Page 56 of Anastasia

“Okay, I wasn’t going to say anything when you decided to come inside of me, but you’rereallypushing it now,” I muttered, pinching his neck. He didn’t even care. To prove that my pinching had no effect on him, he decided to kiss my belly once more.

“You’re so annoying.” I smiled.

“I’m annoying because I want my girlfriend to have my children?” he asked, chuckling against my skin. Rolling my eyes, I moved to pinch him again, but he was quick to grab my hand.

“Girlfriend?” I laughed; his hand pulled me closer to him as I let out a sigh of contentment.

“I don’t want you to ever leave me,” he said seriously. I raised a brow as I looked down into his eyes. There was a sadness that shined so bright, it left a frown on my face.

“What did you say?” I asked, growing extremely curious. I knew his words were heavy based on the way his eyes held mine.

“I’m going to be out for a couple of days trying to locate Dmitri’s place. It won’t be long,” he stated. I watched him move away from my stomach and over to the other side of the bed. He switched off the lamp and then returned to lay right beside me

“Fine. Thank you again for today,” I whispered. He pecked my lips before pulling back. My arms were quick to wrap around him in an embrace. For the first time, he actually let me hold him in a way that resembled a hug. It felt nice.

“Don’t expect this treatment tomorrow,” he stated. I pulled away from him with an eye-roll. Turning over, I didn’t even want to look at him after that statement. He always managed to ruin every moment with his asshole behavior.

His hand was quick to grip my hip, wrapping around my waist and pulling me back into his chest. I didn’t care to look at him, my gaze wandered over to the window as the moonlight danced around the room.

“I was kidding, Bambolina.” He chuckled before planting a kiss on the back of my neck. His hand started to rub my stomach soothingly until I realized what he was doing. He was rubbing my belly as if it were swollen and round with a baby inside of my womb.

“Valentino,stop,” I groaned. He only laughed softly in response, continuing exactly what he was doing. Sometimes, I questioned why my heart seemed to care so much for this man. Maybe it saw what many eyes couldn’t—a broken boy scared to show how broken he truly was.

“What if I don’t?” he asked huskily. A smirk made its way onto my face as I turned to face him. My gaze fell to his lips before I brought my finger up to trace them. They were so plump and pink, everything about them was incredibly kissable.

“I’ll pinch you,” I answered, giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Oh, yeah?” he asked. Nodding my head with a look of confidence wasn’t a good idea. Instead of rubbing my stomach, he ended up using his fingers to tickle me. My laugh boomed, leaving me short of breath.

“Stop!” I exclaimed, trying to pull his hand away from my belly. No matter how hard I tried, his tickling never ended. My stomach was beginning to hurt from laughing so much.

“Val?I’m sorry?stop!” I called out. Finally, he stopped tickling me, and I sobered up with a few giggles.

“I had no clue you were so ticklish.” He laughed. I pushed his shoulder, leaving him to only laugh harder. The smile on my face never eased as I stared at him. He had a beautiful laugh. It was deep and rich—it was also a sound so rare that it left butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

“Don’t talk to me for the rest of the night,” I muttered with a smile still on my face. Actually, I didn’t want him to stop talking to me. I just wanted an excuse to get him to continue acting like he was more than just some mob boss. He was a man with feelings, and he was trusting me enough to be vulnerable.

“You don’t mean that,” he told me, burying his face into the crook of my neck from behind.

“You’re still talking to me,” I huffed, pretending to sound irritated. His hand ran down to my stomach, but just before he could actually tickle me, I managed to pinch him.

“Stop,” he told me, lifting his head up from my neck.

“Youstop,” I responded. Our eyes met, both of us smiling like idiots. We were acting like kids, but it was perfectly okay. We were barely given the chance to be kids when it was time for us to be. I watched his smile slowly disappear. His eyes shed off a seriousness that caused me to furrow my brows.

“I love you,” he said.

I could feel my heart literally stop. I was so sensitive I felt the need to instantly cry. My smile grew even more as I turned completely around to gaze at him. He actually said that he—Valentino Romano—loves me.

“I love you,” I whispered before pecking his cheek. I pulled back and allowed my hand to caress his cheek before meeting his lips once more. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?” he asked. Suddenly, I felt myself grow even more emotional. I didn’t mean to say thank you, but it just slipped out.

“Thank you for loving me. I haven’t heard those words in?I don’t know how long, but I’m so happy to hear that I’m actually loved by someone again,” I told him, biting down on my lip.

“I should be thanking you for loving me despite my flaws. You’re an amazing woman, Anastasia. I’m sorry for not realizing that sooner,” he stated. My arms were quick to wrap around his neck as he held my waist.

Everything felt perfect, but all good things must always come to an end.

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