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‘Then you shall have massages often.’ She turned back to him just in time to see him wink. Her chest compressed as though cement were being pressed against it. ‘But today? You are my prisoner in other ways.’
She paused, her expression showing curiosity.
‘Today, you rest. You relax and tell me what you need. I will bring you anything your heart desires.’
She nodded, but deep down she knew he could never do that. What her heart desired, really desired, wasn’t on offer from Matteo Vin Santo, and never would be.
CHAPTER NINE
SKYE PUSHED THE dress onto the hanger, adding it to the collection she was gathering in one side of the dressing room. She paused, midway through reaching for the next option, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her stomach, usually so flat, was thicker around the middle. Not round yet.
Just...different.
Her breasts had changed too. They were no longer neat and modest, and her bras had begun to pinch her sides painfully. It was enough to make her feel uncomfortable in her usual wardrobe. She ran her hands down her body, curling her fingertips over her flesh, breathing in deeply as though she could hear the little life inside her, if only she listened hard enough.
This was really happening.
Her smile was bright. She saw the joy in her face and it made her heart lurch.
Be careful, Skye. Don’t forget that this isn’t perfect. It’s not a fairy tale.
But the baby was pretty damned close. All her life, she’d never known true love. She thought she’d found it with Matteo, but she’d been wrong there.
The baby would love her, though, and she woul
d love him. With her whole heart. She would never, ever let him be hurt or sad, or feel alone or frightened. She lifted the final dress over her head, pulling it down, studying it from all angles before nodding and removing it.
She pulled her own shirt back on then tossed the new clothes over her arm and shouldered out of the changing room.
Matteo stood out like a sore thumb, waiting in the middle of the boutique, dressed in a dark suit. But he was holding something in his hands. As she got closer, her heart skidded against her rib cage. It was a soft toy.
A toy for their child.
‘I thought he would need something,’ Matteo said with a shrug and a bemused smile.
Skye smiled back but turned away quickly, feeling the now-familiar prick of tears threatening. She laid the dresses onto the counter in time to see the shop assistant practically wipe her drool from the side of her mouth, staring at Matteo as though he were gelato on a hot summer’s day.
Skye understood.
She’d felt like that plenty of times.
‘All this?’ the assistant asked in heavily accented English.
‘And the toy,’ Skye said with a nod. She waited while the assistant rung the clothes up and bagged them, and then Matteo slid his credit card across, something which both surprised and frustrated Skye.
‘You’re buying my clothes now?’ she enquired silkily as they stepped out of the boutique.
‘You only need new clothes because of my baby.’ His response was filled with infuriating logic.
‘My baby too.’
‘Yes, cara. I am aware of that. But it helps me feel...involved,’ he said with a shrug of his shoulders and a degree of honesty that made her gut clench.
‘Do you not feel involved otherwise?’
‘No, I mean, you get to grow the baby and all the work is yours for now. Delivery, nursing.’ He shrugged. ‘I want to do something too.’
She would never have thought he would feel that way. She chanced a sidelong glance at his profile and then looked straight ahead as they walked down the busy street. Tourists flocked around them.
