Elie brushed a kiss over the bite mark and then eased his weight off her chest the way he had before, by planting his hand in the bed beside her head. “I think it’s official, Mrs. Archambault. There’s no squirming out of the marriage now.”
She wasn’t certain she actually returned his smile. She’d never been so exhausted in her life. She did manage a nod and hoped that counted as an answer.
He rolled over. “Give me a minute, bébé, I’ll get a washcloth and clean you up. When we both can move again, we can take a shower and use the Jacuzzi.”
“I think I’m falling asleep.”
His laughter was pitched low. “Go ahead, Brielle. We’re on our honeymoon. No one expects us to surface for a few days. We’re not on any schedule.”
“You didn’t plan anything?” That surprised her.
He ran his hand over her hip and down her thigh. “I had plans until I saw who I married. Then I decided spending time with my new wife was a much better idea.”
Brielle liked his answer. She wanted time with him. As much as she could get.
“It’s my job to keep us from ever getting bored with one another, Brielle. I don’t plan on falling down on my job, so you don’t need to worry about that anymore.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from blurting out that just because he decreed she shouldn’t worry didn’t mean she could stop herself. “What happens when we have children and I don’t look the same? Or we don’t have as much freedom in the house to play the games we both enjoy?”
He sat up and looked down at her with dark, fathomless eyes. “I will love how you look after having my children. If you don’t love how you look, we’ll work on it together. As for the games we enjoy, believe me, bébé, I very much look forward to the challenge of finding ways to continue playing under any and all circumstances.”
He leaned over and kissed her. Thoroughly. Robbing her of both speech and breath, and then he sauntered out of the room to get a washcloth.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I’m betting on my man, Bernado,” Valentino said. He indicated the board Giovanni had set up in Dario’s very large office. “Bernado has mad skills and even your teams can’t possibly beat him, Stefano.”
“Don’t be so certain of that, Val,” Stefano said. “Rigina and her sister Rosina Greco are my cousins and they’re lightning fast and one hundred percent accurate on the computer. Accuracy counts. Your man has to be correct. He can’t just make shit up, or guess when he’s close to the answer.”
Valentino burst out laughing. “Just how many cousins do you actually have, Stefano? It isn’t like you don’t have a big enough family as it is with all your siblings. You just have to show off with all those cousins.” He gestured toward Dario. “I’ve got one.”
Dario glanced up from where he was looking at his phone. “Stefano needs his fifty cousins. You only need me.” He made the proclamation as if it was an edict they all should be aware of.
Emmanuelle nudged Ricco. “There you have it. Val only needs Dario. He makes up for all of you.”
“Well,” Ricco conceded, “that could be true. Dario does have that unfortunate reputation. My money’s on the boys in the investigative world, Romano and Renato Greco. Stefano thinks the women, but I think the big brothers have this one.”
“I thought that Rigina and Rosina assisted their brothers when it was needed, but they seemed to have taken over the investigative work more and more,” Taviano said.
Emmanuelle raised an eyebrow and pretended to kick her brother in the shin. “You know perfectly well the two of them far exceeded the skills of their parents and brothers a long time ago and have been working on their own for some time.”
Taviano indicated the white board that had been set up against the wall opposite the stone fireplace. One side of the enormous room was all glass. The double glass doors were framed in rustic wood and led out onto a balcony overlooking the lake. On either side of the doors were long windows, framed in the same matching wood as the doorframes. The floor was a dark hardwood and the very comfortable furniture was a chocolate brown. Long narrow windows were on either side of the floor-to-ceiling gray stone fireplace, but with the windows and the light rugs, the office was extremely bright.
“Are you betting on the girls with Stefano?” Taviano challenged his sister.
“I didn’t say that.” Emmanuelle shook her head. “I’m putting my money on Brielle.”
Dario looked up, his gaze suddenly sharp. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“Nothing. I just have a feeling. She had a lot of confidence in herself when it came to her computer skills.”
“Ego is what you mean,” Vittorio corrected. “Ego and sass. I’m taking the brothers. Romano and Renato.”
Giovanni looked the board over carefully. “I’m backing the girls. They’ve never gotten anything wrong yet. They’re lightning fast. Rigina and Rosina.”
“Elie?” Stefano asked. “You have any thoughts on this? No one’s going to tell your wife if you don’t bet on her.”
“Speak for yourself, Stefano,” Giovanni said. “He’ll never live it down.”