Take It All Off

by Weston Parker

  He shifted to watch me lying on his bed, his eyes roaming over every inch of my exposed skin. That intense gaze lit my nerve endings on fire.

  It was far from the first time he’d seen me naked, but it was the first time it wasn’t only my body that was bared to him. My heart, mind, and soul were exposed now, too.

  I’d told him I loved him. I’d agreed to move in with him. It was crazy, and Elena really was going to kill me, but I’d figure something out with her. The baby and I needed to take priority, and I wanted this relationship to work out.

  With the way he’d looked at me downstairs when he’d asked, I hadn’t been able to say no. But I hadn’t wanted to, either. Moving in with him made sense. We did have a baby on the way, but we’d also taken so many steps forward in our relationship. This felt like the right time to take this one.

  When his eyes met mine after completing the intense onceover, I felt like he could see all the way to my soul. A moment passed between us, one where our newly admitted feelings felt almost as tangible as the need in our bodies.

  Our eyes locked. Marco reached for me just as I reached for him. He lowered himself slowly onto me, keeping our hands clasped tightly together.

  From now on, this was the way things would be between us. A thrill chased down my spine when I realized it. We were together now, an us instead of just two people joining.

  I wrapped my legs around his hips, whispering his name as I rocked against him. Against my man. It was almost impossible to believe it was true, but it was.

  He caught me staring, but no smirk or witty comment followed. There was only pure, unconditional love staring back at me. He claimed my lips for a long, slow kiss, and he lined himself up with me.

  As frenzied as we’d both been earlier, we were taking our time now. His mouth moved away from mine, leaving me to bite my lower lip as his moved down my body. Trailing kisses over every inch he could reach, he withdrew from me in one smooth stroke that made us both moan before sliding back in.

  Brushing a lock of my hair from my face, he watched me as our fingers linked together. We’d had a lot of sex, but it’d never been like this before. This intimacy was new, exhilarating in a way that entranced me.

  Marco plunged into me, my hips meeting his at every thrust. Our gazes remained glued together, our gasps the only sounds in the room.

  Moving together in a rhythm that was hypnotizing, we climbed higher and higher. We were together every step of the way. My back arched and I clenched around him, my fingers grasping at his as I shuddered and moaned beneath him.

  Pleasure erupted deep within me, flowing through my body. Sparks of ecstasy shot from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes. Angels serenading me couldn’t have been better than the sounds that met my ears when my climax triggered Marco’s. He tensed above me, coming on an epic groan.

  His mouth slammed onto mine, kissing me deeply and leisurely as we came down from our respective highs. I felt his heart thumping against my chest, the rhythm matching my own as our breathing slowed.

  Marco pulled away from me lazily, a slow grin spreading as he squeezed my fingers in his. “I finally understand why people say there’s a difference between fucking and making love.”

  “Yeah, that was definitely something.” I placed a series of butterfly kisses on his shoulder before nuzzling his neck. “Or do you prefer the other way?”

  “As long as it’s with you, I’m in,” he mumbled, his fingers drawing patterns on the bare skin of my sides. His touch was too light to be ticklish, but I smiled anyway.

  The sun had dipped below on the horizon while we’d been in here, its fading light faint and disappearing fast. The ambient light was enough for me to see his thoughtful expression.

  Marco was still buried deep inside me, and it didn’t look like he planned on moving anytime soon, but there was obviously something on his mind. “What’s up with you?”

  Dragging the tip of his nose over my skin, he placed feathery kisses in its wake. Goosebumps raised the fine hairs on my arms. I shivered, cuddling back up against him.

  “I was wondering how you felt about family names.”

  “You’re thinking about baby names right now?” I chuckled, but I could feel how much he needed me right now. And not in the way he’d had me a minute ago.

  “Is that weird?” He ran the backs of his fingers over my cheeks. “Actually, I don’t care if it’s weird. Yes, I was. I’m inside you without any protection, but then I remembered…”

  “It’s not weird,” I reassured him when he trailed off. Maybe it was weird, but I didn’t really care. “To be honest, I haven’t thought about names at all. What did you have in mind?”

  “Nothing in particular. I haven’t given it much thought, either. But I thought it might be a nice tribute if we included our dads’ names somehow if it’s a boy, and your mom’s if it’s a girl.”

  “From baby names to dead parents. You’re on a roll.” I smiled, but Marco grimaced.

  “I didn’t think about it like that. Fuck. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” I rested against his chest and looked up into his eyes, at his long lashes resting on his cheeks. “I’m desperately, madly in love with you. I love that you’re thinking about baby names, and I think it’s sweet you want to honor our parents. You have a beautiful heart, Marco.”

  “So you’re not going to leave me for getting emotional after making love to you?” He smirked, but there was so much depth in his eyes that I knew it was for show.

  “No, I’m not.” I pressed a kiss on the skin over his heart. We lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while, but then reality started creeping into my brain again. “Do you think your mother is ever going to accept me?”

  He groaned. “And now we’re talking about my mother.”

  I gave his shoulder a playful shove. “Hey, now. Don’t forget who brought all this up.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Brushing my hair out of my face, he angled me so I could see the sincerity shining in his eyes. “She already has.”

