*Olivia*
Gio tumbled off of , panting, and rolled onto his side to et my eyes.
“Carina?” he said.
I knew the look in his eyes. He had sothing real he wanted to say. I pressed a hand to my racing heart and tried to focus my thoughts sowhere other than his cock that had just been inside .
“Yep?” I said.
He smiled, clearly seeing the struggle on my face. “Everything has been so stressful lately.” He stroked a finger along the line of my cheek. “How would you like to spend a couple of days in Tuscany?”
For a mont, I could do nothing but marvel at how perfect the man I married was. Between everyone’s weirdness about Elena and the general stress of waiting to find out if she was pregnant, I felt like my teeth had been on edge for weeks. And then we’d fought about her moving in....
“That sounds perfect,” I said honestly. I wanted nothing more than a few days to reconnect with my husband.
He grinned. “I will set it up.”
Then, he pressed a kiss to the top of my breast, and the banked fire between my legs blazed back to life.
***
A few days passed, and Gio and I were headed out the door to et Elena at a café nearby and talked about how she was feeling. As we stepped toward the SUV, he grabbed by the waist and pulled in.
“I got our villa for this weekend,” he whispered in my ear. “And I heard the owners might be thinking of selling.”
I squealed. “I have to tell everyone!”
Gio chuckled. “We’ve got plans, carina. You and Dahlia can outfit-shop afterward.”
I blushed. He knew so well.
We got into the SUV and began the short drive. I’d convinced him that a setting as casual as a café ant he didn’t need his full suit, so he had reluctantly donned jeans and a T-shirt, but as we sat, I realized the jacket laying across his lap was a suit jacket.
“Why did you bring that?” I asked.
He shrugged, and his gaze darted away from mine. “I’m still not great with all the baby logistics.”
I crossed my arms over the extrely casual sweater and jeans I’d pulled out, feeling suddenly underdressed. “So?”
He fidgeted with the lapel, and I realized I’d never seen him look quite so nervous. I’d seen him scared and determinedly putting on a brave face, but this extrely human anxiety was new.
“So the jackets have co to feel a little like armor.” He t my gaze, and honesty shone on his face. “I wanted protection going into this.”
I smiled and looped my arm through his. Little things like that happened more and more often recently, and I was trying to get better about letting them go. Gio mostly had a good explanation for his actions, I reminded myself.
The ti in Tuscany would be good for us. We needed to get back on the sa page, and there was nothing quite like privacy, spectacular wine, and even better sex to get us there.
The car rolled to a stop in front of a quaint café. I hopped out, and Elena waved through the plate-glass window from a table she’d already grabbed. We weren’t even late, but she was always so punctual. A quick glance told that, at least in her own sweater, a fitted pink pullover, she wasn’t showing yet.
I grinned and waved back.
Gio stepped out and took my arm. I turned to him and gestured to Elena in the window, but by the ti I turned back to her, she was sipping a mug of sothing.
We headed inside. The air felt warm, cinnamon-scented, and I joined the short line happily.
“I know it’s not the season, but you have to try a Nutella bomboloni,” Elena called.
I shot her a thumbs-up.
Gio and I waited in the short line, then returned to Elena’s table with a latte for , a black coffee for him, and a plate piled high with pastries, including the bomboloni she’d suggested.
She laughed. “I’ll admit, I didn’t imagine you with much of a sweet tooth, Giovani.”
Gio shrugged. “They’re for her, mostly.”
I picked up the bomboloni and took a huge bite, spilling Nutella everywhere. The fried dough crunched perfectly, and the Nutella filling took the pastry from sweet to decadent.
Gio wiped up the ss as I chewed and gave a big thumbs-up.
“Alright,” he said. “Should we get down to so business? How are you feeling?”
Elena sighed. “I an, there’s a reason we’re here. I’ve been craving these stupid little doughnuts basically every hour of every day.”
“At least they’re delicious!” I offered.
She shrugged. “Cos with the territory. Honestly, what’s been worse is that I’m pissing like a racehorse these days.”
Gio, who had lifted his coffee to his mouth, spluttered. He put the cup down sharply.
Elena laughed. “What, the big tough guy can’t handle a little ntion of the bathroom?”
Gio straightened the lapels on his blazer, a gesture I recognized as a sign of discomfort after our talk in the car.
“I simply wasn’t expecting it.” He glanced at . “But we want to be involved in the pregnancy. Please, disclose as much or as little as you see fit.”
She chuckled. “I’m just teasing. I like the blazer, by the way. Mind if I?” She held her hand out as if to touch the fabric.
I glanced at Gio and shrugged. He nodded.
She took the edge of the sleeve between her fingers and rubbed it. “God, that’s so soft. What is that?”
“Cashre.” Gio cleared his throat. “Is there anything else we should know about the baby?”
I shot him a look. He was being weird, and I didn’t know if it was just Elena’s frankness about her struggles with pregnancy, but I didn’t want her to feel unwelco.
Sowhere in the back of my mind, the conversation I’d had with Dahlia the other day worried . I knew Elena liked clothes in general, and anybody would appreciate a jacket as fine as Gio’s. But was this the sort of thing Dahlia was talking about?
“Oh! Yes!” Elena wrestled her phone out of her pocket. “I didn’t know if you guys wanted to co to OB appointnts now that there’s actually stuff happening. I think this next one is the first big ultrasound.”
