“Speaking of babies,” Papa spoke up. “Any ideas on what you may call him?”
Brody was still extremely pissed about my dad spanking me to keep me away from him, but he didn’t let it show. I felt his hand on my lap, shaking my head. “No, not really, we’ll leave it for a surprise until he’s born.”
“I think Rylan is a pretty cool name,” Jessie winked. “Or even Zed.”
My mama almost snorted on her wine as my sisters looked mortified along with her. “Lo spero che non sei serio. Il nome del tuo bambino dovrebbe avere un significato, non un nome moderno assurda” she scolded: I shall hope you're not serious. Your child's name should have meaning, not some absurd modern name
“Of course, we’ll have a name that means something, right, babe?” I asked, watching his hand now rubbing over my stomach.
He eyed me curiously but nodded. “Yes, our son will have a meaningful name.”
Mama seemed to relax as she smiled, “Grazie, Brody.”
He just smirked and winked. “You’re welcome.” I waited for it, and soon, he spoke again just to taunt her, “Zed, I actually don’t mind that.”
Loraine just smiled, sitting down beside Fred. “You, two, still have some time to decide all of that. Whatever the name, we’ll love him all the same.”
“Tipico. Vergogna sul nome ancora una volta. Typical. Shame on the name once again. Rude, and to say it so menacingly low with eyes darting over towards me.”
Clearing his throat and slowly but calmly standing upright, “Penso che tu sei quello che ha portato la vergogna. A differenza di te, la mia casa è mia, e mia moglie di. Il tutto è deciso da noi: i nomi, come sono cresciuti e il fatto che non li batte. Noi cazzo, ma non così male come avete fatto. Non mi piace il modo in cui viviamo? Beh, sapete dove la porta è, si prega di lasciare e prendere la vostra negatività con voi. I think you're the one who has brought shame. Unlike you, my house is mine and my wife's. Everything is decided by us: names, how they'll grow up, and the fact, we do not beat them. We fuck up but not as badly as you have done. Don't like how we live? Well, you know where the door is. Please, leave and take your negativity with you.”
I couldn’t be prouder of him right now. To stand up to my parents this way in front of our whole family and say what he needed to say in Italian, I was just staring in awe. His parents looked like he had grown a second head but knew what he had just done.
Standing up beside him, I just wanted us to be a united front. We had each other’s backs. “Let’s go.”
“What?” he asked. “Where? Oh yeah? Kids… come on; we’re going for a drive.”
My mama, who had been ready to fire back at Brody, snapped her mouth back open. “Hai intenzione di lasciare i vostri ospiti? Come maleducato!”
“Yes, we’re going to leave our guests, and no, it’s not rude. I’m done with you being rude. He is my husband, the father of my children, and I love him. You will not be welcome here if you cannot get your nose out of the air. You’re coming off as a…” Well, there was only one word to describe it. “A bitch!”
My Papa glared. “Gabriella! Come ti permetti.”
Waving my hand through the air at them, I wasn’t listening. “In our home, we speak English. Our children haven’t learned Italian, and maybe, when they’re older, they will choose to. But in our home, we talk English and without raising voices. We speak kindly. Now, please stay and eat. There are so much food. Eat and enjoy. If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to take a look at our new home. I want to see my Christmas present.”
“You’re leaving?” My sister, Loretta, asked with a gasp. “We haven’t eaten dessert.”
Slipping my fingers between his, I looked up lovingly towards my husband. “I want to see our new home.”
“As you wish,” Brody smiled. “Please, everyone, stay and enjoy the food my wife has cooked. We’ll be back later, no doubt needing your help in moving to our new house as I think someone is going to want to move tonight once she sees the place.” He not so subtly pointed towards me.
“Don’t blame me. You’re just as eager.” I laughed, pulling him along as the kids ran to put their shoes on. “We’ll be back!”
Leon grinned, raising his beer. “See you soon.”
