Chapter 18 Aurelia
Aurelia
Constantine was himself once again. He always greeted me when I came home from work with a smile, and when he took me to bed, he was all over me, loving me deeply and passionately, just the way he had when we first met.
I didn’t work on the weekends, so that was the time I lounged around the house with Constantine and Medusa.
I would lie on the couch snuggled into a blanket, and Constantine would lift up my shirt to expose my belly that hadn’t changed much at all and kiss it everywhere like I was six months along.
He said he’d talked to Isabella and worked things out, but he never gave the specifics and I never asked. His mom would text to check in with me, and she and I started to have our own conversation thread. Instead of feeling like my future mother-in-law, she felt like my own blood.
Constantine took me out to dinner throughout the week, and tonight, we ended up at his favorite spot, Trattoria da Nino. He’d taken me there before, during that first week we met, and he knew everyone on the waitstaff . . . as always.
We had a nice table outside, but it was too dark to see the water now.
A summer breeze flowed over us and brushed through my hair like soft fingertips.
The dress had been a little tight when I’d put it on, so my body was subtly starting to change.
I didn’t notice it with the naked eye, but clothes didn’t lie.
Constantine merely glanced at the menu before he looked at me again. “What are you thinking, sweetheart?”
“The pappardelle pasta looks good.”
When the waiter came over, Constantine ordered wine for himself, the bruschetta to start, and then ordered our entrées. As always, he wanted the fresh catch of the day and requested to clean it himself.
After the wine was poured, he sat with his elbows on the table and stared at me. “Think I found a spot for the restaurant.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s kinda tucked away off the main street, but I like that.”
“The best things in life are always off the beaten path.”
“Sometimes,” he said as his eyes stayed on me. “Excited for that doctor’s appointment next week.”
“You’re the first man ever to say that,” I said with a chuckle.
“It’s the start of a new adventure. I’m excited.”
“Well, you aren’t the one who has to push this adventure out of your vagina.”
He gave a quiet chuckle. “That’s fair. Wish I could do it for you.”
“I wouldn’t fight you on that.”
He smiled again before he filled his wineglass. “We should take a drive and get some shopping done. There’s a lot of stuff we’re going to need in a couple months.”
“We have like eight months.”
“But it’ll be here before you know it,” he said. “I like to be prepared.”
The first man I’d ever met who had his shit together, who wasn’t afraid to be proactive about tasks, who was on his game every single day. I loved his boss energy, and I loved his ambition . . . among all the other things I loved about him. “Can’t believe this is real.”
“Yeah.” He looked out to the dark coastline, his eyes warm in their version of a smile. “Pretty great, huh?” He reached for his wineglass and lifted it by the stem. “La dolce vita, right?”
I picked up my water glass and gently tapped it against his. “La dolce vita.”
I had that Monday off, so Constantine asked if I wanted to spend the day at the beach.
And there was no way I was going to pass that up. I packed my tiny little bikini that I wouldn’t be able to wear in a couple months . . . or maybe ever again. I took my sun hat, my shades, and a cover-up.
Constantine had a driver drop us off at Belmond Villa Sant’Andrea, and we walked down the path and the stairs to the beach club below. It was the same place we’d been to with his friends, and I was excited to go back, especially since it was just the two of us.
He checked us in to a private cabana like last time, but we used the set of loungers closer to the water, right in front of the rock we’d recklessly climbed and jumped off months ago. The waiter came over and brought us drinks, and we lounged in the shade together and watched the boats in the cove.
He was in his black swim trunks, a muscled hunk covered in tattoos, an eleven out of ten.
I noticed a few girls looking at him, but I wasn’t even mad.
Who could blame them, right? He ordered a mortadella and pistachio pizza like the last time we were here, but he was so fit, it didn’t look like he’d ever had pizza in his life.
“When your mom showed me your family photos, you didn’t look the way you do now.”
One arm was propped underneath his neck as he gazed out at the water, a slight smile on his lips. “I left a boy and returned a man.”
“What made you make that change?”
“Because no one respects you unless they think you can kill them with your bare hands. When I came home for the first time, my mother nearly didn’t recognize me.” He released a quiet chuckle. “And then she made all my food portions bigger, like they weren’t already big enough.”
