The Marriage He Must Keep(61)

Her mouth trembled and she wanted to duck her head, but made herself hold his gaze and allow him to see all the hesitations and insecurity and joy and gratitude and love revolving inside her like the colors in a kaleidoscope. Loving wasn’t easy. It was scary and big and cost a piece of the soul. Maybe if she’d really known how powerful and potentially painful it could be, she would have fought it the way he had.

But this, when the man she loved looked back at her with the same open, vulnerable, proud and loving gaze that filled every last shadow of her being with light and warmth...it was worth it.

“I’m sorry I said I’d leave you. I didn’t mean it,” she said.

“Did you see the Neanderthal who came after you? I won’t let you,” he said with a rueful twitch at the corner of his mouth.

She smiled shakily and clasped her fingers around his wrists. “I think there’s something wrong with me because I kind of liked you going caveman like that. I needed to know you would.”

“Don’t encourage me. I’m never proud of losing control, even if it served a higher purpose.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to take the makeup sex onto the balcony so they can hear us?” she asked with mock innocence, shuffling closer and lifting her lips in offering to his.

“Cara, we’re barely going to make it to the bed.”





EPILOGUE

“I’VE BEEN ALL over the house looking for you,” Sandro said.

His sexy voice dragged her mind from what she held in her hand and sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine.

“I wasn’t hiding,” she protested with a smile, turning to meet him halfway across the nursery without dropping what she held. They embraced and kissed. It was a nice surprise to have him search her out. She didn’t hesitate to interrupt him in his office if she needed him during the day, but he was usually there for most of it, running into the city once or twice a week. “What did you need?”

“Nothing. Just I saw Lorenzo outside with Bree, showing off his steps to Nonno. I decided to take a break and visit with them, but I wasn’t out there very long when it occurred to me, if they were all busy out there...” His hands shifted from warm greeting to something more suggestive, straying very low on her back. “We might get busy in here.”

She gave a soft, throaty laugh, leaning her hips into his as she angled back to give him a knowing look. “I’m already busy. I’m going through Lorenzo’s clothes, pulling what he’s grown out of.”

“Bree can do that, can’t she?”

Three guesses what he’d rather she did with her time right now.

“I wanted to do it.” But it could wait. Sorting the piles of tiny pants and shirts made her realize how quickly their son was growing. It was exciting to see him change and develop, but made her wistful for the baby he’d been. “Look what I found.”

She showed him the tag she held. It read Kelly—Boy but had Lorenzo’s weight and time and date of birth. Remembering that difficult time made her heart pang, but she softened, too. If that hadn’t happened, would Primo still be here, between them? Would they be like this, completely open to each other? She didn’t think so.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said soberly. A shadow crossed his expression, but a warm light dispelled it as he met her eyes. “Fond as I am of Enrique, I’m glad I didn’t lose my son. Or you. I love you very much, you know.”

“I do.” She offered a tremulous smile, lifting her free hand to the side of his face. The depth and breadth of his love amazed her daily. And despite being passionate people, they seldom argued. If they happened to disagree, they were both so shocked at not being in complete accord, they each took a step back, wanting to understand the other’s view immediately. Things always seemed to work out quickly from there. If that meant a lack of makeup sex, well, they had enough of every other kind they didn’t miss it.

“I didn’t know I could have this much love in my life,” she told him. “I didn’t know I could feel this much for you and Lorenzo. It makes me feel greedy for thinking...”

He lifted his brows in inquiry.

The clothes she had pulled weren’t going to the charity bin. They were going into storage. She and Sandro had vaguely talked a while ago of his working out of the London office when she got pregnant again, so he could stay with her while the clinic monitored her, but that had been as far as they’d gone with their plans. Today, however, realizing how her son was leaving babyhood and becoming a toddler, she was feeling ready to expand their little family.