Page 13 of The Baby His Secretary Carries

“This is good news.” The old man gave a long, shaky sigh. Tears came into his eyes. The cool hand in Molly’s shifted to turn hers over. “But no ring? Fetch Nonna’s from the safe, Gio.”

Gio’s whole body jolted and she heard his breath catch.

His reaction was so visceral, her heart lurched and her veins stung with alarm.

“Oh, I—”Couldn’t. Molly’s instinctive protest was cut off by Gio’s light squeeze of warning before he gently released her.

“I would be honored, Nonno. Thank you.”

Gio walked away, leaving Molly feeling chilled despite the fact the room was being kept as toasty as a sauna for Otto.

Gio moved to a large black-and-white photo of a couple in wedding regalia from the 1800s. He swung it back on its hidden hinge, revealing a wall safe.

“The ring belonged to my grandmother,” Otto told her. “Then my mother wore it, then my Theresa.” His shaking fingers were moving restlessly on hers. “It will be good to see it on you.”

What about Gio’s mother? she wondered, but Gio was bringing a velvet box toward her. His gaze locked to hers, some hidden meaning sparking behind his eyes as he approached. It was a message that urged her to keep looking at him.Stay with me.

He went down on one knee!

“Oh!” she blurted, slapping both her hands over her mouth.

“Molly Brooks, will you marry me?” He offered the ring, which she could barely see because her eyes welled with tears. Her throat closed and her mouth couldn’t form any words. Why? This wasn’t even real!

Otto chuckled. “Give him your hand,carina.”

She offered her right hand.No, silly.Her left. It was visibly shaking, which made her feel so horribly obvious.

This isn’t real. It isn’t real.

Gio slid the ring onto her finger—it fit beautifully, as though it was meant for her. He kissed her knuckles.

She had the wildest thought that she wanted to tell her mother she was engaged. She wanted to tell Libby.Sasha.

She really was going to cry. Why were all her dreams coming true at the worst possible time?

Gio rose, bringing her hand upward so he held it between them. His expression was impossible to read because her eyes were too full of mist. She looked at their joined hands, dying of embarrassment.

“I feel so foolish.” What must he think of her acting this way?

“You’re perfect.” He sounded tender as he gently cradled her face, tilting up her mouth before setting the lightest of kisses on her lips.

Perhaps he only meant it to be that chaste performance for his grandfather, but as he drew back a hairbreadth, her lips clung to his. It was the hug all over again. She was instigating something she shouldn’t have, but feelings were brimming out of her. Everything in her wanted to hold on to this moment. To make it real.

Her vision hazed over even more. Her bloodstream was hot and fizzing. Her weight tipped forward ever so slightly while she lifted against him, inviting a firmer kiss.

His nostrils flared. There was a flash behind his eyes like sheet lightning, then his mouth sealed to hers. He angled his head, parting her lips without effort, then plundered in a way that sent a shock wave into her belly.

She had never been kissed like this. Not just the rough-gentle expertise that threw her so off balance she had to cling to his shoulders. No, the greater difference was the way her whole body reacted, as though she’d plunged into a fire that burned away the rest of the world, promising to leave her forged into something new.

But even as her cells and synapses were calibrating to his, he was pulling back. She heard Otto give another dry chuckle.

It had only been a few seconds, but she’d been bronzed and changed, and no longer made of one element, but two. She held particles of Gio within herself and they made her feel radiant.

“Nowyou have given me something to live for,” Otto said in his paper-thin voice. “Call the ambulance, Gio. The hospital can keep me alive long enough to see you married.”

Hours later, Gio exhaled a mountain of tension as they entered his apartment in Genoa. It was located closer to both the office and the hospital, so it made sense to sleep here instead of the villa.

The transfer to the hospital had been taxing on Nonno, but he was accepting oxygen and some antiviral medication. He had even sipped a little soup.

---