“The one named Barb said she’d slept with you in Milan. She’s a model, I think,” Diana continued, and David immediately caught the tiniest drop of jealousy in her tone. She was trying to hide it, but he heard it. He covered his smile with a grunt.
“I don’t remember her,” he answered honestly. He hadn’t been to Milan in years, and back then, he’d been at the top of his game, wooing and then fucking his share of models during fashion week.
Diana snorted. “I don’t doubt that,” she drawled, attempting to pull her hand from his. He held fast.
“What do you want me to say, Diana? I wasn’t a saint, I enjoyed the pleasure of women. Many women. I cannot say that I regret a moment of it.”
“Except for me,” she concluded, erroneously.
“Fuck that, Diana. I do not regret a moment with you, especially that first night, when we conceived our babies.” He stood up, moved to her, and then kneeled beside her. She looked down at him, her face pale with surprise. “Every moment since, I have wanted nothing more than to experience that first night again, when we explored one another’s bodies, where we found incredible pleasure in each other’s arms. Never in my life, Diana, have I felt as incredible than when I was with you.”
She gasped, shaking her head. “You don’t mean that.”
He dropped her hand to reach up and cup her face, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“I mean every word, darling. After that night, I spent the next two weeks hating myself because I never got your name. I was sick wondering how I could find you again because I discovered that being with you was something I wanted to do again.”
“You don’t do repeats,” she murmured, her voice a whisper.
He cracked a lopsided smile. “Darling, we’ve already repeated that night, haven’t we?”
She nodded.
“And, if I have my way, we will spend the rest of our lives repeating it, every night—at least twice.”
She gaped at him, her eyes larger than he’d ever seen them. As if pushing through the haze, she cringed, attempting to pull out of his hold. Again, he held fast. He refused to let her go.
“Let me go, David. You’re just teasing me, talking about forever when we can’t even hold a conversation without you mentioning money or how I am like Rinna,” she snapped, pain in her tone.
He recoiled, knowing he deserved every ounce of her derision.
“And I am a fucking asshole for it, darling. All this time, I have been allowing my hurt and betrayal from Rinna to choke off my emotions, making me walk through life preparing to do battle for my soul. When I met you, I was immediately attracted to your light—it was your laugh that hit me first. Bright, unencumbered, real. I was drawn to you even before I saw you in that bar. Even before I walked across the floor of Bella Notte, I knew I wanted you, that I needed to have you, just so I could breathe again.”
Diana swayed in her chair, clutching at David’s shoulders as if he were her lifeline.
“During those two weeks in Asia, I couldn’t look at another woman without picturing you, without wanting you to be there in their place. You haunted me, and I didn’t even know your name. Discovering who you were and that you were Rick’s paralegal was both a blessing and a curse. I wanted to know you, to taste you again, but I knew that Rick would be a pain in the ass about my seeking you out. You see, he knows my sordid past, and he would want to protect you from me.”
A slight smile raises her lips. “Fat lot of good that would have done… I wanted you, too.” She sighed, pressing her cheek into David’s palm. The warmth of her seeped into his bones.
His hands trembling, he continued, “I kept telling myself that you were probably just like Rinna, and I can only blame that part of me that knew you were too good for me, too bright for my darkness. That I might as well turn you away before you rejected me. I couldn’t take your rejection, so I decided to go about it on my terms, treating you like you meant nothing to me even though you mean everything.”
“David,” she murmured, moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes.
“When you told me that I was going to be a father…it was the most amazing and the most devastating moment in my life—even worse than with Rinna. Because I knew that if I could be blessed enough to father children, I would want them to be with you, but then that false realization came, blowing me to shrapnel. I was sterile, I couldn’t have children.”
“What finally convinced you?” she asked, her attention riveted to him.
“I went to see my urologist. He told me that each body is different, that even after an accident as bad as mine, my body could heal. I took a test and it proved that I was producing sperm, that I could, indeed, father children. I knew then, without a doubt, that you were carrying my child. It didn’t become absolutely real in my mind until I heard those heartbeats…saw those two beans on the screen.”
She laughed, a tinkling sound that made his heart leap. “That’s when it happened for me, too.”
The time has come, David. Show her.
Closing his eyes for a moment to steel himself, he opened them again to see her staring at him, her expression open. That tiny bit of hope having grown.
“Come on, I want to show you something,” he said, rising to his feet. He helped her to stand and then clasped her hand in his, intertwining their fingers.
His heart in his throat, David led her down the corridor, stopping in front of a closed door. The door was thick, white, and
