Page 83 of Under His Protection

“No, you weren’t imagining anything. I called you my wife because that was how I viewed you. I mean it. I will be marrying you as soon as you are recovered.”

She tipped her chin up in a silent request for a kiss, and I obliged. I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her until her monitor beeped, warning of an increase in her blood pressure from my getting her excited.

Gazing down at her, I cupped her face and sighed with the satisfaction that nothing would stop us from being together. Not even ourselves. “We were idiots to ever think this attraction between us was fake.”

“And the love I feel for you,” she added, “will always remain true.”

I kissed her again, risking the beep of that monitor. “I love you, Nina.”

She sighed against my lips. “And I love you.”

32

NINA

Nina

Amonth and a half after the night Eva took me to the spa for a girls’ night, I sat back and considered how much my life had changed.

“You sure you don’t want to come in?” Dante asked.

I smiled, keeping the straw between my lips. Reclining in this chaise under the shade of an umbrella, I enjoyed the humid sunshine of a late summer. “Nope.”

He splashed water at me, making waves in the pool. Resting his hands on the wall, he narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re tempting me to get you wet.”

I let the straw slide out of my mouth as I bit my lower lip. This man. The ways he made me happy. And horny.

These pregnancy hormones were no laughing matter. We made love nonstop, it seemed. I wasn’t complaining, but I didn’t want to get wet right now. Not like that, since I was still coming down from the high of his eating me out and giving me a couple of orgasms this morning.

“I don’t want to get in the pool,” I clarified. My hair was still damp from the shower we shared. “The appointment is in an hour.”

He nodded, shrugging as he turned to dive under the surface and commence another series of laps.

Nope. I was perfectly content right here, sipping my ice water, watching my sexy fiancé cut through the water. I never tired of seeing his chiseled body, and with the sun-kissed glow of a tan and the water clinging to his skin, he looked like something straight out of a dream.

Since the moment Dante told me that I was pregnant, I felt like I had a brand-new and meaningful purpose in life. I would be a mother soon, and I couldn’t get over how wonderful that sounded.

“Hey,” I said as Dante paused after a few more back-and-forth trips across the pool.

“Yeah?”

“How do you think Romeo will react to having a half-brother?”

He chuckled, running his hands over his gleaming black hair to send the water flying off. “I’m not sure. He’s not upset.”

But isn’t it sort of weird? I was younger than the man who’d basically become my stepson. Dante and I hadn’t set a date for our wedding yet. We wanted to wait until the baby was born. But we would be husband and wife, officially. The gorgeous sparkler of a ring on my finger was proof of our commitment.

Even still, I doubted Romeo would ever call me his stepmom, and I refused to look upon him as my son. The age gap just didn’t make sense in that regard.

“Maybe it’ll help push him out of this guilt he can’t shake,” Dante said as he climbed out of the pool.

I was momentarily mesmerized with the tease of his rugged body on display. Rivulets of water ran over his body, tempting me to taste them and track the liquid as it streamed down. I resisted, though, sucking on my straw and reminding myself that I didn’t have to jump on him every chance that was presented.

“I hope so,” I replied as he toweled off and walked up to where I sat.

After leaning down to kiss me, he straightened and smiled. “I’m going to shower. Then we can go to the appointment.”

“I’ll be here waiting.” This glorious sunshine was too beautiful to pass up on.

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