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Before she could consider how, there was a knock at the door. “It’s been five minutes.”
“I’m done,” she replied.
Elio didn’t wait. Instead, he opened the door, his gaze locking with hers in the mirror.
“Okay?”
She nodded twice, then stopped, shaking her head once, before stopping again. In the end, she just shrugged.
Elio reached out for her, tugging her into his arms, into one of those warm, caring, amazing Moretti hugs. He’d pulled on his lounge pants, but he was still shirtless, his skin soft against her cheek.
“I love your hugs,” she admitted. “They feel so…” She struggled to find the right word. In the end, she landed on the one that felt right for reasons she wasn’t sure she could explain. “Safe.”
“You are safe with me, Gianna. I…”
She waited for him to say more, but he fell silent.
Gianna tightened her grip around his waist. She wasn’t sure how, but Elio, a man she’d spent less than forty-eight hours alone with, seemed to understand her on a level she’d never achieved with Sam.
“Come on,” he said, wrapping one arm around her waist. “Let’s go back to bed. We need to talk.”
She followed him, the two of them climbing back into the bed. She attempted to crawl to her side, but Elio gripped her ankle.
“Nope. We’re not going back to that your side, my side bullshit again.” He lay down on his back, then lifted his arm. “Come here.”
She shifted into his embrace, her head pillowed on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, tucking her even closer.
“Have you ever heard the expression ‘don’t borrow trouble’?” he asked.
She lifted her head, giving him a self-deprecating grin. “I’ve been a worrier from way back. My grandma used to say it to me all the time. Always said it was pointless to worry about stuff I couldn’t fix or change.”
“I think I would have liked your grandma,” Elio said.
“She would have liked you too. So what are you saying, Elio?”
“I’m saying there’s not a damn thing we can do right now to change what happened. Well, I mean, apart from me apologizing for being such a fucking dumbass and not going to get one of the new condoms. I’m so sorry, Gianna.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need that apology. It was an accident, and it wasn’t anybody’s fault.”
He looked like he wanted to argue that point but didn’t. “We’re going to be snowed in for at least two, maybe three more days. Nothing we do during that time will change the fact the condom broke. So, here’s what I’m proposing…we don’t borrow trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it?” she asked. “You realize that doesn’t sound like me at all.”
“All I’m asking for is three days, Gianna. When we leave, you’ll go home and take a pregnancy test. If it’s negative, no harm, no foul. If it’s positive, you’re going to call me and we’re going to figure it out. We’ll have all the long conversations and we’ll come up with a plan. Together.”
“Together?” She hated the way her voice cracked on the word. She’d spent the last few months feeling very alone and lonely. The idea of having someone to go through any part of her life with felt like a gift.
Elio scowled. “Of course, together. You and me. We’re going to figure it all out. I’d never leave you to do this alone.”
She knew that. Knew it all the way to her bones. It was why his hugs felt so safe.
“So we just go on like normal while we’re here?”
He nodded. “Except for one thing. We’re not cleaning the fucking cabin. Not scrubbing the floors, the toilet, the sinks, or the windows. None of that.”
She laughed, then pointed upward. “Those ceiling fans are coated in a layer of dust. All I need is a ladder and five min—”
“No cleaning,” he stressed, smiling.