  “She has? When did this happen?”

  “When she told me to move to the States to be with you.”

  My eyes widened, and I felt dizzy with shock. “You’ve been holding out on me.”

  He shrugged. “Not really. Let’s go downstairs. I’ll cook some dinner while I tell you the finer details of the hours leading up to me showing up at your brother’s house.”

  I didn’t really want to leave this little bubble of ours, but I nodded. This sounded like a story I really needed to hear.

  Chapter 39

  Marco

  “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” I asked Addy as I helped her out my car. “You’re five months pregnant and we just got off the jet an hour ago.”

  Her swollen ankles emerged from the cab first, followed by her round belly and full breasts. Finally, her gorgeous head popped out. I caught the edge of an eye roll as she wobbled to find her footing on the cobblestones.

  “It’s been too long since we’ve seen your mother. We have to do this.” She flicked her hand toward the house, then twisted around and leaned over to gather her purse and some gifts from the car.

  I gave myself a second to admire her ass before I reached past her, moving fast to grab everything she needed before she could. She turned her head to scowl at me. “I’m pregnant, not infirm. Give me that.”

  Tempted to hold it up over my head, I remembered just in time that reaching up was potentially dangerous to the pregnancy. Yeah, I’ve learned a lot over the last few months.

  “You might not be infirm, but we had a seven-hour flight and came right over. I can’t carry the precious cargo you’re growing, but I can carry your damn purse.”

  Addy grumbled at me but relented when I held out my hand. “Thank you.”

  Tucking her under my arm, I bent to kiss her temple. “Thank you for not arguing with me about it.”

  “That was one time,” she protested. “And my luggage has wheels. I’m perfec
tly capable of pulling my own bag.”

  “But I’m perfectly capable of doing it for you.” Maybe I was taking the protectiveness a step too far, but I couldn’t help it. Besides, with the heavy load she was already carrying, I wanted to do whatever I could to help.

  I wasn’t just talking about the pregnancy, either. The weight of her belly alone would have been enough, but she’d also insisted on helping me complete my annual company review.

  Both of us wanted it done before the birth, but getting it done was a different thing to wanting it done. It meant long flights and longer hours. Each of our branches around the world had to be visited. Ports, planes, and fleets had to be inspected. It was hard work, but it was something I was adamant about doing once a year.

  Most of my people were scattered across the globe. Only a small handful worked in the offices here, which meant only a handful of a staff of thousands saw me in person on a regular basis.

  Video conferences and phone calls were fine, but I’d decided early on when I’d started expanding that I would personally attend to every branch at least every year. I could have skipped it this year, but a number of incidents had convinced Addy that it needed to be done.

  When that had been settled, she had informed me that she would be accompanying me on the review. When I said informed me, I meant that she’d given me no choice in the matter.

  I’d argued, but she’d made some valid points. In the end, I figured it was safer for her to be with me than it was for her to be alone anyway. She hadn’t experienced any more pain like she had back in Oregon, but I lived in secret terror that it would happen again.

  Our doctor had assured us that traveling was safe. For now.

  The letter he’d given her declaring her fit to travel had exactly one week left before it lapsed, but we’d made it. We were finally done.

  I’d been worried about the stress of traveling, but the doctor said everything looked good. Apparently, as long as Kyle’s heart kept functioning the way it was supposed to, the stress of traveling wouldn’t do any harm.

  Since we flew by private jet, there was also none of the long waiting periods for a next flight, walkways, or prolonged periods of handling heavy luggage. It was that last comment that had precipitated my insistence on handling her luggage for her.

  The last few months had been busy, but I had a feeling it would be worth it. While we’d been conducting the review, I’d been easing Aldo into my day-to-day role at the office.

  Addy had also conducted her own interviews and had hired a young man to fill in for her temporarily. My brother had been banking on her hiring a woman, and he wasn’t thrilled that it was a guy, but Addy had declared it payback for him breaking our secret to my mother.

  Sufficiently chagrined, he’d resigned himself to not being able to hook up with his very own client liaison. I fucking loved my girl. She was as much of a damn firecracker as ever.

  My mother had planned this celebratory dinner weeks ago. Since the review had wrapped up today, Addy and I were officially on parental leave. We were still planning on working remotely on some things, and we’d go into the office from time to time, but our primary focus for the next few months was our family.

  We had a nursery to plan, and whatever the fuck else one was supposed to do before the big day arrived. Thankfully, I had months to figure it out.

  “You ready?” Addy asked as we approached Mom’s front door.

  I nodded. “You?”

  “As I’ll ever be.” Slowly but surely, Addy and Mom were building up a relationship. They had been getting along since we’d gotten home from the States, but Addy always got nervous before we went inside.

  I pushed open the door for her, motioning for her to precede me. My mother’s shout came the second Addy stepped over the threshold. “Look who’s finally here. I’m so happy to see you.”

  Mom pulled Addy in for a tight hug.

  “We’re happy to be here, Grace. It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s been months,” Mom cried as she released her, then set her sights on me. “Next time you take my son, daughter-in-law, and grandbaby away from me for two whole months, I’ll ground you.”