Before I left, I looked over at everyone and noticed all of their mixed emotions. The four people who seemed to understand were Brody’s family. None of mine did, and that saddened me. At the end of the day, this had shown me who was my real family and who wouldn’t support us.
The man beside me was my life, and the children beside us were our future. We would be together through it all — good, bad and the amazing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“My ass is huge.” At eight months pregnant, I was over it.
Tilting his head to the side and checking out my ass, I turned. Brody winked, came up and roamed his hands over with a squeeze. “Your ass is amazing.” He went back to his desk, opening up a recent email.
“That’s extremely…” I clicked my tongue, as I couldn’t find the word I was looking for. When I found it, I grinned. “You’re a pervert.”
Laughing and pushing his files aside, he reached up for my hand, stroking his thumb over my palm. “Sit on daddy’s lap and let me make you feel better.”
“Brody, stop it.” I laughed even more, fighting his pull. “You do know that doesn’t turn me on at all.”
“Sure, it doesn’t,” he smirked, letting my hand fall as he rubbed my burgeoning bump as our little baby began to kick. “I love feeling these. Only four weeks left.”
“I’m nervous,” I admitted. I was afraid I wouldn’t have a clue how to do it all again. Lila was almost nine, and Noah, nearly ten. They were far from babies. I couldn’t even remember how to make a swaddle wrap. “What if I screw things up?”
“You won’t, baby. You’re an amazing mother.”
With a smile, I stood up and walked towards the door of his office. “I’m going to lie down by the fire. It’s gorgeous in there.”
The new house, it was our home. Everything felt so much homier, and the kids loved having more room outside to play around in. We had a trampoline, and Brody even built them a cubby house. Inside was modern and warm. I think I mostly loved that we hadn’t had a screaming match with each other.
Laying on the floor in complete darkness with nothing but the warm glow of the fire, I felt strangely happy. Everything was done, the kids were asleep, and it wasn’t even 8 PM. I had nothing to do except lie around and enjoy these last few weeks of pregnancy. As I stretched my arms out, my hands brushed against a set of feet covered in socks. Startled, I jumped up quickly, groaning when the baby kicked hard. “I hate when you creep up like that.”
He didn’t speak, to begin with. His voice was soft and erotically tender. “You make this room gorgeous, pregnant and fucking perfect.”
“Brody.” I tilted my head back, arching to get a better look at him.
He walked around and knelt down beside me, hovering above my body as his free hand skimmed up and down my stomach and dipping into the cotton fabric of my pyjama bottoms which were his since mine didn’t fit too well anymore.
Fingers teased me and taunted me. “Tell me what you want.”
“You.” It was automatic. He was all I ever wanted.
Pulling his hand out, he slipped a finger into his mouth, slowly sucking my arousal and tasting me with lust. Then, he was talking as if he hadn’t been fingering me. “Tonight was fun. I kicked all your asses twice.”
I smiled, stretching out like a kitten and trying not to eye roll as he continued bragging about winning. “It was fun.”
Tonight, we’d taken Noah and Lila ten-pin bowling. Brody had won both rounds and offered to buy the kids a happy meal, to cheer them up. They suggested a mc flurry, and he agreed.
Brody’s lips against my neck and smiling, he began to kiss me there. His warm breath was against my skin. “The night’s not over yet.”
“No?” I asked, tilting my head to give him better access. “Ar
e you going to make love to me by the fire?”
“Is that what you want, baby?”
“Hmmm,” softly I moaned as his lips latched on. “I want you to make love to me.”
Pulling me up onto his lap, his hands was roaming all over my ass and squeezing. “I love you so much, Gabby.” His mouth was kissing me while his one hand found its way through my hair, tugging a little.
Kissing each other passionately, I found the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up over his head as I started to undress him. I touched him so no area of skin went untouched. The need to feel him closely was driven by emotions of wanton desire.
He growled as my hand grasped his length. “Baby, let’s take this slow.”
“Sorry,” I tried slowing down. Instead, grinding against him as my hands gripped his shoulders tightly. Slow was the last thing I wanted.
