A horrible feeling hits me. I couldn’t breathe this morning when she stormed out of the dining room, not until I had my arms wrapped around her again. The children need her, butIneed her, too. More than I want to admit.
“What are you doing in here?” I demand, barging in. She’s wrapped up in a silky green robe with her shiny raven hair spilling down her back, beckoning my touch.
“You told me not to wait up.”
“That didn’t mean you would sleep somewhere else.”
Her delectable mouth opens, and I just know whatever she’s going to say is going to push all my buttons. “Why does it matter where I sleep if you are only going to…NICO!”she shrieks when I lift her in my arms.
Outwardly, I calmly carry her out of the room.
Inwardly, I’m grinning like an idiot, ecstatic every time she says my name.
Switching to Italian, she blisters the paint with curses and complaints about her day and my failings as a husband so far in great detail as I stride down the hallway, relishing the feel of her warm body writhing against mine. It’s more than a little adorable the way her voice dips when we pass the nursery only to crescendo again once I’ve closed the door to our bedroom.
I press my nose into her hair, wanting to lose myself in her sweetness, but Matilde stiffens at the closeness, so I set her on the bed and kneel beside it. “We will talk, but we will talk in here.”
“I warned you-”
“-that you would leave me, and then you said you would stay. Did you already move your things in there?” I ask, looking around. “Itwould set a new record for wives who hate being married to me so much they sleep in that room instead.”
“I… She did not share this room?”
“Not for long. Longer than you.”
“I did not move my things. Not yet. Even if I tried, you would use your physical strength to get your way.”
“I would never force you to-”
“You carry me places and say this is how it will be, Nico! What do you call that if not force, you asshole?”
Goddammit, she’s got a point. I don’t know that I’m capable of being the sort of husband who could ever deserve her. If such a man exists, I’d kill him because Matilde is mine. I only know how to try and fail and try again.
“I can’t correct things if we aren’t talking. Curse me, scream at me, cut me or hit me if I’m not hearing you, but please don’t put walls between us. I want… Ineedyou here.”
Her fury softens slightly with her nod, and I carefully take her hand in mine, praying I don’t fuck this up again.
“I already spoke with Ugo and Enio when I got home. You know how I feel about your safety and the children’s, but they work for us, not the other way around. If they disrespect you, tell me and I’ll make them regret that. Ersilia was out of line today. I’ll fire her in the morning.”
“No!”
“No?”
“She is a good housekeeper. I will give her a chance to improve.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Why not? I keep giving you chances,” she points out, arching an eyebrow. Fuck, no one else can make me smile this way.
“Okay, you decide about Ersilia, and I appreciate being given another chance. What else am I doing wrong?”
“I do not want to sleep beside a stranger. We spent our first full day of marriage apart. You did not even wake me up to have breakfast with you.”
“You were sound asleep.” She gives methatlook, the one I want to chase away with kisses. “We will have breakfast together whenever business allows. Okay?”
“That is better. I know that Capo is a big responsibility, but I expect you to come home for dinner when you can. The children need to see their father and not just when they wake in the middle of the night.”
“I would’ve been here, but Dante was having a difficult time.”
