I Choose You (The Billionaire Brothers Series) (44 page)

Natalio shrugged. “Could be.” Grasping her wrist, he yanked her back down on his lap. “Let’s try again.”

Their lips met in a kiss again, and, yes, the giggle came again. Sadie pulled back and turned to snap a picture with her cellphone, but Nathan’s grin disappeared in a flash.

“Ughh!” she growled in frustration.

Natalio laughed. “I guess we’ll have to take the picture
while
we’re kissing. Angle the camera towards him and just snap when you hear him giggle. Trick his ass.”

They began kissing again, and when the giggle sounded this time around, instead of parting, they kept kissing while Sadie awkwardly snapped photos of Nathan until she felt she had enough shots. The second their lips parted, Nathan stopped giggling, his face serious.

Sadie jumped off Natalio’s lap, pointed a finger at her son, and said, “My God, our baby is a frickin’ pervert! Just when I thought he couldn’t get any weirder!”

Natalio laughed so hard, his stomach hurt. For the first time, he had to agree Nathan was a strange one.

Nathan stared at his mother long and hard and suddenly opened his little mouth and shrieked. Sadie rushed over to scoop him up, and in a second, Nathan suckled at her breast.

Pushing up from the armchair, Natalio wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulder, still grinning, until Nathan’s blue eyes shifted to him, his mouth eagerly suckling his mother. The way the kid was staring at him, though, made him frown a bit. It’s like he was saying, “Back off, fucker. It’s my turn now.”

It was in that moment Natalio understood what others meant when they said Nathan was scary, because, sure as shit, his eight month old baby was scaring him a bit.

“Marcello’s gonna have a shit hemorrhage,” Sadie said.

With a quick glance at his Rolex, Natalio noted they had less than fifteen minutes to get to the dinner. “Oh Shit.”

Arm wrapped around his wife’s waist, Natalio propelled Sadie out of the room, retrieving his keys along the way as they bustled out of their house.

Nathan was still suckling his mother without pause as they climbed into his Hummer and sped off.

Marcello was going to blow his shit.

“…
s
o Daddy said, ‘if you have lunch with me, I’ll quit your class’. But what Mommy didn’t know was Daddy planned on charming her.”

“Like with fairy dust?”

Lovello chuckled. “Yeah, something like that. So, Mommy caved and went to lunch with Daddy and fell instantly in love with him, saying, ‘Oh, Love, you are the most perfect, handsome, amazing man
ever
. Please, please, please make me your wife, and I’ll make you lots and lots of banana fritters. Te amo, Te amo. Me love you long time.”

From somewhere nearby, Lovello heard Axia scoff, “Oh, please!”, but he ignored it and continued, “So, like a boss, Daddy shrugged and said, ‘Well, okay, if you want to marry me that bad, have at it — because Daddy
loved
banana fritters, you see. So — ’”

Axia barged into the living room with narrowed pussycat-gray eyes and flaring nostrils, her protruding pregnant stomach stretching the slinky material of a remarkable emerald-green cocktail gown.
Stunning
. “Stop lying to her!”

“I’m bonding with my daughter here,” Lovello said, waving her off. “Do you mind?”

“That not wut I was told, Daddy,” Lovette said, shaking her head wildly, her ringlets of jet-black curls bouncing on her shoulders. “Uncle Twev said Mommy was the … the ul … um … ulteeemayte bitch.”

Jaw dropping, eyes widening, Lovello gaped. “Lovely, honey, that’s a very bad word. Don’t ever use it again, okay?”

Lovette’s bright gray eyes stretched wide, the way they usually did whenever she thought she was in trouble — and she got into trouble quite often because she was a peppery brat like her mother.

“I’m very sorry, Daddy. I won’t use the bad word again.” Nose wrinkling, she asked, “What-what about shit?”

Lovello felt like he was about to have an apoplexy. He could hear Axia trying to stifle a laugh.

“No!” he blasted, a little too harshly. “Where did you hear these words, Lovely?”

“Uncle Twev,” she said simply. “He says those are good bad words. But he says I should never say foo … um, fuque, because that is a bad, bad word.”

“Oh Jesus Christ!” he blasted again, jolting up straight in the sofa where he’d been indolently sprawled with Lovette on his lap. “No, Lovely, you should never, ever say fuque, or bitch or shit.
None
of those words are good words, got that?”

