Exhaling: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection Book 3) Read Free Page A

home from Italy with a tanned glow, and it had taken a little over a week for her brothers to steal it from her, leaving her a speechless shell of the woman he’d ravished too many times to count.
    “College fund,” Vince muttered, and then shook his head. He knew that once he found words, they would be all the wrong ones. The non sequitur was enough to make Fallyn blink at him and meet his gaze with hers, registering he’d spoken, so he went with it. “I’ll set up a college fund in the morning for the baby. And a trust fund, of course. Might have to wait till he’s actually born, but I can at least get the paperwork started with my broker.”
    “Huh?”
    “And vitamins. You need vitamins.” He cringed at his negligence. “Do you even take a multivitamin? I should’ve told Doctor Henderson to bring some in the morning with the DNA results. I can call him when we get out.” When Fallyn made to protest, he shook his head. “And baby proofing. Do you think we should have the crib in our room? Yeah, probably. At least for the first few weeks so you don’t have to be separate from the baby.”
    “Vince,” Fallyn scolded gently.
    “I’ll have my car guy get you a safer car, too. I mean, your car’s nice and all, but you should have bulletproof glass, at least. Maybe something with a bigger trunk for the stroller?”
    Fallyn lifted her thin hand to rest it on his cheek, bringing his worries to a head. “Vince, if you’re my brother, we can’t keep this baby. We can’t stay married.”
    “Shh,” Vince pleaded, his hand covering hers. “I can’t go there. I can’t think about it until Doctor Henderson makes me think about it. I can’t make decisions without irrefutable proof.”
    “And if he brings us that?”
    “Then I’ll get a second opinion!” he shouted out of nowhere. “And a third and a fourth, if that’s what it takes. I’ll kick down every hospital’s door until we find someone who tells us we can be together!”
    “Honey,” she cooed, finally seeing the torment she’d had a week to process that was tearing at his sanity afresh.
    “It’s not true! I owe your brothers the beating of a lifetime after this. More than a week, Fal! Nine days! You were gone nine days!” He was livid, his dark eyebrows pushed together to add more emphasis to the pain he barked at her. “When shit hits the fan, you come to me ! You don’t run to your brothers. You don’t shut down or shut me out. You run to me! I’m your home! I’m your husband. I’m your family, not them anymore. They should’ve sat us both down, not blindsided you like that. I’ll kill them for making you question us!”
    Every few seconds that passed by added one more layer of awareness and sanity in the midst of the chaos. Fallyn saw her husband and realized her fault in his suffering. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should’ve come home to you. I didn’t think. I just heard the bomb go off and checked out. I didn’t want to cut you off. I just didn’t want to get out of bed.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Vince, what if we’re…”
    Vince covered her mouth with his large mitt. “Don’t say it! Not until it’s real. Tomorrow we can ask all the questions. Tonight?” He moved his hand down to cup her chin. “Tonight we’re us. You’re my wife, no one else.” He watched her soften in his hand, his other arm snaking around the small of her back to pull her naked body flush to his while the shower pelted them with warmth. His voice turned deep and seductive after he coaxed a languid kiss from her that pulled the longing to the forefront, knocking back all the uncertainty and fear. “You’ve got your husband in the shower. What are you going to do with him?” The first smile he’d felt in nine days touched his lips when Fallyn’s fingers brushed across his chest. He hissed into their kiss, and despite everything, he rose to the occasion, eager to make science see that it was wrong, and they were very, very right