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“Are dating. Exclusively. We’re going to be a couple.”
“You can’t just say we’re a couple.”
He smirked. “Of course I can. I just did. We’re a couple. You’re my girlfriend.” Then, because it felt like he was still trying to wrap his head around it all, he added, “We’re going to be parents, a family.” He dropped down until he was sitting on the love seat, his face even with her stomach.
She tried to blink back tears when he placed his forehead against her belly, his large hands gripping her waist.
“A baby,” he said once more, before placing a kiss there. “You’re having my baby.”
Gianna tried to rearrange everything she’d ever heard about Elio from his sister, from his family and friends, even from him. This wasn’t the anti-commitment, relationship-resistant man everyone believed him to be.
He lifted his face to hers. There was no mistaking the joy, the wonder in his tone. “Thank you,” he whispered. Then he leaned closer, placed his lips to her belly again, and whispered, “I can’t wait to meet you.”
“Oh God. I can’t either,” she said, the words thick. “You’re going to make me cry.” She waved her hands in her face to dry the tears forming there. She, Liza, and Keeley had spent a stupid amount of time on their hair and makeup this afternoon. If she cried now, they’d know it and she would have no way to explain.
Elio looked up at her. “I quit the team. This is my last year.”
It took a second for his words to process, and when they did, she sank down next to him once more. “You quit? Already? Or…you’re going to now? Because, El—”
“It’s a done deal. My contract is up at the end of the season, and I’ve already told management I’m not going to renew it. The season ends in the middle of April, and after that…I’ll be home for good.”
“Home,” she breathed. “Philadelphia.”
“What we had at the cabin, Gee…it hasn’t run its course. Hasn’t come close to that. It was one of the main things that convinced me to hang up my skates. I knew weeks ago that I wanted more time with you. The afternoon I quit, I left the stadium, got in the car, and drove all the way here to tell you.”
She frowned. “But I never saw you.”
“I know. I had just parked outside your apartment and was about to get out of the truck when you and Sam walked down the sidewalk, with your leftover pizza. From where I was sitting, it looked like—”
“We’d gotten back together,” she interjected. “Oh my God. That’s why you thought we were dating again.”
He nodded.
She sighed, remembering that day so well. “I wish you hadn’t seen that. Wish you’d come upstairs. Because I wanted to talk to you so badly that day. I’d even picked up the phone to call, but didn’t.”
“Why did you want to talk to me?”
“I got my dream job. I am now the manager of a haunted inn!”
Elio grinned. “I know.”
Gianna laughed. “Of course you do. Liza…” she began, stopping when he shook his head.
“Gio. He called me the day they hired you.”
That surprised her because she couldn’t understand why Gio would think Elio cared about her running the inn. Regardless, she forged on, trying to explain what had been her number two concern, prior to breaking the news about the baby to Elio. Now that she’d come clean, and he’d—thank God—responded so much better than every single one of the scenarios she’d played out in her mind, the Gio/Rafe worry had shifted to top spot.
“I’ve been working every spare minute to get ready for the opening because it’s something that’s all mine. Rafe and Gio have basically given me carte blanche on how to set things up, the staffing, everything. I’ve been so excited. Or…” She paused. “I was.”
“You aren’t excited anymore?” he asked.
She lifted one shoulder. “My first day is Monday. I can’t start without telling Gio and Rafe…”
“That you’re pregnant.”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t feel right.” Then she opened up, all her fears falling out. “What if they change their mind? I mean, the timing is less than ideal. I’ll be six months pregnant when we open the inn and then I’ll need maternity leave. Plus, I accepted the job when I was pregnant.”
“But you didn’t know you were.”
