Chapter Thirty One
Carly
I’d thought sex with Rico was amazing. My memories had nothing on what sex with Gio was like. Maybe I should have fooled around some before now. Maybe then it wouldn’t have been so earth-shattering. After all, I didn’t have much to compare it to. I’d been a teenager the last time I’d had sex. Or, maybe it still would have left me feeling like a puddle of goo. Maybe Gio was just that damn good.
I lay there in his arms and relearned how to breathe. “That was...I’d like to say amazing, but you’ve already got a huge ego. No sense in giving you a swelled head. Well, unless it’s the one below the belt.” I flashed him a grin that made him laugh.
“Ah,Bella, you do have a way with words.”
“Good to see you noticed.” I closed my eyes a moment and rested against him. “I should go home.”
“Non. Stay the night. I can make you breakfast in bed.”
I arched a brow at that. “You cook?”
“Si. You should see your face. You look so shocked.”
“That’s because I am. I would never have expected it. You’re such an alpha male.” His laughter had me moving back enough to really look at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I may be an alpha male now, but I didn’t spring from my Mama’s womb full grown,Tesoro. Mama made sure all of herbambinosknew how to cook for themselves. She taught me quite a few family recipes. Stay, Carly. Let me hold you tonight.”
The pleading in his voice had me relaxing against him. “Okay.”
“Grazie.”
His arms tightened around me and for the fist time in a long time I felt...safe. “Goodnight, Gio.”
“Goodnight, Carly.”
Sunlight filtered through the curtains and pulled me slowly from slumber. I stretched and frowned. The light in my apartment wasn’t usually so bright in the mornings. My eyes snapped open when I remembered where I was. The bed beside me was empty and I frowned. It would have been nice to wake up in Gio’s arms.
I was just crawling out of bed when the door opened and the scent of fresh brewed coffee reached me.
“Good morning,Bella. I was hoping to surprise you with breakfast in bed.”
I stared at Gio. He stood in the doorway in a pair of pajama pants that hung low on his hips and nothing else. In his hands was a tray and on that tray was, I assumed, a plate beneath a silver dome. “I’ve never had breakfast in bed.” I sat back down and propped pillows behind me. “Far be it for me to disappoint you.”
“Smart woman.”
There was a playfulness in his voice I wasn’t used to hearing. It was different but I liked it. “Have you talked to your mother this morning? How is Eli?”
“Relax,Tesoro. I spoke with Mama a little bit ago and Eli is fine. He had fun last night and they’re all enjoying breakfast before they go swimming again.”
“I’m sorry. I know I sound like an overly protective, paranoid parent. It’s not easy for me to let him stay over at other people’s houses. The only person he ever stayed with was my mother, and even that was only a couple of times before she moved away two years ago.”
“Where is your father?”
“Who the fuck knows? He took off when I was a kid. Left and never looked back. Mama raised me by herself. I guess that’s where I got my backbone from. I knew how hard it was going to be to raise Eli by myself. Mama suggested I either abort or put the baby up for adoption, not because she didn’t want to be a grandmother, but because she didn’t want me to have to struggle the way she did. She told me whatever I decided was my choice. She didn’t let me shirk my duties though, once I decided to keep him. I dropped out of high school and went to work while I was pregnant, then went back – after I had Eli – as soon as my doctor said I could.”
“Oh,Bella. If we’d known, you would not have had to face raising him alone.”
“I wouldn’t have taken the help. Ichoseto quit school and get a job. I could have tried to find something that would work around school, but I didn’t. I’d decided it was time to grow up. I was even more stubborn at sixteen than I am now.”
“That is hard to believe.”
His laughter made me laugh, too. “Believe it. If you, or anyone in your family, had approached me back then to offer help, I would have told you to go fuck yourselves because I didn’t take handouts from anyone. Now, I’m a little more open to accepting help when I need it.”
“That is good to know. Eat before it gets cold.”
