Page 123 of Heart of a Villain

“The father to your children.”

“And I thought Deiro was smooth, getting to my breasts as quickly as he did.” She continued to check Deiro over, and then her eyes opened wide. “Oh my god, Adrían. The pants even have little pockets!”

Tucked behind that denim stitching, deep enough to hide the band, was a simple, Moroccan-inspired solitaire sapphire engagement ring. While he wanted her to have it—more than anything—he didn’t want her to have it yet. The perfect time didn’t exist, but he knew this wasn’t the right one.

Still, in his mind, he saw how he would have liked the scene to have played out had she found the ring, him holding her hand while he explained what it meant:

“It’s early, I know. But I wanted to make my promise known as soon as possible.

This isn’t only a ring because I want to marry you one day. This isn’t only a ring because I want to be the father to children who are also a part of you. If you ever question whether I want you, whether I love you—this is the answer. If you ever question what I want from us and for us—this is the answer.

To me, marriage is more than just our lives and our names becoming one. It is also my show of gratitude to know that you were the one who has always been meant for me. Not many people have their love resurrected, and I will not waste this opportunity that fate has granted, finding me worthy enough to be graced with you more than once in my life.

So, Sayeda, will you do me the gracious honor of agreeing to be my wife?”

What would happen afterward was still up in the air; there was no guarantee that she would say yes just because she loved him. They had hills to climb and, in the distance, a frost-covered ridge. Only then, after she reached the summit, might she finally be ready to walk to him in a dress as white as the snow that capped each mountain in that far-off ridge.

A decade ago, he’d had no idea that he was capable of real feelings, of something as endless as this. Had someone made the assertion, he likely would have accused them of thinking that he was weak—of trying to reduce the masculinity to which he’d held onto like a rope dangling above a canyon. Now, he saw how it made him stronger, how it made him better.

“Ready for bed?” he asked, staring at the area near Deiro’s “belly button” that held the key to the next phase of their lives.

Sayeda reached up, tangled her fingers in the hair at his nape, and they shared a kiss that he felt in some deep, hard-to-reach place that would never go dormant, ever again.

“Ready for bed,” she said. “But Deiro sleeps between us.”

He took the bear and tossed him onto a chair at the far end of the room.

“Adrían! That is our child.”

He went over, grabbed the T-shirt he’d left strewn over the back of the chair, and draped it over Deiro like a blanket, face and all.

“There, he’s tucked in.”

“You must be new to parenthood.”

“Oh, and you have experience with it?” he asked, climbing into bed.

She shoved him in the chest until he was on his back with her hovering over him, her braids falling about her face down onto the sheets.

“Adrían Delgano,” she sang. Then, she kissed along his hairline. “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Do you know that song? Natasha Bedingfield?”

“I’m not sure. Sing it for me.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-TWO

After Adrían’s stunt, she’d already figured that she would never hear from Chef Erik again, but the sting of rejection came with a dull, though salient throb.

Adrían, being Adrían, must have noticed because he somehow managed to find an event whose original caterer had canceled at the last minute. When they went to set up the meeting, he’d arrived with already procured documents and business licenses. Regardless of everyone’s level of skill, in her opinion, Julien was the most dangerous member of the team.

She’d never catered an event as an owner, but she’d been part of crews more than enough times to get a sense of how everything worked. The entire family helped her develop a last-minute menu, which had only required minor tweaks by the event planner. Her staff consisted of Wren, Thanasis, Gage, Tayler, Joel, Ayesha, Ari, Julien, Trevor, Lilly, and Josiah.

The cocktail reception included local wines, Swedish cocktails, prawn toast, and beetroot tartare for hors d’oeuvres. Tayler created saffron risotto as one of the dinner menu options, which also included a scallop soup starter. For dessert, they served berry sorbet that tasted like a cloud and chocolate tart.

It more than eased the sting of not getting called back for the sous chef position. It made her realize, more than ever, that she wanted to be in charge.

By the end of the night, after the last patron had left the reception, her feet felt like she’d spent the entire event walking on tennis balls. On account of their last-minute “business,” they didn’t have a takedown crew. Yet, without a fuss, everyone helped her clean up, and she promised to cook for the next several weeks to repay them for their kindness.

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