trying to figure out what I have that she doesn’t.”
“Ha.”
“Seriously, Enzo. The girl is stunning. Why didn’t you want to bang her?”
“I don’t know.” He sounded a little defensive. “She just didn’t do anything for me.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t help being pleased.
“Or maybe I was too preoccupied to think about sex, worrying about how I was going to get my dad to change his mind.”
“Problem solved,” I said triumphantly.
“Not really. I just traded one problem for another one.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, I’m meeting with my dad and his lawyer tomorrow to sign all the paperwork transferring majority ownership of Moretti & Sons to me, but I’ll be celibate for at least a year.”
“Oh. That problem.” I pulled a decorative pillow onto my stomach and played with its fringed edge. “Well, it’s a problem we’ll share, at least.”
“Will you even miss it?”
“Sex?”
“Isn’t that what we’re talking about?”
My skin warmed beneath my blankets. I had to take one leg out to cool off. “Yes. But hopefully I’ll be pregnant soon.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“My body will be . . . otherwise engaged,” I said. “I’ll be too busy growing a human to worry about satisfying selfish needs.”
“Is that really what you think? That sex is a selfish need?”
“You don’t think there’s something selfish about sexual gratification?”
“No. Because I always make sure whoever I’m with is gratified first and fully before I think about myself.”
I took the other leg out. “Oh.”
“Sex isn’t selfish, Bianca. People are selfish. And it sounds like you’ve only been with selfish people.”
“There haven’t been that many,” I said. I’d only been with two guys before Tate, and neither experience had wowed me. Tate had wowed me at first, but maybe I was just young and inexperienced. And after a while it didn’t seem like I excited him that much anymore, which was probably why he’d sought excitement elsewhere.
“Whatever. I’m not one to judge someone for their sexual behavior—no, I take it back. I judge those assholes you were with who made you think sex was a selfish act.”
“Maybe it’s my old Catholic guilt talking,” I said with a sigh. “When you spend all those years being taught by nuns, you grow up associating sex outside marriage—or even taking pleasure in it—with sin and shame. It took some time for me to unlearn that stuff and be okay with enjoying myself.”
“Clearly I did not attend Catholic schools.”
“Well, I think it’s something they mostly emphasize to girls. I used to think you could get pregnant if you lay down next to a man in bed, even if you were fully clothed.”
“Jesus. We’re not sending our kid to Catholic schools, are we?”
The question took me by surprise. “I’m not sure. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“Yeah, I guess we don’t need to worry about it now.”
“What we do need to worry about is when I’m moving in with you. People are going to think it’s weird if we get married and I still live here alone.”
“Right.”
“JJ is all set to move in here. My parents love the idea because they’re so sick of him living at home. They even offered to pay half his rent. If he’d quit all the stupid trips to Vegas and betting on sports, he’d be able to afford a place of his own.”
Enzo laughed. “Yeah, some guys are like that. Okay, so why don’t we move you in Saturday?”
“Okay.” A shiver moved up my spine, and I pulled the covers over my body again. “We’ll be married then.”
“You’re right. We will.”
Silence, during which both of us imagined it. Would we share a bed? The thought of it—scandalous yet thrilling—quickened my breath. As if he’d read my mind, Enzo spoke again.
“You can have your own bedroom here. I’ll clean out the guest room.”
I tried not to feel let down. Of course we’d have separate rooms. “Is that . . . is that okay?”
“Sure. I don’t have many guests anyway. Will you need an office?”
“I can get along without a home office,” I said.
“Should I rent a truck or do you think we can get everything here in cars?”
“I don’t think we’ll need a truck. It will mostly just be clothes and books. I’ll leave my furniture and kitchen stuff for JJ.”
“Great. So Saturday, then.”
“Saturday.” I thought for a moment. “What are we going to do about the, um, wedding night?”
“Oh yeah. That.” Enzo exhaled. “Maybe you should plan on staying over here that night. I don’t want people to see me dropping you off