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“Ohhh,” I laugh. “So, wearehaving a girl too. Just later.”
He gives my hips a playful squeeze and lies down beside me, his rare laugh even gruffer in the morning. “Our daughter will be even more protected.”
“Oh, God. I can’t even imagine you with a daughter. Every boy who ever tries to take her out is doomed. AMafia Kingfor a father. Imagine trying to get a date for prom. I would’ve cried when I was a teenager.”
“I will assess and approve of him first. If he ever mistreats her—”
“Gio! You can’t go full Mafia boss on our daughter’s future boyfriend.”
“There will be no boyfriends,” he jokes darkly. A joke that’s also serious.
I lie back against the pillows and eye him, amusement bubbling inside me. “You’re not only insatiable, you’reimpossible. But something tells me our kids will have you wrapped around their little fingers.”
He grunts and kisses me, capturing my lips for another affectionate interlude. I’m too happy not to oblige. It’s easy to lose any concept of time when we’re together like this.
His hand falls to my stomach for another caress. I’ve started showing, though you can hardly tell in the wedding photos when I’m standing straight on. Even from the side, it looks like I’ve got a temporary food baby more than anything. In my magnificent Vera Wang wedding gown of layered lace and tulle, I’d never felt more like a beautiful queen. Baby bump and all.
Gio never misses a chance to reaffirm this. Every night he kisses my stomach and falls asleep with a dutiful hand on top of the growing baby bump, as if guarding our future son or daughter, even from his dreams.
It feels like so long ago I’d cried when discovering I was pregnant. I’d found Gio’s engagement ring by accident and become nauseous. But it wasn’t like the nausea was anything new—I’d been sick and exhausted for weeks. For reasons I didn’t understand until I took a pregnancy test, and another, and five more after that.
As it turns out, I was almost two months pregnant by the time I learned I was. Gio’s swimmers were that determined, and I was that fertile. The first few weeks of my pregnancy were hell. Between the intense grief of losing Gio and the anxiety and fear of dealing with his deranged brother, Giancarlo, the doctor says the rest of my pregnancy must be as easy and stress-free as possible.
Gio has taken the doctor’s orders with utmost seriousness. He’s made it his mission to ensure I’m pampered to the fullest extent possible. I didn’t know how he could spoil me more than he already has, but he’s found ways.
When he pulls back from our kisses, he studies my face for a moment. I recognize the contemplative expression—it’s like he’s in his head, visualizing the future. As a Mafia King now ruling over the Sorrentino empire, he’s always thinking of what’s to come. His next move. Any potential threats and triumphs.
There’s no rest. Even in moments like this. Gio’s mind is always going, always full of deep thoughts. Sometimes he shares them. Other times he’s an impenetrable vault. But he’s beentrying.
Just for me.
“What’s that look for?” I ask softly, though my insides flutter. My husband’s intense, electric gaze will never not give me butterflies.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Pretty please.”
He kisses my mouth. “I love when you beg. I was thinking about what our child will be like.”
An instant smile brightens my face. “That…just might be the cutest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Go to the lastcazzoI interrogated in my padded room and ask him if I’m so cute. He’d look at you like you’re crazy.”
“You have your moments. Like now.”
“Only for you, Honey.” He leans onto his side and reaches out to play with a stray curl of mine. “You get the Gio nobody else sees. The one who was just thinking about how we’ll take family trips to Portofino. Spend the summers in my family’s villa.”
“Mmm. That sounds wonderful.”
“Safe, of course. Top security.”
“You mean like now?”
“More than now,” he says. “Everywhere we go, we’ll have a full security team. Our own Secret Service.”
His concern is heartwarming, if almost a little obsessive. Ever since the attempts on his life, my hostage situation with his brother, and he learned I was pregnant, he’s surrounded us with security like never before. Secret Service is right; we’re basically just as protected as the President.
“I can’t wait to take them. We can show them your childhood photo albums,” I tease.
