Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
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 moment, 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 meet Elena at a café nearby and talked about how she was feeling. As we stepped toward the SUV, he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me 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 me so well.
We got into the SUV and began the short drive. I’d convinced him that a setting as casual as a café meant 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 extremely 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 extremely human anxiety was new.
“So the jackets have come to feel a little like armor.” He met 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 time in Tuscany would be good for us. We needed to get back on the same 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 me 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 time I turned back to her, she was sipping a mug of something.
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 me, 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 mess as I chewed and gave a big thumbs-up.
“Alright,” he said. “Should we get down to some business? How are you feeling?”
Elena sighed. “I mean, 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. “Comes 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 mention 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 me. “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?”
“Cashmere.” 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 unwelcome.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, the conversation I’d had with Dahlia the other day worried me. 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 come to OB appointments 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 me.”
“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 seemed stiff and unhappy, but I took his hand and squeezed it.
He turned to me.
“Don’t you want to be there when the world sees our baby for the first time?” 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 appointment?”
“Ah!” she said. “Got it. Next Friday, 6:00 p.m.”
