Deep (Pagano Family #4)(101)

And they were more at ease with him than they’d been since he’d begun his work for Uncle Ben and his father.

She really had made him more a part of his family.



oOo



That night, he set the alarm and turned off the downstairs lights, got Beverly the glass of ice water she liked at night, then went up to bed. She was in the bathroom, but the door was open. He set her water on her nightstand, then leaned on the bathroom doorjamb and watched her brush out her hair. He didn’t think she’d cut it in the year they’d been together. It was more than halfway down her back now, all the myriad colors of its auburn sheen gleaming in the lights as she pulled her brush through it. His cock stretched out.

She was wearing one of the lingerie sets he’d first given her. It was too fancy for sleep. When she caught his eye, she gave him a pert little grin.

“You’re feeling better.”

“Yeah. Sorry I was a bitch this morning. I thought I’d make it up to you.”

He knew how she could make it up. “Take a test, bella.”

She sighed. “Nick. I don’t want to take a test every time I’m moody. It’s starting to freak me out. You’re obsessed.”

That was true, but he wasn’t sorry. “Two mornings in a row, you’ve felt bad, then got better. Take a test.”

“When I put on a tiny purple nightie with a crystal-encrusted bodice, I thought I’d be doing something more interesting than peeing on a stick.”

He grinned and walked up behind her, taking the brush from her and setting it on the counter. As they both watched in the mirror, he slid his hands through the slit at the front of the negligée and into the matching panties. With his mouth at her ear, he murmured, “Pee on a stick, and then I’ll do something very interesting to you.”

She sighed and leaned back against him. “Okay, okay. Get out.”

Chuckling, he kissed her cheek and went out into their bedroom. While he waited, he stripped down to his underwear. Then he sat on the bed and stared at the closed bathroom door.

She never waited out here with him. It drove him crazy, but she said he made her too anxious, so she waited for the result and then came out. This was their…fourth time. She was right: he’d wanted her to take a test every time her sunlight dimmed a little. That was probably overly controlling and a little nuts. Until she made more than the kind of gentle protest she’d made this evening, though—or until she came up pregnant—he wasn’t going to stop.

He’d turned out to be a nester.

The door opened, and he stood. This was why he’d kept his underwear on. Standing here naked, waiting to hear her report, was too vulnerable.

She tossed him the stick. That was a first. He caught it and looked.

He looked up for confirmation and found her beautiful, brilliant smile beaming happiness at him.

“See? I was right!” He wrapped her up in his arms. “Ah, bella. You’re going to be the most fantastic mother. All your love and light will grow our children up happy and strong. Tu sei un dono del cielo. Sei il mio sole. Ti amo, ti amo.”

Feeling like he couldn’t get enough of her, he kissed her, savoring the hot silk and cool taste of her freshly-brushed mouth. When he pulled away to see her, she was breathless and dazed, but she smiled.

“I thought you were going to do something interesting to me.”

He laughed. “Sassy little tart.” He picked her up off her feet. “I’m going to interest you until you pass out.”

Laying her in the center of their bed, the one he’d bought for their wedding night, he stretched out at her side, moving his hand under the silken film of her negligée to caress her belly. As he leaned down to kiss her, she held him off.

“Wait.” There was a tremor in her voice.

He frowned. “Something wrong?”

The look in her eyes was nervous; he didn’t like that.

“Bella?”

She swallowed, and he moved his hand from her belly to her face.

“What is, Beverly?”

“I…I want something. I told you I wanted to make up for my bad mood. But I’m losing my nerve.”

“Nothing you don’t want. Never that. You have nothing to make up for—I thought you were playing when you said that.”

“I do want it. I liked it. I miss it.”

Nick rose up onto his hands and looked down at her. “What is it?”

Beverly dropped her eyes from his and focused on his chest. Clearly, she was afraid. His cock began to soften, and he moved, intending to sit at her side. But she grabbed his arm. “I want you to—to tie me up.”

Almost a year had passed since she’d been attacked and brutalized by Alvin Church’s men. She’d needed months to recover physically and mentally from what they’d done to her. She’d been bound and at their mercy, and they had beaten, raped, and tortured her. Mutilated her.

Before that night, he had just begun to introduce her to the delights of scarves and blindfolds—nothing hardcore, only sensual restraint and sensation play. Since that night, he had never even broached the idea. It had taken a lot to bring them back to where they now were, and where they now were was a good place. A perfect place. A place he didn’t want to lose.

And now she was pregnant with his child.