She spoke like a typically proud mother.
“She’s smart like you.”
“More like you. But thank you.”
We went downstairs and had dinner. I held Martina in the crook of my arm because I was finally strong enough to do that. I ate with one hand since Siena had been with her all day. Giovanni made us chicken with vegetables, putting us both on low-carb diets. Siena wanted to lose weight after the baby, and I wanted to get back into shape. “I’m glad you and Bates are getting along.”
“I couldn’t hate someone who loves you so much. Not possible.”
Well, I still hated him a bit. Forgiveness wasn’t easy for me, unfortunately. Not even when it was my own flesh and blood. You couldn’t even see Siena’s injury anymore because her hair hid it from view—but I hadn’t forgotten.
“You’ve been doing well in the gym?”
“Yeah. I’m not close to where my strength used to be, but I’ll get there.”
“Baby steps. No need to rush.”
“Yeah, I know.” I missed being the most powerful man in the room. Siena still looked at me the same way she used to, like my decrease in size didn’t affect her attraction to me. That was the most important thing, that I still turned my woman on.
“I’ve been working out every day, but I’m not a fan of it.”
“I’ve noticed. Your legs get sexier every time I see you.”
She smiled. “Well, I need to work on this gut right now.”
I scoffed. “You don’t have a gut.”
“It’s a baby gut. It’ll take a while to go away.”
“It’s not a gut. You’re perfect.”
“Well, that’s nice of you to say, but I still need to hit the gym.”
“Unless you become pregnant again.” As far as I knew, she hadn’t started her birth control again, and we were having lots of sex every night. She seemed hesitant to have another baby right away, but at this rate, we were bound to make one. I’d knocked her up when she was on birth control. I could only imagine how quickly it would happen when she wasn’t on it.
“I guess that would give me an excuse to stop the gym,” she said with a laugh.
“Especially if you’re just going to get sexy again.”
“I don’t know if being pregnant is sexy…”
“It is to me.” I’d never been more attracted to her, watching her waddle around the house and touch her stomach every time the baby kicked. “I hope we have a son this time. If these are the only children we’re going to have, I want to have one of each.”
“I’d like a son too. I guess we’ll see.”
20
Siena
I’d considered telling Cato how I felt.
But it seemed like a moot point to me.
He already knew my feelings.
He knew I didn’t want anything to do with this life.
I already had a daughter with him, and considering how much we screwed every night, I was probably having another child soon. Our family had already begun, and I was loyal to him. But I still didn’t want this.
I wanted something simple.
Something safe.
I wanted him to give up everything and walk away.
But I knew he never would.
He came home from work that day at his usual time. He walked through the door, gave me a kiss, held Martina, and then stripped off his clothes and got ready for his workout. “You want to have dinner with me tonight?”
“I always have dinner with you.”
“But I thought we could do something, just the two of us.”
It would be nice not to hold Martina while I tried to eat. She was too young for a high chair, so we had to take turns holding her. The only time we were truly alone was when she was asleep in the next room. And during those times, we didn’t talk much. We just made love—over and over.
Not that I was complaining.
“That would be nice. Where do you want to go?”
“I thought we could eat here. We can sit in the backyard and look at the stars.”
It was summer, so it didn’t get dark until late, but it would be nice to do something different. It would be wonderful to sit by candlelight and look into each other’s eyes. Maybe I could forget about the real things that were bothering me. “Oh, that would be lovely.”
“Great.” He pulled on his t-shirt then kissed me on the lips. “I look forward to it.”
After I stepped out of the shower, I found the little black dress lying on the bed. Cato wasn’t there, but there was a note