Page 18 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

Chapter Five

A week went by and though Aurora was trying to be patient and follow her mother’s advice, time still hadn’t told Aurora shit. Except that being pregnant kind of sucked. She was irritable, her nipples had started hurting, and to add insult to injury, she was horny as hell.

Aurora couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d been this turned on. All the time. She couldn’t stop thinking about her night with Dante. The hottest sex of her life. And that was really bothering her because she was trying desperately to figure out a way to reach out to Dante as a friend.

Her mother had encouraged her to get to know him better before she broke the news to him. And Aurora could definitely see the wisdom in the advice. However, she had no idea how to pull it off.

They had never been friends, even before they’d slept together. And any advance that Aurora made now was sure to be taken as an indicator that she wanted to sleep together again.

Which she totally did. She couldn’t deny that. She’d replayed their passionate night together more times than she could count. But she was certain that it was a bad idea to sleep with Dante again. He scrambled her brains when what she needed to be was clearheaded and deliberate. Now more than ever. As her mother had advised, she needed to figure out what kind of man he was.

Besides, it wasn’t like her love for her boss had disappeared overnight, simply because Dante had helped ease her pain for one night. Granted, she’d woken up the next day confused over two men instead of one, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t have either of them. Not as a lover or a husband.

But whether she liked it or not, Dante might just play another part in her life. The role of father to her child, if he was so inclined.

As she prepared a file to bring into Gio’s office, she pondered how to get to know Dante better without winding up in his bed again. Maybe she could find some work-related project to team up with him on. That way she could be in his sphere, observe him, get to know him, but not run the risk of blurring any lines.

Intrigued by the idea, Aurora straightened her emerald green silk blouse and brushed off her charcoal pencil pants. She smoothed her hair back before she left her office. She was no longer trying to attract Gio, but it didn’t hurt to look her best.

She strode into his office, holding the file triumphantly in the air. “Found it!”

“Thank God,” Gio said, pushing back from his desk and coming around to stand next to her. “I really didn’t want to have to do all that work over again.”

“I’m sorry, are you under the impression that you did it the first time?”

Gio grinned. “Ah. My mistake. I wouldn’t have wanted you to have to do all that work over again.”

She laughed. It was just one of the many things she loved about him. He’d never been intimidated by her competence. Even when she’d started here as his executive assistant, he’d recognized her talent immediately. In many ways, he was her mentor. She stared at the side of his face as he surveyed the file. He was just so dang handsome. All black hair and five o’clock shadow and milk chocolate eyes.

“Am I interrupting?”

Dante’s voice came from the doorway. His hair was tousled from the wind and he had a messenger bag slung across his chest.

And he was looking at Aurora like he could see right to the heart of her.

* * *

Suddenly everything made sense. Painfully clear sense.

She was in love with Gio.

Dante had daydreamed about seeing that look on her face. Soft and sweet and hopeful. He’d wanted Aurora to look that way at him, and instead she was doing it for Giovanni Esposito.

Damn. He’d been having such a good day too. Michelle’s words had inspired him to come clean to Aurora. He was going to lay his cards on the table. And if she didn’t pick those cards up? Well, then he was just going to have to be a big boy and move the hell on.

But now, this. What the hell was he supposed to do with this?

“Ah, Dante,” Gio said as he looked up, taking a file from Aurora’s hand. “Glad you’re here. I have a few things I want to go over with you.”

“I’ll leave you to it.” Aurora ducked out of the room, leaving nothing more than a whiff of her scent. It was subtle, light, but it went straight to Dante’s head like a shot of whiskey.

Dante sat down and went over the file that Gio had wanted to show him. He surveyed him, taking stock of Giovanni the way a gladiator might take stock of his opponent in the ring.

Sure, Gio was dating a woman named Rose now, but had Dante missed something? Had Gio and Aurora ever slept together? The thought curdled in his stomach like spoiled milk. He swallowed against the insane rage that rose up through his throat.

“Dante, are you even listening?” Gio was looking at him like he was a crazy man right now. What had he just said?

Dante tried to focus on the business at hand, but he found his mind was still spinning. All he could think about was the fact Aurora was in love with a man who didn’t want her. And somehow, that had ended up with her being in his bed.

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