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Once I finished laughing and could talk again, I told him, “You have a wonderful laugh, Grumpy. And a gorgeous smile. How could you hide it for so long?”
“I never had a reason to smile until now.”
I swallowed a huge gulp of my juice to keep from bursting into tears.
Then, when he’d finished feeding me cut-up pieces of sausage—interspersed with long, delicious, breakfast-flavored kisses—he reached into a pocket.“You know the paparazzi already posted pictures from two days ago,” he said, showing me his phone. There were dozens of articles with #grumpysmile and #grumpynomore, and a headline of “The Smile that Broke a Thousand Hearts.” That picture showed Grumpy on his knees, smiling up at me.
My expression was the same as I imagined it would be if I’d just taken a blow to the head. “I look like an eejit.”
“You look radiant,” Giovanni said softly, almost to himself. “I’ll show this picture to our grandchildren someday.”
I choked on a swallow of my juice. Giovanni reacted like I’d gone into cardiac arrest, patting my back and muttering alarming things about delayed drowning and lung infections. When I finally could speak again, I rasped, “Chill out. I’m fine.”
“You werechoking.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t just drop a word like grandchildren into a conversation and expect me to stay relaxed. I mean… children.”
“You don’t want children? I mean, you don’t have to. You’re young. You have plenty of time. Or you may not even want them. Your business will take time, and attention. I know that.” It was almost cute how he was trying to mask his disappointment, and blabbering. “Not all women want to start families at your—”
“I’d better want them. Or at least one,” I interrupted, holding up my phone. “And you’d better, too.”
He peered down at my screen, reading the words his aunt had sent me that morning. “You’re... pregnant? But… you were in heat last night.”
I snorted. “Apparently, back in your day, they didn’t teach sex ed. Or at least not how omegas work. Normal heat cycles are fertile times, and mini-heats, or mating heats are, too.” I felt my face burning. How was it that I had to explain this to a man eighteen years older than me?
Then I remembered the “man” part. I knew some politicians in our country thought babies were gestated in the stomach. And that women could choose to be fertile or not.Ugh.
Giovanni finished the explanation for me. “But mating heats between true mates can recur until there's a claiming bite. I’d forgotten.”
I barely stopped myself from commenting that memories faded with age. We would have years for me to tease him. “Anyway, you’ve got strong swimmers, I guess. I got pregnant on the boat, from that one night. Although it might have been from the time you did that cum dump truck maneuver that was weirdly gross and sexy at the same—oof!”
He’d wrapped his arm around me, hugging me so close I couldn’t talk, or breathe. For some reason, he was shaking.Trembling.
I sniffled as he rocked me back and forth, and waited for him to wrap his mind around the news. Not that I had.In less than nine months, I’d be a mother. And this overbearing, intelligent, handsome growly alpha would be a father. A daddy.
“I’m not calling you Daddy,” I whispered in his ear. “I know we have that age gap thing going, but no. That’s not on my list of potential kinks.”
Giovanni kneeled beside the bed and opened the bedside table. “I don’t care what you call me. Grumpy, Gio, Asshole… Sir.” He raised one eyebrow. I knew how much he liked me calling him that.
“Understood, sir.”
“Good. I was hoping, though…” Suddenly, he had a small, hand-carved box in his hand, with what looked like threads of gold and platinum and a dozen brightly colored gemstones decorating the lid. He placed the box in my hand. “I was hoping I could call you my wife.”
The box opened with a quiet snick, and I gasped. Nestled in sapphire velvet was an art deco-style ring crafted in gold and platinum, with three emerald-cut yellow diamonds on the top. The central stone was the largest yellow diamond I’d ever seen.
“I had it the day I went to your house. I just never dreamed I’d be able to see you wear it… will you?”
“Grumpy,” I wheezed, pulling the ring out of the box.
“Not grumpy anymore. Not if you say I do, my love,” he rasped. “When I met you, you had on a yellow dress, and it was as if the sun came out from behind a cloud that had covered my entire life. Be my wife. Be my sunshine.” He slipped the ring on my finger, and it warmed instantly.
“I do!” I shouted, tackling him and pressing kisses to his face, giving a few extras to the cute dimple that kept popping up. “I’ll be your Sunshine for the rest of our lives.”
Chapter24
Sunshine
“Okay, with you as maid of honor, Candy as matron of honor, Flora doing the flower arrangements, Valentina making the cakes, and Laurel as wedding coordinator, I think my wedding will either be the best one this century, or a cautionary tale for all future brides.”
