The Italian Billionaire’s Nubian Queen

Forever.

By the time they landed, her knees were a little jelly-like and her legs were more than a little wobbly. She looked at him, the man who could make her laugh, who could make her think, and infuriate her more than once in a while, and she thought that she was the luckiest woman in the world.

And yet, she wanted to get even luckier. She wanted even more.

They cleared security and were on their way to, he told her, his cottage—now their cottage, he insisted, though this sudden increase in her wealth really did make her a little uncomfortable—when she turned to him seriously.

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“Anything, my darling.”

“I think we should amend the terms of our contract.”

He grinned.

“We don’t have a contract. We don’t even have a prenup. You know that.”

“I know. I meant the terms of the contract as you told me about them long ago. You know—how you need to have an heir by the time you’re thirty-five.”

He went still. His eyes were wary.

“What are you trying to tell me, Alyssa?”

Alyssa sighed.

“Really, don’t you trust me? Remember what we talked about? Trust, being very important?”

He nodded.

“Yes, of course. Tell me. Whatever it is, we’ll find a way to make it work. There’s nothing more important than what you need to be happy. Whatever it is, Alyssa. There is nothing I would ever choose over you.”

She nearly wept. He meant every word of that. She knew he did.

“I think,” she said, carefully, “it’s important for children to have other children of the same age in the family. There’s nothing like having a sibling or a cousin who is about your age. I know you and Gabriel didn’t work out so well. But even there… You were close as children. Just because he grew up to be so selfish…”

“He’s coming around. The responsibility is doing him good.”

“I can’t believe you listened to me and gave him a job.”

“It was a good idea,” he told her.

“Well, I regret it now. I saw how he looked at my sister and I wanted to kick him in the… well, anyway. That’s all beside the point. I was saying that the bond between siblings is very strong. Like between me and Brianna. We’ve always been there for each other, even when we didn’t like each other all that much.”

“Yes.”

“Well, then…”

“Well then, what?”

“I think we should have a baby soon.”

He went completely still. In fact, he pulled over and turned to look at her.

“Really? Do you really mean that, Alyssa?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Your shop… You and Brianna have expanded and it’s doing so well. You had a plan.”

“Well, plans change, don’t they? That’s the thing about plans. Brianna’s pregnant. She won’t be able to handle the shop for much longer. We’ll have to get somebody other than Diane to help, anyway. We might as well get somebody qualified to run the shop so that Brianna and I can focus on our families. For that, we need to focus on starting a family.”

Matteo shook his head.

“Is this an extremely long-winded way of saying that you want to move our timetable up?”

“Would you mind?”

He smiled and leaned over to kiss her, softly, gently. No matter how soft, how gentle, it still stirred so much more in her. She knew his touch would always do that to her.

“I would love to make babies with you, Alyssa. Whenever you want.”

“Good, because I went off the pill two weeks ago,” she told him, and watched the shock on his face. She grinned.

“You are full of surprises, aren’t you?” he managed, finally.

“Always. Aren’t you glad you married me?”

She tossed him a cheeky grin, and he laughed. He cradled her face in his hands, kissed her again, and again, and laughed again.

“Yes. Yes, I am very glad that I married you. I’m glad that you’re mine. Now, and forever, Alyssa.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder as they set off again, on their honeymoon, and she knew that she would hold on to that moment forever.

And she knew that in a part of her, that moment would never end.

Forever.

Fated, for each other. Finally, she could accept it, completely.

They were meant to be.

The end.