Page 65 of Dante
"Hormones?" he teased.
"Absolutely." She sniffed. "For me, there was my brother, and I knew he loved me. He spent his life looking out for me when we were in that dreadful group home. He was big and mean when required and very soon, people knew not to mess with me." She touched his face gently. "I always secretly wanted to find love and never dreamed it could be this all-consuming."
"Does it bother you?"
She propped her elbow on his chest and her chin in her palm.
"No." She shook her head in dazed wonder. "I feel superior. Wonderful actually. And on top of the world. I want to shout it to the world that I am in love with the most amazing man in the world."
"Even when I'm threatening to fire you?"
"Even then." She toyed with the hair on his chest. "Did you mean it?"
Tucking his fingers under her chin, he brought her face up. "Absolutely. You know I'm right darling. I cannot be in that office worried that you're going to have some sort of complication. You have two weeks and that's it. Be mad at me all you want, but my decision is final."
"I'm going to be out of a job, one that I love very much."
"You'll have our daughter to raise and there are a million things you could be doing. We have a charity arm of the company that needs fine-tuning. And I promise to set up an office for you here." He brushed his lips against hers. "I'll always value your input. The Penn Street project for instance, I need you on it. You have some very good ideas, ones I would like to implement. For instance, you suggested keeping the old warehouse and turning it into a community center."
"I think it's a way to keep the teenage boys off the street and give them a purpose. Caleb has this mentorship program going on at the precinct. I could ask him to have an input." The excitement sounded in her voice and her eyes sparkled with it. "That could work."
"Good." He kissed her again, relieved they had sorted it out to her satisfaction. Stunned, he also realized that this was the first time he had given in to a woman. But aside from loving her to distraction, he also respected her sharp mind and creative thinking. Not to mention the fact that he would do anything for her.
He trailed a finger down her cheek. "You've given me a sense of purpose," his deep voice was soft and intense. "Before you came into my life, I was just existing." He had to swallow the lump in his throat. "Now I'm living and loving in ways I never imagined."
"Dante." Emotions raged inside her. "My love," she whispered. "It's the same thing for me."
"Now enough of the mushy stuff. Why don't we go on home?"
"Not yet." Her eyes bright with mischief, she rolled on top of him.
He found her in the nursery again, folding the tiny clothes and putting them away. The room had been transformed into what he thought of as a cloud of pink and lilac. There were sprigs of pink roses and lilac on the pale gray wallpaper she had chosen for the walls. The cot was an antique she had found at a store several miles away and it had been polished to a high sheen.
"You're supposed to be resting." He came up behind her and rubbed her belly. He was amazed at the changes in her body. She was round and soft. Even though she complained that she was getting fat, she glowed. Her hair had grown since her pregnancy, and she had not bothered to cut it. Now it just lay in soft and curly waves around her face. The dressing gown she had on was the color of aged whiskey and brought out the color of her eyes.
Her belly bumped his middle when she wrapped her hands around his neck and leaned in for the kiss.
"I'm fine. The episode which I specifically ordered Ms. Hughes not to report to you has come and gone. She's completely loyal to you," she complained.
"As she should be." He looked around the room, loving the feel of comfort and happiness. The wives had surprised her by throwing her a baby shower and the women at his company had thrown her one as well. She was overwhelmed with gifts. And no longer complaining about not being at the office.
"How's our daughter?" He placed a hand over her bump, jolting as the movements beneath his fingers.
"Happy that her daddy is home."
"And her mother?"
"Even happier. Why don't I show you how much?"
His eyes darkened at that. "Why don't you?" Linking their fingers, he guided her from the room and opened the door connecting their suite.
"I have not had a shower yet," she told him.
"Yeah?" His eyes glittered. "Why don't we have one together?"
"Just what I was about to suggest."
"Mrs. Livingston!" The quartet of perky receptionists came to attention the minute she waddled into the building. It still gave her a definite jolt to be called by her married name, one she had yet to get used to.
