Italian Billionaire's Stubborn Lover (The Romano Brothers 1)

Adeline blinked as her body started to tremble. “You’ve come home just as I’m leaving?”

Nicolo took a step closer but did not reach out to touch her. “So, you accepted the position in Spain?”

Adeline nodded, not trusting her voice enough to speak.

“If you will let me follow you,” Nicolo said, gathering the tips of her fingers in his, “I will follow you. I will go to Spain with you, and I will be your full time lover and the full time father of our child.” He took another step forward until there was only the merest threads of light between them. “My home is where you are, Adeline. We can be here, or in Spain, or in America. Wherever you lay your head, that is my home.”

“What about India?” Her voice shook as she asked the question.

“I told them that family matters have determined that I cannot remain in the role of developer-lead on that project.” He smiled, warm and loving. “I quit… But then they rehired me ten minutes later as a consultant with a task load that can be mostly per

formed from here.” He then bobbed his head in the direction of the hotel. “Plus, this keeps me busy.”

Tears fell from Adeline’s eyes.

Kneeling in front of her, Nicolo took her drink from her hand and set it on the ground before taking both her hands in his.

“Adeline Peluso, will you have me as your partner in life for us to face each and every adventure together? Will you let me lay my head on the pillow next to yours for the rest of our lives? Will you let me claim you as my home, my rock, my future, and my wife?”

Adeline was nodding vigorously before she spoke. “Yes… Yes!”

He stood and pulled Adeline into his arms, picking her up and swinging her in a circle. Then, setting her down suddenly with alarmed, worried eyes, he asked, “Are you okay? Are you sick?”

Adeline laughed and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. “No, no, but I do have a craving for pistachio gelato, and I know of the best place…”

“Mmmm, sexy, craving pregnant lady. You gonna send me out for pizza in the middle of the night?”

“Mmhmm, pizza with pickles.”

Nicolo barked with laughter as he held her tight. “Anything for you, t’amu.”

15

Nicolo

“Oh, I’m nervous,” Adeline said as she paced the room and shook her hands as if to flick water off of them. “Are we making the right decision? They’re both so much!”

Nicolo was sitting in front of his computer screen, and on it were two different options to click on. One would purchase an immaculate villa that had a history of making amazing wine. The other was a sprawling mansion that was much bigger than the first, but it would require a lot of tender loving care, hard work, and money to fix up. Nicolo had liked the wine villa, but Adeline had fallen absolutely in love with the mansion that needed some help to reach its best.

“I’m going to do it. I’m going to choose. Do you trust me, bedda?”

Adeline stopped her pacing to face Nicolo. She looked as if she were waiting for the last lotto number of a matching set to be called out.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be the one to make the final decision?” he asked.

“No, no… I’ve wracked my brain for days. You do it!” Adeline bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Her body was still as trim as ever, but now her belly had a very gentle roundness to it that Nicolo could feel when he would lay his hand on top of her bare stomach. Every day she grew more beautiful to him, and every day he fell more deeply in love.

Nicolo looked at the two options before him and let the cursor go back and forth between the two. Then, with a bright smile on his face that crinkled the corners of his eyes, he clicked, choosing the sprawling mansion that needed a lot of fixing up. It was the one that Adeline had loved best, and Nicolo had a surprise for her.

He would have a helipad installed that could take them to the airstrip where his—no, their—jet would remain in wait. It would stay there so that the world would be forever at their fingertips, and adventure would never be far away.

Adeline had given him a home, a real home—with her. It had been the one thing that he’d never been able to give himself. Now, he was going to give something to her. The world. It was now her playground… to go anywhere, to fly anywhere, and to do anything.

It was a small gift indeed compared to what she had given him. Nothing—not even the world—could compare to having a home. She had shown him what life looked like through her eyes, and he liked the view. It had a beautiful woman by his side who loved him for who he was and not for what he could give her, and it had a child with her eyes, her laugh, and her smile. Their child. Their future. He was terrified and exhilarated, but he had no doubts and no regrets despite the fact that she’d brought into his life the one thing that he’d always fought against. She’d given him roots. He’d thought that having roots would make him weaker, make him less flexible, and would stop him from growing, but he’d been wrong. So wrong. They’d made him stronger. They’d made him unstoppable. They’d made him feel more alive than he ever had before… all because he’d been a foolish man for a brilliant woman.

The best mistake of his life.

End of Italian Billionaire’s Stubborn Lover