Page 26 of The Bond

I reached for a bottle of serum and started applying it to my skin, needing the routine to calm me down. “You know we never made any concrete plans for after the wedding.”

“What did you have in mind?” he asked me.

“Where are we going to live?” I asked. “In my townhouse or your apartment?”

“Wherever you want,” he said. “Home is where you are, Valentina.”

I smiled at that. “Well, how about we buy a new place? Somewhere that we both choose so we can start our new lives together.”

He returned my smile. “I could sell the apartment, move into a bigger place with you.”

“You want a big place?” I asked, my heart rising with hope.

“Yeah, we could have enough space for you and me, our future kids,” he said. “Plus, knowing our family members, they’re going to visit every damn day. They’ll be in and out of the house constantly.”

“That’s Italian families for you,” I said with a laugh, my heart soaring at the prospect of having children with Enzo. It was like something out of a dream being able to plan a future with the man I loved more than anything on earth.

“We gotta get a place with a big backyard,” he said.

“So you can play catch with the future kids?” I asked.

“Doubt I’d be any good at that sports stuff,” he said with a laugh. “I was thinking more for having family barbecues. That kind of thing.”

I brightened at that. We could plan entire family activities together. Get togethers. Outings. Special bonding time. I was already in heaven contemplating it all.

“My dad would be more than happy to teach the kids how to cook,” I said, giddy at the thought of Papa becoming a grandfather. “He’s picked up a few things from the restaurant business.”

“See that I’m good at,” Enzo said, getting out of bed to put on his boxer briefs. “I could teach the kids to slice some pieces of pork—”

“You’re not teaching our little ones to chop up pork,” I said with a gasp.

He smiled ruefully. “Okay, when they’re older. Or instead of pork, I could show them how to take real cuts of beef.”

“You know normal kids learn to play catch or ride a bike,” I said with a groan, knowing full well that he was messing with me.

My husband walked over to me to press a series of kisses up and down the column of my neck. I quivered at this touch, basking in the glow of his attention.

“If you wanted normal kids, you should have married a normal man,” he said.

“Sounds boring,” I said, making a face at the mirror.

“Damn, how are you so beautiful?” he asked then. “It’s like you get more gorgeous by the minute.”

“It’s this,” I said playfully, holding up the bottle of moisturizer. It was taking a lot of willpower on my part to tear my eyes away from his sculpted chest. He was getting muscular again now that he’d been out of the hospital, and it was both a relief and a mouthwatering experience to watch him regain his old strength.

“Doubt it.” He kissed my neck again and then disappeared into the bathroom for a few moments while I layered on the moisturizer.

When he came back out, he leaned against the doorway, somehow seeming both lazy and in command at the same time.

“You haven’t asked about the honeymoon,” he said.

My eyes widened. “Oh, my goodness, I completely forgot. Did you really plan it?”

“Yup. Guess where it is,” he said.

I paused to think. “Tell me it’s near a beach.”

“You bet it is,” he said with a smile. “A whole shoreline.”