Page 139 of Bellini Born

I shrugged one shoulder. “Couldn’t stand the thought of one more night away, so cut I the trip short.”

She beamed up at me. “You won’t hear me complaining. We missed you.”

It was impossible to resist leaning in to capture her lips, and I murmured against them, “Missed you more.”

“Impossible,” she teased.

“Agree to disagree,” I countered.

“Papa! We’re making cookies!” Bianca chirped, cutting into our private moment.

I turned to my eldest daughter, matching her level of enthusiasm. “I can see that!”

Bianca pursed her little lips. “But Mommy says Cookie can’t have any.”

“No, I suppose she can’t. Human food isn’t healthy for pets.”

Because she had the attention span of a four-year-old, she asked, “Can I go play with my dolls?”

I jerked my chin toward the back stairs. “Go ahead.”

She took off like a shot, racing out of the room.

Hiking Serafina higher onto my hip, I surveyed the mess of dough on the counter. “Any of this edible?”

Summer’s laughter rolled over me. “Don’t worry. This was mostly for fun so that they could help. I have a batch already baked if you’re hungry.”

The thought of something else I was always hungry for caused blood to rush south, and I winced.

My wife eyed me with concern. “What’s wrong?” Then those blue gems widened, and her hands began to roam over my chest. “You weren’t shot again, were you?”

“No, but I do need to talk to you about something.”

Her brows drew down. “Okay . . .”

Sucking in a deep breath, I confessed, “I didn’t go on a business trip.”

Summer processed that information. “You didn’t?”

“I’ve spent the last two nights in a hotel, here in Chicago, recovering from surgery.”

“S-surgery?” she stammered. “What kind of surgery? Are you sick?”

Cupping her face, I shook my head. “Nothing like that,dolcezza. I’m fine. I had my vasectomy reversed.”

My wife stepped back suddenly. “You what?”

Peeking at Serafina, I smiled down at our seventeen-month-old, who was becoming more of a toddler than a baby by the day.

“It wasn’t fair that a decision I made alone, before I even met you, robbed you of the choice to create a family of your own.”

Nodding slowly, Summer mused, “So, you then decided to make another life-altering decision regarding our family planning without consulting me?”

I tugged on the back of my neck because, for some reason, it felt like I fucked up. “Yeah, kinda?”

“If you had asked me”—she stepped closer, running her hands up my chest before looping them around my neck—“I would have told you our family is already complete. Bianca and Serafina are all I’ll ever need.”

“Uh . . .” I stared at her, dumbstruck.