Forgivable Sins (Bellandi Crime Syndicate 2)

The question erupted from my mouth before I could think better of it. "With me?"

"Of course with you, Little Dove," he laughed. "You're my wife. You'll be the mother of my children too." His look told me he thought I was ridiculous, but I still stuttered over my words. It didn't seem possible that he would want something like that with me at all.

Let alone so soon.

"Like now?"

"Very soon," he agreed on a murmur, touching his lips to mine delicately.

"How many is a houseful?" I asked, swallowing loudly. We had a huge home, surely, he couldn't mean—

"At least four, maybe six," he shrugged. "We have the room."

I gasped, shoving off the door to storm away from him and into the kitchen where I grabbed a bottle of water and took a swig. "Are you insane? Six kids?"

"Well how many do you want?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest with an infuriating smirk on his handsome face.

"Two?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Four."

"Lino!" I laughed, giving him wide eyes. The man was infuriating, impossible. There was no way I would survive four little Lino's running around, even if my heart clenched at the thought of little boys that looked like him. They'd drive me crazy. "That's too many. I can't be a mom of four. Before today I wasn't even positive I wanted to be a mom of one."

His laughter bounced around the kitchen, and he stepped over to wrap me up in his arms. "Look at our family, Little Dove. Look at how they worship Luna. I promise you; we will not be alone. Fuck, Emilio can drive you and the kids to Matteo's house every day. We both know Ivory would love it and Don would lose his damn mind with happiness. He adores you; he loves me. He's going to worship our kids the same way he does Luna. Our babies will have my family, they'll have Yavin and your mom. They'll be loved, Samara. We have enough love to give."

I tucked myself against his chest, the words echoing in my head with a sudden clarity that made my heart hurt. "Okay, but on one condition."

"Anything for you, Little Dove."

"I want to adopt, at least one." He stared down at me, his body stilling and his jaw clenching. "I was lucky. I had mom after dad took off. You weren't so lucky," I stuttered. "I want to take in a little boy or a little girl who needs us. If we have all this love to give, then I want to give it to a child that's never known love."

He smiled finally, touching his forehead to mine. "Like you did with me, when you were too young to even know what you did." I sighed in relief, feeling that it wasn't anger that made his body tense. "Just when I think your heart can't get any bigger, you go and shock me."

"Is that a yes?" I whispered.

"Yeah, Little Dove. That's a yes. Anything for you," he echoed his earlier words, and I smiled up at him, feeling whole and happy.

I never wanted the feeling to end.

Thirty-Eight

Samara

Jasper's behavior felt off. There was something in the way the man came in late every morning, when I knew he wasn't spending his time out clubbing. That wasn't him, and the fact that he couldn't go anywhere without cameras following him made him even more private with his life.

Women had let him down, used him for his money. The few who seemed genuinely interested in him hadn't been able to handle the stresses of his life. There was no chance he'd be out trolling for women, not given his distrust of them in general.

He reminded me of me in a lot of ways. Women only hurt you, men only hurt you. So why bother?

Looking back at the mindset now, given the happiness I'd found with Lino, I felt the need to try to convince Jasper that not all women would hurt him. That there would one day be one who would love him for him and see that he was worth all the trials and tribulations that went along with dating a man in the spotlight. But there was no point, I knew. He wouldn't hear it, not until he was ready to hear it.

And he wasn't.

I sat at my desk, staring at Jasper's door in thought and wondering how I could help someone who didn't want my help. I didn't truthfully know anyone I could set him up with. Sadie was dating someone she knew from the gym, and it made me sad to acknowledge that I had no other single friends to speak of. With Ivory and Chiara both married, that exhausted the new family I'd started forming.

When the door opened, I turned to it with a polite smile, though there was a bit of dread mixed in with it. Jasper had no standing appointments for the rest of the day, and it felt like the only ones who popped in were the ones I really didn't feel like dealing with. My eyes landed on the middle-aged woman from the club, the employee who had been catty, but surprised by Lino's marriage. With a sigh, I stood behind my desk as she approached with an overly bright smile. "Ms. Romano. Can I help you with something?"

"Samara," she said, seeming to pointedly choose to ignore my last name, like she couldn't quite stomach the thought of calling me a Bellandi. I wondered briefly if Emilio had seen her, if Lino already knew about her impromptu visit.