That surprised her. First that he wanted to be there. Dimitri wasn’t exactly a New Man. And second that he would leave the choice to her. “I want you there.”
“Then I will be. I believe there are classes we can take to help you through the delivery.”
She stared at him, too shocked to speak this time.
“What is the matter? Do you not wish to take these classes? I had heard they were very beneficial for new mothers. I think you should consider attending them.”
“I had always planned to do so,” she choked out.
“You do not wish me to attend with you? Someone must be your coach. As your husband, I should fulfill the role.” He was arguing with her like she’d denied him.
She hadn’t. Didn’t he realize how much she had wanted to share her pregnancy with the father of her baby? She’d dreamed of taking childbirth classes with Dimitri, but had known her fantasies were unattainable. Cold reality had been a life without him and the prospect of giving birth alone.
“I want you to be my labor coach. I want that more than anything.” Then she burst into tears.
Dimitri looked like he’d just been hit by a truck. It would be funny, if she wasn’t feeling so emotional.
“Alexandra, yineka mou, what is it?”
She shook her head and tried to stem the flow of tears, but the salty wetness kept up a steady flow down her cheeks.#p#分页标题#e#
“You must not upset yourself this way.”
“I’m n-not upset,” she sobbed.
“Come here.” He took her glass from her hand and set it down, then pulled her into his arms and onto his lap. Just like in the limo. “Tell me what is making you cry.” He sounded quite desperate.
“I wanted you to be there so many times. I would wake up and reach for you and only find an empty bed. The first time the baby really kicked, I wanted to call you, but I thought you were married. I m-missed you so much…”
His arms tightened around her and he whispered to her in Greek. The words were too low and quick for her to understand, but the soothing tone was not. She snuggled into his arms and cried out the frustration and pain of the last three months.
Her sobs eventually turned to small hiccups and he mopped up her face as if she were a child. She gave him a watery smile. “You’ll be good with the baby.”
He didn’t respond to the joke. His eyes had darkened with unfathomable emotion. “You will never be without me again.”
As vows went, that was a pretty comforting one. She nodded, accepting his words and the promise in his eyes.
CHAPTER TEN
HER tears were killing him. And she’d cried like this for a solid month after leaving Paris? The thought sent shards of pain slicing through him.
This was his woman. His wife. He had almost lost her. He would never let her go again. She had wanted him and he hadn’t been there. He didn’t want her to cry anymore. He wanted to look toward the future, for her to see things were going to be different.
He knew the truth now, who and what she was beyond the fashion model with an almost obsessive focus on her career. He understood that focus now. She’d been supporting her family, her mother now, but presumably Madeleine also until she had married Hunter. Alexandra hadn’t been able to give up her career to travel with him because she had needed the money and she’d not wanted to take it from him.
His arms tightened around her of their own accord. She filled his arms so perfectly, their baby nestled between their bodies. Her tears were lessening, but had not stopped. He knew of only one way to completely overcome her outburst of emotion.
It was with the one thing he had not managed to kill between them with his actions three months ago. Passion.
Possessive pleasure coursed through him as he turned her face upward until he could cover her tear-drenched lips with his own. She belonged to him now, both legally and with the emotional ties of carrying his child. He did not have to seduce her into accepting his kisses. She tasted so sweet and her response was even sweeter. Her mouth opened under his on a small gasp and he deepened the kiss with one thought in mind.
He wanted to obliterate her sadness and replace it with pleasure in his arms.
He plundered her mouth, his own desire soon surging through him in unstoppable waves. She responded with all the generous eroticism that was in her nature, her hands coming up to cling to his shoulders, her mouth moving under his with enticing need. He wanted her under him, surrounding his sex, yielding her softness to the hardness that made him a man.
He needed to touch her. His hands were working their way under the hem of her sweater when a sound from the anterior of the cabin reminded him where they were. On his plane. Readying for takeoff. The flight attendant would be requesting them to buckle-up any moment now. The woman had probably already gotten an eyeful. He forced himself to pull back and gently set Alexandra from him.