A Moment on the Lips(50)

The next morning, Dante woke her with a kiss.

Carenza smiled and stroked his face. ‘Good morning. Did you sleep well?’

‘Yes. You?’

‘Mmm.’ She stretched languidly. ‘But I had the most incredibly realistic dream.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘That sounds interesting. Going to share?’

She smiled. ‘You. Me. Sex in the middle of the night.’

His smile faded. ‘That’s odd. So did I.’

And then a really nasty thought hit her. ‘We didn’t. Tell me we didn’t.’

His dark eyes were filled with wariness. ‘What are the chances of us both having exactly the same dream?’

She blew out a breath. ‘Dante, if it wasn’t a dream, then …’ This wasn’t going to be good, but she had to bring it up. She needed to be honest with him. ‘I don’t remember using a condom.’

His face went white. ‘If you fall pr—’

She pressed her finger against his lips. No. She didn’t want him saying that he’d take responsibility if she ended up becoming pregnant. That wasn’t what she wanted from him.

What she wanted from him was what she thought he’d said in the middle of the night.

And, judging from the look on his face right now, it had definitely been her imagination. The sex had been real enough, but love … ? No. Dante wouldn’t let himself love anyone.

She shook herself. ‘Don’t say a word. It’s fine. The chances are pretty low.’

He raked a hand through his hair. ‘Carenza, we had unprotected sex. How can you be so—so unconcerned? So casual about it?’

‘Think how many people try for babies for months and months and months without conceiving. We had unprotected sex once. What are the chances?’

‘And how many people have been caught out by “just the once”?’ he countered.

‘Nothing’s going to happen,’ she said firmly. ‘And I’m starving. I need a shower before breakfast.’ And she tried not to mind when he didn’t offer to join her in the shower.

Dante could barely breathe. The prospect of Carenza being pregnant … He could just imagine her, exhausted after labour and yet radiant, with a newborn baby in her arms.

Their newborn baby.

And the longing that surged through him horrified him. How stupid could he get? Given that his sister had made exactly the same mistakes as his mother—believing that her partner would change for her when he couldn’t, and that her love would be enough to overcome the violence when it wasn’t—it was a fair bet that Dante would make the same mistakes as his father. For Carenza’s sake, he couldn’t risk his past repeating itself. Couldn’t risk hurting their child through impatience.

When it was his turn to shower, he turned the water down to cold, in the hope that it would shock some common sense back into him. His life was fine as it was. Just himself and the business. He didn’t need anything else.

And he’d make damn sure he never spent another night with Carenza. Because now he knew just how dangerous it could be for his peace of mind.

‘So what are the plans for today?’ he asked over breakfast.

‘Our flight back to Naples isn’t until early this evening, so we can spend the day in the city. The hotel’s agreed to keep our luggage in storage until we’re ready to pick it up—and our taxi’s booked to take us to the airport. So I thought I’d show you the other side of the city.’

‘That’d be great.’ And as long as they talked about Paris or business, and nothing in the slightest bit emotional, everything would be absolutely fine, Dante thought.

It didn’t take long to pack after breakfast; and then they took the Metro through to Montmartre. He looked up the incline of the street to the Sacré Coeur, the white domes of the church and the green hill on which it stood standing out against the blue, blue sky. ‘That’s beautiful,’ he said.

She looked pleased. ‘Wait until you get to the top. The view of the city from the steps is stunning.’

He discovered that she was absolutely right. And, just round the corner from the Basilica, the streets were narrow and bustling, just as they were in Naples, filled with souvenir shops and delis and cafés—a sharp contrast to the wide boulevards around the Champs Elysées, but this part of Paris felt more like home to him.

She dragged him over to a gelati shop.