Page 55 of Her Impossible Boss's Baby

“I do.”

“So I am not offering you that. But I am telling you that I will try to learn to care in a way that you can receive. And that I will always be honest with you.”

“I know that,” she said. “Because for all that you frustrate me sometimes, you have always been honest with me. Always. You never tried to manipulate me. You strong-armed me so that you could have your way, but it was entirely obvious what you were doing. You never promised me one thing and delivered another.”

“I won’t do it now. But I cannot see a future where we continue to live together, work together, raise a child together, and we ignore this thing between us.”

She sighed heavily. “But sexual attraction doesn’t last forever.”

“No. But decisions can. Especially decisions that you make every day. I want our child to have the best life possible. And even when my father was himself, having my mother in the house made it better. You need that other parent. For when the one is unable to do their best. You need both. Just in case one needs to be lifted up. And I fear very much that I might need that.”

“Just decide that you’re going to be as single-minded when it comes to being a good father as you are with anything else. If you do that, I’m confident that you’re going to succeed.”

“Yes,” he said, looking out the window. “I can do that.”

“You don’t have to be afraid.”

“But I still want you there. I have always wanted you there. Since you were my assistant. You made everything better. You always have. And you will make this better too.”

“Okay. Okay, Luca. Let’s give this a try. Real marriage. Raising our child.”

“Thank you.” He leaned in and he kissed her. And when their lips touched, there was nothing but feeling. “That’s all I want.”

“Me too.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

LUCA HAD GONE back to work after their afternoon lovemaking session. She wasn’t even really mad about it. Really, she wasn’t mad about it at all. Because if he didn’t do something that felt quintessentially Luca she might start to get concerned about him. But she didn’t want to sit at home, and she hadn’t started her job at Salvatore yet. Really, she wasn’t entirely clear on what she was going to do. But for the first time in her memory that wasn’t the most all-consuming thing on her mind.

They were committing to... Well, in his mind it was real marriage. Love and romance and the like didn’t seem to signify for him. And she wondered why it should matter to her at all. Because he was right. Her parents’ marriage had started real enough. She didn’t know anything about the relationship between his parents but he made it sound like his father was useless. At least, when it came to Luca. So what did it matter if people got married for conventional reasons? It didn’t guarantee happiness. Why should love mean anything to her?

It never had before. But maybe that was part of the problem. She had avoided the concept of marriage and childbearing because she hadn’t wanted anything that looked like her parents. But now that she was married, now that she had a child on the way, she couldn’t help but wonder if...

It really would be a terrible thing to love him.

Except, she couldn’t look at him anymore and see the remote man that she had once imagined existed behind that armor he wore all day every day. That man of steel who was so committed to work that everything else was an inconvenience.

No.

He was passionate. He was hot. A fire blazing inside the shape of a man.

How had she ever imagined that he was anything less?

He was... He was a study in contradictions. Because he could be so uncompromising, and then when she called him on it he often apologized. Unless he didn’t. Unless he stood firm because he simply couldn’t see what she was saying.

But for all that he often did that first, then he would normally try. Try to understand where she was coming from, try to see where she was coming from. And now he was saying he was committed to trying to care for her in the way that she could receive it.

Change, for him, was harder than it was for most and she knew that. She’d felt like he hadn’t cared for her, and now here he was rearranging his carefully curated life for her.

She had known few people who listened quite that well. Who cared so much about doing the right thing.

She decided that she needed to get some fresh air. She got dressed, and left the scene of her indignity, going down to the Roman streets and letting herself blend into the crowd.

She had immediately loved that about Rome. The anonymity of it.

The way that she felt like she could blend, and more than that, the way that she felt like she could be anything she wanted to be.

She had been so trapped in Indiana. On that same street, in that same house.

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