Page 42 of Mafia Boss' Surprise Baby

“I was so worried when you didn’t come back to work, and I heard you were sick. Are you better now?”

“A little bit.”

She’s holding something back, but I don’t push her just yet. I can wait until we get to my place.

We ride through the evening traffic out to Castle Island. When we get out, I dismiss my driver. “I won’t be needing you again tonight. You can take off early.”

“Thank you, sir,” he says.

I tap the app on my phone and disable the upgraded alarm system. After I unlock the door and let us inside, I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Not to freak you out, but I’ve got six men outside the house now. There are two on me at all times plus the driver. You could say it woke me up when Oscar pulled that gun. I have a lot more to lose than I used to.”

“You have no idea,” she says, and I’m not sure what she means. “Will you sit down with me?”

Katie looks nervous again, and I reach for her hand. We sit down on the couch and she’s put a foot of space between us. She’s chewing her thumbnail and looks like she’s shaking all over.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her. “We just gotta talk it out. Don’t panic.”

“It’s not that. I’m not scared of figuring this out with you. I’m scared to tell you what’s going on.”

Narrowing my eyes, I look her over. “What’s going on that you have to be scared about?”

I see how she’s sitting, crisscrossed legs, facing me, keeping room between us, her elbows tucked in close and chewing her nails. She’s making herself smaller, protecting herself. I won’t have it.

“Just tell me.”

The longer she keeps quiet the more I worry.

“Kate, unfold yourself and come over here,” I say. I reach for her. She resists at first but then reaches back and takes my hand. I tug her toward me and put my arm around her. “There, that’s better. If you want me to go first, I will.”

“Okay,” she says. “Why did you bring me here?”

“To tell you that there’s nobody else for me. End of story.” I kiss the top of her head. “You’re it for me, baby.”

For some reason she squeezes her eyes shut and winces like she didn’t like what I said.

“What?” I press.

“Baby,” she says.

“You don’t want me to call you that?”

“It’s not that. It’s… I’m pregnant, Mick. When I was sick, I went to the clinic and I thought I’d have the flu or something. The pregnancy test they gave me was positive. I looked when Igot home and I missed a couple pills in my last pack. I didn’t mean to forget. I guess with moving back and the new job, studying all the time and—and getting involved with you, I let it slip my mind. At the time when I really should’ve been extra careful about making sure I took them. Because we didn’t use anything else.”

I stare at her. She keeps talking and talking, but all I can hear is the first couple words she said. Katie’s pregnant.

“Wait, what?” I interrupt. “You’re pregnant?”

Katie pulls away from the shoulder where she was leaning and hiding her face from me. She takes a ragged breath, squares her shoulders and looks me right in the face. “I’m pregnant. It was an accident and I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful. You don’t have to do anything as far as, like, being part of this. I take full responsibility. I get that this changes everything, that if you came to my door tonight thinking we can give it another try, then it’s a lot more complicated than you thought it would be. You’ll need time to think about it, I’m sure, and figure out what you want.”

“You. I want you. More than I want fuckin’ air to breath, Katie. Don’t doubt that for one second.”

She looks stunned for a second, and I watch what I said sink in. Her eyes are bright and a smile curves her mouth. I trail my fingertips up her neck and watch her shiver. I brush my lips over hers, light and teasing, and feel a surge of satisfaction when she cants toward me. Her lips cling to mine but I keep it soft and sensual as I rock my mouth over hers.

“Don’t say you’re sorry. We didn’t see this coming, but don’t sell me short thinking I don’t want to be with you or I don’t want this baby. You know what you just told me? That you think you had to do this all by yourself. That cuts me up cause I want to be the man you know you can count on. I’m your man, Katie Donahue. For as long as you want me.”

She throws her arms around my neck and hugs me tight. “You’ll do this with me? Have this baby?”

“This baby and any other baby you want. I never been so honored in all my life as this makes me feel, you gotta know that. I’d do anything for you. I already got security around me, and I upgraded some systems, increased the protection officers and tightened restrictions on staff going in and out of the building during their shifts. I made changes that will keep us safer and that’s before I knew about the baby. Let me prove it to you.”

---