“You’ve all brought home partners. Elodie is not that for me. She doesn’t know if she’s even prepared to stay in Italy, to stay living with me?—,”
“But that’s what you want? That’s what you’ve offered?”
Raf’s eyes travelled the horizon. It was so like Dante to keep pushing until he got the answer he wanted. “I would like us to raise our child together, yes.”
“But not in a relationship?”
“As far as I know, that’s not a prerequisite.”
“No.” Dante sounded unconvinced though.
“Look, this is exactly the kind of question I don’t want her to have to answer, and with you lot, I can’t give her that guarantee. So, until she and I are on firmer ground?—,”
“I can promise you, we’ll treat her with kid gloves.”
Raf grunted, showing his skepticism.
“I’ll make sure of it,” Dante said. “Bring her home, let us meet her.”
“I’ll think about it,” was all Raf agreed to.
“Excellent. I’ll let them know.”
“And Dante?” Raf spoke quickly, before his cousin could disconnect the call.
“Yeah?”
“Make sure no one shows up here. I’m serious about this. I feel like if I make one wrong move, she’ll bolt, and that’s the last thing I want.”
“Because of the baby?”
“Of course, because of the baby,” he answered, a little too forcibly. “You should know, more than anything, what this kid means to me,” Raf continued, then winced, because Dante had buried his first wife, and child, some years back. Which wasn’t what Raf had been referencing, yet it undoubtedly came across that way. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean?—,”
“It’s fine,” Dante’s voice was raw with emotion though. “I do understand. Of course I do.”
“I just have to play my cards right. I can’t bear the thought of Elodie trying to take the baby away from me—I have to make this work.”
“I get it,” Dante said, gently. “Don’t worry. We’re not going to ruin it for you. We just want to meet her, that’s all. Show her that she’s got our support, too.”
Raf disconnected the call shortly after, wondering if that would actually help the situation, as Dante seemed to suggest. Maybe Elodie would see his family as a plus? Maybe she’d enjoy meeting them. After all, it wasn’t just his brothers, cousins, and Sofia, his aunt and uncle, but all the wives and children too, King Ares, the whole bit. It was a huge tapestry of people with one common thread: love, and the sort of never-ending support that came from that—even when severely tested, as Raf had been testing them all since his divorce.
A hint of guilt flushed through him, as he turned back to his desk.
He wanted to go see Elodie, but the temptation to pull her into his arms was still too strong. So, he told himself he’d work for one more hour and join her right before dinner. How much trouble could that get him into? Sharing a meal was easy. They could keep it light, like he’d done the night before, for the most part. With a little discipline, he could make this work, exactly as they both needed it to. He was sure of it.
If absence madethe heart grow stronger, then Elodie now realized the same could be said for its effect on one’s libido. A whole day without so much as a sight nor sound from Raf, except for that charged glimpse while she’d been swimming, had made her pulse start to reverberate at a truly frenetic pace. Every cell in her body seemed utterly attuned to his, so she felt the moment he stepped into the spacious lounge area, even before she’d seen him. She pressed a finger into the book she’d been reading and glanced across at him. She’d thought her pulse was rushing before; now it started to run so fast she wondered if it would damage her vascular system.
His eyes locked to hers and everything skittered into silence. It was like the world had stopped spinning.
As with this morning, they simply stared at each other. Elodie’s mouth went dry and her body wouldn’t cooperate; she couldn’t stand up, even when she wanted to. Her limbs were heavy; her insides churning with recognition andneed.
“How are you?” His question seemed to come from a long way away.
She swallowed, tried to bring moisture back to her mouth, to think of what to say. “I—fine,” she husked, finally, blinking quickly.
“Happy to eat out on the terrace again?”
Her stomach lurched. She had started to think about dinner, to wonder if she should go and investigate her options. She hadn’t even thought to check the terrace.
