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All the same, life with Pepe was good. More than good. Now that they had reached an understanding, all the antagonism had died. She knew that whatever happened between them, their child would not suffer for it.
He treated her like a princess. They’d gone for her twenty-week scan together, and to witness the adoration on his face was almost as thrilling as seeing her baby for herself. The money he’d put into her account—an amount that, if she were a cartoon character, would have made her eyes pop out of her head—had been happily spent that morning on baby furniture and other paraphernalia, with more than a little change left over. It was all now being stored in Pepe’s humongous garage alongside his fleet of sports cars.
And now, back at the house, they were having a swim together in Pepe’s underground luxury pool. Or, rather, she was lazing in the shallow end watching him swim lengths. He sped through the water like a porpoise, his strokes long and practised. There was something rather hypnotic about watching him, she mused. Who needed a book when one could watch Pepe?
After she’d counted him do approximately fifty lengths, he waded over to her, a large grin on his face. ‘You should swim, lazybones.’
‘I was admiring the view.’
His grin broadened and he swooped in for a kiss.
‘Hmm,’ she sighed, greedily kissing him back. It never ceased to amaze her how much Pepe wanted her. Or how much she wanted him. Already she could feel the stir of an erection in his swimming shorts, rubbing against her thigh.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said as he nuzzled into her neck, ‘that I should really look at getting a driver’s licence for when the baby’s born.’
He stilled a touch. ‘I can provide you with a car and a driver.’
‘I’m sure you can,’ she agreed drily. ‘But it would be nice to have the freedom to just...go, when the mood takes me.’
She had to think practically. She just had to. Thinking in detail about her and their baby’s future kept her silly emotions in check. And if ever her stomach rolled at the thought of their future being without Pepe, she quashed it. After all, Pepe would always be an enormous part of their lives; they’d just be living under different roofs.
For the time being, things between them were magical, but she would not allow herself to think it could last for ever. Pepe didn’t do for ever.
‘Have you thought about where you’ll want to live with the baby?’ he asked, reading her mind.
‘I was thinking maybe here in Paris,’ she admitted. In the month they’d been together she’d travelled with him to his homes in Portugal and Spain. Of all the places Pepe called home, Paris was her favourite. There was something so wonderful about the city, the bustle, the chic women, the architecture, the art. Wandering the streets always evoked a feeling of contentment that was only surpassed at night when she would lie sated, wrapped in his arms, drifting off to sleep.
‘Really? That’s a great idea.’ And it was a great idea, Pepe told himself. His stomach hadn’t really cramped at the thought of Cara and their baby living away from him.
‘It just makes sense, especially as this house is going to become your main base. It’ll make it easier for the baby to be living in the same city as her mam and dad.’
He forced a smile. ‘I was thinking of turning your old room into a nursery.’
‘An excellent idea. You’ll be right next to him or her then.’ Her face scrunched. ‘You’ll have to move my boxes into another room though, at least until I move out.’
‘Not a problem.’ For practicality, they’d moved her clothes and toiletries into his room, but all her other stuff was still in her old room, still in boxes from when he’d had it flown over from Dublin.
Cara was saying words that should have been balm to his ears. She’d not developed feelings for him that ran beyond a sexual level, and nor had she dropped any hints, subtle or otherwise, about making things between them permanent. Everything was proceeding exactly as planned. He was positive that any day soon his lust for her would start to abate. Any day.
So why did the thought of her living under a different roof from him make his chest feel so tight? Why did the thought of living without her make it hard to breathe?
* * *
After a long weekend in Sicily with Pepe’s family, spent hanging out with Grace and deflecting her friend’s worries about Cara and Pepe’s relationship, Pepe left for a week-long trip to Chile, a distance they’d agreed was too far for her pregnant self to accompany him.
Alone in the house, Cara’s mind kept drifting back to the talk she’d had with Grace, when her friend had tentatively voiced her concerns.
