Page 114 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

It was a pride-saving lie. She’d hoped he felt more than lust. Surely the connection between them, the truths they’d shared and sense of rightness when they were together, meantsomethingto him.

Because they did toher. She’d fallen hard and fast for Gio, even when knowing it was a short-term fling. Then, when he’d hijacked her wedding, stupid hopes had risen. When they’d shared raw truths about themselves she’dfelthis emotional response.

Felt or fantasised?

‘I’ll support you and the baby. I’ll be a bulwark against your father. I won’t let him bother you again. But I can’t pretend to want love.’

His stare burned like molten metal. ‘You can count on me. But that’s one thing I can’t give you. You know my history. What happened killed something inside me. I don’t trust love. I haven’t been capable of it since I learnt how it destroys.’

Gio was thinking of his father who’d rejected him in favour of all-consuming revenge. Despite her pain, sympathy welled for this earnest man who believed love was something terrible.

‘I know my limits. I’m the product of a flawed father who put his misery ahead of what was left of his family.’ The stark pain etching Gio’s face stopped her breath. ‘It would be a mistake thinkingI’dever make a good parent. I can’t risk letting my child down like that.’

Stella wanted to insist he never would. Gio wasn’t his father. Anyone could see how profoundly his father’s behaviour had affected him. But Gio was adamant. He believed every word he said.

‘So what exactlydoyou want, Gio?’ She clasped her hands in her lap. ‘Sex? You don’t want a meaningful relationship, with me or our baby. You don’t want tomarryme.’ Her voice wavered but she pushed on. ‘Just tell me.’

Instead of being annoyed, he looked strained. ‘It’s not that I don’t want, it’s that Ican’t.’

His stare burned. ‘What do I want? I want you and our child safe and happy. I’ll do everything it takes to provide for you both and keep you safe, when you decide where you want to go. And yes, I’m selfish.’ His eyes turned searing silver. ‘I want you. More than I’ve wanted any woman. I want you to stay with me, for as long as this passion lasts.’

He wanted her.

Despite everything, her body softened as if preparing for his possession. Because, despite needing more than sex, she desired him with every fibre of her being.

Worse, her heart ached, not only for herself but for him. For the self-doubt that had seeded and grown in his psyche. For the damage his father and hers had done to a little boy who’d become a flawed but essentially good man.

She wanted to be furious with Gio. To cut him off without a backward glance, because she wouldn’t settle for less than her dream of love.

Her hands shook with the force of devastating emotion as she rose and moved to the window, fixing her gaze on the bright gleam of sunlit water.

Gio’s words weren’t what she wanted to hear but they made her confront her feelings. Including the yearning for him that she’d already labelled self-destructive.

She drew a rough breath. Her father called her obstinate. It turned out she was. She could no more give up on Gio than swim back to Australia.

She recalled her mother talking about her own parents falling instantly in love. Stella’s grandfather had proposed in a week and they’d married within a few months, living the rest of their lives together.

Was that what Stella’s mum had felt when she met Alfredo Barbieri? Had she tumbled into love only to discover she’d fallen for a dangerous man incapable of caring for anyone?

‘Stella? What are you thinking?’ Gio’s words feathered her neck. He stood so close behind her she felt his heat. She shut her eyes, fighting the need to turn into his arms.

You don’t want to know what I’m thinking.

She really was in love with Gio Valenti.

Staying with him longer was probably a recipe for pain. Yet leaving was unthinkable. Not simply because she craved his company and his lovemaking. If she left now she’d never have a chance to convince him love needn’t be poison. She, her baby, and Gio, would miss out on something precious.

Was she willing to risk herself a little longer in hopes of a miracle?

She spoke through stiff lips. ‘I’m thinking I’ll stay.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Gio had foundParadise. He didn’t deserve it, he knew. But he was too selfish to deny himself.

Before him, Stella knelt on hands and knees. Her beautiful back undulated as she moved to meet his thrusts. His hips slapped her lush backside and her head arched up as if straining to cope with such pleasure. Her little hums and the demanding way her pelvis rotated told him she was as close to completion as he.

With each surge he buried deeper in her slick warmth, felt her tight around him, pulling him nearer the edge.