Chapter Six #2
His offer surprised her and for just a second, she could think outside the worry constantly clouding her thoughts. And he had so many more people to worry about than just her and their son.
The realization snapped her out of the deep abyss she’d been dwelling in for days now.
She had never in her life, not even for a moment, become a burden or the source of worry for anyone. Not her mother, not John and not even Pia. If anything, she had gone out of her way to be self-sufficient, wary of trusting anyone enough to show her doubts or worries.
And yet with Renzo, she had been behaving miserably. As if he were her enemy instead of her partner, while all along, his patience and strength had been constant.
She’d forgotten how hard it was for her to lean on someone. For some reason, Renzo made it extra hard. She wanted to hide away all her vulnerabilities. She wanted to never lose his respect, never let him see the yearning to belong somewhere.
The yearning to belong to him, which had only gotten stronger in the last couple of weeks.
Some of it was her hormones riding her hard, but some of it grew because she’d had a taste of what it would be like to be utterly his. To be the center of his laser-eyed focus, to be able to lean on him, to know him like no one else did.
She nodded, not raising her gaze above his throat. “That’s fair,” she said softly. “I’ll go unpack.”
Which was an inane excuse, because she had nothing to unpack. But she needed to get away from him and his painfully perceptive gaze. Needed to find her balance.
She walked past him toward the hallway he’d gestured to, her bare feet silent on the cool floor. Without noting any details of the bedroom, she went straight to the closet. Of course, it was the size of an entire flat.
She undressed quickly and pulled on a silk robe hanging in the closet.
It dwarfed her, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was a bath and then sleep, so that she could shake off this dark mood and wake up refreshed to see Luca.
Feeling much better already, she strode to the en suite bathroom and stilled.
Stunning as the rest of the penthouse, it was a marble paradise with a rainfall shower and a freestanding tub that seemed to belong in a spa.
Renzo was kneeling by the tub, his fingers dipped into the steaming water. In his other hand, he held tiny glass bottles that he was perusing intently.
Pulled up tight, his black trousers highlighted the wiry strength of his thigh muscles. The same strength her own body was beginning to not only recognize but crave melting into.
Mimi looked away, only to find her attention snagged by his profile. A sharp, too-long nose, a high forehead, and a mouth that could have been shaped by any one of the art geniuses from this part of the world…he was too magnificent to look at, too larger-than-life to be real.
Marriage had always been firmly in the No column for her in the near future. Especially after Pia had played with her emotions. When with Pia around, she always doubted a man’s attention toward her. The two boyfriends she’d had had been more excited about her connections to Pia than about her.
And yet…this man was her husband. A “duty” he took very seriously. The title and their bond seemed as irrevocable as the changes in her body, mind and soul that giving birth to their son had wrought.
And she couldn’t deny that for all his high-handedness, there was a rough kindness hidden beneath the arrogance. A loyal heart and a sensible head that made up the thrumming power of his personality.
The exact kind of man she’d have eventually wanted in a partner, if she wanted to go that route.
Nor did she fool herself that it was his physicality that tugged at her every time she looked at him.
All the female nurses and staff, while extremely professional, hadn’t missed the easy sensuality he wore like a second skin.
A couple of them had teased her, even congratulated her for “landing and leashing” such a man.
And yet had anyone—man or woman—seen him like she did? Gotten glimpses of who he truly was beneath the designer suits and the luxury CEO mantle? Seen the flashes of overwhelming love in his eyes as he looked at their son, a responsibility he had never foreseen?
Now, with the rising steam making enticing curls of the short locks of his hair, cuffs pushed back to reveal corded forearms, he looked…touchable, real. As if he existed on the same plane as her.
Mimi fisted her hands by her side, fighting the urge to sink her hands into that thick hair.
She wanted to touch every strong plane and hollow divot he was made of, muss up his perfection, somehow reduce him to the same level of distraction as he did her.
Some of it was sexual, and some of it sprouted somewhere else that she was far too scared to examine.
“What are you doing?” she said, to fracture her own fascination.
He turned. A small smile tugged at his lips, deepening that misplaced dimple. “Drawing you a bath. Do you prefer lavender oil or rose?”
