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“I think she's been waiting for you—,” I tried to explain.
“I’ll do it myself.” He bit out his words. “Just go back to sleep.”
Lorenzo got back into bed and gathered Clara to him, resting her small body against his chest.
I opened my mouth to say something but then closed it again. And not knowing what else to do, I lay back down, even though I was no longer sleepy. I’d tried hard to get Clara back to sleep; however, I was a stranger to her, and she wasn’t used to me yet. Lorenzo couldn’t expect me to perform miracles on my first day with the children, although miracles were what he seemed to want from me.
I tried not to let his words get to me, but the unfairness of his attitude niggled at me. It was as if he thought I hadn’t even bothered to help Clara.
“Mia preziosa, I’m here now.” He murmured to his little girl as he waited for her to fall back asleep. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
Lorenzo was gently smoothing her dark curls back from her forehead as she hugged her small hands to him. He continued speaking to her in a low voice, reassuring her that she was safe and that he was there for her.
After a time, her eyelids began to droop, and eventually, she drifted off to sleep, Lorenzo tucking the comforter snugly around her body.
Looking at the little girl who lay between us, I knew I didn’t mind her being there. There was plenty of room for her in our huge bed, and I could see how desperately she needed this reassurance from her father.
As I tried to get back to sleep, I told myself that tomorrow was a new day, and I would try again to make things work with the children.
CHAPTER 16
LORENZO
The next morning, I was awake for a while but didn’t move because I didn’t want to wake Clara.
Anni woke up just before the time my alarm normally went off.
She looked across at Clara who was still huddled up to me, with her tiny fists curled against my chest. “She didn’t wake again after that first time,” she commented. “She likes being near you at night.”
Turning off my alarm before it went off, I slid out of bed, careful not to disturb Clara, and headed for the shower.
In the bathroom, my eye caught a packet of pills peeking out of Anni’s make-up bag.
Taking a closer look, I saw that they were birth control, and judging by the empty tabs, she had already started to take them. Good, because when I fucked her, I wanted to take her bareback—so that I could feel every inch of her tight pussy milking my dick when I made her come.
When I was done, I wrapped a towel around my waist and made my way to the closet to get dressed, selecting a black suit and a charcoal-gray dress shirt.
As I got dressed, Anni took her turn in the shower.
Then I sat on the side of the bed, replying to some e-mails on my phone, while she got dressed. I scowled when she came out from the closet wearing shorts and a yellow and white geometric-print top which has ridiculous ruffles around the high neck and cap sleeves.
But I didn’t have time right now to deal with her inappropriate attire. We needed to deal with the kids so that I could leave for work. “Time to get the kids up,” I said. “You take Clemente, and I’ll get Clara dressed.”
After washing Clara’s face and hands, I tried to persuade her to get dressed. I’d got a pink dress out of the closet and was holding it out to her, but she was reluctant to wear it.
While I attempted to convince her to put it on, I could hear Anni doing the same with Clemente across the hallway. Through the open doorways, I could see my son sitting on the floor, playing with a toy car and a toy plane, making noises as he moved them around. Anni was looking through the large dresser, pulling out clothes and trying to judge what might fit him and what had grown too small.
He was just as reluctant to get dressed as Clara, although his reason seemed to be that he didn't want to stop playing with his toys. Eventually, Anni managed to get him out of his pajamas and wrestled him into his clothes. At least Clemente thought that the whole thing was like a game and was still smiling at the end of it.
Anni then took his hand and brought him into the master bedroom where I was still struggling with Clara.
I was trying to persuade Clara to put on the pretty pink dress. “Come on, Clara, you need to get dressed.”
She gave a small shake of her head.
“I know you want to wear your blue dress, but I forgot to wash it last night, so it's still dirty. You have to wear something clean.”
Clara just looked at me with big, sad eyes.
