Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon(61)

Oh, she’d thought about glamming up and going out. Penny was up for it the moment she said so, though Seb would probably be clamped to her side. Maybe she would even find someone to ease the constant ache in her chest. Someone to lift her hair up and run his fingers through it. Someone to hold her and kiss her, and make things seem a little less bleak. Trouble was, she could picture no one doing that but Andros. The thought of another man doing the things that he had done to her made Lyra feel a little queasy. She wanted one man and one man only, and even after all the long months, that had not changed.

It had only intensified.

“I’ll get better in my own time,” she said softly. “Leave it be.”

“Andros,” Rachel began, but Lyra cut her off with a furious shake of her head.

“Don’t. You know that is completely forbidden territory. We’re talking so out of bounds it is not even funny”

“But we’re worried about you.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it’s true.”

Rachel sighed. “Lyra…ohhhhh…”

Her gasp made Lyra pause, and she leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”

Rachel shook her head, her face scrunched. “I don’t know. My back’s been hurting all day but that was… Ouch. It hurts. It felt like…ohhhhh, there it is again.”

Lyra leapt up, panic hitting, making all thoughts of Andros settle back into their usual place, lodged in her heart. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“What?”

“You’re totally going into labor,” she gasped, all the books she’d read in preparation for this tumbling through her mind. “Where the fuck is Pen?”

“I’m not due for another week,” Rachel gasped. “It’s too soon.”

“The baby clearly has other plans.” She pulled a twenty from her jean pocket and dropped it on the table, mentally calculating their bill as she did so. “Where’s your driver? Ryan?”

Rachel shook her head. “He’s parked across the way. You need to call him on my cell.”

“Didn’t Dom tell you not to keep fobbing Ryan off? He’s your bodyguard as well as your driver,” Lyra said. “Christ, Rach, you need to be more careful. Keep him close.”#p#分页标题#e#

“I need Dominic,” Rachel moaned.

Heart racing, Lyra scrolled through Rachel’s contacts until she found Ryan’s number. A few moments later and he was en route. She hooked an arm under her sister’s and lifted her up. Rachel swayed on her feet, little beads of sweat dotting her forehead.

“It hurts,” she whispered.

“The possibility of shitting yourself not such an issue now, huh?” Lyra teased. “Come on.”

She led Rachel out onto the street as she called through to Dominic. He sounded as panicked as his wife.

“Meet us at the hospital,” Lyra said. “We’ll be there soon. Ryan is on his way.”

Dominic shouted something down the phone, but Lyra cut him off, focusing instead on her sister. She was so tiny, so delicate, even with the generous bump.

“You’ll be a mommy soon,” Lyra whispered.

“A good one,” Rachel whispered back.

“Without a doubt.”

“But…ahhhh…that fucking hurts!”

Her cry made people walking past stop and stare. Some gave them a wide berth, but a couple offered them help. Lyra thanked them but sent them on their way. She totally had this. She would make sure Rachel was safe and well, just like she always had. Just like she always would. They were all she had now, Lyra thought. Penny and Sebastian. Rachel and Dominic. And now the baby. The baby she would love and care for with all the spare love that had nowhere else to go.

Her family.

The only people she had ever been able to count on.

“Lyra?”

Lyra froze. Oh God no. It was the voice from her dreams. The voice, that just like he had promised, woke her first thing, and held her tight as she fell asleep. Andros. She paused, her heart itself seeming to miss a beat, and turned almost if in slow motion.

“I knew,” he whispered. “The moment I saw the hair.”

Lyra’s entire body exploded, every cell, every muscle, everything that knew him, seeming to come to life. Adrenaline zinged through her veins as she looked into the eyes of the man she loved. The man she ached for every single fucking day.

“Andros,” she said stupidly. “It’s you.”

“Who else?” he asked.

It was like everything else had dropped away. There was him, there was her, and there was the bubble. Like the clock had turned back all the months. She looked into his eyes, he into hers, and the familiar lust pulsed between them, but it was more than that now, so much more. Lust. Desire. Anguish. Love. Too many emotions, too caught up in one another. How she missed him.