really didn’t have to do much. Your niece made her entrance herself,’ Isla said. ‘She’s such a gorgeous baby.’
‘It will be you soon,’ Alessi said, and watched as her eyes filled with tears. He could only guess how overwhelming this all must be for her. ‘How long have you known?’ he asked, and then answered his own question. ‘The Monday before Valentine’s Day.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Your texts went from ten lines to two words,’ Alessi said. ‘Don’t worry about all that now. Just get some rest.’
‘You’re not cross.’
‘Cross?’ Alessi checked. ‘Did you expect me to be cross?’
‘I didn’t know what to expect.’
‘I only get cross when you dump me for no good reason, Isla,’ he said. ‘Get some sleep. We’ll talk later.’
There was a lot to talk about but when Alessi finally got to bed around two, he certainly wasn’t about to wake her for The Talk. He had never intended to wake her at all, but Alessi hadn’t forgotten how nice it was to have her in his bed and he had missed her so much.
Asleep, Isla wriggled towards the source of warmth. Her back was to him and, deprived of his touch for ten days now, her body knew who it wanted and her bottom nudged into his groin and sank into his caress as his arm came over her.
Alessi lay there. No, it would be completely inappropriate, he told himself, because there was that damn talk to have. Except his fingers didn’t care about such matters and were stroking her through the silk of her bra and then burrowing in.
‘Isla …’ Alessi said, which wasn’t much of a conversation. His mouth was on her shoulder, tasting her skin again and then moving up to her neck. The response in her had him harden further, the craning of her neck to meet his mouth, the consent, the want had a flare of possession rise in Alessi and there was no conversation to be had.
Isla was his.
His mouth suckled her neck and Isla bit down on her bottom lip as he deliciously bruised her. His hand was sliding down her panties and she wanted to turn but she didn’t. She liked the arm holding her down and Alessi’s precision as he took her from behind.
Of all his responses, of all the reactions she had anticipated, this hadn’t been one of them. Alessi’s hand was on her stomach, gently pressing her back into him, and Isla, who had never been taken like this, writhed in pleasure as his hand moved down and stroked her intimately.
‘Alessi …’ She said his name, the only thing now on her mind as he moved her towards orgasm.
And for Alessi, here in the darkness of his bedroom, yes, there were questions, but her body’s response, their absolute connection meant the only truth that actually mattered was easily said. ‘I love you.’
Isla stilled, but Alessi didn’t. He thrust into her and didn’t let her get her breath, neither did he allow the panic that suddenly built in her to settle. He just said it again, for their love was no accident.
She could feel him building to come, feel all the passion about to be unleashed, and it tipped Isla into raw honesty when she’d spent her whole life covering lies. ‘I love you, too.’
Isla came before him and she loved how he held her down and didn’t kiss her, or stifle her shout. He just let her be and drove her ever higher as he came deep inside her.
And still there was no need for The Talk because they had said what mattered.
Doubts belonged to the morning. There were none in his arms.
ALESSI WOKE BEFORE Isla and would have watched her sleeping had he not been so hungry.
Neither had had dinner, he remembered.
He wondered if she was as starving as he was.
If Isla was feeling sick in the mornings.
He just stared at her and wondered, which he’d been doing for more than a year, Alessi thought with a smile as he climbed from bed and went to the kitchen.
Coffee on, he started making breakfast and completely out of habit he checked his emails and then glanced at the news.
And then did a double take.
Yes, again she had him wondering.
‘Morning, Isla …’
It was incredibly nice to be woken with coffee and breakfast and Alessi’s smile, and she returned it but even as she stretched, doubts started piling in.
God, she’d told him she loved him.
Isla let out a breath.
Yes, he’d said he loved her but she was petrified of forcing his hand, thinking that Alessi might be simply making the best of a bad deal.
‘This looks lovely,’ she said, her hand shaking a touch as she took the coffee from the tray, unable to meet his eyes.
‘Is there something you need to tell me?’ Alessi said.
‘Isn’t what I told you last night enough to be going on with?’ Isla said. ‘I know it’s a shock. I know it’s too soon …’
‘It doesn’t feel too soon,’ he said. ‘We’re not teenagers, Isla.’
‘I know, but even so …’
‘It was a shock last night,’ Alessi admitted, ‘but it’s a nice surprise now. How do you feel about it?’
‘Nervous,’ Isla admitted. ‘I was terrified at first but now …’ she looked at him ‘… it’s starting to feel like a nice surprise, too, but I’m terrified of the pressure it might put on us.’
‘Like marriage?’
Isla nodded.
‘You don’t want to get married?’ Alessi asked. ‘Isla, help me here, because the last woman I asked to marry me …’ She could see him struggling. ‘I don’t want to put the same pressure on you. Looking back, I can see that we were far too young and not in love. You’ve heard the saying “Marry in haste, repent at leisure”. I’m quite sure now that that would have been Talia and I.’
‘I don’t want it to be us.’
‘It won’t be,’ Alessi assured her. ‘Just so long as we are always honest with each other.’
‘I feel like I’ve forced things …’
‘Isla, I was going to ask you to marry me on Valentine’s night. I had it all planned, right down to if you said yes, we were going to go the next day to the restaurant, upstairs this time, and tell my family …’ He could see the disbelief in her eyes. He rolled his eyes and then climbed out of bed and went to a drawer, and Isla watched as he took out a small box.
‘There.’ He handed it to her. ‘Do you believe me now?’
She looked up at him and then back to the ring.
It was white gold, with a pale sapphire. ‘It matches your eyes, almost exactly,’ Alessi said. ‘I wanted a diamond but when I saw this …’
Again he asked a question. ‘Is there something you need to tell me?’
‘Such as?’
Alessi took a breath. ‘Maybe there’s something I need to tell you. I’m sorry if it comes as a shock. Your ex-boyfriend just came out. It’s all over the news …’ He saw the tears in her eyes and misread them. ‘I’m sorry. Is this news to you?’
‘I’ve always known.’ Isla took a breath. ‘There’s