Mimi fiddled with the knot of her robe, suddenly aware of the deep V at her chest. “I can do that myself.”
“I don’t doubt that, cara,” he said, before upending the tiny bottle into the bath. Instantly, the room filled with a cloud of scented steam. “Rose it is. I think I smelled it on your skin before.” His voice turned into a gravelly whisper. “It suits you well.”
Tendrils of warmth uncoiled through her lower belly. The sensation was so sharp, so different from the aches and pains that accompanied childbirth, that she gasped.
“Come, check if the water feels right,” Renzo said, still kneeling on the floor, the cuffs of his white dress shirt damp. His olive skin glowed with the sheen of the steam.
She reached the tub and hesitated, her body feeling altogether alien. Which was saying something after the last month.
His gaze traveled up, lingering when the robe parted to reveal a good amount of her bare thigh. Awareness sparked through her, a tiny, flickering pulse.
She had pumped before leaving the hospital, but already, her breasts ached with heaviness and milk. But there was more, too—a pleasurable ache, as if her body was determined to remind her that she was a woman who had her own needs, that she was more than just a mother.
Still, she felt self-conscious outside the familiar surroundings of the hospital, without their son as the bridge.
The fog of the last few weeks lifted suddenly.
She felt like she had been dropped in the middle of some unknown land with a stranger who affected her in ways she didn’t understand. And yet he wasn’t a stranger either.
She rubbed her chest, confusion welling up over all the things she wanted from him.
Renzo’s throat moved as his gaze climbed higher. It snagged for an extra moment over her lips before colliding with her eyes. “You have that look again, bella.” Distaste colored his tone.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m your enemy. Like I am the big bad wolf who might swallow you up.”
“I don’t consider you my enemy. But I…” she fiddled with the knot at her waist “…have been making you the target of my…frustrations and fears. And that’s unfair. I’m sorry.”
Surprise made his chin dip, and a smile played with the corners of his lips, though he didn’t let it show. “Your honesty, as always, astounds me.”
“As for the second,” she said, his gaze making her bold, “I’m aware that you could very well be the big bad wolf, Renzo. And that you might swallow me up if I’m not careful.” Physically, yes, but in other ways too, she didn’t say.
He laughed and it sent a million tingles through her nerve endings. Mimi stared open-mouthed at the sheer beauty the smile carved into his face.
His chest was still shaking when he said, “Do you plan to hide yourself away?”
She shook her head, slowly bending toward the lip of the tub.
“The ideal scenario would be to swallow you up in return. Since I have no idea how to do that to a man like you, the next best thing is to enjoy the inevitable, I guess. Which, with your enormous experience, is what you’ve been saying, I imagine. ”
He held her gaze and touched her hand. “A man like me, hmm. Am I so different from other men you’ve known, then?”
Mimi stared at him, aware of the pulsing tension his casual question carried within. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on the source. “Of course you are. And not just because you’re wealthy or powerful or look like that.”
“What is it?”
She shrugged, unwilling to lay everything out for him. The fact was that he was unlike any man she’d ever met or dated, and he made her feel things she’d thought she would never feel.
“I keep thinking I know you now, cara,” he said, a bite of disgruntlement to his tone, “and then you go and surprise me all over again.”
“I just want to make it through the next year without ending up at each other’s throats, Renzo. Whatever else happens in the meantime…” She shrugged, unable to put it into words.
A line tied his brows, but he said nothing more.
She swallowed, bent low and checked the water. It was hot but just right. Before she could move back, he pulled her hand underwater.
Mimi squealed with surprise, then laughter as he let go and splashed her. She half fell into his lap and retorted with her full might. Within seconds, his face and neck and chest were drenched.
Laughter burst up from her chest, breaking through the tightness of grief and ache, making her shake. She continued her onslaught, wetting them both thoroughly in the process.
With an exaggerated sigh, he wiped his face with one hand, while his other arm rested right under her breasts, pressing into her with the perfect amount of pressure.
God, how she adored being held by him like this, like she was precious to him.
Like he couldn’t go another minute without having her up against him.
Like she wasn’t just his son’s mother.