⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars. 

I don’t think Catharina Maura can write a bad book. She ALWAYS makes me fall in love with the MMC, the couple themselves, the love declarations, and she never fails to make me cry. I swear Catharina Maura makes it her mission to make me cry with every book I read 😭, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to like this book, ugh how wrong I was 🫶. I cannot wait to continue the series and watch how the rest of the Windsor family will fall in love. 

Y’all, I loved Luca. His love and possessiveness was TOP TIER. Like once he hears she’s going on a date, he is so desperate to keep her from going by giving her tasks to do, but she’s already done them 🤣 and he’s frustrated that she’s so good at her job. Then after these failed attempts, he finds out who she’s going on a date with, finds out it’s another employee, so he makes a no fraternization rule or it’s an immediate termination 🤭. Not only that, he bought the ENTIRE restaurant where her date was purely so he can have an excuse to be there and ruin her date. This man is crazy for Valentina. His possessiveness is amazing, it’s not too much, it’s perfect. Then, he’s trying to earn her forgiveness so he tries making her abuelas taquitos, so he looks up youtube videos, but he just makes a mess 🥹. And then he says the cutest things that definitely blur the lines of their contract, like how he can’t wait to grow old with her 😭. Then we find out she’s the whole reason he implemented free catered lunch because he saw she was only eating ramen at lunch 😭😭 and realized her paycheck went to taking care of her family. Not only that, but he dismantled her fathers entire company because he hurt her 🤭👀. Y’all the spice scene on chapter 50 where Valentina is on the phone and Luca is doing dirty delicious things to her 🥵🥵. Like I said, this man goes above and beyond for Valentina, so this man bought an entire piece of land just because it contains the exact scenery of an art that she has at home 😳🤭. Y’all, they were at a business meeting with his ex, and he starts fingering Valentina under the table and she finishes 👀👀🥵. Luca is absolutely so cute and sweet. He asked Valentina’s abuela to record a video of herself asking Valentina to forgive him and remember how much he loves her, just so he can have whenever just in case he ever messed up. Not only that but we can see how close he got to her Abuela 🥲. Then this man collected all of the notes she ever gave him for the past 8 years, and incorporated it into the cutest proposal 🥹.It was so crazy to learn how Grandma Anne truly is a mastermind, her plan was years in the making. The epilogues were perfection, we got to Valentina connect with her uncle and brother 😭, and it was the sweetest thing ever. And then seeing Valentina and Luca 10 years later 😭😭. 

There’s also a cameo of Elena and Alec who are in another book, Forever After All. It made me so happy to see them since they were the first Catharina Maura book I read 👏🫶. 

“How could I hate you when you’re the only person I can see myself spending three years with? When you told me that you quit, I was a fucking wreck, Valentina. Nah. I don’t hate you. I hate how much I fucking want you. I hate how beautiful you are, and I hate how much you mess with my mind. Above all, I always hated that you weren’t mine.”

“I think I hate you.” 

“Hate me as much as you want, baby. Resent me. Despise me for shackling you to me when I should’ve offered you unconditional help. Torment me for using you, Valentina, but don’t you fucking leave me.”

“It looks like there’s a misunderstanding of some sort. I was gentle with you last night because it was obvious you were nervous, but that is not how things are going to be between us. I told you in clear terms that I wanted your body. For the next three years, every fucking inch of you is mine, Valentina. Every smile you just gave Theo should’ve been mine. How are you going to compensate me for that?”

“You’re insane.”

“Yes, wife. We’ve long determined that you drive me completely fucking insane, so take some responsibility.”

“You truly do drive me insane, Valentina. You make me act in ways I never thought I would. What are you doing to me?”

“You drive me just as crazy. When I’m around you, I hardly recognize myself.”

“Good.I want to own a part of you that no one else gets. Even now that I’ve made you my wife, I want more. I’m worried I’ll never get enough of you.”

“I never knew you could be this easygoing. For years, you gave me hell, when all along you could’ve been this kind. I feel really wronged, you know?”

“Then let me make it up to you, Valentina. This… this is all reserved for my wife. For you. So take advantage of it all you want. For as long as you want me, I’m yours. I’ll treat you like you’re the single most precious person to me, with one exception.”

