Page 58 of The Italian's Pregnant Enemy (A Diamond in the Rough)

“Is what why?”

“More surprises?”

Something shifted within him. “Perhaps I just wish to return with everything in hand. Wealth, my wife, my child.”

She shifted against him, but didn’t speak.

“You should move in with me when we get back to Manhattan.”

“I should?”

“Yes. It will be more convenient.”

“For sex.”

“Yes,” he said. “What else would I mean?”

“Living with another person isn’t only about sex. We will be sharing things. Our lives.” But the whole time she was talking she was moving her hand beneath his shirt. Lower and lower still.

“You want to live with me. You want to be with me,” he said. “In my bed.”

“You’re very arrogant,” she said.

“Yes,” he said. “I am.”

“You want me to live with you because you can’t bear to be apart from me. Because you want me naked, all the time. How long has it been, Dario? Has it really been since I spilled the coffee in your office?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice hard. “I wanted things from you that I knew then you could not even fathom. You were an adult, yes, but only technically. I was stunned by your beauty. And that is a rare thing. Because beauty is subjective. And it is everywhere. But there was something more with you. From the beginning. I wanted you.”

“You should’ve had me then.”

“A bad idea. I don’t think you would’ve wanted to be my eighteen-year-old wife and mother to my child.”

She laughed. “No. I am less of an idiot now than I was then.”

“You will move in with me,” he said.

“Yes. Of course. And I’ll vacuum naked and in heels.”

“Really?”

“Only if you cook me dinner naked.”

“Sounds dangerous,” he said. He gripped her chin. “Also, I have staff for that.”

She laughed. “I do hope that your staff isn’t naked.”

“Of course not.” But he did make a mental note to have there be clear times when no one else was in the house so that they did not always have to wear clothes.

He had never lived with a woman before.

Had never even thought about it.

It was a strange prospect. But one he quite liked. When the woman in question was Lyssia. She was interesting. She would perhaps be even more interesting in proximity.

“We didn’t even make it to the bedroom.”

“Feel free to lead the way. And explore what I brought in the suitcase.”

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