Page 96 of Bellini Bound

“How’s she doing?” he rumbled in my ear.

“Better. Fever broke about an hour ago.”

His head dropped to the crook of my neck as he breathed out, “Thank fuck.”

“It was cute how worried you were,” I teased, reaching back to pat his cheek.

“Baby, you don’t understand how traumatized I was when Serafina was sick last year. The memory of her, almost non-responsive and hooked up to multiple IV drips, still haunts me.”

Cue me feeling like an asshole for making fun of him. We saw babies come through the ER with RSV all the time. I hadn’t realized how severe her case had been, or that he’d been witness to her hospitalization.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize.” I turned my head to kiss the side of his face still buried against my neck.

He brushed off my apology. “You couldn’t have known.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have downplayed your concern for your nieces. You’re a good uncle. Maybe if we can get Bianca to say you’re the best one in the whole wide world, we can get matching mugs.”

Humming, he lifted his eyes to gaze upon the little girl fast asleep in bed. “You wanna know my favorite part about being an uncle?”

A smile crept onto my lips, anticipating that he was going to list something ridiculous, like playing with their toys. “Tell me.”

“Giving them back to their parents and going home to our permanently childfree house.”

My heart sank to my stomach. Gemma had mentioned something about him not wanting kids, but that was before we fell in love. I thought, surely, we would have a conversation about what we wanted for the future, which, for me, included starting a family with the man I loved. But from the sounds of it, Enzo had already made a unilateral decision on the matter, and this was his way of telling me.

His arms slipped from around my waist, and I shivered from more than the sudden loss of his warmth.

“You coming to bed? I missed you last night.”

Blinking back the tears I refused to let fall, I nodded. “Yeah. In a minute.”

Enzo’s footsteps grew distant, and I turned to watch him walk away. Could loving him be enough for me in the absence of children of our own? Honestly, I was so blindsided by this crushing blow to my dreams that I could barely think straight.

All I knew was that, right now, things were going great between us, and I wasn’t about to rock the boat by demanding something he wasn’t willing to give.

I was only twenty-five. There would be plenty of time to discuss this later when we were standing on more solid ground.

Chapter 24

Enzo

WhenIcamehomefrom work, all the lights inside the house were off, which was strange because Allie didn’t have a shift today. Usually, if she spent the day with Summer and the girls, she would text to let me know if she planned to stay for dinner so that I could join them. Since I hadn’t heard from my wife all day, that seemed unlikely, so I went in search of her.

I moved through the house methodically, checking all the rooms she frequented—kitchen, living room, gym, and finally our bedroom—but came up empty.

Panicked, I pulled out my cell and hit the number I had on speed dial.

The second it connected, I barked, “Where is Mrs. Bellini?”

Emilio remained silent on the other end of the line.

“Speak!” I roared.

“Uh, she’s at home, sir?” He sounded almost confused.

I ran a hand over my head. “That’s where I am, and she’s nowhere to be found. So why don’t you try again?”

His second attempt at relaying my wife’s location didn’t quell the rising tide of fear within me. “She hasn’t left the house all day.”