I leaned forward. “I’d love to be present for the ultrasound, if you’d have .”
“Totally,” she said, not looking up from her phone. “It’s your kid, I’d love it if both of you were there.”
I looked at Gio. He seed stiff and unhappy, but I took his hand and squeezed it.
He turned to .
“Don’t you want to be there when the world sees our baby for the first ti?” I asked.
Whatever crust had covered him shattered, and he smiled a slow, honest smile. “I really would.”
“Then it’s settled.” I turned back to Elena. “When’s the appointnt?”
“Ah!” she said. “Got it. Next Friday, 6:00 p.m.”
Gio winced and leaned in to . “I had the private jet set to leave at three.”
I couldn’t keep the grimace off my face. I wanted to see my baby. Everything in ached to hold that image in my heart, to treasure it through the months to co. But I couldn’t deny how badly Gio and I needed ti away. The stress of the surrogacy was really starting to get to , and I had to hope a few days in Tuscany would fix that.
Elena looked up from her phone. “Everybody just got weird. What’s up?”
“Um,” I said, “we actually have a trip planned this weekend. Tuscany.”
“Oh!” Elena brightened. “Well, maybe I can reschedule the appointnt. Hell, maybe I can co with.”
My heart sank. Rescheduling would be great, but the point of the trip was privacy. As much as I loved Elena, bringing her along would ruin that.
“It’s a husband and wife trip,” Gio said firmly.
Elena frowned. “Are you sure? I’m so fun on vacation, and I bet the baby would love it.”
My conversation with Dahlia ca screaming back. Who would want to co on soone else’s romantic vacation?
Gio took my hand. “I’m certain.”
Elena shrugged. “Fair enough.”
The rest of lunch passed a little awkwardly, but it passed, and Friday arrived before I knew it.
The mont in the café with Elena kept bothering . I didn’t like how she’d pressed, didn’t like how she’d brought up the baby. But when I shared my concerns with Dahlia as I packed, she just nodded sagely and said, “Definitely weird, but if you let her ruin the trip by worrying, she might as well have co.”
I held those words in my heart like a talisman. I would not let her ruin my trip. I took Gio’s hand as the sun started to dip low over the horizon and boarded the jet, the appointnt rescheduled for when we got back.
“I love you,” I said suddenly.
He pressed my hand to his lips. “I love you too, carina. Why now?”
“For picking the perfect ti for this trip. We’re gonna have the best ti.” I smiled up at him, convincing myself as much as I was him.
The plane ride passed quickly, and we dropped our bags at the villa and changed for dinner before heading out. At Dahlia’s suggestion, I’d gotten a new dress for the occasion, skimpier than I normally would have chosen because Gio let slip that we would exclusively be eating in private rooms.
I changed in the huge closet of the villa so I could see his reaction. The dress was made of a silken, clinging black material that hugged my every curve. The front and back both dipped wildly low, nearly exposing the top of my ass and barely holding onto my breasts. The skirt draped all the way down to the floor, even in the glittering silver heels I picked out, and there was a slit up to my mid-thigh that was only visible when I moved.
I forewent a bra and, after a second’s hesitation, underwear. Then, I stepped out of the closet.
Gio turned to face in the middle of tying his tie, then froze.
“Mio dio,” he murmured.
“Like it?” I asked, doing a little twirl to reveal the slit.
“Like it? Carina, you’re lucky I’m starving, or you wouldn’t leave that bed until the plane left on Sunday.” His voice sounded hoarse already.
I stepped up to him, finally almost eye-level in the heels, unknotted his tie, and threw it on the bed. “We won’t need that til later.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed visibly. I undid the top two buttons of his shirt, then took his hand. “Dinner awaits!”
Sothing like a growl tore out of his throat, and he swatted my ass with his free hand as I led him out of the room.
As promised, we ate course after course of Tuscan delicacies in the back room of a restaurant, and the wine flowed freely. We laughed and talked like we hadn’t in weeks, and Gio could barely keep his hands off . Our easy chemistry resurfaced, and I felt like I was falling in love with my husband all over again.
“Can you believe this all started when you picked up from the airport?” I asked.
He smiled. “I will never forget how you looked climbing into my car that first ti.”
I laughed. “ either! But I felt so silly crushing on literally the first Italian man I had a conversation with.”
He rested his hand on my knee. “You felt strange? I was, to use your terminology, crushing on a nineteen-year-old family friend.”
I took a sip of wine, savoring the taste of Chianti grapes. “Did you ever imagine we’d end up here?”
He shook his head. “Not in a million years. My wildest fantasies at that mont were that I might get away with a one-night stand.”
I humd. “That would’ve been pretty hot. Imagine being able to say I had a mafia Don in my bed for one night?”
He chuckled quietly and slid his hand up my thigh. The fabric of my dress slipped easily out of his path, but he stopped before he reached where I suddenly needed him.
“Oh yeah? Do you want to know what I’d be like if you never got to have again?”
I bit my lip. We had great sex all the ti, but I couldn’t deny I thought about it. And all night, it felt like our relationship was being reborn. What if we played like we were really starting over?
I nodded. His eyes darkened, but he tried to put on the hard look I’d only seen him use when he was talking to his n.
He moved his hand all the way up my inner thigh, exposing my bare pussy to the warm air of our private dining room.
“I’m surprised a nice girl like you would dress like this for a first date.” He licked his lips. “But I guess that’s one way to catch a Don’s attention.”
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