“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.” The words rumble out of him from below my ear. “I told you already to stop thinking. You’re shitty at it. You don’t get to do it anymore. From now on, you’re going to take every day as it comes and let me handle the rest.”
I push up to look down at him. “You are such an asshole. How the hell can you say that as if it’s something a person can do? I’m just supposed to forget the four years of hell I went through like it was nothing? I’m not you. I wish I was as strong as you are, but I’m not.” There is no thought as I run a hand over his chest, the hair over his chest is soft. I can’t imagine how long it took for him to become this strong.
“You can and you will. I told you, you’re not going anywhere. I’m taking care of you from now on. We try for a baby for the next six months like normal. Then if it doesn’t happen, we’ll move onto other things. I don’t think we’ll need it, though. Both times I got my wife pregnant after a single weekend.”
My eyes go wide. I could believe after everything he’s said about the relationship he had with his wife, he would know when his children were conceived. “You were a kid when you had your kids, though. Things could be different now. A woman’s fertility changes drastically from one year to the next.”
He does that exhale laugh thing. “Not for a man. And considering how much I want to be inside you every minute of every fucking day. It won’t be something limited to a weekend.”
I blush as I feel him grow harder inside me. Tony really does want me. It blows my mind. Leaning down I trace the tattoo of the motto with my tongue and love the way he groans. The question won’t leave me though. “You didn’t like your wife, did you? Why were you limited to a weekend?”
Closing his eyes, he sighs. When he opens them, I want to take the question back. “Theresa set me up. Her parents were going to marry her off to a capo twenty years her senior, who she was afraid of. I had no idea who she was. She’d spent the last decade at a boarding school in Sicily. She was six years older than I was. I was a dumbass sixteen-year-old with a hard cock who never wore a condom. She knew that and made use of me.”
Holy shit, why couldn’t I have kept my mouth shut?
“As a Sabatini, there was no way I wasn’t going to marry a woman I made pregnant. We were one of the few families who had enough clout to make things good for her parents after they had to break the engagement. Theresa was all about appearances. The appearance of a happy family is two kids and a dog.”
The tension in him has me running my hand over his cheek, wanting to soothe his tight jaw.
“She moved into another bedroom when she was pregnant with Anthony with the explanation, she was doing it for me. Once she got the all clear from having Anthony, she gave it a few weeks then spent the weekend in my room. Then she returned to her room with the excuse she slept better and she was taking care of Anthony.” His eyes darken with the memory.
I wonder how she told him but don’t dare ask the question. It’s clear he doesn’t like speaking about this.
“A month later she tells me that she’s pregnant. The excuses started of avoiding me and staying in her room. She waited until she brought Dominic home to tell me that she was done. She’d given me the two kids. I had an heir and a spare. Her duty to me as my wife was done. I could have any woman I wanted as long as I didn’t bring shame on her.”
“What was wrong with her?” I can’t imagine any woman telling Tony that. Not now, definitely not then.
He studies me. “She was gay.”
“Oh my god.” The words come out in a whisper. “She...how could she do that to you? What a fucking bitch.” I’m angry now. What a cold, manipulative b—
Tony pulls me down to him for a kiss that steals my breath away. Oh god, he moves inside me. “I don’t want to talk about her again. I told you so you know why I don’t want to talk about her. She doesn’t matter. You and me, that’s it. We leave the past in the past, along with your fear. Don’t fight me. Don’t fight us. You don’t want to know how far I’ll go. Don’t test me, Christy.”
I nod and give up and into him.
11
Tony
When the call comes, it’s barely five in the morning. I’m already in a bad mood from being woken up. Christy grumbles as I answer. Joseph tells me why he’s waking me up, and violence surges up inside me.
“I need to get to the office, now. Go back to sleep. Vito is on his way. He’s going to stay with you.” I take a quick shower and come out of the bathroom to find her dressed in those damn leggings she loves that cling to her and make my dick hard. She’s also wearing one of my shirts that swallows her.
“Who is Sara? Why am I staying here? Why are you keeping me away from her?” She demands, as she follows me into the closet.
Fucking hell, she’s jealous and hurt. I’m strapping on my gun as I get the text from Vito that he’s here. I call him as I go down the stairs. “Hey, I need you to stay here with Christy. I’ll drive myself t
o the office.”
“No, I’m coming with you.” Christy is right behind me.
I shake my head. “No, you aren’t.”
“Why don’t you want me with you? Who is Sara?”
Vito walks into the house, he looks from me to Christy. She’s still wary of him and takes a step right into me. Fuck. Fine. “Never mind. Christy is coming.”
Once we’re in the Escalade, I ask him. “How is she?”