The played for an hour and she won every hand.
“I’m glad we didn’t play for money. You might own my house and my car by now. Where did you learn to play?”
“Juvy.”
“Yikes.”
“It was a tough crowd. They played for cigarettes and sexual favors.”
“Wow. I forget that your upbringing was so different from mine.”
“Night and day, I’m sure,” she said.
“I had my father in my life.”
“How old were you when he died?”
“I was eight.”
He didn’t make eye contact with her. It must still hurt him. “You really cared about him.”
“He was my idol. We’d come here because of his job and I ended up staying even after he died. It was a blow to all of us when he was gone. Salvatore especially, since he was the youngest.”
“I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if I’d known my father. I might have known more about men than I did.”
“A father should teach his daughter what men are about,” Amedeo said.
“It’s a big responsibility and women where I grew up never took it seriously. They never cared if the father was around. As if they didn’t mean anything,” Violet said.
That was a damned shame, but at least her child would have his father.
***
On Sunday, Amedeo met Dante for a beer in the afternoon. He’d been going a little stir crazy, but he hadn’t wanted to leave Violet. She insisted he go out because he was driving her crazy.
Just like an old married couple. Shit. That wasn’t good. This was temporary. Until the baby came. He had to remember that. Right now he couldn’t think of anything else but the baby. The idea that he was going to be a father had really hit him this week.
“You look concerned,” Dante said.
The two men hugged. “Hey, bro. Good to see you.”
“I figured this might be the last time I get out before Gwen has this baby.”
“Bet she’s ready.”
“Yeah, she’s uncomfortable and ready to have this done with,” Dante said.
“You excited?”
“I am. Not sure what to expect of being a father, but hey, I can handle it.”
“That’s more optimistic than I feel.”
“Oh?” Dante said.
He sipped his beer, shifting to look at his brother.
“Yeah. I’ve never really taken care of another human being. You took care of us when Dad died, but I never did anything like that.”
“I didn’t do much caretaking. I just kept you boys in line a little. It was all Mom.”
“I know.”
“Have you told her yet?”
Amedeo frowned. Why had he been putting that off? His mother wouldn’t be mad. She loved her boys and as much as she wanted them to marry nice Italian girls, she wouldn’t judge them if they didn’t. Dante had certainly paved the way by marrying Gwen.
“No, I haven’t. I guess it wasn’t real to me until this week.”
“It’s harder for us guys. We aren’t going through the changes. Seeing that baby for the first time on the ultrasound is amazing.”
“Violet had the early one, but it doesn’t look like much.”
“The next one you’ll be able to tell more and what sex the baby is.”
Amedeo wanted to look forward to that, but he was too concerned about his ability or inability to take care of another human being. “I’ve never doubted myself in anything I’ve done. Until now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Am I really capable of taking care of a baby?”
“I think it’s a little late to be worried about that. This baby is on its way and you have no choice. You wouldn’t want to abandon the child now.”
Dante was right. Amedeo couldn’t see doing that, but he wasn’t sure if he was just scared or lazy. He’d never considered himself lazy. “No, but am I doing the right thing by wanting to raise it? What the Hell do I know about taking care of someone? Especially someone as needy as a baby.”
“Suck it up, Bro. That’s the situation. You can’t change it. The only way would be to go against how we were raised. Mama would have something to say about that. How does Violet feel?”
Amedeo shrugged. “I think she’s okay with it.”
“You haven’t talked?”
“Not heart-to-heart about this.”
“You need to. You both need to be in the same place on this. You are both the parents and you have to agree on how this child will be raised.”
“You and Gwen have done that?”
“Yes. Long before she got pregnant. I had to know that she had my back and she had to know that I had hers.”
“That’s pretty complicated for Violet and I. We aren’t married. We aren’t two people in love. We are just two people having a baby together.”
“You still need to talk about it. Probably even more than a married couple would. You aren’t going to be living in the same house. You are going to be sharing custody and the child will need consistency.”
What Dante said made sense. He would have to broach things with Violet. They needed to be on the same page. In the same place about how to raise a child. His brother was right. Amedeo would have to initiate this talk. Violet probably hadn’t thought about it.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’m glad I talked to you. At least if we’re discussing this I’ll feel like I’m doing something.”
“Planning is your forte so use that.”
Amedeo nodded. “I asked her to marry me so that Violet would be on my insurance plan. I’ve had a prenup drawn up, but Violet isn’t keen on marrying me.”
“That’s really her choice. In this day and age, not every couple gets married when the woman gets pregnant. I’d bet she’s pretty independent.”
“She is. Sometimes painfully so.”
“Something you have to work around.”
Amedeo nodded, thinking about how he would broach the subject with Violet. They did need to clear the air. He wasn’t worried about it, he just hoped they had similar values. He wanted his child to go to private schools. There were several in the Princeton area. Maybe that was getting ahead of himself.
