Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
She lets out an audible breath. “Thank you.”
But I am going to make him pay for what he did to my girl.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Anya
Saverio spoons me from behind in his bed with one hand resting on my belly and his forearm serving as a cushion for my head. We’re both breathing hard, each of us coming down from an intense climax. What was supposed to be an afternoon nap turned into a marathon sex session. He’s still hard inside me, but I don’t have the energy to go for round four.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asks, kissing my shoulder.
“Wait until I’m nine months and I can’t see my toes any longer.”
He brushes his lips over the arch of my neck. “You’ll be even more beautiful then.”
“My stomach will get in the way when we have sex. We’ll be forced to do it like this all the time.”
“I’ll want you even more,” he says in a husky voice. “Trust me, treasure, I’ll be inside you at every chance I get.”
That makes me smile.
I glance at my phone on the nightstand to check the hour. It’s four o’clock, time to get ready. Instead, I close my eyes and enjoy the warmth of Saverio’s body and the comfortable cocoon of his arms. I know why he’s been extra attentive today. In less than two hours, we’re having our engagement party at After Dark. The whole family will be there to witness him put a ring on my finger.
“Come on,” he says with a hint of regret in his tone before kissing my temple. “We can’t be late.”
I pinch my eyes closed harder until I see red dots behind my eyelids, preparing myself for the inevitable, but when he pulls out, I still feel empty. I still don’t want to go to the party. I always thought when I got engaged it would be private and intimate, not a business transaction we announce to a group of people who either hate me or want me dead.
The bed dips, and then Saverio’s weight is gone.
“Are you sure about Livy and Tersia?” he asks.
“Yes.” I turn on my back to face him where he stands naked next to the bed, his muscles hard and unyielding while I’m getting bigger and softer.
It’s so unfair—not only his physical perfection but also this party and the whole damn situation.
He looks down at me with a wary light in those otherworldly, luminescent eyes. “You can do with a friend or two tonight.”
I stretch and fold my arms above my head. “It’s safer if they don’t get involved in that part of my life.”
He studies me for a moment before saying, “Livy knows.”
“Livy is both worldly and naïve. I prefer to let her stay naïve.”
“She’s not as naïve as you think.”
“She hasn’t mentioned anything.”
“She’s too clever.”
“She thinks you’re an accomplished businessman.”
He grins. “I am.”
I make a face. “You know what I mean.”
“You can give Tersia more credit too. Richard isn’t stupid. If she didn’t catch on, he would’ve enlightened her by now.”
“You can’t be so sure. You keep a low profile.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I did a search on you after that first day.”
He raises a brow. “Of course you did.”
“I found a lot about Luigi and Giorgio, but not so much about you.”
His smile is stilted. “I’ll run us a shower. Join me when you’re ready?”
Not waiting for my answer, he turns for the bathroom.
Despite the happy hormones coursing through my body thanks to the multiple orgasms Saverio gave me, an all too familiar bruise spreads through my chest.
He offered me a choice, and I could wait for him to finish his shower before having mine if I wanted to be spiteful, but I don’t want to be so petty. Besides, he’s right. I can do with a little moral support. So I get up and walk to the bathroom.
Steam billows from behind the shower cubicle. When I open the door, Saverio smiles. He takes my hand and draws me in before closing the door, reversing our positions so that I’m under the warm spray of the water. He hugs me close under the cascade that runs down my back and kisses my lips that are still swollen from his stubble and his teeth. The embrace is gentle, and the kiss is tender. Both are meant to prepare me with a measure of comfort for what lies ahead.
He pulls away to look at me, regret sparking in his eyes. Taking my hair in a ponytail at my nape, he pulls down to tilt my face up until I’m forced to hold his gaze.
An apology carries on his words. “I’ll make it good, tesoro.”
My smile is tremulous. “I know.”
We reached a kind of a ceasefire where we both accepted our fates. He’s marrying me for protection to ultimately benefit himself, and I’m becoming his wife because his house is the safest place to raise my child. We’re using each other, but when I wrap my arms around his neck, I know deep in my heart there’s so much more to my reasons for not running. I can’t walk away from him even if I wanted to. I care too much. I want too much. But even though he didn’t say it in so many words, Saverio made it clear he’d never trust or love a woman again, so I bottle up those feelings before they grow into something deeper.