Dante’s POV The door opens to Mario, my family’s butler. “Signor Luciano! (Mr. Luciano!) We were not expecting you. Please come in. Would you like a late breakfast? I'm sure the cook would be happy to prepare something for you.” “Good morning, Mario,” I say with a warm smile. Quinn has told me how kind the man was to her when I was attempting to distance myself from her. The man has won himself my undying loyalty. “I ate at home, but I thank you. Is the Don in? I stopped by in hopes of speaking with him.” Taking my coat, Mario answers. “He is in, signor. I’m sure that he would be happy to see you. He’s in his office. I’ll bring in coffees straight away.” “Thank you, Mario.” I stare straight ahead, down the hall to where my father is. To where my future could take a rather interesting turn. Mario seems to sense my hesitation. “Is all well, signor?” I sigh. “I think I am about to disappoint the don

“It started right after Dante found you and we all were basically meeting up at the hospital,” Grayson tells me. We’re sitting in the front of Dante and my car. Grayson hasn’t looked at me since we sat down. I can tell that he’s worried about how I’ll react to the story. That in and of itself makes me sad. That he thinks that I wouldn’t be there for him. That I wouldn’t be happy for him. “At first, we just happened to be at the hospital at the same time. I noticed that Rocco took his coffee the same way I did, so I started picking up coffee for the both of us. And then he started grabbing pastries for us. Somehow one thing led to another and we ended up in a heavy make out session, dry humping against the alley wall of a café.” “And you weren’t going to tell anyone?” I ask. “Didn’t you think that we would be happy for you?” “It’s not that...” he sighs. “At first, we kept quiet because of everything that was going on with your ki

Three years later… “Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Freddie! Happy Birthday to you!” My beautiful little boy, Frederico “Freddie” Dante Luciano, is turning three years old today. Here we are, surrounded by family and friends and sugar high toddlers, in a place that I never thought that we would make. Of course, the second the we finish singing and Freddie blew out his candles, he immediately shoved his hand into the cake, screaming, “It’s chocolate cake! Mommy got me chocolate cake!” “Oh, Freddie! That was for everyone. You can’t put your hands in it,” I scold him. “You say that like you don’t have two other cakes in the kitchen, cara mia. Let the boy enjoy his cake,” Dante tells me as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and kisses my head. “Then you can be the one to put him to bed tonight,” I tell Dante to loud laughs from Emily who is holding her and Josiah’s two-year-old

After my spa day with Bianca, I went to Freddie’s pre-school to pick him up at the end of the day. He runs out and directly into my arms. “Mommy! Mommy! I’m so excited!” he cries as I pick him up and squeeze him tight. I’m not going to be able to pick him up much longer. At four months pregnant, my OBGYN would probably be apoplectic over the fact that I’m carrying him right now. But it’s something that I know I’m going to miss and have decided that I’m going to carry him until my anniversary in a week, when I’ll have hit the five-month mark. Yes, it’s an arbitrary time, but I it’s the decision I made and I’m going to stick with it. “Hello, amore. How was your day at school? What has you so excited?” I ask him, turning and carrying him to the car. Josiah clucks his tongue as he sees me carrying Freddie in my arms, but he doesn’t say anything. He knows from experience with his own wife having been pregnant that you don’t fight with a mother-t

Dante chases me into the ocean, not that I can actually go very far. Or want to. He’s quickly gotten all of his clothes off and has thrown them onto the sand. The last thing that I see flying off is his Versace watch, thrown somewhere in the direction of his pants. Then he’s running into the water after me. I make it until I’m about hip deep in the water before Dante catches me. “Fuck, cara mia. You’re so sexy,” he says as his hands move all over my body, starting with my stomach, move down to my ass to pull me close to him, and up to my tits. “I need you.” “You have me, baby. What are you gonna do with me now that you have me?” I ask him. He chuckles darkly. “Anything I want.” He grabs a fistful of my hair, pulling back just hard enough that my head is tipped up toward him. Dante takes my lips with his, completely dominating my mouth. I love this. I love when he takes complete and utter contr