“I don’t even know where Violet is going to live after the baby’s born.”
“You want to know that.”
“I guess I’ve been worried about some intangibles when I can deal with the tangibles.”
Dante slapped his back. “It’s okay, Amedeo. I went through some moments of terror. It’s normal, but you have to get through it.”
Amedeo had a lot to think about. There were logistics of raising a child that he could deal with. Might make him feel better about not being sure he can be a father. Never in his life had he set off in a direction that he wasn’t sure of. This insecurity was knocking him off his game.
Of course he could raise a child. It wasn’t easy, but neither was building up a company. And if he could sell this one in the next few years, he’d have more time to be with his child.
Hmm. Maybe he’d take a year off and spend it all with his baby.
***
Violet woke from her nap, feeling better. The pounding in her head was much lighter so she went downstairs for her laptop. Yes, Amedeo would be mad that she got out of bed, but she wasn’t a child. She felt okay and her strength was back. She didn’t want to watch any more movies and she needed to do something to stimulate her brain.
Hacking. She liked to keep her skills up and hack into something just to see if she could. She targeted a company, but she had no idea what they did. Besides, it was the weekend. No one would be there to see and she could back out without leaving a trace.
She knew if she worked on Amedeo’s project he’d be mad. She could technically say she was just playing.
He wasn’t due back until dinner time so she had an hour.
She settled herself back into bed when her phone rang. Kalia.
“He
y girl,” she said.
Kalia laughed. “I know we just saw each other, but I’m missing you this weekend.”
“I wish you could come over. I’m bored on bed rest.”
“What happened?”
“I was hit by a car. Not badly, but Amedeo is being a mother hen.”
“I looked him up on the internet. Girl, he’s one ‘hawt’ dude.”
Violet laughed. Yes, he is. “Why’d you look him up?”
“I was bored.”
“You need a man.”
“No, I need a vibrator. Less hassle than a man,” Kalia said.
Her friend was probably right. “You know what Amedeo wanted? He asked me to marry him. Prenup and all.”
“Marriage? No way? You should jump at it. It can’t be hard to see that man naked.”
Life wasn’t ever as simple as Kalia thought it was. “I can’t marry him, Kalia. I want to be in love when I marry.”
“You old-fashioned?”
“Yes, I guess I am. Not that old-fashioned since I’m having a baby out of wedlock.”
Kalia snorted. “Details. You free this week?”
“I’m sure I can be free.”
“Let me know what day works for you.”
“Okay. I’ll call you Tuesday when I’m back to work. I’ll know what my schedule it. I wish you could see this house. It’s as big as our whole apartment building, I swear.”
“You can’t have a home girl over?”
“Not sure. It’s still Amedeo’s house. I’d feel odd inviting anyone here.”
“Fair enough. Talk to you later.”
Violet went back to her task at hand. She targeted a business then let her fingers dance over the keyboard. This one had pretty good security. She had to be careful. They might be able to find her.
“What are you doing?”
Amedeo stood in the doorway. He had his arms crossed.
“Just having fun. No worries.”
At least she hoped not. She stared at the screen as Amedeo stared at her. “Did you have a nice nap?”
“Yes and now I need to work my brain. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be off.”
“You sure you should be on the computer?”
“I’m fine. If my head hurts more I’ll get off.”
“What are you doing?”
“Hacking into a site.”
He frowned. “Be careful.”
“Hacking is what I do for a living. I know what I’m doing.”
But he’d distracted her and she wasn’t being careful. If he’d stayed away she would have had her full attention on her task. Instead, she must have gone somewhere she didn’t understand. A warning came up and she backed out of the site.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re distracting me. That’s what’s wrong,” she said.
“I just wanted to see if you’re okay. I think there are some things we need to talk about.”
She looked up at him over her computer. She was backing out of the site, but not doing it with any finesse. Hopefully she wasn’t leaving a trail. She didn’t want this person to find her because she had a feeling there was some illegal activity going on. She didn’t like what she’d seen.
After backing out of the site, she closed her laptop. “What things do we need to talk about?”
Was he kicking her out? Who had he gone to see? Had they convinced him that she was just a gold digger? She wasn’t. If he’d given her abortion money, she would have never seen him again.
“Don’t be scared. I think we need to talk about the baby and how we are going to parent this child.”
“Do I need to make a decision about custody right now?”
Her head had begun to hurt again and she wasn’t sure she could think straight right now. That’s what she got for going on the computer.
“No, but you need to think about it. We need to have a plan for raising this child. We need to know that we agree on how to parent this child,” he said.
He’d come to sit on the edge of the bed. She looked at him as if he had two heads. “The birth is months away.”
“Then we’ll have months to sort this out if we don’t agree on things. You know I’m flexible about custody, but there are other things I find important.”
“Like what?”
