Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
He kisses me hard, pleasure coursing through my body, surging up and down and making every part of me hot, boiling.
“And I love you.” He breaks off the kiss and leans down, kissing my belly.
“Uh oh.” I laugh when Toto comes running over, leaping around and panting up at Luca. “I think somebody’s jealous.”
Luca chuckles and scoops the little dog up, cradling him to his chest. It’s so easy to imagine him holding our child instead, cradling them with his softness, surprising for a man as hulking and powerful as him.
“This is it, Lucy,” he says, leaning over to kiss me lovingly on the forehead.
“This is what?” I ask.
“Us, our future, our life. This is it.”
“Forever,” I whisper.
I clasp onto him, resting my head on his chest, Toto’s fur grazing me softly. Sunlight infuses me, making me warm with happiness, contentment, and love.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Luca
I cradle Elizabeth close to my chest, rocking her back and forth, continuously stunned at the love that pours out of me with more and more strength each moment. It’s been the same since Lucy brought her into this world, the instant love, devotion, the protective impulses which I direct toward her and her mother.
We’re sitting in the nursery that was once my own, where, once upon a time, a woman named Elizabeth tended to me. I had to stifle down tears of pure joy when Lucy suggested that we name our firstborn after my mother.
Morning sunlight shafts in through the window, flooding us with light.
I rock her slowly, smiling down at her, and then across the room to where Lucy lies in the corner. She’ll often fall asleep in the chair next to the crib after feeding her at night, sometimes sleeping here until Elizabeth cries her awake.
My mind floods with fresh need when I look at her, a need which surprised her when I kissed her passionately weeks after the birth.
“I can’t believe you still want me,” she said. “Look at me. I’m…”
I kissed her again, silencing her words.
I knew what she was going to say.
She’s heavier from the pregnancy. She hasn’t had time to bathe as much… or she’s so sleep-deprived she never feels clean. It all comes with the territory of being a new mother.
And it all makes me want her more.
Even now, in her baggy hoodie and her loose-fitting sweatpants, I have to focus hard not to let my desire flare. I focus on the love I hold for her instead, the warmth that lights up my insides when she moans in her sleep, stretching and turning as if to find a more comfortable position in the chair.
“You’re so lucky,” I whisper to my daughter, kissing her impossibly small forehead. “You’ve got the greatest mother in the world. She’s always going to be there for you. I am too. I promise.”
“Don’t stop,” Lucy murmurs, eyes still closed.
I smile. “Are you pretending to be asleep?”
“Nah uh.” She grins, magnetizing my heart, making me want to sing with pure joy. “I’m just sleep-listening. It’s a skill every mom has to develop.”
I chuckle, my heart shattering and fusing together in an instant when Elizabeth murmurs sleepily up at me.
Her little eyes blink open and closed, a spit bubble popping. I dab her chin with my shirt, not giving a damn if I’ll have baby spittle on me for work.
“We’re going to give you the best childhood we possibly can,” I say, voice husky with emotion. “We’re going to raise you to work hard, at what you love… we’re always going to support you. We’ll never let anything happen to you. We love you, Elizabeth, and we’re never going to let you forget that.”
“Even when you’re a teenager and you’re sick of us.” Lucy giggles, opening her eyes and sitting up. “Do you think that’ll ever happen?”
I nod with a smile. “Teenagers always rebel. But she’ll come back to us. Look at her. She’s the cutest little thing that ever existed. She doesn’t have a shred of true hatred in her.”
Lucy stands and walks across the room, places her hand on my shoulder, and leans down to kiss me on the cheek. I turn and catch her lips, and we share a quick moment of heat.
We end it quickly. Her post-pregnancy hormones have made her even more vivacious and excitable than usual, and we both know where it could all too easily lead.
She takes the seat next to me.
I lift Elizabeth a little, offering her.
“No.” Lucy shakes her head, placing her chin on her hands, her engagement and wedding rings glinting in the morning sun. “I love watching you hold her. You’re so delicate.”
“Delicate.” I chuckle warmly. “There’s a word I never thought would be used to describe me. But you’ve changed me, Lucy, for the better. You have no idea how proud I am to call you my wife.”