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I wipe a tear away. "Antonio."

His lips crush onto mine, and his kiss tells me even more than his words did. It's deep, possessive, and tender at the same time.

"I worship the ground you walk on," he breathes against my ear.

That's when I know I'm lost. Utterly, completely, irrevocably lost.

And I like it.

"Lucky for you, I'm not going anywhere. No need to torch the world today." I wink at him. When I see his expression, I can't help but add, "The funny thing about barbs is they only hurt when you try to get rid of them."

He throws his head back and laughs.

Then he sobers. "I love you."

Three simple little words. Two of them don't mean much when they stand alone. The third could mean a ton of different things. But when they're strung together, and a man like Antonio looks at you like this, they mean everything.

I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me, and happiness doesn't even come close to describing my emotions right now. Lifting my arms, I place the palms of my hands on both sides of his face, reveling in the heat of his skin, how smooth it is after he just shaved this morning.

"You are my dream." I lift my head, and he kisses me deeply.

"Which is why I love you so fucking much."

I don't think my heart can take any more flip-flops, stumbles, races, or whatever, but hell, his words make it sing.

"Good." I nip at his lip.

"Good?" He arches a brow.

"Yeah, 'cause I kinda love you too. Very fucking much so."

His grin turns into his calling card arrogant smirk. "Of course you do. What's not to love?"

I box his side. As much as I would love to revel in all this happiness right now, he's right. There are things that need to be taken care of first. So I sober and ask, "So, what's next?"

He is about to answer when Maisy enters after a short, timid knock. "I beg your pardon, but Doctor Brown is here."

"Ah, good. Send him in." Antonio doesn't look pleased by the interruption.

"Good afternoon," the old man who took care of me before enters. "It's been a few days. How are you doing, little lady?"

"I'm good. The painkillers help." I should bring up the vomiting, but one look at Antonio tells me that he wouldn't let it go, so I keep quiet. There has to be a way to get my hands on a pregnancy test. I don't want to tell him until I'm sure. My life has been changing so rapidly over the past few weeks that my emotions are all over the place. I don't need to involve Antonio in any more of my drama until I'm certain.

"Good, good. I'm glad we don't need anything stronger. Toni." He nods at Antonio, who holds up his glass of whiskey in question.

"You know I gave that up years ago, but you young folk enjoy," Doctor Brown snickers.

"I didn't even thank you for last time." I look into his kind eyes, surrounded by hooded eyelids and round glasses.

"Nothing to thank me for. It's my pleasure to help a beautiful lady for a change instead of ugly bastards like him." He chuckles to himself, and Antonio grunts his reply. A faint smile hovers over his lips.

"Well, don't be shy, let me see." Doc puts his bag down, and I turn around and unbutton my blouse so I can lower it over my shoulder.

"The patch definitely needs to be replaced," he mumbles.

His hand moves to my forehead. "No fever, good."

He pulls out a stethoscope, not giving me any time to admire his old-school technique. "Deep breath in. Excellent, again."