Again with the jealousy? This is preposterous.
“Ah. Come, come! I will give you the best table in the house. Perfect for una notte d'amore,” Gio effused, leading them to a corner of the room which was hidden by a folding screen printed with garden flowers. Seated behind it, they would be in near complete privacy. Her body struggled with not being elated by that idea.
Pulling out her chair for her, David waited for her to be seated before seating himself in a chair so close to her, their knees rubbed against each other.
“Wine, yes?” Gio inquired.
“Yes, you know which one,” David answered with a knowing look.
Gio disappeared to the other side of the screen, leaving David and Diana alone.
She swallowed and reached for the menu on the table, just wanting to do something with her nervous hands.
“I thought you wanted to try the parmigiana,” David drawled, his eyes missing nothing.
“I do, but I want to see what they have for dessert,” she defended, opening the menu and making a production of lifting it up to hide her face from David’s probing gaze. Since the start of their date, he’d been more intense than she’d ever seen him, as if there was something coming and she hadn’t been warned about it.
His finger appeared over the top of the menu, pulling it down until their gazes met over the lip of it.
“Diana…there’s no use in hiding from me. I will always find you.”
She sniffed dismissively. “I’m not hiding. I am reading—oh, look! Tiramisu,” she exclaimed falsely. She didn’t care about the dessert, her attention was drawn to David’s other hand, which was making its way from her knee to her thigh. She tensed, her skin catching fire where he’d touched her.
“David!” she hissed. “What are you doing?”
She caught the wicked, cock-eyed smile and nearly melted in her chair. “I am perusing my menu for what I would like for dessert,” he said, his voice a low, deep murmur that snatched at her senses. His gaze dropped to where his hand was under the table. “I think I’ll have the cream covered peaches.” His gray eyes turned to liquid steel. “Let’s hurry with dinner, I find myself ravenous for dessert.”
She snapped the menu closed and pushed his hand from her thigh.
“I thought you wanted to talk? If I had known this would be a poorly disguised attempt at a repeat, I would have declined,” she intoned dryly, her heart pounding loud enough she was sure he could tell she wasn’t as composed as she tried to appear.
David chuckled. “We will talk—before dinner or after dessert…” His eyes dropped to her thigh again, where the hidden garter bit into her skin as if he were tugging on it. “And, of course, dessert will be in my bed.” He licked his bottom lip and she almost flew out of her chair, tugged him behind her to the bathroom, and begged him to use that tongue on her.
He must’ve sensed the direction of her thoughts because David seemed supernaturally pleased when Gio returned with their wine.
“Two chicken parmigiana, and make sure you bring the take-out containers with you. This will be a short meal,” David ordered, sending the man scurrying away with a knowing look on his weathered face.
Diana couldn’t believe David’s gall! He honestly just assumed that he was getting her into his bed.
Be honest with yourself, Di. That is exactly where you want to be.
Shaking her head, she snapped, “You seem full of yourself this evening.”
His eyes narrowed suggestively. “Not as full of me as you will be.” The bastard winked at her, making her splutter nonsensically. What was she supposed to say to him when she couldn’t rub two thoughts together whenever he was around?
Settling on silence until he decided to get his head out of the gutter, Diana ignored his heated looks and took in the section of the restaurant she could see. It really was a lovely restaurant, the decorations understated and tasteful, and the smells… She almost moaned. The smells were heavenly, her mouth watered.
She could feel David’s gaze on her, watching her, probably undressing her and fucking her right at the table, but she refused to give him the attention he wanted.
Finally, he broke the silence. “Are you pregnant?”
As if struck by lightning, Diana’s body stiffened to the point of pain, her heart thundering like a stampede in her chest, and her lungs seized up. Her thoughts dragging when they should be marching, she simply started at David, her mouth agape.
“It isn’t such a difficult question, Diana,” he drawled, an edge to his tone. “Are you pregnant?”
Dragging in a calming, centering breath, she considered her words. Yes, she’d planned to tell him before she’d learned about his sterility but then changed her mind. But now she had to tell him. She couldn’t lie to his face.
“Yes. I am.”
His expression grew hard, his cheekbones sharpening his features.
“And you believe it is mine?”
“Yes,” she answered then held her breath. What would he say?
He stared at her for long moments, emotions flashing in his eyes.
Gio bringing their food cut the tension for a second before it returned when he left.
Deciding the ball was in David’s court, she dug into her meal.
The first mouthful of perfectly breaded chicken melted on her tongue.
“Oh my God, this is delicious,” she moaned.
“I never lie about delicious things, Diana,” David finally said before taking a bite of his own meal.
They ate in silence, her gaze unable to stop flicking over to David who hadn’t taken his eyes from her—only to look at his plate to cut his chicken. Once their plates were empty (she’d eaten the whole meal, including three scrumptious garlic butter breadsticks), David leaned back and sipped on his wine. She forewent the wine and drank from the glass of water that had magically appeared.
Long, tense, silent moments ticked by, and instead of the tension being the kind that petrified her, it was the kind that
