“Oh, mon dieu.” Oh my goodness. “He sent me a living fish.” She throws her hands up. “Who does that?”
“Well, good news for me.” Markos smiles at her. “I wore her down.”
I can’t help but laugh at him as he tells us the story of her freaking out and returning said fish. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard. Stefano sits rolling his eyes while he leans over and puts his arm over my leg.
I don’t even know how long we sit at the table, but the sun slowly goes down. Avery, of course, is the center of attention as she gets back up and walks with her dress. It’s not long before she comes over and climbs into my lap. “How about we get you a bath?” I ask her, and she just nods.
“It’s the time difference,” Vivienne observes. “It’s nine o’clock for her.”
The five of us walk inside. “Give me a kiss.” Vivienne squats down in front of her. “How about tomorrow we take you to see some puppies?”
“Um,” I say nervously, “absolutely not.” My tone is sharp. “No pets allowed in our place.”
“We are going to visit one of my places,” Markos explains, “there is a puppy class early in the morning.”
“Can I go see the puppies?” Avery looks at me and I just nod my head.
“We’ll call you tomorrow when she wakes up,” Stefano says to his parents, who just nod at us.
They walk out of the room with their arms locked around each other.
“They could stay here,” I say when Stefano closes the door and then glares at me. “What? It’s a three-bedroom suite. I can share with Avery.”
“You can share yourself in my bed is what you can do,” he grumbles and then walks back toward where the two bedrooms are. “I’ll get the bath going,” he tells me and side by side we get Avery ready for bed. By the time her head hits the pillow, her eyes are already closed, no matter how she fights it. I look down at her in the middle of a king-size bed, looking like a real princess in a big bed.
Stefano slips his hand in mine, pulling me out of the room and then heading to the master bedroom.
“Are you tired?” he asks me as he leans down to kiss my neck, making me smile. I don’t have a chance to answer him before his mouth covers mine. Needless to say, I do slide into bed, with him of course, since he wrapped me in his arms and refused to let me go. I was going to wait for him to fall asleep and then slip out, but sleep took me first.
I feel a soft kiss from beside me as the bed goes down. My eyes struggle to open. “Baby,” Stefano says softly, as he pushes the hair away from my face. My eyes flicker open and I see Stefano and it looks like he’s already dressed.
“What time is it?” I ask, stretching my arms from out of the covers.
“It’s almost five,” he answers me. “My parents just came and got Avery.”
“What?” I ask, so confused. “Why?”
“One, she’s been up since three thirty,” he tells me, and I just look at him. How did I not hear any of this? “Three hour time change is a killer. She is going with my parents to have pancakes.”
“It’s five a.m.,” I repeat, getting up on one elbow.
“Can you get dressed?” he asks me. “The car is going to be downstairs in about ten minutes.” He leans forward. “It’s a surprise.” I glare at him. “Okay, fine, we are going to watch the sunrise at a special spot.” My eyes go big, and my heart speeds up. “So can you be ready?”
“Yes,” I mumble, pushing him away from me. “Move.” I push him again, walking to the bathroom and washing my face and brushing my teeth. Going to the walk-in closet, I wonder if I should just wear the outfit I came here in. Instead, I grab a pair of jeans off the hanger and look for the price tag, but of course it’s not on them. I slide my legs in the jeans and then just grab a white short-sleeved crop top that sits right about the waist, showing a little bit of skin. I bend to snatch up my shoes before walking back out to see Stefano sitting on the bed, waiting for me. When he hears me, he looks up, and my feet move to stand in front of him. “I’m ready,” I tell him and he lifts his hands to grip my hips, pulling me to him.
I put my hands on his shoulders, looking down at him, my hair falling to the front. He tilts his head back. “You are so beautiful.” His voice is a whisper, and if I wasn’t looking at him, I don’t know if I would have heard it. “You take my breath away.” I lean down and softly kiss his lips. I have no choice but to do this to keep my lips busy, because if they aren’t, I would say things I shouldn’t. I would tell him, watching him be a father to our daughter has been the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. I would tell him the minute he kissed me again all these years later, it was just like it was back on the first day. I would tell him I am hopelessly in love with him, just the thought of me admitting that to him scares me more than I can ever imagine. “Let’s go,” he urges softly, getting up and slipping his hand into mine. We take the elevator down to the lobby where it is eerily quiet, the person behind the desk looking up and smiling at us.