“That’s it, baby, nice and slow. If you behave, then I’ll make sure you enjoy everything I do.”
Soaking from his words, I ground myself deeper against him and ran my fingers up and through his hair. “You feel so good.” As I neared the end of my pregnancy, I had been incredibly turned on by anything — the sight of Brody, naked or if he was sitting at his desk with his glasses on as he typed. Even when he let out a manly burp, it all drove me wild. He did ask me if I’d allow him a time out… I just laughed at him and continued to push him down on the bed. There was no way I wouldn’t jump on him.
Sliding down my panties, he moved his body between my thighs and kissed over my stomach, down towards my thighs and slipping his fingers inside me with a moan.
As his fingers assaulted me, a distant thought of the past popped into my head while I writhed and bucked my hips underneath him. “Do you remember when you fingered me at school behind the trees?”
“I remember every moment with you,” he grinned and pumped his fingers faster. “What about it?”
Breathing picking up, I groaned softly. “Just how… how nervous you were and always asking if I were okay.” Clenching around him, my eyes blurred as my orgasm hit hard. Crying out until it began to die down, I caught my breath and smiled towards him. “Although, back then, you didn’t make me come much.”
His brows dipped slightly, and he looked confused. “I didn’t make you come back them?”
Pulling his fingers out before I could answer, they were shoved into my mouth, and his mouth was on my wet core, licking and sucking hungrily. My thighs automatically wrapped around his neck while sucking his fingers. I bit down, moaning as I vaguely remembered his question. “Not always.”
“You faked it?”
I was so close. “No, I got there close a lot of times.” Reaching down as he moved, allowing me access to his swollen dick and stroked him. “I faked it. I didn’t want you feeling bad.”
He bit down on my swollen pink lips and pulled away as I let out a painful yelp. “You faked them?” he asked, upset.
Oh, shit.
“Did you just bite me?” I winced, looking dazed as I sat up on elbows. “Not all of them.” I wasn’t making things any better.
“It hurts worse knowing this after so long.” He pulled away completely and just stared at the fire.
“I’m sorry. You know our sex life wasn’t that good. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just that I almost got there a few times, but I couldn’t get off every time. not since that night in the kitchen, I haven’t faked anything. I just didn’t tell you if I came or not.” I felt like shit that he had thought he’d gotten me off each time. And I wished I kept my big fat mouth shut.
His eyes narrowed in on me. He shook his head angrily. “Don’t ever fake with me, Gabby. This whole time, I thought…” Stopping himself as he sighed, “I thought I was pleasing you, as much as you had done to me.”
Reaching out to touch him, I didn’t want him to think I didn’t enjoy sex with him. I did. “No, baby. I promise that it still felt amazing. Just because I didn’t have an orgasm doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it.” My hand rubbed his thigh soothingly. “I’m sorry. I just always thought you may have known.”
“Well, I can’t damn tell if you’re faking it or not,” he said frustrated. “For all I know, you just faked it then.”
“I haven’t…” I said, sitting up and reaching for my bottoms and panties again. “I’m sorry.”
He watched as I dressed and took a good few minutes to get myself up off the floor. “Can you see what I’m upset? I mean I get why you may have done it, but it still hurts, Gabby.”
“I know it hurts you,” I said quietly, holding my tears. “I feel really awful about how I told you. I wasn’t thinking.”
“My tongue was inside you. I know you weren't thinking,” he shot back.
Blushing at his words, I chewed my lower lip for a moment, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. “I really am sorry. Please, don’t be mad at me.”
“Come here,” he said, reaching and pulling me to him. He held me and placed a kiss underneath my lobe as I sat on his lap. “I love you, Gabriella. Just please, don’t fake them again.”
I felt awful even after he insisted on carrying me to bed. I just wanted to sleep and not see that hurt look on his face anymore. It stung when he tucked me into bed and then left the room, claiming to go and get a drink before he got into bed with me. I rolled to my side and snuggled under the covers. I wasn’t going to make a bigger deal out of this. Although it was a hurtful truth that had been revealed, I wasn’t going to say it was an argument.