“I want my child to go to a local private school. That may mean that you live near here. I know you’ve already uprooted your life, but I want you to think about making your permanent residence closet to me.”
She frowned. She hadn’t thought about where she would live, which was odd for her. She could be planning if it was necessary. Then again, her plans had never turned out. Why should she make them?
She shrugged. “Okay. I’m going to have to figure out what I can afford.”
“I’m assuming the child will be in daycare at some point. We’ll have to pick that together. Which means you’ll have to have a clear idea of where you’ll be living.”
She rubbed a hand down her face. “If you want to have this conversation, you need to feed me.”
He laughed. “Okay I’ll make dinner.”
“Thanks. Then I promise we’ll talk about this stuff. Meanwhile I’ll think about it.”
“We need to think about discipline and bottle feeding and what kind of diapers,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot do to with baby raising.”
He nodded, brushing a hair out of her face. “There is and I couldn’t ask for hotter baby mama.”
She just laughed as he walked out.
Chapter10
With dinner done, Amedeo washed the dishes then returned to the bedroom to watch a movie with Violet. She was very affectionate, but he didn’t want to push things. She was sore. He couldn’t imagine that she wanted to have sex.
Not that he would turn it down, but maybe she should stop touching him how she was touching him.
They’d talked about the baby. More than they had since she’d moved in. He felt closer to her than ever, and he’d love to make love to her. She had her head on his shoulder, her hand playing with his chest hair while the move played. He’d lost track of the plot as he focus zeroed in on what her hand was doing.
It began to go lower, onto his stomach. He snatched it up. “Don’t tease me, Violet. I’m only human.”
She lifted her head off him. “I’m not teasing. I feel much better. I guess this conversation we had put me in a mood.”
His eyebrows went up. “Really? Because I can accommodate you, I’m sure.”
She sat up to look at him better. “I don’t think I can handle rough.”
He put his hand on her face. “I can be as gentle as you need.”
Shit, he could be anything she wanted of him if he was going to get laid.
“Promise?”
“I promise, Violet.”
She smiled and his heart zinged in his chest. She was a beautiful woman and she was going to be naked soon. Which made her even more gorgeous in his eyes. Those miles of mocha skin really got his engine running.
He hadn’t hoped she’d be recovered this soon. “Did the doctor say it was okay?”
He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want to hurt the baby either.
“It only said that if I felt up to it, I could have sex. I’m feeling up to it. I’m feeling downright frisky.”
“Let’s take this slowly.”
“Okay.”
She took off her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra. He’d noticed that before then admonished himself for noticing. Guess it was okay. He kissed her as if he were kissing someone more fragile. Right now she was.
“If you need to stop, please tell me. It’s okay.”
It might kill him because he was already hard for her, but he would do it. This was her health. He put his hands on the breasts that he’d missed seeing. She pulled him over on top of her. He braced his elbows on either side of her. She didn’t need to take his whole weight.
Her hand went down his pants and his eyes almost rolled
into the back of his head. Her hand was warm and soft and she grasped him firmly.
“Someone’s glad to see me.”
“I am,” he said, nipping at her neck. She tasted of strawberries.
“Does he want to come out and play?”
“Of course,” Amedeo growled.
Violet laughed, then shoved his pants down his legs. He stood, then dropped his drawers on the floor. Then he took off his shirt and she smiled at him Guess she liked what she saw.
“Come here.”
“You need to be naked first.”
He tugged off her sweatpants. Her bra came off next. Seeing a woman naked, never got old. The sight took away his breath. “Oh, Violet.”
“I love how you say my name,” she said.
He climbed back on top of her. He took her breast in his mouth as he found her clit. He rubbed in a circle, her body arching up to his hand. He could play her like a musical instrument and that turned him on. She was his most responsive lover ever.
“Oh, Amedeo.”
His name sounded dirty in her mouth. Made his body light on fire. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her back arched, her teeth gritted. A keening noise erupted from her as her body shuddered.
“You okay?”
“I’m better than okay, Amedeo. Get inside of me. Now.”
He laid her back down his body craving her touch.
She ran her hands up and down his back as he entered her.
“I love how your muscles bunch when you’re moving inside of me,” she said.
“I love how soft you are.”
He moved inside of her, hitting all the right spots, he hoped. Her eyes fell closed, her mouth fell open. Oh yes. He knew that look. She was close. Her hands clenched.
“Oh.”
He sped up and followed her over the cliff, his body a bundle of sensations. He wasn’t even sure how he kept thrusting into her. He’d lost control of his body. As she was wracked with aftershocks, he finally stopped.
He tried to catch his breath, leaning over her. He nipped at her neck, one more time for good measure. He slumped onto her. “Tell me if I’m hurting you.”
“I have no feeling in most of my body, so no worries.”
He laughed. God, he loved to do that to a woman. She was all soft and pliant underneath him. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to lose the contact with her. At least he didn’t have a condom to get rid of.
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