Page 112 of There Are No Words

Thankful.

Overjoyed.

Honestly, there were no words for the way I felt.

Unable to fight the connection we had, even now, I pushed off the doorframe and walked into Gina’s nursery, coming to sit down at his feet with Tipsy in my lap.

He opened his eyes. “Allegra,” he said, and I smiled as I did every time he said my name. “Everything okay?”

I nodded. “Mmhmm. Tipsy and I just wanted to be with you and our baby girl.”

Smiling, he continued rocking. “My three girls.” He rubbed Gina’s back with one hand and squeezed my shoulder with his other.

Epilogue

Allegra

“Do you thinkthe term ‘blow job’ came from someone blowing up balloons?” I asked, opening my mouth to put my lips around the next balloon.

Maria let go of hers and it deflated, a hissing sound filling the air. Her jaw went slack. “Allie! What is the matter with you? And why couldn’t we get a helium tank?”

What was the matter with me? What was the matter with her? When the balloon I was working on was finally done, I exhaled and studied my mouthwork. “What? And forget the helium tank. Can’t a girl be creative in her thoughts? Anyway, it’s not like I said I’m secretly counting down the hours until I can give Brady his birthday blow. Which I am, by the way.”

She jutted a hip out and rolled her eyes. “Can we please change the subject? I’d much rather not think about you and Brady and blow jobs. Especially not while we’re decorating for his surprise party.”

I shrugged and stuck my hand in the bag to retrieve another little latex thing that wasn’t nearly as fun as those other little latex things. “Suit yourself, but you mean to tell me you don’t think about sexual things, ever? I mean, sure, you’re not outspoken about the topic like Bianca and I are sometimes, but, shit, Maria, you do date.”

Her cheeks reddened, and she raked her tongue across her teeth before sticking it in her cheek. “I don’t want to talk about this with you. Not at all, actually. But, because we both knowyou’ll only beat the dead horse, I’ll say this: dating and being intimate are two completely different things.”

I blinked, trying to understand. Was she celibate? I nearly choked on my own saliva, but swallowed and reined it in. “Maria, you and Pedro never. . . I mean, when was the last time you—”

“We had. It’s just not like you’d think, and it’s not easy for me to, you know—” She cut herself off, her eyes practically bugging out of her head as she tried to give me some code.

I didn’t need the code, I knew exactly what she was talking about. So did everyone else. Or so I assumed. Right?

I narrowed my eyes and reached for the ribbon to tie to my latest balloon. “You don’t orgasm?” I gave her a sour expression. “What the hell are those men you see doing wrong?”

She shrugged and turned to face the other direction, fussing with some decoration or another. “A lot of people don’t. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means everything!” Okay, that came out louder than I’d expected. “Sometimes Brady makes me orgasm multiple times. In one round, if you know what I mean.”

She raised a brow and looked genuinely shocked. “Unfortunately, you’ve never been subtle, Allie.”

I’d noticed she’d stopped decorating after letting that balloon go, and I couldn’t possibly blow up any more balloons. I wanted to strangle myself over the tedious nature of it, so I ushered her over to the couch, patting the seat next to me. “Okay, spill.”

“Spill what?” she asked, pretending like she had no idea what I was saying.

“Come on!” I threw my head back and was tempted to pull the words out of her. “Why are you picking all the wrong men?”

“That’s not it,” she argued, sitting down and crossing her legs.

I pursed my lips. “You’re seriously going to deny it? If you were with therightman,” I emphasized because we both knew where I stood on this topic, and I also knew she didn’t want to hear my take on it again, “then it would be right. It would feel right. And you’d orgasm. Probably multiple times, like I do.”

“First of all, Brady is like family, and I don’t want to hear about your sex life anymore. Second, it’s not that simple. I just don’t prioritize sex, okay? Work, Isabella, and you guys, those things are my priorities.”

“You forgot about Dom.”

She fixed her high ponytail, pulling it even tighter, as she did sometimes when she got nervous. She cleared her throat. “What about Dom?”

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