Page 55 of Forbidden Surrogate

"Fuck," Luigi grunts. "She's making a run for it."

Crap. Now I'm torn.

"It might be that," I answer him. "But she could be in trouble. She seemed really... different. Sentimental."

“She was like that with me earlier today,” Luigi confesses. “I was suspicious too. But I thought her little disappearance tonight was just a devious manipulation to get me to call you.”

“And you didn’t call.”

“I was going to,” Luigi says hastily. “I only didn’t call because I thought you didn’t want to hear from me.”

I could push him away now. But I worry that if I lose this chance to connect with Luigi, I won’t get it back.

“Just because I’m mad doesn’t mean I stop caring about you.”

“Are you admitting you care about me?”

“Yes. And it’s not just because Angela came over here acting all weird.”

“I miss you,” Luigi says, more forward and confident with his emotions than I could ever find myself.

“I...”

“It’s hard for you to feel safe with me,” He says before I can spoil the moment. “I understand. But what I want more than anything is to earn your love and trust. I’ll give you a whole new contract if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t want a contract.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want you to get over here. Angela scared me and I don’t know if your family drama finally pushed her over the edge or if she’s in genuine danger.”

“If I come over to the lake house, I won’t be leaving,” Luigi says, making it clear that this invitation means I’m signing up to take all of him back at once.

While my anger with him feels way too real, the other emotions are stronger than my frustrations. The way I crave his presence defies logic. It must have something to do with the life growing inside me. Even if it’s “just hormones”, I don’t think those hormones will disappear once the baby gets here. Once we have to name him or her.

If I can believe our feelings will disappear with the baby’s arrival, I can just as easily convince myself that those feelings will deepen and grow with a new bond to connect us and grow alongside ours.

“Then stay,” I tell him. “Just get over here.”

“I won’t be long.”

“Bye.”

“I love you, Delphine.”

“Love you too.”

We’ve never said those words to each other. I hang up and fight the urge to throw up. It’s pure anxiety, not disgust. I feel like I’ve been launched off a roller coaster and I don’t know if I’ll land on my feet with stability, better yet in Luigi’s arms, or if I’ll face plant because I took a chance on a man who could never be mine.

Three minutes after I put down the phone, I see headlights in the lake house driveway. What the hell? Was he waiting in the bushes? Considering my suspicion that the Angela situation might have been staged, it could have all been part of Luigi’s plan to pop out of the bushes.

I eagerly rush to the front door and look out the peephole to watch him approach. I want to see him, especially since Angela’s bizarre visit and departure have me on edge. When Luigi getsout of the car, he’s covered head to toe in black. I can’t even see his face.

Is he trying to scare me to death? I open the front door to the lake house to greet him and tell him off about the sketchy ass outfit. My timing is completely fucked up. I swing the door open, take two steps out and come face to face with a man who is... not Luigi.

For a fraction of a second, I question myself because they have the same icy blue eyes, but this man is NOT Luigi Taviani. I step backwards, giving myself another millisecond to double take. It’s not him. And it’s too late. The man lunges forward once he spots my panic and he covers my mouth with his hands.

I couldn’t fight him off if I wanted to considering he’s roughly the same size as the giant man who I mistook him for at first. I also have the primal instinct to protect my baby and to put my baby’s survival over even my own...

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