Lovette nodded, looking a bit terrified.

Fuming, he turned his glare to Axia and gritted out, “He’s not allowed to come anywhere near my daughter again.”

Axia rolled her eyes. “He’s your brother, and he’s her uncle. You can’t keep him away from her.”

“Well then, I’m going to
kill
him.”

“No, Daddy, no!” Lovette screamed. Then she immediately burst into tears. “Please don’t kill uncle Twev, Daddy. I luv him. He lets me mix the batter for the chocolate chip cookies and … and he names his sweet vanilla ice-cweam Princess Lovely. I have my own ice-cweam!” Lovette clung to him and cried harder, her face pressed into his arm, soaking his suit jacket with her tears. “Please, please don’t kill my uncle Twev.”

Taken aback, Lovello cast a sheepish glance over to Axia who was full on scowling at him. “Why would you say something like that in front of her when you know Trev’s her favorite person?”

Because I didn’t know she would erupt into a blubbering mess?

Cupping his daughter’s face and wiping her tears away with his thumbs, he assured her, “I’m not going to kill Uncle Trev, Lovely. I promise.”

Adorable as ever, she sniffled as she nodded and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you so, so much, Daddy, for not killing my Uncle Twev. Luv you.”

“Rosa!” Axia bellowed, sounding a little miffed.

Rosa was there the next minute eyeing Axia with a worried expression, no doubt thinking she was probably going into labor with the way she bellowed her name. “Miss Blacksille, everything fine?”

“Yes, yes.” She waved her hand to Lovette. “Please, can you take Lovely upstairs and clean up her face? We’re going to be late for the Thanksgiving dinner, and her jackass of a father just reduced her to tears.”

“Sure, Miss Blacksille,” Rosa nodded and went to retrieve Lovette.

Lovello didn’t want to let go of his daughter; he wanted to sit with her and continue telling her fabricated stories. But Axia was right, they should’ve left for the dinner already, and here they were, loafing around.

Once Lovette and Rosa were out of the living room, Axia cast him an odd glance as she glided across the room and carefully sat down next to him on the sofa. “I need to talk to you about something … ”

Oh shit.

Lovello drew in a panicky breath. Axia Talks were rare, and they almost
never
ended well. She was that unpredictable kind of woman: he could never tell what she would do or say next. She was volatile, turbulent, bitchy, with a sprinkle of sweet softness, and a full dose of solid commitment.

Axia Blacksille
, the woman he loved more than his next breath. The said breath he was holding now, fearing what was going to come out of her mouth.

You see, five years had passed, Lovette was grown and snarky like her mother, and Axia was
still
his fiancée. Nope, they never got married, because she was still trying to see “how things flow”. Even though they were going strong, growing more and more obsessed with each other, getting even closer and becoming one … it wasn’t enough for her to give him a wedding date.

He’d given up on the prospect of them ever getting married, and had taken a different route instead to secure her as his.

Taking drastic measures, he paid off Marian, her doctor, a generous sum to inform him of Axia’s ovulating days. Getting Marian to do that wasn’t facile per se, but money, money had unlimited power.

With that bought information, whenever she ovulated, he made sure to have sex with her as often as possible, hard, deep and penetrative, so his latent Nelsons would surely break through her egg. Then, he watched and waited. It took a couple of tries, a descent wait, until one day he heard those sweet, soothing words, “
Love, I’m pregnant.
”

Work well done.

If she didn’t want to get married, he intended to keep her knocked up so she’d never leave him. He wanted her secured, tied down to him. Losing Axia was his greatest fear, and he didn’t have the bond of marriage to assuage those fears. He feared losing her.

Every. Single. Day.

And now, she wanted to talk. Plus, she was wringing her hands in her lap — not at all Axia’s style. His fiancée was a total badass, she didn’t do nervous. She shot straight and told it like was.

Lovello tried combating the burn starting behind his eyes at the mere thought of Axia leaving him. Saying it’s over. Taking their daughter …

But he glanced down at her protruding, seven-month-old stomach and pushed back the burning sensation, feeling stupid.
She wouldn’t leave me while she’s pregnant.

“So, I’ve been thinking … ” she trailed off, staring down at her twisting hands.

