Page 49 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

Releasing his finger, she pouted prettily. “The latter.”

“Keep talking,” he said, going through the cabinets around him.

“Apparently, some women can get extra horny during pregnancy and I’m clearly one of them,” Nyra said, tracking his movements like a laser pointer. “Also, I was thinking we should just like…front load a lot of it now, y’know. Who knows how much time and privacy we’ll even get once these two arrive?”

He chuckled, finally spotting the thing he wanted. “Front load a lot of sex?”

“Yep. Like really glut ourselves on it. So that I can live off of the memories.”

“Memories? I’m not going anywhere, Nyra,” he said, and then proceeded to cut the bodice of the dress with the scissors.

Eyes wide in her tired face, she watched him as he cut strips of the red fabric off. A gasp escaped her. “Adriano?”

“I hate this dress.”

“It cost thousands of pounds and it’s by that designer that everyone’s salivating over and—”

“Not a fan,bella,” he said, continuing the snip-snip until it fell away from her body, leaving her in a nude-colored bra and matching panties. The latter was a flimsy piece of lace so high cut that he could see the shape of her through it. His mouth watered.

“Not a fan of the dress, the makeup, or the hair,” he said, discarding the scissors with a flick of his wrist.

Her look of helplessness turned into a glare. A sigh whistled through her lips, as if she was accepting defeat. “Is there anything you liked about tonight?”

He ran a finger over the lace of her bra and watched in fascination as her breasts rose and fell. “Your changing body fascinates me endlessly,cara.”

Her throat bobbed in a swallow, and the pulse at her neck invited his attention. “That’s not an answer.”

He pulled the strap of her bra with one hand while tracing the seam of her lace panties with the other. “Something tells me you picked these. For me.”

Her tongue swiped out. “Yes.”

“They’re perfect. They’re you, Nyra.”

“Is there so much of a difference, Adriano?”

“Si.For me. I don’t want you to turn into one of them,” he said, going to his knees.

She trembled as he grabbed her thighs to steady her. Little beads of perspiration danced over her upper lip. And he knew she was as excited as he was for this.

“One of whom?” Her voice went deep and husky as he pressed a kiss to the swell of her belly and trailed down.

He pulled at the seam of her panties with his teeth and the flimsy thing tore apart.

Finally, her fingers sank into his hair and tugged hard. “It’s your birthday. I meant to do this for you.”

He grinned and laced his fingers over her ankle. There was so much of her he wanted to kiss, needed to brand.

Slowly, so as not to disturb her balance, he lifted her foot and placed it on the chair he had vacated. Opening the deepest, prettiest parts of her to his greedy gaze.

“Holy hell, Adriano,” she said, her breaths serrated pants now. “I must look…obscene.”

“You’re pretty,bella, everywhere.” He ran a finger over the strip. “As for a birthday present, how can I not taste you when you went to all this trouble?”

“I don’t know if I’ll do it again. Get waxed like this. It hurt. The technician kept saying it’s the perfect precursor to labor pains.”

He kissed the under curve of her belly even as he traced the intimate shape of her with his fingers. “Why did you do it this time?”

“I wanted you to find me irresistible.”

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