I should probably have just left it alone, but now I needed to know why he’d woken this morning in a whole different mode. “Last night was rough, and now ... it’s like it never happened.”
He gave a shrug. “Guess I remembered what I have, and how lucky I am to be here with you. That there’s so much more to life, and I’m excited to live it—with you.” Affection and happiness still burned in his gaze, a shadow of a smile on his lips. “I’m here to talk whenever you’re ready. But no rush. Take all the time you need.”
Another burst of adrenaline filled me, but it dissipated quickly when he removed the pressure. It seemed like he was done asking me about it. Finally gave me the space to decide how and when I would tell him the truth ... that I was pregnant.
The bell in the kitchen rang, so I headed into the back to retrieve his lunch. A breaded piece of chicken with a side of pasta. I returned to the table and placed it in front of him before I sat down.
He dug into it right away, then called into the back. “Thanks, Antonio.”
“You got it, Con.”
He cut into the meat, took big bites, and smiled at me with his eyes while he continued to eat—the happiest I’d ever seen him. Last night, he’d confessed how lost he was, but now, he’d never looked more sure of himself.
My mind continued to question it, but I decided to let it go.
I always took a shower when I got home from work. I wore a shower cap to protect my hair, but I washed away the smell of tomatoes, eggplant, and fried rice balls. There were worse things to smell like, but I didn’t want to stink up the beautiful house.
I walked out of the bathroom in just my towel and found him on the bed—completely naked. And he was hard as hell. Like just thinking about what he wanted to do to me was enough to make his balls turn blue.
I stilled, feeling like prey that had been caught walking through the grass by an enormous lion.
He didn’t pat the bed or order me to come to him. He left the bed, rose to his full six and a half feet, and then came behind me, gone from my view. His hand reached for the towel that covered me, and he tugged the edge where it was tucked in to make it come free.
It fell to the floor at my feet, and I felt the bumps form on my arms.
He hooked one arm over my chest while the other moved over my stomach. He gently tugged me into him and kissed my neck and then my shoulder, kissing me but doing it in a way that felt like he was eating me alive.
Then he moved in front of me and took a knee, his eyes level with my tits because of how tall he was. He hooked one of my legs over his shoulder then brought me close, pressing kisses to my stomach and licking my belly button ring that I hadn’t taken out yet. My stomach was still flat because I wasn’t more than a month pregnant, and there was no way he or anyone else could tell. And when I’d had my period,our sex lives hadn’t changed because he didn’t care about the bleeding. He probably didn’t notice that it hadn’t come this month. So I wasn’t afraid he would figure it out for a while. I had at least another month before it might catch his attention.
He kissed my hips before he lifted me slightly and pressed a kiss to my entrance. I hadn’t shaved in the last two weeks because I’d been too overwhelmed by the news, but he kissed me like he couldn’t care less I wasn’t groomed. He devoured me harder than he devoured my mouth, balancing me above him while his big hands gripped me like he couldn’t squeeze me hard enough.
I dug my hand into his short hair, and I got swept up in his touch, in the fact that this gorgeous man was on his knees for me, that he wanted me when he could have anyone else he wanted.
And something about it made me a little less scared. Actually turned me on a bit, knowing about the life we’d made together inside me that very moment. Something made out of love and passion, something that would outlive us both.
When he rose to his feet, he took me with him, carrying me to the bed and rolling back with me as he remained on top. His eyes took in mine as he adjusted me underneath him, his lips just inches from mine. When he was nestled between my thighs and his hand was deep in my hair, he sank into me, releasing a quiet moan under his breath when he filled me deep. He paused as he felt me, as he took in my eyes and savored the moment like it was the first time our souls touched. Then he started to move inside me, slow and easy. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“I’m gonna be late.” I slapped his hand away as I moved for my purse on the counter.
But he was all over me anyway, pushing up against my back before he guided me to the couch.
When my alarm had gone off that morning, he was buried inside me in record time. It happened so fast, and I got swept up in how damn fine he was that I forgot how little time I had to get out the door. I hopped in the shower and got dressed before I headed downstairs, but he was all over me as if he hadn’t already come inside me once.
“Constantine.”
He got me on my back on the couch and slipped my shoes from my feet. Then he tugged off my jeans and my panties before he bent me into place in the corner of the couch.
“Jesus, what has gotten into you—”
He gave a hard thrust inside me and nailed me like a piston in a car engine. A rough quickie like I was a booty call on a timetable. His sweats were pulled down below his hips, and he pounded into me like I was a whore rather than the woman he loved. “Fuck.” He took me the hardest he ever had, his arms pinning my legs far back. “Yes.” Within thirty seconds, he was finished, blowing his load like it’d been a week rather than thirty minutes since his last lay. He filled me with another load that would soak into my panties at some point while I was at work.
He pulled out of me as soon as he was finished. “All right, now you can go.”
I relaxed my stiff joints, then scrambled for my clothes and shoes. When I looked at the time on my phone, I realized I was already fifteen minutes late. “Shit.”
“Relax, sweetheart.” He smiled like this was all a joke, pulling up his sweatpants and putting on his T-shirt. “It’s not like you can get fired or anything.”
Constantine said he wanted to go out for dinner, so we went into Taormina and stopped by one of his favorite spots, La Napoletana, a restaurant hidden off the main path, up a couple flights of stairs and ina secluded courtyard. He’d taken me there once before, when we were in the throes of our white-hot fling.
