Bound By Blood Anthology

Aria nodded. “It takes time to heal, body and mind. It was the same for me. Pregnancy and giving birth are hard work for the body.”

“I don’t know why you want to do this a third time. It blows my mind really. Maybe you should change your mind.”

Aria bit her lip and my eyes widened. “Don’t tell me Luca knocked you up already?”

“It’s still early, that’s why we didn’t say anything yet.”

I shook my head, then hugged her. “I’m so happy for you.” And relieved. I was so damn relieved that Luca and Aria would get a third baby, that they would get the chance to use the nursery they’d prepared for my daughter.

“Go on a date with Matteo tonight,” she urged. “Luca and I can take Isa with us to the Hamptons, and you join us there after you’ve had some time together.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “How do I know if my body’s healed?”

Aria laughed. “Well, you have to test it out, and see if it works. Some things might still be uncomfortable. It takes time.”

“What takes time?” Luca asked as he walked in.

“The healing of a vagina after birth,” I said. It was still my favorite pastime to annoy him with my directness.

Luca grimaced. “You and Matteo are the bane of my existence, and I have a feeling your daughter will be just the same.”

“Speaking of Isa,” Aria said, “I told Gianna we’d watch her tonight so she and Matteo can have their first date after Isa’s birth.”

Luca looked at me. “Under one condition.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Do me a favor and give Matteo a fucking blow job or fuck him if your vagina allows it. The horny bastard’s driving me up the wall and I will put him down like a rabid dog soon.”

I snorted. “Anything for you, Luca. Anything.”

Aria’s shoulders shook as she laughed. I kissed Isa’s soft forehead then handed her to Aria who took her with a gentle smile and rose to her feet to walk over to Luca. “Can you believe that we’ll have a small human in seven months.”

Luca kissed her temple. “Our two small humans are currently tearing my sanity to shreds.”

Aria shook her head. “They aren’t that bad.”

“They are,” I said. Amo was seven and a bigmouthed daredevil and Marcella was ten and currently fawning over some boy band and intolerable because of it. She was trying to talk Luca into arranging a meeting with said boy band but he refused. Of course, he did. That girl was so freaking gorgeous, it was a miracle he hadn’t locked her up in a tower somewhere to protect her from male attention.

With a wave, I walked away. In the doorway, I risked another glance back. My daughter was still happily sleeping in Aria’s hold. Isa loved Aria and my sister took the best care of her, still I felt a tiny twinge thinking about leaving my daughter for several hours. It would be the first time she’d be away from me for more than two hours.

Luca had his arm wrapped around my sister, looking down at her as if she were the center of his world. Those two… their love made absolutely no sense, but it was unbreakable. And tonight, Matteo and I would spend some time together to make sure our love had time to bloom.

I turned and walked out of the house and toward my car. Before I drove off, I sent Matteo a quick text, telling him that we’d go on a date tonight and that he should be home by six.

I felt nervous when I arrived at our penthouse and considered what to wear for our date. I hadn’t dressed up in months, and I really wanted Matteo to be blown away. Considering his horniness, naked probably would have worked best.

After trying on half of my wardrobe and discovering that most of my skinny fit jeans and leather pants didn’t fit, I had a brief crisis. Luckily, I found an outfit that even though it was on the tight side, looked fabulous.

Matteo took me to our favorite steakhouse. His eyes kept checking me out, sending a pleasant shiver down my back. After I’d taken extra time to look sexy tonight, I was relieved that it seemed to have the desired effect. I felt newly born dressed up in a sexy leather skirt with a daring slit and a silver silk blouse giving a prime view at my still much larger breasts.

“You’re killing me with this outfit,” he whispered in my ear as the waiter led us to our usual table. “I’ll have to wank off at least twice to get you out of my system.”

I kissed him, then whispered. “Who says you’ll have to wank off?”

Matteo pulled back, eyes darkening with lust. “Are you ready?”

I thought I’d hidden my hesitance well, but Matteo must have picked up on it. He was too perceptive to trick him.