Page 80 of I Married a Mob Boss

Although I still have many unanswered questions I want resolved, my brain is too overloaded with everything that has happened the past thirty minutes to continue with our life-altering discussion. My heart? It only wants one thing. Him: Enrique—the stranger I married.

I run my hand over his clipped hair. “I like this,” I mumble, my composure still sitting halfway between insanity and reality.

Rico smiles. “Good. It was either clipped or blond.”

He scoots us up the bed until his back is resting against the headboard. I nuzzle into his chest, loving his thumping heart booming into my ears. It was a noise I never thought I’d have the opportunity to hear again so I relish every precise beat.

We sit in silence for what feels like hours but is only mere minutes. Once the silence becomes too great to ignore, I murmur, “Where do we go from here?”

I don’t need to look at him to know he's smiling. I can feel it in my bones. “I’ve heard from a reliable source that Europe is nice this time of year. Although, he did warn me that I may need to take my wife out back to shoot her if it isn’t planned well.”

Lifting my head off his chest, I peer into his eyes. “Have you been talking to my dad?”

That's one of my dad’s favorite sayings for when my mom’s feathers get a little ruffled. Any time she gets flustered, he threatens to take her out back and shoot her. It’s odd to think in the family I grew up in, that type of bantering is perfectly acceptable, but for someone like Rico, he’d have to wonder if it was a simple joke or an actual threat. That must have been a terrible environment to be raised in. It makes me so grateful our son won’t grow up in that atmosphere.

My pupils widen to the size of dinner plates. “Oh my god, I forgot to tell you. We’re having—”

“A son,” Rico fills in, smiling.

I stare at him, shocked and confused.

He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear before locking his eyes with mine. “You can’t trust anyone, Kitten. Even when they don’t appear to be watching you, they are.” He tilts his head closer to so his minty fresh breath bounces off my lips before muttering, “Especially me.”

Cringing, I sink deeper into the mattress. I'm already aware that he knows about the kiss Colt and I shared, but I don’t have the energy to deal with thatsituationright now.

Another small stretch of silence passes between us. It's healing and most definitely required.

When Rico tightens his grip around my torso, I lean into his chest and breathe him in, grateful we are getting a second chance in our tumultuous relationship. The past four months have been a teeth-clattering rollercoaster ride, but I’m sure now that the darkness has been vanquished, we will be unbreakable—a force to be reckoned with.

There's only one greater dynamic than a man protecting the woman he loves: a man protecting his family. So, although there's a niggle of doubt in the back of my mind that this isn’t the last we’ll hear of the Popov empire, I have no doubt Rico will stop at nothing to keep myself and our son safe. Just like I'll always be his light in a life full of blackness.

As the minutes tick by on the clock in silence, my eyelids grow heavy. When I'm unable to stifle a yawn, Rico mutters, “Sleep if you're tired, Kitten. I’ll be here when you wake.”

He was.

That day.

And the next day.

And every day that followed.