Page 49 of For Pleasure Or Worse

"Yep." I popped the 'p' and fluffed my cloth napkin onto my lap.

"There is a Bordeaux down there that costs more than your house," Dad said to me. "Are you two going to finally move out of there now? Find something a little more suitable to grow a family?"

"Something like this?" I circled my finger in the air, mocking the grand dining room and the hanging lights, the table so large you couldn’t have a conversation with someone unless they were sitting on the same end as you.

"We have a great house." Mateo slid his hand down my thigh under the table, landing on my knee and squeezing. “It’s only the two of us. We have a second bedroom and plenty of space to expand with an addition if we needed to.”

A bright smile pulled Anna’s cheeks taut. “I can’t wait to be a grandmother.”

My stomach tilted and an awkward laugh forced itself out of me. Children were always part of our plan, but having such an open discussion in front of my father about eventually being pregnant made me want to crawl out of my skin. Yes, obviously Mateo and I had sex. No, that wasn’t a fact I wanted acknowledged at the dinner table.

Mom commented, "With you both in New York it'll be hard to be involved in a baby's life, won’t it?”

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Mateo cut in. "We have a wedding to get through."

"Logistically speaking." Mom shrugged. "It’s a conversation you have to have beforehand."

There was a hot bead of sweat accumulating at the nape of my neck and a quickly rising pulse banging like a gong in my ear. The chef my parents staffed regularly for special occasions swept into the room with hot platters of food and set them in the center of the table.

"We have talked about the distance," Anna mentioned. “David and I were thinking it might be worth it to look around for something a little more permanent.”

Mateo’s fork dropped out of his hand and clattered against his plate. "What do you mean?”

“Somewhere we wouldn’t be in your hair,” David added, stabbing a serving fork into the platter of filet mignon and dragging a juicy piece of it onto his dish.

“Like a timeshare?” I cleared my throat. “A vacation rental?”

“Buying is rough right now,” Mia joined. “It’s like a mad dash every single time a new home hits the market, especially in this area. You should hop on it as soon as possible if you’re looking because the perfect place will be here today, gone tomorrow. I can get you in touch with someone if you need it.”

“That’s not necessary,” Mateo said abruptly, turning everyone's head and squeezing my knee harder. Since the disaster at Sunday dinner last month I was quick to worry about him having another panic attack. His mother clearly had a way of bringing those suppressed, anxious emotions to the forefront and we were both blindsided at the moment. The Durans were enjoying their time in Florida, but now I had to worry that it was affecting Mateo considerably more than he let on. I threaded myfingers through his under the table and rubbed my thumb across the back of his hand in slow circles.

“That’s very kind of you, Mia.” Anna raised an eyebrow at her son across the table. “Between the four of you girls, if there’s ever something your parents need, you have it covered.”

Including me in that sentiment warmed my chest. You could easily argue a bank teller had significantly less pull than a pediatric oncologist, an attorney, and a realty mogul. Then again, my connections in the porn industry were worth even less for practicality’s sake.

“We’re very proud,” my dad said. “One thing we always told our girls was you've gotta be rich, or marry a man that gives you the world, so we’re grateful to Mateo for making sleeping at night that much easier for Sistine and me."

“Lovely,” I mumbled under my breath. Matty’s warm hand caressed the back of my neck and his sympathetic eyes caught mine. I wasn’t going to fight over something so trivial. I’d learned that biting my tongue was worth the mental sanity far more often than not. If I got out of this night with nothing but a few scratches that would be a battle won.

“You raised an incredible, indelible, hardworking, and compassionate woman. Traits she's honed artfully on her own, John,” Mateo punctuated, and my first genuine smile of the night sprouted across my cheeks.

"That reminds me," Isabella said, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "Talia, did you look over that paperwork I gave you?”

Oh,no.

My little bit of joy snuffed out with one sentence. The room spun on an axis, like a Gravitron at a carnival with all the screaming and existential dread included. That legal binder was still shoved in the canvas bag I took for errands that day, and that bag was on the floor in the backseat of my car under theextra jacket I always brought but never needed and a garbage bag full of clothes I wanted to donate but never would.

"What paperwork?" Matty tilted his head and this time I avoided his eye contact.

"Nothing important.” My nostrils flared and I lifted my knife slowly, drawing a 'cut it out' gesture at the hollow of my neck.

She ignored me. "The drafted prenup."

Fuck. Fuck in a million different languages. Fuck me with the largest alien dick imaginable.

The room stilled. I was too embarrassed to lift my head but I could feel the tension seeping off my future husband and his parents beside me. Mateo’s hand dropped from my neck slowly and his body turned toward me in his chair. "This is the first I'm hearing about it."

"Christ, Natalia," Bella huffed. "I told you how important it was to get this sorted out so we could move onto the paperwork."

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