Page 32 of His Willing Wife

“Oh, I’d have burned it and left it allalone. I would never have hurt you with something like that.” Shenibbled the bottom of her lip and waited. “Do you hate me?”

He got up from his chair, rounded the desk,and then went to his knees before her, cupping her face, and shestared down at him.

“I could never hate you, Tillie Winters.You are my wife, and I think it’s only fair that I tell you right now that I loveyou.”

She opened her mouth, a little taken abackby what he’d just said. “You love me?”

“Yes, I love you. I am in love with you, andthat is never going to change. From the moment you walked into myoffice, you have been turning my world upside down, and I don’tgive a fuck because I love it. Being with you is the best part ofmy life.”

Before she could say another word, his lipsattacked hers and she melted against him, not wanting to letgo.

She loved this man, and this was more than she could have everimagined. Luca loved her and she loved Luca. It was like a dreamhad finally come true. She wanted to jump for joy, but instead, allshe did was pull him closer to her.

There was, however, a second piece ofnews.

Tillie tilted her head toward his ear, andwhispered it, “I’mpregnant.”

She’d been feeling rotten for a few weeks,but after a couple of hours, she always felt fine. Each time, shehad put it down to something she had eaten, but then hermother had asked ifshe’d taken a pregnancy test.

Tillie hadn’t even considered that shemight be pregnant. She’d taken the test that morning. Not just onetest, four of them, just to be sure, in case one of them was abit dodgy, and yes, allfour of the tests indicated she was very much pregnant.

She and Luca were going to have a baby.

Chapter Eleven

Luca knew he should be in bed, cuddling upto his wife, and he promised her he’d be right up. They had alreadychosen the room, and at Tillie’s insistence about the color scheme, they were going forneutrals. Luca had been tempted by painting the room part blue andpart pink until the baby arrived.

As Tillie said, the room would only beneeded while their baby was an infant, and then they could keep the room neutral for allother children they were going to have. Luca couldn’t believe howexcited he was at the prospect of making more children, of having alarge family.

He didn’t know how he’d gotten so fuckinglucky in his life. A year ago, he’d done nothingbut work. Waking up, heworked, and other than a drink once in a while, his life wasdominated by building his wealth. Constantly conquering one companyafter another.

Now, Tillie had given him so much in theshort time she’d been in his life. She’d given him a familyof her own. Andrew and Bellatreated him like a son. David treated him like a brother. Tillietreated him like a husband, and now he knew she was in love withhim, just as he’d known he’d fallen in love with her.

They were going to have achild together, and hadalready booked a doctor’s appointment. He wanted to know everythinghe was going to need to prepare for a baby. He’d never thought hewould be a father. Luca didn’t know the first thing about being adad, but he was going to fucking try. Not only had Tillie given himeverything he now had in a family, she’d also gone out of her wayto learn the truth, and he was never going to forget it.

Even though his story didn’t have a happyending, at least not yet, who his parents were and what they did seemed so important tohim now. At Tillie’s insistence, they had gotten the pictures ofhis parents, along with his grandparents and aunt, and she’d placedthem around the house. His parents needed to beremembered.

Luca shook his head at how drastic hislife had changed, as he sat at his computer desk, flicking througha baby website he’d stumbled upon. He’d already purchased astroller, which was set to arrive within a few days. Therewere, of course, littleclothes as well—the cutestlittle rompers—and of coursebaby bottles, monitors, and a crib. The clothes, though, were whathe was looking through now.

The excitement building within him wasstrong, and as he finished making the final payment for clothes heknew Tillie would beannoyed about, he shut down the computer. He was making his wayupstairs when he heard it—thesound of a doorknob turning.

Even though Luca now knew about his past,it didn’t change his early years, and the sound of doorknobsturning, especially in homes that were locked up tight, was not a good sound.

He heard the creak of a door opening, and then the subtlesound of footsteps. They were moving slow. Luca moved swiftly,going back to his office and walking to the fire, where he pickedup the poker. He rarely used the open fire in his office, but hehad everything for the rare occasion he wanted to.

Gripping the poker in his hand, holding ittightly, he thought about Tillie upstairs. Ever since she hadgotten pregnant, from time to time she’d come downstairs for adrink. He didn’t wanttoday to be one of those days.

He went toward the desk, grabbing his phone and moving awayfrom the line of sight to dial the police. Luca was angry thatsomeone would break into his home.

“I wouldn’t do that if Iwere you.”

The angry growl didn’t come from a voicehe recognized, but one look at the face of the man staring at him,Luca did recognizehim.

A gun was pointed straight at him. The armholding the gun was straight, but the anger resonating from UncleEd was palpable. One wrong move, and he was as good as dead.

He didn’t know if Uncle Ed was a good shotor not. A few weeks ago,he and Andrew had taken a small business meeting to discussinvestment, and as their meeting came to a close, he had actuallythanked him for firing Uncle Ed. Andrew had wanted to do so manytimes, but had always figured it was down to sibling rivalry, orjust his paranoid thoughts that made him think Uncle Ed was ruiningthe company.

Luca had saved his troubled mindin proving that Uncle Ed had infact been squandering his position. He’d not wanted to come betweenfamily, but he had helped them out of the black, and in the shorttime he’d been there, they were once again turning aprofit.

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