Dangerous Kiss

by Michelle Love

  Cosimo nodded. “That’s not to say I didn’t love Grace with all my heart, I did. But, Biba, I didn’t think my heart could take another risk, and yet you made it impossible not to. I love you.”

  Biba was crying now, and she buried her face in his chest. “I love you, too, Cosimo DeLuca.”

  He kissed her softly. “Come on, baby. Let’s go see our friends and celebrate with them.”

  At the airport, Nicco and Olivia joined them. “I’m definitely gonna call you the evil stepmom,” Nicco grinned at Biba, who punched his arm, laughing.

  “And you’re the evil spawn stepson.”

  “That’s my job.”

  Cosimo and Biba both rolled their eyes. “Flight’s delayed for an hour, so we might as well grab something to eat.”

  In the restaurant, Nicco fell on his burger. “So, Pa, why aren’t we taking the private jet?”

  Cosimo grinned at Biba. “Because of the environment, Nicco.”

  “Glad to hear it.” Nicco exchanged a look with his grandmother. “By the way, I have news.”

  “Go for it.”

  Nicco grinned. “I have early acceptance at Oregon State.”

  Cosimo looked taken aback, then delighted. “Damn, Nicco…wow! God, I don’t know what to say. Congratulations, son.”

  “Thanks, Dad, and I know you wanted me to consider Stanford, and I swear to you, I did. Me and G-Ma went to the campus a week or so ago, and it’s beautiful…but I need my pine forests and rain.”

  “Word.” Biba tapped her soda glass to his, and he winked at her.

  “Thanks, Beebs. So, Dad?”

  Cosimo got up and hugged Nicco. “I could not be prouder. You killed it with that 4.0.”

  “Oh, I know,” Nicco was all swagger as he sat back down.

  “You didn’t want to take a gap year?”

  Nicco shook his head. “Nah, I want to get on with it, you know? I’ll do the years of under- and post-grad. I cannot wait to get to do the actual work. And I’ve broadened my scope, too. Ever since we went to Rainier, I can’t stop thinking about specializing in volcanology, both on land and under the sea.”

  Cosimo was shaking his head, smiling. “What happened to my sulky teen?”

  They chatted for a little while more, and then decided to walk to the departure gate. Biba held Cosimo’s hand as Nicco and Olivia walked in front of them. She stopped suddenly and looked at Cosimo with nervous eyes. “Baby… I need to make a call.”

  Cosimo looked concerned. “Everything okay?”

  “Oh yes,” she said, and gave him a smile. “I just figured out the unfinished business.”

  She could tell from the way his eyes shone at her that he knew what she was talking about. “You want some privacy?”

  She shook her hand. “No, I need you to hold my hand.”

  “For the rest of our lives,” he said softly, “you can count on that.”

  Nicco and Olivia looked back at them, somehow knowing this was a moment that wasn’t to be shared. They moved away to a discreet distance as Biba took out her phone. She scrolled to the number she wanted, then hesitated, her finger hovering over the screen.

  “No matter what,” Cosimo said softly, “you are loved beyond words.”

  Tears in her eyes, Biba kissed him, then pressed the call button. When the call was accepted, she drew in a long shaky breath.

  “Mom,” she said, finally, “It’s me. It’s Biba…”

  The End

  Beautiful Liar Extended Epilogue

  A Single Father and A Virgin Romantic

  Two years after Biba May nearly died protecting her boss, Stella Reckless, from a psychotic stalker, Biba and her gorgeous Italian movie director lover, Cosimo DeLuca, are happily married and awaiting the birth of their first child.

  Eager to raise the baby in Cosimo’s homeland of Italy, they travel to Naples to try to find the perfect home to build a family life.

  But trouble always follows Biba, and when she is molested by an attacker, the life of her child is put at risk. Will their happy life be shattered forever? Or can Bib and Cosimo fight to save their dreams?

  Cosimo DeLuca got out of the cab, thanked the driver, and ran up the steps to his Seattle home. He shouldered his way in, calling out. “I’m home! Beebs?”

  His wife appeared and with a cry of happiness, threw herself into his arms. Cosimo chuckled and twirled her around. “Hey, baby. God, I missed you.”