Slipping a finger under her chin, he tipped her head up. “What is it?”

“Let’s … let’s get married.”

Lovello felt a grin take up residence on his face at the same time he released a relieved sigh. “Beauts, I’ve been saying that for the past five or so years.”

Leaning in to him, she brushed her thumb over his lower lip, staring at them as she said, “I know. But I’ve always been afraid.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know,” she groaned, sounding frustrated with herself, while her eyes remained on his lips. She’d always been obsessed with his lips. Just to screw with her, he licked them, and, as expected, her breathing hitched.

“But, I’m not afraid anymore,” Axia continued. “I know now you won’t ever leave me. I know now you’ll never change into some unidentifiable monster. I know now you won’t become bored and cheat on me with some long-legged model, secretly lavishing her with expensive jewelry, buying her cars, and paying her rent. I know now I’m
it
for you, so, I’m saying
yes.
I’ll marry you.”

Lovello raised a brow at her. He would never cheat on her. Never. She was indeed
it
for him. Full stop. However, he would much prefer to
not
be so transparent, he preferred to retain a bit of mystery to him, thank you very much. He would prefer it if she had even the tiniest bit of doubt and mistrust in him. If she didn’t, then he was just a pansy of some sort, wasn’t he?

“
How
are you so positive that I’ve never cheated on you?”

Axia’s lips crooked up in an evil grin as she finally pulled her eyes away from his lips and met his gaze. “Because,” she dragged out. “I’ve had a PI on you for over a year.”

What? “
What
?”

“You heard me.” She shrugged, as if she had every right. “You were a womanizer before me. I had to be sure that one woman and a baby — two now — would be enough to make you settle.”

Lovello shot up from the sofa, hands balled into tight fists. He glared at her, lost for words and began pacing the room. He could not believe she did that! For over a year she was spying on him? All this time he thought she genuinely trusted him. But no, she needed solid proof before she could give him her trust. Why was he even surprised? This was Axia goddamn Blacksille, he should’ve seen this coming.

He stopped pacing and pointed an angry finger in her face, unable to come up with anything coherent except, “If we were married, I’d divorce you, you … you vile, manipulative, deceiving
bitch
!”

Axia slapped his hand from her face and tried to spring up from the sofa to face him, but wobbled and fell back down. Lovello caught her arms and helped her up.

His fiancée was a woman who hated feeling inferior. She liked to fight eye to eye, and just as much, he liked having her angry pussycat-gray eyes glaring up at him — a definite turn on. So he helped her to her feet.

When she made it to her feet, she pointed a slim, well-manicured finger in his face, just as he did her. “You
hypocrite
! Don’t you dare stand there and judge me! I did what I had to do to make sure you’re mine only, just like you did what you had to do to make sure I remain yours.”

Lovello bit down on his lip and eyed her warily.
She couldn’t possibly know, could she?

Jutting her finger further in his face so it was pressing against his forehead, she answered his unasked question, “Yes, I know you got me pregnant again on purpose!”

“How?”

“Seriously? Love, you are the sloppiest person I’ve ever met in my entire life. Did you really expect me to not find out?” She laughed derisively. “I was putting your phone on the charger one night when a text came in from Marian,
my
doctor, telling you I’m ovulating. That’s how.”

Uh-oh.

Lovello was kind of a sloth. If Axia didn’t charge his phone, it never got charged. So he should’ve thought about that and used emails instead. However … “If you knew I was trying to knock you up, why were you always so responsive to me? You never once said no.”

Sighing, Axia came up to him and hugged him as close as her stomach would allow. “Because, one, I can never resist your touch. And, two, I
wanted
you to get me pregnant. I love being a mother, and I especially love being your bitch.”

Lovello released a sigh of his own and kissed the top of her head. He didn’t know what else to say except he loved her. Every part of her. To bits and pieces. She was his life, his all, his dream, his wet-dream, his past, and his future.

The thought of death one day ripping them apart forced a tear from his eye. He wished life wasn’t temporary, so that he could have this woman and her love in his arms for eternity. He wished there would be no end to their story, that it could go on and on. He wished they would never have to become history, but that time would stand still and let them live and love forever.

Hearing her sniffle, he had a feeling she felt the same. Love could be as powerful as that sometimes.