AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your new husband,” Vitalo drawled, staying where he was, one hip propped against the counter, his eyes following Kat’s progress.
“We argued.” She blinked across at Vitalo and shook her head. “Don’t look at me like that. I know you don’t approve of him but he makes me happy. I thought he made me happy…”
“You knew him precisely three seconds before you agreed to marry him,” Vitalo pointed out sagely. “And anyone with half a brain can see he’s using you.”
“Gee, thanks,” Kat drawled, biting down on her lower lip that immediately reminded him of Bella. Nausea surfed his insides and he had never, until that moment, been more grateful, that not once had he given into any temptation to kiss nor touch Kat. He was grateful that loyalty to Andrew had kept every single one of those boundaries in place even when, years earlier, he’d ached to comfort the widow the only way he knew how.
But friendship was all he could ever offer Kat, despite what she’d wanted from him, and Vitalo had been determined to be her friend, even when that friendship was complicated. And now?
“I have always been honest with you,” he said quietly.
“Lorenzo is poor,” she said quietly. “I know he likes my money and the lifestyle I can offer. But I do also believe he loves me.” Her eyes were huge when they lifted to Vitalo’s. “And he makes me happy.”
Vitalo was surprised he didn’t feel anything at that pronouncement. “Then what is it?”
“He wants to have a baby.”
“You’re what, forty eight?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I’m forty four.”
Vitalo laughed. “Sure, in OK! Magazine, you’re forty four, but I know you, Katerina Howard, and I happen to know you are forty eight.”
She reached for her champagne, sipping it once more, her lips flattened with distaste at his honesty. “There are options. IVF, surrogacy. There are ways I can do this. But I’m not sure. I didn’t enjoy being a mother the first time around,” she said flatly. “I don’t know if I want to sign up for it all over again.”
“And you fought over this?”
“He thinks I’ve misled him.” Kat spoke so quietly Vitalo almost didn’t hear. “That I haven’t been honest with him. He was furious when I told him I wasn’t sure about having a child.”
“Have you discussed it before?”
“Yes.” Kat had the goodness to look sheepish.
“And what did you promise him, Kat?”
She shifted her gaze away, sipping her champagne until the glass was empty.
“Kat?”
“Fine. I told him we’d talk about it after the wedding.”
Vitalo groaned. “But you led him to believe you wanted another baby?”
“No! Never!”
“At least, then, that it wasn’t off the table?”
She stared at Vitalo for several seconds and then, finally, nodded.
“Christós, Kat, no wonder he’s angry. Why did you lie to him?”
“I didn’t want him to… I wanted to get married.” She put the flute down on the table purposefully, crossing to Vitalo and undoing her trench coat as she walked. “I’m so sick of being lonely, Vit.”
Vitalo was very still, watching her from hooded eyes as she removed her jacket to reveal a fitted white shirt and skinny jeans. She was in incredibly shape for any age, and he’d spent years fantasizing about her.
But Bella had cured him – thank God. He was relieved to learn he wasn’t the kind of man who could bounce from daughter to mother.
“I’m so sick of being lonely,” she repeated, lifting a hand to his chest and pressing it to his heart. “First with Andrew, and how much he travelled. Then with you, refusing to give into this, to admit you want me. And now, Lorenzo, who’s put me out in the cold just because I won’t… I don’t know. Another baby is… I’m forty four.”
