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When she finally slumps to the bed beside me, her chest is heaving and there’s a rosy flush to her skin.

She rolls onto her side, facing me, and tucks one arm beneath her head. “I forgot how good it used to be between us.”

I snort and face her, fingers trailing along her hip.

When she shivers, her gaze flickers to mine, something lingering there that I don’t quite understand. She looks as conflicted as I feel.

“If you fucking your fingers to the thought of me is the same as you forgetting how good it used to be between the two of us, then your memory is pretty good.”

Her cheeks flame as the corner of her mouth curls. “You’re not going to go around spouting that when other people are around, are you?”

I arch an eyebrow, hand stilling. “You trying to keep me your dirty little secret, Gia?”

“And what if I was?”

“Not going to work for me.” I shift and sit up in bed, leaning back against the headboard. “I’m not going to be your secret again, Gia.”

She sits up beside me, pulling her knees to her chest. “I don’t think being anything more than that is a good idea.”

“We can have sex without being secretive about it. Or we could just do the best we can to get along, but you’re not going to sneak in here when you’re lonely, get me to fuck you, and then go back to icing me out. I’m too old to play those damn games.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the two of us enjoying each other for the time being, but do you really want Aiden to find out about it?” She picks some of the paint specks from her fingers. “You know that it’s only going to blow up in our faces if he finds out.”

“He’s going to find out sooner or later, and I don’t think you give him enough credit. He’s not some bloodthirsty asshole like your brother.”

At least not all the time.

He has been getting worse, his obsession with the Rinaldos seeming to grow stronger since he was taken captive. More than once I went to speak with him in his office, only to find him pouring over files of the Rinaldos and their last known whereabouts.

Gia scowls at me. “Aiden is hardly standing in line to welcome me to the family.”

I take a deep breath, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “I know. I’m not saying we run around telling everybody that we’re sleeping together, but you don’t get to erase me out of your life again when this ends.”

Gia glances at me, a muscle in her jaw ticking before she nods. “I can agree to that.”

“We’re going to be the only person the other is seeing for as long as this lasts. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to keep this as just sex between the two of us.”

“I was thinking the same thing this morning.” She stretches out her legs in front of her, pulling the sheet up her body. “I don’t want to be miserable here and Bianca doesn’t deserve to have a miserable mother taking care of her either. I want to do everything I can to keep her happy.”

“She seems like a pretty happy baby.” I try to speak around the lump in my throat, but it feels like it’s forcing all the air from my body.

Though I didn’t think that I would ever have a child, I didn’t think that I would be kept out of a child’s life either.

As annoyed as I still am with Gia about the entire situation, I do understand it.

Gia nods, reaching over for the baby monitor and handing it to me. “You see the way she’s sleeping on her belly with her arm stretched all the way out and the one leg hiked up? You sleep like that.”

“She’s cute.”

“You know, it used to annoy me so much that I was the one who carried her for nine months and then she came out looking like you.”

I chuckle, staring at Bianca. “She looks like you too. Some of her mannerisms are the same and the glare she gives me sometimes has you written all over it.”

“I wish I knew what was going to happen with the war and the drama between our families.” She releases a deep breath, shoulders slumping. “Are you still not going to tell me what the plan is? If I knew what the negotiations were about, I might be able to help.”

“Holding you hostage is the most help you’re going to be able to give us.” I slide out of bed and grab my shorts, pulling them back on.

Was all of this just so she could talk to me about what was going to happen?