CHAPTER 10 Tanzi
I”m relieved when Rio agrees to meet at his hotel. I don”t want to have this discussion in a restaurant. I don”t want a bunch of strangers around me when I tell him what I need to.
He opens the door on my first knock.
”You”re eager, I like that.” I grin up at his handsome and yes, beloved face. ”You had to be waiting right by the door.”
”I”ve been checking the hall every few minutes.” He reaches for me.
I let him draw me into the room and into his arms. ”I can”t believe you just admitted that.”
”Neither can I.” He kisses me.
And like every time his lips meet mine, the world just sort of melts away. I don”t know how long we stand there, kissing and holding each other, but every passing second helps calm the riot of butterflies that have taken up residence in my stomach.
It”s going to be okay.
Rio isn”t going to yell or act like my situation is nothing to do with him.
When we break the kiss, he holds me tight, his eyes dark with desire. ”It would be stupid to pretend I didn”t miss you after working so hard to get here.”
”You look tired.” There are faint shadows under his eyes, but that doesn’t decrease the animal magnetism of his presence one iota.
”I am a little, but not too tired to give us both what we need.” He starts moving back toward the suite”s bedroom without releasing me.
It would be so easy to get lost in the moment, but that wouldn”t be fair. To either of us. ”Wait, we need to talk.”
He stops and looks down at me, his eyes reading my face. ”Would you feel better having this discussion on the sofa in the living room?”
”Yes.” I shake my head. ”No, not really, but I think we should.”
With a contemplative look, he nods. ”Alright.”
He pivots our bodies and guides me to the sofa. I sit down at one end, but he sits right beside me, giving me no space. And instead of making me feel crowded, I am comforted.
His arm slides around me and he tugs me into his lap where the evidence of his arousal presses against my hip. ”I think I know what you want to talk about.”
”No, no, I really don”t think you do.”
The look he gives me is skeptical.
”You think I want to talk about us continuing to see each other and bringing our relationship into the real world.”
His eyes narrow.
I”m quick to add, ”Which I do.” Oh, man, do I.
”But?” His tone is wary now.
And I hate that.
I grab the small, clear plastic bag out of my pocket and hand it to him so the side of the white stick with the little window and its two blue lines shows.
He looks at it and then at me, a question burning bright and clear in his dark gaze.
”We”re pregnant,” I blurt.
If there”s a way to soft sell that statement, I don”t know what it is.
He stares at me, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound comes out. I think I broke his brain. But mine was pretty fractured the first time I read the results too. And the fifth time, after the fifth test came back positive.
He takes the stick, and now he stares down at it. ”Two blue lines means pregnant?”
”Yes.”
”How?”
”I don”t know. My doctor told me that only eight couples in one-hundred get pregnant while using the patch.” Because of course I had to have my doctor confirm it and boy did I have questions for her.
”That makes us one of the lucky 8% then.” He smiles at me, his joy blinding and unmistakable.
Tears burn my eyes and choke my throat, but I hug him and kissed him so hard our teeth clack together. ”I love you so much, Rio. I didn”t know how you were going to take this.”
I knew he wouldn”t blame me, but I didn”t expect this. For him to be so obviously, openly happy. And that allows me to let my own delight burble up inside me.
No, this isn”t how I planned to start my post-collegiate life, but I’m excited to be a mom. To be a family. With Rio.
Whether or not we get married, we”re a family now.
”It was not planned, but every baby is a gift,” he says sincerely.
Maybe that”s a Sicilian thing, because I”m pretty sure my parents aren”t going to be so calm or nearly as happy as he is about this. ”My dad is going to freak.”
”Because you are pregnant?”
”We aren”t married. Not that I expect you to marry me. We can take our time, make this work. He might not understand, but I do.” I will make Rio be there for moral support when I tell my parents though.
I”ll return the favor with his.
”Why should we take our time?” He sounds genuinely confused. ”I have known I wanted you for the rest of my future since you walked away from me that morning in Palermo. I thought I was going to throw up from missing you before your tour bus even left the parking area.”
His emotional honesty overwhelms me. ”How could any guy be more perfect than you?”
His bright white teeth flash. ”Well, this perfect guy has the perfect solution.”
”What?”
”We elope. Tonight. My family has a house in the Caribbean and the local priest and magistrate are indebted to my family. The island has no waiting period on a marriage license. We can be married by tomorrow afternoon.”
”Isn”t that crazy?” But excitement is already filling my veins like champagne.
”Isn”t love?”
”But—”
”If we don”t elope, our families will get ahold of this, and it will become a circus. It will stop being about us, about the family we”re starting and be about the families we come from.”
He is so right about that. Relief-driven euphoria and adrenaline poured through me. ”Yes, let”s elope.”
I never wanted the huge wedding, dreading the day my mother and father got their teeth into that milestone event. ”You know I always wanted something small on the beach. No reporters, no business or political allies. Just me, the man I love and our immediate families.”
His espresso gaze says my dream sounds wonderful to him. ”We”ll share our happiness with them after the event.”
”Yes.”
I”m so glad I prepped my family for meeting Rio in a couple of days, not tomorrow like I led him to believe. I knew we needed time to formulate a plan. Now we have that time to elope before dad sends the troops after me.