But what we just did, completely and ruinously ill-advised by any medical professional, had nothing to do with creating an heir. It hadn’t even crossed my mind.
The only goal was to feel. And I’ve never felt more. It was everything.
And everything feels overwhelming in the face of reality. In the face of a positive pregnancy test and a tangible reminder as to why we are both even here in the first place.
“Are you sure?” These are his first words, none bearing even a fraction of the emotion of a few moments ago.
I swallow hard. “I…I should do another. I’ll book an appointment in the morning just in case.”
Leon suddenly rises to his feet, his nakedness entirely distracting when I really need to focus on what he’s saying for my own sanity. “No.”
“We need to make sure.”
“You won’t leave this house,” he says evenly. “I’ll have a doctor come visit.”
I open my mouth and close it again. Let out an equally even breath. “I’m perfectly capable of visiting the clinic myself.”
“There’s no need, not anymore.” Leon takes a step forward.
He’s close enough now that I can see the intensity in his eyes. There’s clarity there that had been absent when his cock was in my mouth. I miss that look of haziness with a pang of unwarranted desire.
I shake my head. “Well, I have to leave at some point. You can’t plan on keeping me locked in here until I give birth.”
He says nothing. He steps closer.
My arms wrap around my chest, suddenly very, very wary. “Leon?”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do.”
“You can’t be serious.” It comes out in a whisper instead of a statement of defiance.
Leon looms before me, his strong shoulders bearing the weight of an entire mafia family, and I realize with a dreadful lurch in my stomach exactly what’s about to happen.
“You bear my child,” he says. “It is now my duty to keep you safe.”
“Your duty?” The words are bitter on my tongue. Because, of course, this is what it all comes down to.
“Mia.”
Not Mia. Not anymore.
Because it might have been fun to flirt with me, fun to fuck me. Fun to dance up against me in a club where no one could see us. But now that I’ve served my purpose…
“No, you’re right,” I swallow hard as I take a step back. “Let’s not lose sight of what’s important here. I wouldn’t want anything to distract from bearing your goddamn children.”
His eyebrows knit into a tight frown. “You know how important this is.”
“I don’t need you to remind me!” I laugh even though I feel like crying. “Is that everything you want from me this evening? Have I fulfilled my purpose? Can your wife return to bed so that she might rot there in peace?”
“I’m not sending you away.” He suddenly crowds me again. “I want you to stay.”
How many times has he asked that of me now? Each request had been like a jolt of electricity to the heart, a whisper of something more that could flourish behind it.
Now it just sounds like…
Stay where I can see you. Stay so you don’t wander too far. Stay so that I can know you’re safe.
Stay safe. Stay safe.
