Page 67 of Irreplaceable

The moment I wrapped my lips around the fork, my taste buds rejoiced in delight. “Oh god. That is amazing.”

He grinned, then leaned closer. “I’d hoped to give you another orgasm at dinner.”

“I-I—”

“You have a little sauce—” He used his finger to wipe my chin. “There.”

He licked his finger, his eyes hooded when they met mine. “Mm. That is orgasmically delicious.”

Holy hell. I clenched my thighs together as if to ease the ache building there.

For a moment, it felt as if we were back in Bali. Back at the beginning. When everything was fun and spontaneous, an adventure. But then I thought about the baby, and I knew that wasn’t true. Life was so much more complicated now.

We might be living in a bubble at the moment, but just like with Bali, it was a fantasy. It would end. He would return to his life, and I mine. Even if we now lived in the same city, we were still worlds apart.

I could not—would not—fall under Enzo’s spell again. This was no longer just about me, but also about my child. And I would do anything to protect him or her.

“Where’d you go just now?” Enzo asked.

I shook my head. “Nowhere.”

“Uccellina,” he chided.

“Enzo, it’s fine. It’s nothing.”

He placed his hand over mine. “If something is bothering you, it’s not nothing. Tell me.”

I removed my hand under the pretense of cutting another bite. “I guess I wondered how the move was going. You never mentioned it as a possibility when we were in Bali.” Though there were a lot of things he hadn’t mentioned.

“Sì.” He used the corner of his napkin to wipe his mouth. “It was only after I returned from Bali that I learned of the offer.”

“Are you happy about it?” I asked, curious.

He stopped what he was doing, his eyes meeting mine. “At first, I wasn’t. But I am now.”

“What changed?”

“Everything.” That one word felt heavy with meaning, at least based on the way he was looking at me.

We resumed eating, and he seemed very absorbed with his meal all of a sudden. “Actually,” he said, “there are a few things we should discuss.”

“Okay.” I hid my hands beneath the table to hide my nervousness. “Such as?”

“How you wish to announce our relationship and the fact that we’re pregnant.”

I furrowed my brow. “Um…”

“The longer we wait, the less control I have over the story.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Story? What story? Why do we have to announce anything? I haven’t even told my parents.”

He jerked his head back. “What?”

I cringed. “I was going to, but I wanted to do it in person. I planned to tell my family this weekend.”

“Your dad’s sixtieth birthday celebration, right?”

I gazed at him in wonder. “You remembered?”

---