  “Why didn’t you call from the airport? I would have come to get you.” Biba, her lovely face lit up, showered him with kisses. Cosimo grinned.

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  Biba laughed, then yelled up the stairs. “Quick, Fabio! Agamemnon! The hubby’s home! Out the bedroom window, boys!”

  “Funny girl.” Cosimo swept her up into his arms and started up the stairs. Biba hooked her arms around his neck, knowing what he wanted.

  “Aren’t you tired?”

  Cosimo grinned. “Nope.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Not for food.”

  Biba giggled as he dropped her onto their bed and covered her body with his. “Such a horny hubby.”

  “Quiet, woman. I’m seducing you.”

  Biba was unbuttoning his shirt. “Sweetheart?”

  “Mmm-hmm?” His lips were against her throat as he pulled her dress open. Cosimo trailed his lips down her body, freeing her breast from her bra and taking her nipple into his mouth. His cock was straining against his jeans, and he unzipped them and pulled it free, gently pushing her legs apart. He pushed her panties aside and, with a long groan, he sank his cock deep inside her velvety cunt. Biba moaned softly.

  “God, that’s so good…”

  “What were you going to ask me?” His mouth was back on hers now, tasting her, his tongue delving deep. Biba smiled up at him, her dark eyes shining.

  “Not ask…tell.”

  Cosimo’s attention was caught then and looking at her glowing skin, the love in her eyes, he knew. His smile was radiant. “Really?”

  “Really. Three months.”

  Cosimo gave a ‘whoop’ and gathered her to him, still buried deep inside her. They made love, laughing and joking and planning their future.

  Later, after sharing a long, sensual soak in the tub, they called Nicco to tell him the news. Since their wedding two years previously, Nicco had become even closer to his father and his new wife. The fact that Biba was only a few years older never seemed to faze the nineteen-year-old, who adored his stepmother and had become his father’s buddy, often stealing him away from Biba to go hiking in the mountains.

  Now, Nicco cheered down the phone. “About time I had some sibs, you guys. What is it? Twins? Triplets?”

  “Dang, I hope not,” Biba pulled a face at Cosimo. “Imagine three of them…all like Nicco? God, no!”

  “Oh ha ha,” laughed Nicco, “I hope labor really hurts.”

  “Devil spawn.”

  “Saddlebags.”

  They all laughed—Biba and Nicco were constantly mocking each other—they told Cosimo it was the basis of their friendship. In a strange way, Nicco had become Biba’s Reggie—but without the lying, murderous side of her former, now dead, friend. Both Cosimo and Nicco had helped Biba trust again after Reggie’s horrific betrayal.

  “Oh, you know, if it’s a girl, Stella’s going to want top billing.”

  “Ha, she wishes. By the way, she called the other day and wants to know when you’re going to go visit her in L.A.”

  “Hmm,” Cosimo said, not looking especially pleased, and Nicco laughed.

  “Don’t worry, Pa, I’m incorruptible. Besides, she treats me like a kid still.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. She buys me ice cream sodas.”

  “You’re so easily bought, DeLuca,” Biba teased him, and he snorted.

  “Like you can’t be bought with a Red Mill burger. Hey, Dad, you ought to know… pregnancy’s gonna make Biba fat. Really fat. I mean, like shut-in-lever-her-out-wi
th-a-crane fat.”

  Biba was giggling furiously as Cosimo rolled his eyes. “You guys kill me. Look, we have to call your grandmother, then Biba’s parents, so we better go.”

  “Say hi to the Munsters for me,” Nicco said in a droll voice. He hadn’t warmed to Biba’s ‘deadbeat’ parents, as he called them, and Biba couldn’t blame him. It had been a long road to get to a place where she could tolerate them for even a few hours at a time.

  “Oh, talking of deadbeats… joke…’Frido wants me to go spend some time with him in Rome this summer. You okay with that?” Nicco asked.

  Biba watched a million emotions flood Cosimo’s bright green eyes. Sifrido was Cosimo’s oldest friend—and Nicco’s biological father, a fact they had only found out a few years ago. Sifrido and Nicco had been building a relationship, always on the understanding that Nicco considered Cosimo his dad and ’Frido an uncle. So far, it was working out well, and now Cosimo smiled. “Of course, Nic. You’ll love that.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Nicco was always worried his relationship with ’Frido would make Cosimo feel resentful towards his old friend, but if it did, Cosimo never showed it.

