Extra Epilogue
DOMENICO
“Gabriella De Angelis!” I snarled. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I grabbed my wife’s hips and gently lifted her off the step stool and set her on her feet. Then I spun her around and glared at her. “You’re eight months pregnant, sole.”
Gabriella’s dark eyes widened, and she gasped, “Is that why I look like a freaking elephant?”
My brow drew down, and I frowned, “Such sass…are you aiming for a spanking, wife? Because I’ll happily redden your pretty little ass before I fuck you until you can’t move. Then I won’t have to worry about you doing things like climbing fucking ladders!”
She huffed and shoved her hands onto her curvy hips, throwing back her shoulders, which thrust out her incredible breasts.
“It’s a stool with two steps, Domenico!” she hissed, indignantly. “Hardly a death-defying climb.”
“I’m not taking any chances, sole. You shouldn’t be on your feet, anyway.”
“Mico,” she sighed. “You’re being overprotective again.”
“Perhaps,” I agreed, so that she wouldn’t get upset. “But there’s no need for you to be up on stools or ladders anyway, you have me.”
Growling adorably, she gestured toward the wall where she’d been putting in French cleats to hold a new painting in Belladonna Gallery. “Fine.”
“Brava ragazza, sole,” I murmured with a smile.
Gabriella shivered, widening my lips into a grin. “Stop that. It’s not fair.”
My sweet wife had been nearly insatiable when she was pregnant with our daughter Bella. This pregnancy wasn’t any different, and I wasn’t above using every tool in my arsenal when it came to the safety of my family.
The bell over the front door jingled, the sudden noise startling Gabriella out of the sensual fog she’d been lost in. “I’m—that’s probably—um, Ashley…” She sighed, shaking her head over her scattered mind. “The artist was supposed to stop by with the last two paintings for the exhibit.”
She waddled around the wall—one of the many that dotted the center of the gallery, holding a painting on each side—heading toward the front. I went to work on the fasteners, pausing when I heard the low tones of a male voice.
Aston and the other employees were gone for the day. Frowning, I stepped off the stool and followed the sound of Gabriella’s laughter. Despite how crazy it made me sound, I hated when someone besides me made her laugh. Especially a man.
Gabriella was strolling toward the back offices, followed by a tall, lanky man carrying a frame box and staring at her ass.
“I was hoping you’d be here when I brought these over,” he said, licking his lips.
What the fuck?
“Well, Aston was supposed to be, but his kids are sick.”
“Too bad. But I’m glad you’re here. I knew you’d want to see my newest work first.”
Newest…this was the artist? Ashley?
“Well, Aston still has to approve them.” Gabriella shrugged. “So, it probably would have been better if he’d been here.”
Her absolute obliviousness to the stronzo’s flirting was the only reason he was still breathing. But if he didn’t stop…
Oh, fuck no. Gabriella had turned around, and the prick’s eyes were glued to her breasts.
“Do you have a fucking death wish?” I growled as I stalked up to him.
Gabriella gasped, but I was too busy trying to stop myself from not killing the man to worry about how pissed she would be that I was being rude to her client.
“Um…I, uh, I didn’t,” Ashley stumbled over his words, taking a few steps back.
“Did you not see the belly right below the breasts you were ogling? Or the giant fucking ring on her finger?”
“Um…” He was practically shaking now, his eyes darting from my face to the gun at my hip. I’d crossed my arms over my chest, making sure my jacket pulled open just far enough to make it visible.
“Domenico,” Gabriella sighed, suddenly standing beside me and putting her hand on my arm. “I’m sure he wasn’t—”
“Tell her,” I demanded, cutting her off. “Tell her what I saw when I came around the corner. A sick twisted bastard lusting after another man’s pregnant wife.”
“Um…okay, I was looking, but in my defense—”
“Get the fuck out of here, stronzo. And if you come back when Aston isn’t here, there will be a bullet in my gun with your name carved on it.”
Ashley blanched and quickly backed up.
“Wait!” Gabriella yelled, causing me to turn my ferocious glare on her.
She rolled her eyes at me, then turned back to the man I was about to kill. “Leave the paintings. I’ll have Aston call you about approval.”
Ashley leaned the box against the wall, then spun on his heel and practically ran out of the gallery.
“Was that really necessary?”
“He was lusting after what’s mine,” I growled. “Another man’s very pregnant wife.”
“I’ll give you the fact that he shouldn’t have been ogling another man’s woman,” she admitted, resuming her walk to her office. “But you can’t really judge him over the whole pregnancy thing.”
“Che?” I asked incredulously.
“Don’t pretend it doesn’t turn you on.”
Her tone was teasing, but I couldn’t help answering in my defense.
I grabbed her arm and spun her around, trapping her in my embrace…
as much as I could with her belly between us.
“First, everything about you turns me on, pregnant or not. Second, of course it drives me wild to see you pregnant. You’re carrying my baby, sole.
I bred my woman, and other than motherfuckers like him, everyone knows you’re taken. ”
“You’re such a caveman.” She tried to sound stern but ruined it with a giggle.
I shrugged. “Maybe I am. Because I’m feeling the need to drag you back to my lair and remind you who you belong to.”
Gabriella’s face flushed, and she locked her arms around my neck. “Sounds like an excellent idea to me.”
Grinning, I walked her backwards into her office and kicked the door shut behind me. Then I made her scream my name until she was practically hoarse.
“Have you learned your lesson, sole?” I grunted.
“For now.”
I fucking adored my wife.