Entrapment: Mateo's POV: A Morelli Family Deleted Scenes Collection (Books 1-7)

by Sam Mariano

  “I was worse before I met your mom, believe me. You’re all lucky because you get her from day one. Took me a lot of years to find her.” I lift an eyebrow so he knows I speak with authority on this next part. “Your mom is a fountain of love. She’s really good at this stuff, so none of you should grow up to be as big of an asshole as your old man.”

  He grins, like he likes hearing me call myself an asshole.

  I can’t help smiling back. “Is that funny? It’s really not. I’ve been a big jerk, but your mommy loves me anyway. That’s pretty nice of her, huh?”

  He smiles again, dragging her finger closer and looking up at me.

  “I should probably give her one more baby, huh?” I ask. “You want a little sister to look after? I’m not sure how much she’ll like being the youngest girl with three big brothers. If she’s anything like your mom, she’s gonna be a real headache. I’m not sure I’m prepared for that. I’m not sure the world is.”

  Tristan yawns and a couple minutes later, he drifts off to sleep, too. I extract Mia’s finger from his little grip and ease up off the bed, cradling him in the crook of my arm. I take him to his bedroom and gently place him in his crib, keeping an eye to make sure he stays asleep before I leave. Don’t want him waking up crying for Mia before I even get back to the bed.

  He stays asleep, so I straighten and my gaze lands on a photo. There are new pictures on the wall. Now there’s one of Tristan, naked but for one of my gold ties around his little neck. Beside it is the one I’m looking at—Tristan snoozing, tummy down, on top of a wrapped Christmas present with all his siblings gathered around. When we had that picture taken just a few weeks ago, I thought our family was complete. I thought we could be done having babies and stick to raising them.

  Now Mia wants one more.

  I can’t say I want to have another child, but I do like to give Mia what she wants. I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad to watch her go through pregnancy one more time.

  If I wait until her birthday month, she’s going to have another December due date.

  Jesus, three babies in three years.

  I’m going to put her off a little longer.

  I leave our sleeping son and return to our room, hitting the lights and crossing over to my side of the bed. Mia is curled up in the center, so I slide in and she rolls right up against me. I wrap an arm around her waist and tug her close. She’s facing me, so I see her sleepy blue eyes when they open and she looks up at me.

  “I liked The Nutcracker,” she murmurs, semi-incoherently.

  I smile, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I know you did. Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”

  She smiles sleepily and scoots closer, plastering her body against my side like she hates even the few inches that separate us. “I love you, Mateo.”

  Love seems too common a word to adequately express what I feel for this woman. She tells me we’re two halves of the same soul, but I’m not sure even that’s accurate. She is my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole world. I don’t have half of everything without her; I have nothing. I inherited a dirty empire and multiplied its tangible value. I have more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime, more power than any one man should.

  Yet, without this incredible woman curled up against me every night, I am bankrupt.

  I thought I had everything I needed to get by before I met Mia. Then, she chose to love me, and showed me what everything really felt like.

  I’ve spent years taking from this woman, and she’s spent those same years giving her all to me. I am the luckiest bastard that has ever lived. Adrian is right; if she wants 20 babies, I should give her 20 babies.

  I brush my lips against her forehead and murmur, “You awake?”

  A string of incoherent noises come out of her mouth, but none of them resemble words.

  I crack a smile, shaking my head. “Never mind.”

  She sighs with contentment and her head grows heavier on my chest. I know she wants a baby girl and I’ll be damned if I don’t give her one, but it can wait.

  After all, we have the rest of our lives.

  The End