But the odd thing was—I—liked it.
No.
Not only did I like it—I was attracted to it.
Oh, my gosh.I had issues.
And being this close to Carlo—my breasts pressed tight to his chest—
Dammit.
I was definitely getting turned on.
This was so inappropriate.
“Go look after your fiancée.And your baby.I need to go change.”I pushed away from him, and he let me.Then his eyes dragged down my body.When I glanced down, I realized that Carlo was getting an eyeful.
“Crap,” I said, quickly pulling the sides of my untied robe over my exposed black, lacy, see-through—very, very, very see-through nightie.
I swear I heard Carlo chuckle softly as I rushed off and up the stairs.
2
Francesca
“Your mommy will be home soon, don't cry little guy,” I said to the not so little baby in my arms.Giselle's twins were the opposite of little.Marcello was sitting contentedly on the floor, playing with some baby toys.But his brother was fussing in my arms.And he had been for a while now.I'd tried feeding him, changing him, walking around with him.
Nothing worked.
“Here,” Nick said, offering to take the baby from me.He’d just finished feeding Angelo, one of his twins, and set him down in a portable crib.
As soon as I handed Nicco over to him, my arms sang out a sigh of relief.
“He gets all whiny without his brother.Watch this.”Nick set Nicco right beside Marcello—and the little turkey smiled.He patted his brother's leg and laughed.
“See?”Nick smiled at the babies, and then he looked at me.
“Thanks.I'm not that great with kids.I haven't spent much time around them.”
Nick's head tilted, and he frowned.“Were you not the only one who could calm Daniella down last night?She was a little terror all day while you were gone.”
Stefan piped in.“Thanks, Nick.That's a great thing to guilt my wife with.I love that kid, but it's not Francesca's job to stay with her twenty-four-seven.”He was feeding a sleeping Ariana in his arms—Nick and Eve’s other twin.She was out cold, and the bottle was almost empty.
Nick turned to Stefan.“I didn't once say that.All I said was that Giselle's clearly bonded with Daniella.Therefore, she is indeed good with kids.”
At that point, I decided to cut in and defuse any tension.“How much longer until they're back?”I asked, obviously referencing Giselle, Carlo, and Eve.They'd been in touch all night long.
As soon as I'd hurried into our bedroom, I'd found Stefan on the bed waiting for me.He'd been in the shower and hadn't heard Giselle screaming.He was shocked and immediately jumped out of bed.I asked him to call the doctor, and I talked with her while I got dressed—telling her everything I knew so far.
Then I rushed downstairs so Giselle could talk to the doctor, too.
It was then that Giselle told her all about her last delivery with the twins.What had started out as a home birth—had ended up in near-tragedy.
Giselle actually had to stop talking and let Carlo take over.But even he had difficulty finishing.I was shocked.Visions of that very scary moment ran through my mind.Carlo had saved her life.
Talk about traumatic deliveries.Giselle had suffered through so many complications.It really was a miracle that she was still here.
Her anxiety about everything made a whole lot more sense now.Those twins weren't very old.And now she was getting ready to deliver all over again.If I were her, I would probably still have trauma about that delivery, too.
