Her entire body clenched and Reiko leaned her head on his shoulder just to make sure it stayed upright. “You’re kind of possessive, you know that?”
He barked out a laugh as they crossed through the foyer, the rich sound bouncing off the walls. “If you think that now, wait ‘til you have my ring on your finger and my baby in your womb.”
I am not going to squirm while he’s carrying me through a hallway. I. Am. Not.It was a hard-won fight. She curled her arms around his neck and spoke in a whisper meant only for him, ignoring the sensation of other eyes on them as he surely made a spectacle with the staff she knew he had. “About that,” she said, “I can’t remember if I said … but I missed. I didn’t get anywhere near …anything, that day. The doctors I’ve seen since have all said I should be able to conceive, and carry, without complications. Predictable ones, at least.”
These were not words she’d ever thought she would speak. She hadn’t ever thought she would have children. She hadn’t ever thought she would have a partner to share her future with, period.
Santino’s grip tightened. “You didn’t say,” he replied, voice quieter. “But that’s good to hear. I just figured if it turned out we couldn’t conceive, then we’d adopt.”
She smiled against his neck. “You really want kids, don’t you?”
“Five.”
A moment passed. “I beg your pardon?”
“I want five.”
Reiko reared back, gaping up at him, and only then did she realize they were ascending a wide staircase. “You wantfive?”
The heat in his smirk could have roasted an entrée. “My pain-in-the-ass cousin has four. Current speculations aside, I can’t let him beat me. Fortunately, that dumbass went and got a vasectomy a couple years ago, since he can’t keep it in his pants. So, he’s locked in at four, which means five is what I need.”
It was a competition. The number of children he wanted was a competition. She frowned at him. “But you’ll love them all equally, of course. All the boys. All the girls.”
Santino chuckled as he kicked open a wider-than-standard door. “Theoretically, yes. In reality, I can see where I might spoil my daughters a little bit more than my sons.” He gave her a squeeze, stopped walking, and met her stare with a suddenly serious expression. “What I will never do isnotlove them, cast them aside, or treat them as a subpar species. I will spoil all of you fucking rotten. I will protect you. Never doubt that.”
Her heart choked the air from her throat and Reiko swallowed hard. Her fingers clenched into the collar of his shirt. “Can we … have one at a time?” It was a stupid question, seeing as that was out of either of their control.
His smile made it seem valid all the same. “We can even have a year or two in between if you want,” he said, his tone lightly teasing and gentle all at once. It was what she needed. He leaned closer and kissed her cheek, then nipped at her jaw. His next words were murmured into her skin. “Are you on birth control right now?”
There was the restless need to squirm again, accompanied by a demanding heat and pulsing ache low in her belly. “No,” she gasped. She’d had no reason to be.
He growled low, the sound vibrating through him, and moved forward again. Seconds later he was setting her down on what she presumed without even looking was his bed. He caught her chin as he straightened, holding her stare. “Do not move.”
She barely had time to blink before he was walking away. Watching him gave her her first real opportunity to take in the room. Of course, it was ridiculously spacious. The décor was masculine but refined, and thankfully not all shades of black. She spied what she assumed to be the ensuite through a partially shut door off one wall, and by the time she’d taken that muchin, Santino had closed the bedroom door and was striding back toward her.
Not only that, he was also rapidly unbuttoning his shirt.
Her breath quickened.Am I ready for this?Probably not. She wasn’t sure anyone could be ready for a man like Santino. Certainly not a woman like her, so riddled with anxieties that she’d kept as much to herself as possible. But not being ready didn’t mean she didn’t want to keep going. It was time to break out of her shell.
The man had shown up for her, literally, when no one else cared. The man had killed for her. The man had kissed her tenderly andfeltfor her, sympathized with her pain.
If she was going to be safe with anyone, she believed it was with him. That was crazy, in so many ways, but it might also have been the truest thing she had known in a long time. So, she licked her lips and reached for the knot at her hip.
“Don’t do that,” Santino said, his voice rough, as he let his shirt fall to the floor. His heated blue eyes raked over her. “I want to thoroughly ruin that dress before I get you out of it.”
A thrill sparked in her blood and she let her hands fall away.
Santino stepped out of his shoes, toed off his socks, and kicked it all aside before moving closer and gliding the pads of his fingers down her thighs. “Spread your legs for me, baby. Let me closer.”
Reiko opened for him and watched as he dropped to his knees. She’d never had a man in that sort of position before.
He dragged his hands up her sides, leaned forward, and kissed her hard once more. One hand tangled in her hair, his fingers digging through and finding the band that held it up. He bit down on her lip as he tugged it free, letting her hair tumble down past her shoulders. Then he ran his tongue along her lip where he’d bit it before murmuring, “Fuck. Even your hair is sexy.” His kisses moved to her jaw, lighter and almost flirty. “You have asafe word, beautiful? I need to know if I push you too far. You need to know you can stop me.”
A safe word. Control. It hadn’t occurred to her.
Her arms came around him, fingers digging into his warm muscle. The obvious answer popped into her head. “Scar.”
Santino lifted up enough to meet her gaze, his serious expression almost startling. “I’m going to have to veto that one, baby. Your scar is a part of you. The experiences that drove you to hurt yourself, the way you were treated after—all of that was fucked up beyond words. I know. But you’re not that little girl anymore. It’s time to stop hating yourself because someone else told you to.” He moved a hand to her hip again and squeezed hard. “Your safe word is your control word, your safety net. Not your trigger point.”