“Yeah, when I stayed there, she tried to get me to eat about ten thousand calories.”
“Yep, that’s my ma.”
“After I have the baby, you’ll have to help me get back into shape.”
“I can certainly help you with cardio.” This time, he turned to look at me, that big-ass grin on his face.
I rolled my eyes, but it was completely playful.
He patted his thigh, then nodded for me to join him.
“There are people around.”
“So?” He snapped his fingers like I was Medusa. “Get your ass over here.”
The chairs immediately around us had been vacated, so there wasn’t anyone directly next to us. It wasn’t private, but it was semiprivate. And anyone who was uncomfortable with it was just jealous they weren’t me.
I moved to his lounger and settled between his legs, my back to his chest.
He pulled me against him, his big arms like two safety belts in a car, and he cocooned me between his muscular thighs as the summer breeze moved over our skin.
He dipped his head and kissed my shoulder a few times, even though it probably tasted like sunscreen.
He flattened his hands over my stomach like he could feel a bulge no one else could see. “I can’t wait until you start to show.”
I relaxed against his hard chest, feeling him support me from behind while making me feel loved with his big hands and arms. He always smothered me in love that felt so masculine and secure.
There were beautiful women everywhere in Taormina, but I never saw his eyes wander once.
They were always on me, loving me physically and emotionally with just his stare.
“Turns me the fuck on,” he said into my ear.
“Wait until my belly is enormous and I can barely walk.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Right on command, his dick hardened and poked into my back. “Don’t torture me.” He hooked his arms around me again and pressed another kiss to my shoulder as he cradled me to him. He eventually lay back, his chest rising and falling evenly, peacefully.
With a belly full of pizza and mocktails and a beautiful man to hold me like a pillow, I stared at the ocean for a minute or two before my eyes grew tired and I slipped away.
When I woke up, my eyes stayed closed, but I could hear the waves in front of me.
They’d increased as the day went on, the tide rising as the afternoon passed.
My eyes opened to look at the beautiful sea, and I breathed a quiet sigh, feeling Constantine’s slow heartbeat against the back of my shoulder.
I stroked my hand along his arm, feeling all the different muscles underneath his warm flesh. He lifted his hand, then moved for mine, sliding his underneath my palm to cradle it against his chest.
That was when I noticed it.
The enormous diamond ring that he slipped onto my finger while I’d been asleep.
I should have noticed the weight the second he put it on, but I was knocked out cold. Now that I knew it was there, I tilted my hand to look at it better, to see the large princess-cut diamond sitting on a platinum band. It took me a second to react, to understand what was right in front of me.
“If one of my other lovers had told me they were pregnant, I would have been a man and risen to the occasion, but I wouldn’t have been happy about the news.
But the second I knew we were having a baby, I was the happiest I’ve ever been.
Yes, I’m asking you to marry me because you’re pregnant.
” He tightened his arm around me and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.
“But also, because it’s shown me how deeply I love you.
Because I’ve never been so excited for anything in my life.
Because you’re the only person I’d ever want to do this with.
Because I look at you like you’re already my wife, and I’d give anything to call you that.
So please let me be your husband. Let me love you and support you and protect you for the rest of my life. Please, sweetheart.”
I turned in his arms, pivoting my body so our eyes could lock in place.
He automatically slid his hand into my hair and cradled my face as he looked at me, like he hoped and prayed I’d give a different answer than the last time he asked me. His eyes were so assertive and sincere.
If this pregnancy hadn’t happened, I didn’t know when he would have asked me to be his wife, but I believed that proposal would have come at some point.
I believed we would spend the rest of our lives together, regardless of how it came about.
It wasn’t exactly how I imagined it, but this was the man I loved with all my heart.
And I could see he loved me with all of his. “Yes.”
His eyes immediately softened when he got the answer he wanted, and his fingers slid farther into my hair as he cupped my face.
The most handsome smile he’d ever worn broke out on his face before he pulled me into him and kissed me.
Kissed me like there was no one around us except us and the Mediterranean .
. . and the large rock we’d jumped off like two teenagers falling in love during a summer fling.