“What’s the exception?”

“I can’t be kind to you when I fuck you, baby.”

“She’s so beautiful, it’s unreal. When she smiles at me that way, I become utterly useless. I truly think she’s slowly driving me insane.”

“I love being the person that knows you best, baby. I love figuring out what every single one of your expressions means.”

“Is it fun, making me blush?”

“Yeah. It’s my favorite hobby.”

“I love you, Valentina Windsor. I fucking love you, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t.”

“Then let’s stop pretending. Let’s both stop pretending, Luca, because I think… I think I love you, too.”

“Say that again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you, Luca. I know I shouldn’t, and I know it isn’t part of our deal, but I do.”

“Fuck our deal.The only reason it exists is because there was no other way I could make you mine.”

“From now on, I’ll make all of your dreams come true.”

“I’ll do the same for you, Luca.”

“You already have. You made all of my dreams come true the moment you told me you loved me.”

“Will you always look at me this way?”

“Always.”

“You don’t even know what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t need to. I know that I’ll always love you the same.”

“Even if I get old and wrinkly?”

“Yep. I’ll memorize each of your wrinkles and take them as signs of years we happily spent together. I’ll be aging right along with you, my love.”

“No marriage is perfect, and we’ll go through seasons in life. There will be times that we’re happier than others, but through it all, I’ll be by your side. That much I can promise you. I can’t put to rest all of your fears, not just yet, but ten years from now, we’ll look back at this moment and I’ll tell you I told you so.”

“I can’t wait for that day.”

“Me neither, baby, but let’s not forget to enjoy every step along the way, all right?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can let you go. Even if you deserve better, even if I’m not right for you, even if I’ve hurt you. I… I can’t.”

“Even if I’m penniless? Even if I’m the reason we lost our home and our jobs?” 

“Even more so then. I just need you, Luca.”

“Nothing you could do or say will ever make me leave you, Valentina. You are, without a doubt, the love of my life. You are the single best thing that has ever happened to me. When I married you, it’s all versions of you I signed up for. The good, the bad, the occasional crazy. I never just wanted your very best. I want it all, baby.”

“We’re going to be fine, aren’t we?” “Yes. We’re going to do what we do best, Valentina. We’re going to fight. For us, and for the future we know we can have.”

“But I won’t apologize for doing everything in my power to keep you by my side. Was it a little psychotic and definitely toxic? Absolutely. Would I do it all over again? Yes, without a single doubt. How can I regret doing something that eventually led to you becoming my wife? Every single step we’ve taken in the last couple of years led us to each other. If I could go back in time, I’d still do whatever it takes to make you mine.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m just in love with you.I’m irrevocably, insanely, unconditionally, in love with you.”

“I didn’t even think I was capable of loving anyone the way I love him. He broke the mold and set a new precedent. He showed me what true happiness is, and for the rest of our lives, I’m going to do what I can to make sure he always feels the same way.”

“You are the love of my life, and I will never stop fighting for you, for us. I know that I’m not worthy of you, Valentina, but you truly are the light in my life. You brighten up my darkest days, and you give me purpose when everything feels hopeless. At the core of all that I am, there is you. Until I breathe my last breath, that will be true.”

“Thank you. For choosing me, even now.”

“I will always choose you, Luca. Over and over again, no matter the trials or tribulations we face. You are, and always will be, the one for me. I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“I love you more.”

“She truly is everything to me. The calm to my chaos. The light to my darkness. The love of my life.”

“If I can, I’d like to spend a minimum of three lifetimes with you, Valentina. I’ll be true to you, and I’ll honor you in every single way. I’ll love you through all the seasons in life, through ups and downs, through joy and hardship, for better or for worse.”

“I’m going to make sure he feels as loved as I do, every second of every day, for the rest of our lives. And with a bit of luck, I’ll do it all over again if we ever meet again in another life—because one lifetime with this man could never be enough for me.”

“I told you so. Ten years ago, I told you that I couldn’t put all of your fears to rest just yet, but ten years from then, we’d look back at that moment and I’d tell you I told you so. I told you so.”

“I’ve never been happier that you were right.I love you, Luca. So much.”

“I love you more.”

Every second of every day, I love her more.