  “Sure, Mama.” I chuckled into her hair. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Don’t you try me, young man. You’re never too old for your mother to discipline you.” She grinned at Addy. “If he gives you any trouble, you let me know.”

  “I’ll do that.” She turned to smirk at me over her shoulder. “Hear that? Your mom will discipline you if you don’t listen to me.”

  My retort wasn’t fit for company, but I held it back. Discreetly slapping her ass when I passed her, I gave her a meaningful look. “Sure, I’m the one who needs to be disciplined.”

  Addy’s cheeks turned bright red. She knew exactly what I was talking about. Pregnancy sex was crazy awesome.

  I’d never given much thought to how many children I wanted, but now I wanted a whole house full of them. Lucky for me, we were already well on our way.

  Mom ushered Addy into the dining room, taking the seat on one side of her to coo to her belly. “Hello, my little bambino. This is your grandmother here. I’ve missed you. Dance for granny.”

  She held her palms up, waiting until Addy nodded before placing them on her stomach. Mom had actually been surprisingly respectful throughout all of this. She hadn’t even mentioned moving in with us or being present for the birth once. Plus, she always made sure she got permission before she touched the bump.

  Cackling gleefully as she received a kick, she ended with a squeal. “Who’s a good little baby? Listening to granny already. You and I are going to have such fun together.”

  Addy caught my eye, quirking her brow in a silent question. I answered it with a smile, carrying her purse over to the table.

  “We have some more pictures,” she said coyly. “Before we left on the review, we went for another ultrasound.”

  “Oh, let me see.” She kept her hands on Addy’s stomach but nodded at the envelope sticking out of her purse. “You’re going to have to show them to me. I’m bonding with the baby. These hands aren’t moving.”

  While Addy removed the images, Mom looked over to me. “Grab my specs, would you? Those things are so small. I don’t understand why they can’t give you pictures visible to the human eye.”

  I wasn’t going to touch that comment, so I went off in search of her glasses instead. Finding them on her armchair, I placed them between my fingers.

  Addy knew I wanted to be there for the big reveal, but I hurried back to them anyway. She was stalling, making a show of unrolling the reel.

  Mom removed only one hand to slide the glasses onto her face, then leaned over to peer at the pictures. “Oh, there you are. You little darling.” It took her a beat to figure it out. “Oh my God! There’s another one.”

  She clapped her hand over her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes before they spilled down her cheeks. It wasn’t often I saw my mother speechless, but Addy seemed to have that effect on her.

  “It’s twins,” she managed finally, throwing her arms around Addy’s shoulders. “I knew you were the one, baby girl. I knew it the first time I saw Marco’s face when he said your name. I’m sorry about that hiccup, but I’m so glad it’s you.”

  Predictably, Mom was thrilled about the news. Some might even say ecstatic.

  She hugged Addy for a long time before she waved me over. I enveloped both of them in my arms, surprised to find that some of my mom’s emotion had spilled into me.

  We’d known it was twins for months, but we wanted to tell her in person. I was glad that we’d waited.

  Just when she thought the surprises were done, I leaned over and pointed at the first picture where the doctor had spotted the second baby. “You see that? She was hiding behind her sister. That’s why they didn’t see her at first.”

  Mom’s glassy eyes blinked up at me, her voice reverent. “Twin girls? That’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard. You
know what our family says about twin girls, Marco. You are truly blessed.”

  I hadn’t told Addy the full story behind the superstition yet, but I would. For now, Addy had one last surprise for her.

  Her thumb traced over the babies, a serene smile spreading on her lips. “That one is going to be named Amelie, after my mother.”

  “That’s beautiful,” she said, fresh tears welling in her eyes. “I think that’s a very good choice.”

  “I agree. This one?” She moved her thumb to the second baby. “This one is going to be Gracie.”

  Mom looked like she hadn’t heard her at first, but then she absolutely broke down. Sobs heaved through her, and she held on to Addy for what felt like an eternity.

  As I watched the two of them together, I gave a quick glance up at the sky outside the window. Stars were shining brightly above us, and I grinned.

  Yeah, Dad. I’m also starting to believe the superstition might just have some truth to it now.

  Epilogue

  Addy

  If anyone had bothered to ask me a year ago what I wanted to do with my life, working in a restaurant in Italy wouldn’t have been too far from the top of my list. At least it meant that I’d managed to scrape by and was still making my real dream of traveling come true.

  Little had I known back then what was waiting for me. The year had passed in an absolute whirlwind. I’d met my boss and figured out he was the love of my life, and eight months later, I was holding one of our daughters in my arms.

  Sometimes, I was too afraid to blink, scared I would jerk out of a daydream and that I’d find myself still working at Antonio’s. As I looked up from our bed at Marco cradling Amelie in his arms, humming as he rocked her from side to side, I had to pinch myself.

  Gracie chose that moment to let out the cutest sigh, and I decided it was more than enough proof for me. There was nothing that could make it more real than seeing Marco’s eye color mixed with my own in our daughter’s hazel eyes.