  They called Cosimo’s mother, Olivia, who was, of course, delighted. Then, with Biba grimacing theatrically, they called her mother. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Biba, how lovely.” Her mom had been practicing—the greeting only sounding slightly forced. Cosimo rolled his eyes.

  “How are you both?” Biba listened to her mom answer, and then cleared her throat. “So, I have some news. Cosimo and I are going to have a baby.”

  A long silence. “Mom? You there?”

  “I see.” Hardly the effusive celebration that Olivia gave them, but Biba hadn’t expected one. “Yup, three months along.” Not that you asked.

  Another silence. “You do realize, I suppose, that by the time it’s old enough for college, its father will be almost seventy?”

  “Great math, Mom, but Cosimo is only forty-two. He’ll be sixty and still young enough to play ball with him or her.” Biba’s voice was like ice. She could take insults to herself, but when they started in on the age gap between her and Cosimo, she got angry and resentful.

  Cosimo didn’t care about the slight, but hated to see Biba upset. He rubbed the back of her neck and spoke into the speakerphone. “Gail, we’re both very excited about our child.”

  “Of course you are—it’ll be the first one for both of you, won’t it?”

  Bitch. Biba’d had enough. “No, Mom, as well you know, Cosimo has Nicco. You know, the son he’s always talking about, is rightly proud of, and would never, ever disbelieve about anything?” She couldn’t help the jab, but her voice broke at the end.

  She heard her mother sigh. “Biba, don’t start all that again. We’ve apologized for Derek.”

  “You know what, Mom? Don’t do me any favors.” Biba jabbed her finger on the end button, and the line went dead. Her body felt like it would shatter. Why? Why had she let them back into her life when she was so much better off without them?

  Cosimo slid his arms around her and pressed his lips against her temple. “Don’t let her get to you, baby.”

  Biba leaned into him, but felt the tension ramp up as she considered her mother’s attitude. “How did I come from them?”

  “We both know biology means nothing, baby. Me and Nicco, Reggie and his mom…”

  “Two totally different situations, but I get what you mean. It’s just…why? Why are they like that? If they didn’t want to have kids, they shouldn’t have had me.” Biba felt tearful, and she wasn’t a person who cried easily. She gave him a wan smile. “I guess my hormones are already ruling me.”

  “I love you. Nicco loves you. Everyone who matters loves you, even Stella,” Cosimo said with a grin. “Our kiddo will adore you—probably already does.”

  “I wonder if she can hear us if we talk to her.”

  “It’s a she?”

  Biba grinned. “I have a feeling. We can’t find out until I’m between four and five months…but I don’t even want to know. Did you find out before Nicco was born?”

  Cosimo shook his head. “Grace didn’t want to, and I didn’t care either way, so we didn’t. I’m okay with not knowing. We have other things to think about.”

  “Like?”

  “Where we want to raise her.”

  Biba was surprised. “I hadn’t even considered… I thought with your mom and Nicco in Washington, you’d want to stay here.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I adore this place. But…I always wished I had raised Nicco in Italy. It’s a whole different way of life, more relaxed, more…” he searched for the word, “…more provincial. A little more compact. I have this fantasy of living out in the Italian countryside, both of us working from there, raising our little Ewok.”

  Biba giggled. “Ewok? We are so calling her that, by the way.” She kissed Cosimo on the mouth. “It’s definitely something to think about.”

  “We are not calling our child Ewok,” he said firmly as she laughed.

  “No, doofus, living in Italy. The way you describe it… Yes, I can see it.”

  Cosimo drew his fingertips down her back and slid under her T-shirt to stroke her skin.

  “Can you feel the bump?” Biba brushed her lips against his as he placed his palm over her belly.

  “Hmm, not sure. Let me have a closer look.”

