Page 45 of Hidden Heir, Italian Wife

He snorted and looked to the side.

“It’s also why I didn’t expect any different when you didn’t ask for mine.”

His gaze flashed back to hers like a scythe. “In future,Ican make a call if you or Sofia need a doctor. You don’t need him in your life unless you want him there.”

She smiled flatly, appreciating the gesture and wishing it was that easy to stop wanting the impossible.

“Are you going to eat anything more?” he asked.

“No.”

“Good. Let’s get married.”

***

Melissa had given her a very good life, one that had gifted Bree with the confidence that she could move through life without a man to fulfill her.

She had longed for a partner anyway. That’s how she’d wound up moving in with Kabir and attaching so strongly to him. She knew fairy-tale endings didn’t exist, but she wanted the realistic happily ever after where someone gave her a place to land when she fell. Someone who shared the small nonsense of life and helped her laugh about it. She wanted great sex.

If she hadn’t been stinging from Kabir’s rejection four years ago, she might not have been so quick to push Jax away. Of course, if Kabir hadn’t rejected her, she might have been married to him, she thought ironically.

A pang of relief followed that realization, forcing her to acknowledge that all this time that she’d been carrying and birthing and raising Jax’s child, she had secretly longed for a relationship withhim. She had longed to share Sofia with him and see the pride in his eyes that mirrored her own. She wanted to know more about him and his life and make love with him and feel his arms around her as they slept.

Here was her chance. She only had to be brave enough to marry him and believe she could have all of those things.

And risk being scorned again.

That was the part that kept giving her pause, but that was life. One way or another, she would suffer disappointments and heartaches. They were inevitable.

At least she knew where she stood with Jax. Everything he’d shared about his first engagement told her he was a very honorable man. The kind of man she could trust and rely on. Maybe even love.

So she married him.

Since it was a private, afternoon ceremony at his parents’ home, Bree had chosen a knee-length, double-breasted coat dress with a pill hat that had a short, netted veil. Jax was in a black morning coat over a silver vest, a white shirt and striped trousers, looking so handsome Bree had to wonder how his first fiancée had backed out.

Melissa arrived with an overexcited Sofia, who put onanothernew party dress—Nonna was determined to spoil her as mercilessly as Gigi always had—and the moment arrived for Sofia to walk her posy of flowers across the room.

The gauntlet of her new family proved too much for her. Sofia caught a case of nerves, dropped her flowers, and ran to Jax, where he stood with the officiant.

He picked her up and she buried her face in his lapel, clinging tight, refusing to let him put her down. Everyone covered their smiles.

Once Bree joined him, Sofia agreed to stand with them and listened politely while they spoke their vows.

Jax went first, pledging in a deep, steady voice to be a loyal and faithful partner as he cherished, respected and comforted her.

Hot tears arrived behind Bree’s eyes as she accepted the simple band from him that would sit behind his grandmother’s ring. It was warm from being in the pocket against his heart and had a pure quality in its solid, unadorned simplicity, matching the promise he was making to her.

When she slid a slightly wider version onto his finger, and repeated the words back to him, a tremor arrived in her chest.

She hadn’t expected this moment to feel so moving or impactful. She hadn’t expected tobelieve. But as she looked into his steady eyes, she understood that her inner walls had to come down to give them a real chance.

It was unsettling because it wasn’t just the bulwarks of defenses she had to release. As they moved forward in their life together, she had to believe, somehow, that they would hold each other up. She didn’t know how that would work. She didn’t knowifit would.

There was no going back, though. They were pronounced husband and wife.

He drew her into his arms and her own bout of extreme shyness hit. They had danced together last night where all could see them, but this embrace was different. It was a declaration, a deeply intimate one. When his mouth settled on hers, it was a revelation of the passion that had brought them together in the first place. She couldn’t stop herself from twining her arm around his neck or parting her lips to let him deepen the kiss.

She felt the control he exerted even as he gave in to temptation and briefly ravished her, just enough for her heart to leap and send a blush of pleasure into her cheeks.

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