"The truth would ruin her once and for all."
Sophia shifts against me, her fingers tracing circles on my chest. "Okay, enough heavy talk. We're supposed to be on vacation."
"You started it."
"And now I'm ending it." She props herself up again, something mischievous in her eyes. "I have a different question."
"What?"
She bites her lip, that tell she has when she's nervous. "When are you going to give me a baby?"
I freeze. My hand stills on her back. "What?"
"A baby. You know, small human, cries a lot, needs diapers?—"
I grab her face and kiss her hard, cutting off her rambling. When I pull back, she's breathless.
"Don't you want kids?"
"Of course I do. With you. But..." I sit up, pulling her with me so she's straddling my lap. "I need time."
Her face falls slightly. "How much time?"
"Four years. Maybe five."
"Five years?"
I cup her face, making her look at me. "I need you to myself first. Just us. No obligations, no distractions. I want to wake up with you every morning knowing you're mine and only mine. I want to travel with you, show you things, experience everything with you before we add anyone else to the equation."
"That's very selfish."
"I'm a selfish man when it comes to you."
She studies my face. "And after your four or five years of having me all to yourself?"
"Then, if you still want to, we'll have a full house. As many kids as you want. We'll fill that whole damn compound with little Sartoris running around, driving Pietro insane."
"How many is 'as many as I want'?"
"However many. Two, three, six?—"
"Six?"
"You want six?"
She laughs. "God no. Maybe three. Two boys and a girl."
"But you have to survive me for four years first," I say, trying to lighten the moment.
"Survive you?"
"Mm. Four years of just us. Of me keeping you in bed every morning. Of taking you wherever I want, whenever I want. Of having you completely to myself with no one else to consider."
She shivers against me. "That sounds terrible."
"Horrible."
"I don't know how I'll manage."
