I inhaled a deep breath, feeling warmth spread in my belly, and my heart fluttered.
“I want nothing more than to believe you. But I’m scared.” I had never lied to Ciro about what I wanted. I wasn’t about to start now.
“Challenge accepted, baby. I won’t let you down.”
I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure who this man was. Maybe I was hallucinating from the concussion.
He linked our fingers together. “Just one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
He cradled my face in one hand, lightly gliding his lips across mine. “I look forward to experiencing you feisty and plump with my baby.”
I blinked, unsure if I’d heard him correctly.Another baby? I must be tripping.
Ciro chuckled, pulling back. “You heard me right, My-la. I missed out on Pippa. You owe me a do-over. Speaking of which… Let’s get our girl’s diaper changed.” Ciro got up and went to the dresser where a stack of diapers and wipes were.
If I was dreaming, I didn’t want to wake up. I wanted to revel in this man who looked and spoke like Ciro Remotti, but whose words were unlike anything I’d ever heard come out of his tantalizing mouth.
He changed Pippa in front of me, doing everything perfectly, while talking sweetly to her. She watched him with amazement and smiled brightly the way she smiled at me. Of course she would, because he was her father and she knew it.
Perhaps my head was a jumbled mess. Could I have imagined him telling me he loved me? Maybe. But I really hoped this wasn’t all a dream.
More than that, I prayed Ciro was worth a second chance, so I never needed to walk away from him again.
An hour later,I’d just told Alba about Paolo passing during the night. I hugged her as she cried. Ciro was sitting with Pippa in the armchair.
Since the passionate kiss we shared, he’d been in the room with me and the baby. I liked having him with us, just as I had enjoyed it when we were in San Francisco.
This time was different, though. He was different. And I was still reeling from the kiss and the I-love-you part.
“I think I knew he wasn’t going to make it,” Alba said, pulling back. “When I sat with him yesterday, he already looked gone to me.”
“I’m so sorry, honey.” I looked at Ciro bouncing Pippa on his knee. He looked just as grieved as me.
Paolo was his cousin. His bodyguard. But like me with my sister, Ciro wasn’t that close to Paolo because he had adebt to pay for his father who had gambled away his family’s fortune.
Weird Mafia stuff was what had kept the cousins from getting close.
“Will there be a funeral for him?” Alba asked.
“Do you want there to be one?” Ciro asked, genuinely. It wasn’t snark. “I mean, he’s going to be cremated like Isla’s sister. But we can have a service after.”
Before Alba came into my room, Ciro had asked me what I wanted to do for my sister. It might sound awful, but I told him I didn’t want anything for her. Cremation was fine and I’d send her ashes to our mother, who never gave a damn about either of us.
“I think it would be nice to do something for Paolo, but it’s not like we were close. I shouldn’t have a say in anything.” Alba dried her eyes. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. I knew him for like a week.”
“He was the first guy you’d been with in a long time. You gave yourself to him, so it makes perfect sense to me.” I rubbed her back.
A knock at the door made us all turn to look at it.
“Come in,” I said, since it was my suite.
Luca opened the door and appeared taken aback. “What happened?” He looked at Alba.
“Paolo didn’t make it,” I replied.
“Yeah. I know. Did she know him?”
