Chapter Two #3
Renzo stared, his stomach clawing with sudden sensual hunger.
For all that tabloid media drew a larger-than-life caricature of his romantic exploits, he hadn’t rebuilt his family’s finances from near debt by playing fast and loose with his time.
When he did manage to have sex in the middle of his busy schedule, it was with some nameless stranger who wanted to scratch the itch temporarily like him. Nothing more.
But this hunger was different, and he wanted to give in to it, just to know it better. He wanted to taste that laugh of hers and swallow it for his own.
“Well, if I had known it was your precious, billion-dollar sperm, I’d have made sure my eggs rejected it,” she said, sighing.
He smiled.
Her gaze stuck to his mouth, another soft gasp huffing out between her lips.
Cristo, he was thirty-five years old. How had he not known the simple, soul-searing pleasure of being the object of this woman’s desire until now?
Of course, he was a tall, good-looking Italian billionaire in his prime.
Women did go gaga over him, but this was different.
This woman’s gaze was different.
It had everything to do with who he was with her rather than what he was in the outside world. Thrilling and addictive couldn’t begin to describe it. Especially for a man who’d learned the hard way that his last name was mostly a curse and only a minimal blessing at times.
“I want the best for this baby. Can I assume you do too?”
The thin thread of reluctant trust in her question made the desire clouding his head dissipate. He nodded.
“Can we also agree that being at each other’s throats in a marriage that neither of us wants would not be the best for the baby?”
“Do you plan to be at my throat day in, day out, bella?”
“In six years, we could hardly bear to be in the same room for more than five minutes, Renzo.”
“And how much of that was because of our drama-prone siblings? Do you actually remember us arguing about anything that wasn’t related to them?”
Grief shone in her eyes, as sudden and painful as it had struck him earlier. “I don’t want to blame them for everything that went wrong. That seems like an awful thing to do.”
“And yet the reality is that we’re both facing the consequences, life-altering ones at that, of choices they made, and have been conversing about it like mature adults.”
“So you don’t hate me then?”
“Hate is too strong a word for what I feel,” he said, choosing his phrasing carefully.
“Let’s agree, then, that we both, for some unfathomable reason, provoke the worst in each other?”
“Is it that unfathomable, though?”
The stubborn minx nodded without meeting his eyes.
“You’re right that I would hate to be the center of a media spectacle.
Neither can I be locked in a marriage just to get the media off my back.
Not even for this baby.” She tapped his wrist with her fingers and then retreated, as if that was all the contact she could allow herself.
“Any woman would jump at the offer of luxury and protection that I’m offering,” he said, knowing it would only provoke her temper.
Instead, she looked almost…sad. “Maybe. But I don’t like to put myself in situations where I’m rendered vulnerable.”
“You have a low opinion of me. What is it that you think I will do to you?” He thrust a hand through his hair, unsettled by her distrust in him. It was an alien feeling for him to have to prove himself.
“It’s not that I distrust you, Renzo. It’s that I have no reason to trust you. You’re a powerful man who’s used to getting what he wants, a man who changes partners every month. A man who will go to any lengths to do the right thing by your family, no?”
“Why is that a negative point?”
She smiled. “What if, when things go south in this supposed marriage of ours—as they inevitably will—you take this child from me? What if you push me out of its life because I didn’t bend to your will?”
Anger pierced him in a sudden spike. “I have never abused my power or privilege like that in my life. I’m not my…
” He swallowed the words as her eyes shone with curiosity.
“We will sign an agreement that custody will be shared equally in case of separation.” He studied how her quiet resolve made the amber flecks in her eyes shimmer, how even when she was tired, her skin gleamed, silky smooth.
“You clearly have something in mind to make it more palatable, sì? Spit it out.”
“This marriage can happen only if you agree to a quiet divorce in, say…a year. Hopefully, the interest over Pia and Santo will die down, and the child will be legally a DiCarlo without doubt. I’ll even agree to live in Italy if you still want an active role in its life.”
“You think I will not?”
“A lot of things change in a year, Renzo. This way, if you wanted to back out of the marriage, there’s no hassle.
I’ll sign a prenuptial asking for nothing at the end of the year.
Except, of course, whatever you wish to contribute to the child’s life.
I understand you well enough to know that you’ll help me financially. ”
Irate as her distrust in him made him, Renzo couldn’t fault her for being thorough and protective of their child and its future. “How magnanimous of you, Mimi,” he said, letting her name roll and writhe on his lips. “Letting me be your husband for a whole year.”
“See there!” A throw pillow came at him and hit him smack in his face. “Two minutes into this discussion and you’re already mocking me.”
Renzo picked the pillow off his lap and made a show of fluffing it while his mind whirred.
