Aurora looked at the heavy keys she held in her palm and laughed. ‘Nico, the only thing that kept me sane in Silibri was the fact that one day I would marry you.’
‘I love you,’ he told her again. Aurora had always been his fabled wife.
‘You really bought the cottage?’
She held the keys now. Or rather, they shared them.
‘I bought the cottage, Aurora. At the time I didn’t know why, but I do now—I guess I didn’t want that dream of being with you to die completely.’
‘But…’ She looked at him. ‘You said you could think of nothing worse than living opposite my parents.’
‘And I still can’t,’ Nico admitted. ‘But for holidays, and for things like Christmas, when there are too many Messinas in your parents’ house, we can just head over the road to our own little home. And for the times when we are fed up with the hotel…’
And Aurora’s tiny, grating percentage of doubt faded under a million Sicilian stars and the softest kiss.
‘Tomorrow,’ Nico said as he removed her dress and her pretty underwear, ‘we will take the steps down to the beach and I am going to have you in the water.’
‘What about now?’ She liked the thought of a naked swim, but Nico was already laying her down.
‘No, no,’ he said, and parted her legs, ready to dive into her. ‘For tonight, all you have to do is look to the stars.’
Coming next month
BOUND BY THEIR NINE-MONTH SCANDAL
Dani Collins
“Señor Navarro,” she said, offering her hand.
“Angelo,” he corrected. His clasp sent electricity through to her nerve endings as he took the liberty of greeting her with, “Pia.”
“Thank you for coming,” she said, desperately pretending they were strangers when all she could think about was how his weight had pressed her into the cushions while her entire being had seemed to fly.
His eyes dazzled, yet pinned her in place. There was an air of aggression about him. Hostility even, in the way he had appeared like this, when she had literally been on the defensive. He seemed ready for a fight.
She had almost hoped he would leave her hanging after her note. She could have raised their baby with a clear conscience that she had tried to reach out while facing no interference from this unknown quantity.
As for what would happen if he did get in touch? She had tried to be realistic in her expectations, but Poppy had stuck a few delusions in her head. They seemed even more ridiculous as she faced such a daunting conversation with him. How had she even found the courage to say such frank things that night, let alone do the things they’d done? Wicked, intimate, carnal things that caused a blush to singe up from her throat into her cheeks.
“I need a moment,” she said, voice straining.
She had already declined invitations for drinks, fearful her avoidance of a glass of champagne would make her condition obvious. She only had to say a last goodbye to the committee and, “Thank you again, but I must take this meeting.”
Moments later, trembling inwardly, she led Angelo into the small office off the lab where she had worked the last three years when not in the field. She had already packed her things into a small cardboard box that sat on the chair. She was shifting from academic work to motherhood and marriage. That was all that was left of her former life.
Angelo seemed to eat up all the air as he closed the door behind him and looked at the empty bulletin board, the box of tissues and the well-used filing cabinet.
Pia started to move the box, but he said, “I’ll stand.”
He was taller than her, which made him well over six feet because she had the family’s genetic disposition toward above average height. His air of watchfulness was intimidating, too, especially when he trained his laser-blue eyes on her again.
“Your card was very cryptic,” he said.
She had spent a long time composing it, wondering why he had sneaked into the ball when he could easily have afforded the plate fee. At the time, she had thought his reason for being on the rooftop was exactly as he had explained it—curiosity. She had many more questions now, but didn’t ask them yet. There was every chance she would never see him again after she told him why she had reached out.
Memories of their intimacy that night accosted her daily. It was top of mind now, which put her at a further disadvantage. Her only recourse was to do what she always did when she was uncomfortable—hide behind a curtain of reserve and speak her piece as matter-of-factly as possible.
“I’ll come straight to the point.” She hitched her hip on the edge of her desk and set her clammy palms together, affecting indifference while fighting to keep a quaver from her voice.
“I’m pregnant. It’s yours.”
Continue reading
BOUND BY THEIR NINE-MONTH SCANDAL
Dani Collins
Copyright ©2019 by Dani Collins
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The Sicilian's Surprise Love-Child (Mills & Boon Modern) (One Night With Consequences, Book 58) Page 16