  He gently drew her to the floor and laid her back, pushing open her robe, tracing a circle around her navel with his fingertip, making her sigh with pleasure. He pretended to measure the bump—which was the tiniest curve in her belly so far. He ignored the silvery scars from the surgery that had saved his darling Biba from Reggie Quinn’s knife and pressed his lips against the tiny bump. “Biba May DeLuca, you are, without doubt, the most beautiful creature on the Earth,” he murmured against her skin. “… and you in there, you better treat your Mama right. Don’t make her too sick or too tired. Don’t go dancing around in there when she needs to sleep, but don’t think you can’t come say hi a few times. We love you, little one.”

  He looked up, grinning. “To be honest, I don’t even know if she has ears at this point.” Then he noticed tears rolling down Biba’s cheeks. “What is it, honey?”

  For a moment, Biba couldn’t speak, but her smile was tremulous. “You are just the most wonderful man,” she said, her voice gravelly with emotion. “Just the best man, the best husband, the best father, Cosimo DeLuca. How did I get so lucky?”

  He moved along to kiss her mouth. “I’m the lucky one.”

  Biba pulled him on top of her, pushing his robe apart and sliding her hands inside to run them all over his hard chest. “God, you’re gorgeous, DeLuca. Anyone ever tell you that?”

  “As long as you think so.” Cosimo grinned down at her. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too…now, put that magnificent cock inside me.”

  Cosimo laughed. “You so horny,” he sang at her, and she giggled, then gasped as he thrust inside her. She bit down on his shoulder as they fucked, locking her legs around his waist, taking him in deeper.

  They made love again until Biba announced that she was starving. “I can’t be bothered to cook. Pizza?”

  Cosimo grinned, grabbing his phone. “You’re asking an Italian?”

  Biba pulled her robe around her and got off the carpet, snuggling into the couch. She ran her hands through her hair. Since the wedding, she’d let it grow out, and now it fell in soft waves down her back. Cosimo was talking to the pizza place, but watching her, his eyes full of lust. Biba grinned at him, flashing a breast at him and making him stumble over the order. When he had finished, he shook his head at her, laughing. “Is that any way for an expectant mother to behave?”

  “Come here.”

  Cosimo sat down next to her, and she took his hand, placing back on her belly. “I want this little bean to be raised Italian. Let’s talk about it more.”

  Cosimo looked delighted. “Really?”

  “Hell,
yes.”

  Three weeks later, with Nicco and Olivia’s blessing, they flew out to Italy, heading south to Naples rather than Cosimo’s birthplace of Venice. “I love Venice,” Cosimo had told her, “but we need privacy, and too many paparazzi know me there. Naples we can disappear into.”

  Biba fell in love with Naples on sight. With Vesuvius looming over the cities of Naples and Sorrento, the heat, the beautiful architecture—she adored it all. Even more so when one afternoon, Cosimo drove them out into the countryside to look at a property on the coast on the north side of Naples.

  “Cos…it just gets better as we get farther away from the city. I like the idea of raising our child here.”

  Cosimo smiled over at her, obviously delighted. “Me, too…it’s the childhood I wished I had given Nicco.”

  “He turned out really good despite the fact you never got to do that. He’s happy. He has a girlfriend.”

  Biba grinned at her husband’s surprise. “He does?”

  “I’m not supposed to tell, obviously, but I’m useless at keeping secrets. It’s early days, but he says she’s a sassy kid.”

  Cosimo grinned. “Reminds me of someone else.”

  “Ha. Not so much the kid now… I’m a whole twenty-five now.”

  “Ancient.”

  “I know, right? You’ll be trading me in for someone younger in no time.”

  Cosimo grinned. “Never gonna happen. Okay, I think this is it.”

  He pulled the car into the long driveway and drove slowly down it as they both studied the area. “Looks nice and secluded,” Biba said, satisfied. She stroked her husband’s face. “No paps to bother us. We can build a sex dungeon.”

  Cosimo burst out laughing. “I love the first thing you think of is sex.”

  “Always, with you. In fact, if the realtor is late…”

  “So, so, horny.” Cosimo gave a long-suffering sigh. “You exhaust this old man.”

  Biba snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  As he stopped the car, she leaned over and kissed him and slid a hand onto his crotch, rubbing against the stiffening cock inside his jeans. “Hmm, promising…”