave me amazed and in aww all the time.

"Not going to happen angel, and you know it." He says a second later "Now c'mon hurry up and get ready. The breakfast is almost ready, and our family is waiting for you."He says as he releases me. I quickly shift and sit up on the bed, still looking up at him with expectation in my eyes.

"There you go, angel." He says as he hands me the bouquet of red roses.

I smile at him as I accept them and bring them close to my nose to smell them. They are beautiful as always and smelled amazing. I get on my knees and kiss him on the under of his chin before whispering "Thank you Lucca."

He uses this opportunity and circles his arms around my waist. "You are always welcome angel." Then he pulls his head back and looks at me, "Now get ready. The other surprise would be here any second now."

I nod with excitement as I get out of the bed and hurry in the direction of our walk-in-closet.

I take a quick shower and blow dried my hair out. I was so excited to see my surprise that I thought of skipping the makeup but today was my birthday. So I applied a few layers of mascara followed by a soft smudge of blush on my cheeks and lip tint. I looked photo ready. Then I grabbed the dress and started changing in to it. The dress was a beautiful Dolce & Gabbana pastel pink dress that was 3/4 in length along with white sandals. And yes the dress was one of Lucca's gift for me. He got me so many new dresses and shoes that I have no idea what to do with them. It is not like I usually get dressed so fancy when I am at home. And I barely go to parties or host one.

Thirty minutes later I am out of our room heading downstairs in the direction of the kitchen to meet everyone. But what I wasn't prepared for was the beautiful sight in front of me. There were red roses gracefully arranged all around the hallway. As I moved farther down the hallway, I noticed the entire staircase was covered with red roses - that were beautifully arranged near the banister.

"OMG," I gasp in surprise as I took in everything.

"So I presume you like the arrangement." Hearing Lucca's voice my eyes instantly move to him. He was standing at the bottom stair looking impeccable as he waits for me.

"OMG Lucca this is so beautiful." I beamed at him with much excitement and happiness in my voice.

No one and I mean no one has ever done anything like this for me. Let alone celebrate my birthday. My birthday was haunted with my foster parents death, and I didn't want to remember that day anymore so I treated my birthdays as one of the normal days. If I had work, I went to work and did nothing special. If I had a free day, I would do laundry and catch up on Avenger movies.

I didn't have any reason to celebrate my birthday anymore. But throughout the entire week Lucca has been surprised me with so much that I don't know if I can hold back my tears, the happy kind.

I glanced all around the foyer and took in all the arrangements and tired really hard not to cry. I was getting all emotional.

This man knows exactly what to do, and he did it all so perfectly.

"Lucca this is so beautiful," I say which so much wow in my tone that even I was surprised. I reached the bottom step and close to my Lucca still in a bit of daze.

Lucca took my hand in his and smile up at me. "There is nothing as beautiful as the smile on your face angel. Nothing."

Oh god this man, I quickly looked up and then frantically blinked my eyes to prevent the tears from coming. I had cried enough on my birthdays. But not this one.

"Angel?" Lucca asked, his tone had a hint of concern in it. "Please don't cry, you know how much I hate seeing you cry. They are my undoing."He softly whispered as he cups my face tilts it so he can look at me.

"I never..."I swallow the lump and start again "I never imagined I would meet someone who would love me the way you do Lucca. Never in my wildest dream I thought a man would come like a wind and take me away with him."

Lucca smiles softly at me and then dips down to kiss me on my forehead. "And I never thought I needed an angel until I meet you."

His words no his perfect words cause my heart to flutter with so much love for this man. My man.