The big blue eyes that had snatched his attention before he’d even caught sight of her glorious body opened.
Their gazes fused. Air caught in his lungs, and suddenly he tumbled back in time to the Parisian hotel. The furiousagony that had rung from those eyes when he’d told her his engagement party to Siena was only a week away…
It shouldn’t have cut so deeply. He’d never made promises to Georgia. The future had never been so much as alluded to between them.
But their affair had been intense and, despite the instant attraction between them, it had never been just sex. Niccolo had felt insta-lust many times before Georgia, but never like he had with her. It had been more than mere attraction. He’d walked into the conference room at The Diamond to receive her company’s pitch, and the first thing his gaze had locked onto were those big blue eyes. In that moment, the room had shrunk.
When names had been exchanged and she’d stayed in the background, the only one not pushed forward for introduction, he’d deliberately gone to her with his hand outstretched. His hand had swallowed hers, and when she’d told him her name and he’d heard her husky voice for the first time, he’d known he would have her or die trying.
Their affair had been thrilling and all-consuming. His intention to stay in London for only a few days had stretched into weeks until other commitments had forced him back home to Italy. From that point, he’d made numerous trips back and forth to London, his insistence that Georgia be the interior designer of his apartment in The Diamond the perfect excuse to lock themselves away from the world.
But at no point had he committed himself to her.
Not with words.
No commitment. No promises. Only his agreement to marry Siena and Lorenzo’s insistence that he make the pecking order between the women clear to the world had opened his eyes to the possibility of being able to indulge himself in Georgia’s heavenly body and enjoy her affectionate company indefinitely. Instead of appreciating the gravity of the commitment he was offering her,she’d flown off the handle and accused him of treating her like a prostitute.
There was no anger in the beautiful blue eyes gazing into his now. Only softness.
“How are you feeling?” she whispered.
Close to being overwhelmed by all the feelings the memories had agitated inside him, he tried to mask it, deadpanning, “Like I’ve been stabbed with a knife and hit over the head with a vase.”
The new groove between her eyebrows deepened. “I’m sorry.”
He took a deep breath through his nose. The beats of his heart had become painful. “And I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into this whole mess. I never imagined the Espositos would come after you.”
Niccolo’s decision to end things with Georgia had been impulsive, but once he’d dropped her back to her flat and been alone with his thoughts, an unexpected weight had lifted from his shoulders. Where that weight had come from or what it meant, he’d never known.
He’d pledged to forget about her. Forgetting lovers was easy. He’d walked away from dozens of them and hardly given them a second thought.
Forgetting Georgia had been impossible. He’d had to actively fight his own brain to stop himself from thinking about her. He’d had to actively fight his fingers to stop them pressing her name on his phone.
Somehow, the groove deepened even further and, her eyes glittered with thought, she razed her teeth over her bottom lip. “I think I know why they’re targeting me,” she said quietly.
Something in her tone made his antenna rise. “What is it?”
Her teeth sank deeper into her lip, her stare suddenly filled with apprehension. “I don’t know how they found out…”
“Found out what?” he asked when her voice trailed off.
She blinked hard. “I was going to tell you after your honeymoon.”
“Tell me what?” But the hard thumps of his heart and the coldness snaking through his veins were already telling him.
Her voice was barely a whisper, but her anxious stare didn’t leave his. “I’m pregnant.”
Georgia watched what little colour was left of Niccolo’s deep olive complexion drain away. His strong throat moved. She could see his mind working overtime to make sense of what she’d just said.
“You’re pregnant?” he eventually dragged out.
Her heart pounding, its painful ripples beating through her entire being, she nodded. “Conception dates to our weekend in Paris.” A gastro bug days before their trip had reduced the efficacy of her contraceptive pill, but they’d been less than careful about using condoms, had treated their use almost like a joke.
He blew out a long puff of air and rolled onto his back, his gaze fixing on the ceiling. “You didn’t think of mentioning this before?”
“I wanted to. Of course I did. But…”
His face turned sharply to her. “But what? What possible reason could you have for not telling me I’m going to be a father?”