Arguing was us yelling and not talking things through, and we hadn’t done that for so long. We talked about things. If there was something bothering us, then we spoke about it and worked out our differences to make things better again.
It was going well for us so far. So much for our night of loving passion or so I thought until a shadow appeared at the door. Brody stood there, watching me silently and then speaking. “Gabby, I need some help.”
Sitting up worried, my mind raced when I thought he was hurt somehow. “What’s wrong?”
Smirking at me, “I have this problem, and it’s not going down. I think you need to come and help me out.”
My eyes travelled down to where he was looking at, his rock hard cock.
“Well, I think I could help you out.” I patted the empty spot beside me, “Come over and let me take a closer look.”
He sat down, and when I went to touch, he reached out and slapped a palm around my wrist. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said huskily with dominance. “In ginocchio, mentre I fotto la bocca. On your knees, while I fuck your mouth.”
The next afternoon, Lila and I were in the kitchen making sugar cookies. She mixed the pink icing while I cut and placed them in the oven. She had first been a little upset that our baby wasn’t going to be a sister for her. She came around when I asked her to come and help me decorate the baby’s room.
They both were heavily involved with the pending arrival of a brother. I didn’t want them to feel left out in the slightest way at all.
“Almost done?” I asked, peering over into the bowl she held tightly.
“This pink looks really pretty, mama,” she smiled back. “When can I ice?”
“Not yet, they need to cool down for a bit.”
I went to the sink and rinsed my hands underneath the warm water to clean them up. When I looked up, she was over next to my iPod and turning the song up, Taylor Swift, of course, not that I put her on there. I hadn’t the clue who she was, but this song was definitely catchy.
Grabbing Lila by the hands, we began to dance in the kitchen.
Twirling around as I held my tummy while Lila was prancing about, I looked up and caught the eyes of my amused husband. Blushing immediately, the thing about being happy, I was able to be silly and feel carefree again without the worry of my family being embarrassed by me.
With a grin, I shuffled towards him with my old school dancing and began to sing to him. “I never miss a beat,” I turned, bumping my hips against his. “I'm lightning
on my feet. And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm. That’s what they don't see, mmm-mmm.” Lila was giggling, and Brody just watched me. “I'm dancing on my own, dancing on my own. I make the moves up as I go, moves up as I go. And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm.”
With my final words, I pointed towards him and motioned with my fingers for him to come at me. “And to the fella over there with the hella good hair, won’t you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake.”
That was enough to have Brody in front of me and dancing also, laughing, singing and being absolutely young and crazy in love. This was what it was all about, and I finally understood that. This was happiness.
Brody and I both stopped dancing when our feet felt something wet. First instinct was, “Oh, God, I wet myself!” Laughing hard as I assumed my bladder had just been danced into giving way, I was then going from laughing and into a panic.
Tears immediately rolled down my cheeks. “My water broke!” I said through hot salty tears.
“What?” Brody’s smile faded instantly, and he was looking at me as if he had just seen a ghost. “Now?” Panic was starting to set in.
“Now! I… Noah! Lila!” I screamed out, panicking as I was far from organised. Hell, I was still baking cookies. “I need to finish…” I said as the oven timer went off. “I can’t just leave them.”
Brody was in front of me, shaking his head. “You want to what? Finish cooking? No, we’re going to the hospital, and you’re going to give birth to our son.” He started looking around, unsure what to do. “Um, Noah, get the iPad. You’re going to grandma and grandpas.”
My mind was going crazy, but I was glad he was here to help me through it. With a smile, I reached up and cupped his cheeks. My tears of panic turned to tears of joy and excitement. “Brody…” Blowing out a steady breath as Lila was calling up Loraine, I just smiled. “We’re going to have a baby soon.”
“Yes, sweetheart, we are.”
Two hours and thirty-two minutes later, I gave birth to our son. And Brody hadn’t left my side once.
Forgotten Sweethearts: A Romance Novel Page 30
