Tore saw his wife awaiting him at the top of the steps. It was their fifth anniversary and his grandparents were on the way to pick up the children and give their parents a quiet weekend. Violet was wearing denim shorts and a bright white top and he started to smile. She was glowing like the firecracker she was. She looked amazing. Five years had whizzed by in the blink of an eye and Violet still sizzled him to the bone. She had set him free from his rule-following routine and he had eventually taken the hint and learned how to dance, although he was still a far-from-keen participant.
Tonight they were dining out in Siena at their favourite restaurant. Sofia shouted and started running as their great-grandparents’ SUV purred up the drive. Violet called to bring the dogs, Fabio and Luna, back indoors and stop them from chasing the car. The labradoodles eventually obeyed but they were fairly laid-back about doing so until Tore shouted at them, whereupon they lowered their tails and slunk up on to the loggia.
‘Why do they always listen to you and not me?’ Violet demanded irritably.
‘Because you have a soft voice…except when you’re shouting at me,’ Tore added with humour, his stunning green eyes glittering.
‘That doesn’t happen very often now,’ she chided. ‘I’m much calmer than I used to be.’
Tore tried not to grin. If Violet got any more laid-back she would be horizontal. There was a hiatus as his grandparents arrived and the kids and their luggage piled into the SUV and Aldo and Matilde drove off, everyone on board talking at the same time.
‘Give me ten minutes for a shower,’ Tore told her.
‘I thought we could share it,’ Violet murmured, stretching up to lace her hands round his neck.
‘You do have the very best ideas,mia lucciola. It’s been a very long week,’ Tore commented as he shed his suit at speed, none of his usual tidy traits identifiable in that moment. ‘I missed you.’
Violet hurtled into the shower ahead of him, shrieking when he splashed her.
‘You’re very lively for a birthday girl,’ he remarked as he showered, water gushing down over his washboard abs.
Just looking at all that muscled, bronze perfection made her mouth run dry. As she sank down on the bench, he reached for her and tugged her up against him instead. He pushed her wet hair back from her brow and stared down at her animated face. ‘It’s time to make the big announcement,’ he told her softly.
‘Youcan’thave guessed!’
‘You haven’t had a glass of wine in weeks,’ he pointed out. ‘I was waiting for you to tell me and youdidn’tso I began to worry that something was wrong.’
‘No, no, nothing wrong,’ she hastened to assure him. ‘I was waiting for the results of the blood test. In six months we’ll have another little boy and thankfully, it’s a single pregnancy,’ she imparted with a bewitching grin.
‘That’s wonderful news. You’re saying that I’ve been worrying about nothing?’ Tore demanded with a frown.
‘That’s what you do, which is why I didn’t want to tell you until I knew absolutely everything about this pregnancy,’ she reasoned. ‘I planned to tell you over our meal tonight but a public place wouldn’t feel right.’
‘No, there are certain things we can’t do in public unless we are very, very sure we’re alone,’ Tore purred, thinking of stolen idyllic moments in the woods or on picnics at the Calabrian farm.
He claimed her lips in a passionate kiss of affirmation as he stroked skilled hands over her wet curves, caressing tender flesh to make her squirm and moan until those little familiar sounds began to rise to a peak. Only then did he bring her down on him, sleekly shifting her in one direction and then another so that the pleasure of his hungry possession sent her flying to the heights and tipped her over the edge.
In the restaurant, Tore surveyed his beautiful wife, clad in something red, short and elegant, appreciating the flame in her flushed cheeks and bright eyes in the candlelight. His woman, his wife, the mother of his children, and his heart swelled with happiness that he had found her and had the sense to hang on to her. ‘I love you very much,mia lucciola,’ he said thickly, covering her slender hand with his own.
‘And I love you,’ she whispered with her heart in her eyes as she revelled in the simple pleasure of being with him again.
