Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
I loved this man long before I’d said it aloud, swept off my feet and lost in his arms the moment we met. But now, our love had deepened into something I could hardly describe. I didn’t feel broken after my relationship with Enzo died, not when Constantine healed me before I could shatter on the floor. It felt like God had given him to me as payment for what I’d suffered, for not having a father, for losing my mother so young, for giving my heart to someone who wasn’t man enough to take care of it.
And now, he’d given me the life that grew inside me.
I was scared to be a mother, wasn’t ready for such a big responsibility. But all of a sudden, it didn’t feel scary anymore. Now it felt like we’d wanted this all along, that we’d been trying to make this blessing since we met.
Now I felt confident to take this on.
I felt brave . . . because Constantine made me feel brave.
Chapter 10
Aurelia
I woke up to the obnoxious sound of my alarm the next morning.
I rolled over in bed and jabbed my finger down on the screen to make it stop.
It woke up Constantine too, and he turned over toward me, his chest against my back. “Don’t even think about it, sweetheart.” His dick was hard like every morning, and it was pressed hard against me, warm to the touch but solid like a steel pole.
We had been up late last night, making love and fucking and then making love again. I’d never been this sore in my life, but I didn’t dare complain. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t.” He tugged me into his body, his arm pulling me by the chest instead of my hips or stomach. “You aren’t working anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because your full-time job is growing my son or daughter.”
“You know I can do both—”
“But you don’t need to do both.”
“If you really want to open our own restaurant, I need the experience.”
“I’ll teach you.”
“Your mom was nice enough to give me this job, and I’m not going to let her down.”
“You’re giving her another grandchild. Trust me, she doesn’t give a damn about the restaurant.”
I released a quiet sigh. “Constantine.” I felt like a mother who admonished her son with just his name.
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to my shoulder, seeming to understand he’d reached the limits of my patience. “All right, we’ll talk about it later.” He kissed my shoulder again.
I pulled the sheets back and got out of bed.
Of course, his palm gave my ass a playful smack before I walked away. Then his eyes followed me the whole way, watching me cross the room to the bathroom until I shut the door.
He drove me down the mountainside to the village, pulling aside when enormous tour buses needed to get by, understanding the narrow roads carved into the mountainside.
Driving on the streets of Rome was chaos, but this was a whole other level. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel comfortable driving around here.
“We should tell my mom before this weekend.”
“Why this weekend?” I asked, looking out the window at the sea in the morning light.
“We’re going to a wedding.”
“We are?” I asked in surprise.
“Yeah, my third cousin Cassandra is getting married.”
“Well, this is news to me.”
He drove with one hand on the wheel, slowing down when he came around a sharp curve, and continued down the mountain. “I declined her invitation because we were in Rome at the time, but when she realized I’d moved back to town, she extended the invitation again. And everyone is going to notice you aren’t drinking, so we should tell my mom first.”
The guilt washed over me when I realized what I’d done. I’d taken this moment away from him, the moment when he’d get to tell his mother about his first child. When I’d confided in her, I didn’t really think about the big picture. “I’m so sorry, Constantine . . .”
He took his eyes off the road just for a second to look at me, eyebrows raised. Then his focus was back on the road as we came to the outskirts of the village.
“I kinda already told her.”
“You did?” The road leveled out, and he took a couple streets to get to the entrance of the village. “When?”
“The other day.”
He came to a stop on the side of the road. There weren’t many cars or pedestrians yet, not this early in the morning when most of the shops weren’t open yet.
“I was having a hard day. I was scared how you would react when I told you. The stress was getting to me, and she walked in and knew I was upset. It was one of those moments when I wanted to talk to my mom . . . but I talked to yours instead.” I looked down at my lap and felt his stare on the side of my face.