It seemed his almost-fiancée and he had way more in common than he had assumed.
She needed to feel in control of her life as much as he needed to feel in control of his own.
While he had accepted this about himself long ago, he understood why he had felt an instant affinity toward her and was angry life had made her feel that way too. “How old are you?” he blurted out.
“Twenty-six.”
Damn it, she was young to be a single mother. To face the damned media and the world on her own. To face him all by herself. And yet, so far, she had acted with more maturity than even Santo had ever shown.
“So…” Another tap of her fingers at his wrist. “Do you agree?”
Feeling like a child thwarted by his favorite toy, Renzo turned his hand and trapped her fingers beneath his. “Since we’re discussing terms and you mentioned divorce, should I hope that sex will be involved in this year-long agreement?”
Her pulse skittered as he moved his hold to her wrist. Her fingers were slender. The nails were painted a pretty pink, though it was chipped on two fingers.
When he glanced up, it was to find her looking like a deer caught in the big bad wolf’s headlights.
The tip of her tongue snuck out to lick her lower lip, and his gut tightened.
“I didn’t…think about that,” she said, each word coming slower than the one before.
“The last thing I expected today was a marriage proposal from you.”
“And yet the proposal itself has nothing to do with thinking about having sex with me, sì? After all, like you mentioned, we have known each other for six years.”
Her breath roughened, and it was like sweet music to his ears. Hot color rushed to her cheeks. “You’re…playing with me.” Then her eyes did that widening thing that turned them into shiny pools that could reflect entire universes.
Another gasp escaped her. “You know that I’m attracted to you, don’t you?”
Something about the utter mortification settling into the planes of her face both angered and softened him.
Dio mio, they were barely engaged, and already she was turning him upside down.
“It’s not that much of a leap, Mimi. Most women I meet are attracted to me.
It is what it is,” he said with an aggrieved air.
Another pillow, another thwack to his face.
“You’re the most arrogant man I’ve ever met,” she said, half joking, half serious.
He returned the pillow to her side with what he considered to be utterly gentlemanly behavior.
“Is it arrogant if I want all the facts stated and acknowledged, bella? You’ve clearly decided that I’m the villain you have to protect yourself from.
Then I would have this out in the open too.
Do you want me to be a loyal husband? Because it might be hard for a powerful, virile man like me to go without sex for a whole year. ”
“You’re making it crass on purpose.”
“I’m wondering if I’m allowed to seduce my very beautiful wife during the year or if that’s breaking the rules she’s setting for us.”
Her throat moved in a hard swallow. With her eyes wide and her breath coming in short pants, she looked very young, very vulnerable. “You aren’t joking.”
He liked how, disbelieving as she appeared, she made it a statement. “It seems our siblings have played one last joke on us, sì?”
“My blasted attraction to you has nothing to do with them.”
“And yet, you or I would have never even acknowledged it to ourselves, no?”
“I did. Long ago. But it didn’t mean I would act on it.” She grinned at him, and he liked that he had finally defused the tension that had been swamping her at the idea of marriage. “But I probably have better control over my decisions than you.”
“I’m counting all your allegations against me, bella. One day, I will take sweet revenge.”
And before he did something that showed his hand too much, he pushed back to his feet.
“I guess we’ll see who caves in first.” Soft light from the lamps kissed the strong planes of her face.
“One thing I’ll promise you is that I’d never hold your lust for me against you.
Just a hint, though. A little begging should convince me to give in easily enough. ”
“When hell freezes over, DiCarlo,” she shouted at his back.
Renzo threw her a grin over his shoulder and pulled out his cell phone.
It took him a half hour to make all the required phone calls. Food, security, and a doctor on call twenty-four seven, not far from the Victorian home. He hated the idea of leaving her in such advanced state, but he had no choice.
There was a lot he had to arrange and rearrange, to prepare for the baby’s arrival, to prepare for his wedding. For their wedding. It had to be soon, before the news of her pregnancy broke.
“I’ll be back in a week at the most. A new cell phone will be delivered within the hour along with food and…”
The silence behind him made his neck prickle.
When he turned, it was to discover that she’d fallen fast asleep. Her neck arched up, her palms on her belly, her legs crossed beneath her, she looked…intensely vulnerable.
His feet moved as if he were flying, and in two blinks, he was standing by her. Leaning over her. Feeling a desperate yearning for something he didn’t understand.
He gently pushed at a stray tendril that fell over her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. But that was all he could allow himself.
This tenderness…it was because she was so young, so uncorrupted by the world, he told himself. And like any decent man would, he felt protective about her because she was carrying his child.
Nothing more.
Then, with one last look at her sleeping form, he closed the door behind him and made his way to his car.