I glare at the animal and she hugs him tighter to her chest. "Stop that," she orders, "you’re scaring him."
"Scaring him, my ass! He’s play-acting, just so he can get your sympathies."
"Play-acting?" She laughs, "Animals don’t play-act. They are not like humans, who’ll stoop to any level to get their way."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Who do you think?" she snaps
I fold my arms across my chest, "I have never play-acted."
"Haven’t you?" She tosses her head, "You keep acting all tough and surly, but inside, you are as soft as…as that slushy thing which I had for breakfast.
"It’s called agranita," I murmur, "and you must be mistaken. I don’t play-act, and I am definitely not soft inside."
"Yes, you do, and yes, you are."
"Not." I harden my jaw
"Are." She juts out her chin.
And why can’t I stop myself from rising to her bait, eh? I drag my fingers through my hair, "Look. Ever since I found out that you were pregnant… It’s…ah... Confused me."
"Confused you?"
I nod, "When I think about your bringing my child into this world, it makes me feel like I am the most vulnerable person on this earth. What if my enemies got to either of you? If something were to happen to either of you, I’d… I don’t think I’d be able to take it."
Her expression softens, "Nothing’s going to happen to either of us."
"You’re that confident, eh?"
"No, I am that confident that you will take care of us."
I stare into her features, that red-tinted hair that flows about her shoulders, those green eyes that sparkle at me, that tiny upturned nose, those beautiful pink lips that beg for me to lick them, thrust my tongue in between them and tangle with hers. The blood rushes to my groin and I am instantly hard. "You trust me to take care of you."
"I trust you." She holds my gaze, "I trust you to do what’s right for the two of us. I trust that you’ll never allow anything to harm us."
A hot sensation stabs at my chest. I close the distance between us, cup her cheek, "When you say things like that, it completely wrecks me, you know that?" I lower my face to hers, when there’s an angry hiss from between us. Something sharp stabs at my chest… This time, for real. I wince, glance down to find the kitten has dug his claws into my shirt. He’s grazed the same wound—now healed—that his mistress had bestowed on me not too long ago.
"Oh, sorry, Andy," she laughs. "Didn’t mean to crush you there."
Wish I could say the same. I scowl down at the animal that glares back at me. Jesus, the cat has almost as much attitude as her. She reaches down, gently disentangles his claws from my shirt, then bends down to place him on the floor. He shakes his entire body, as if he’s tossing off any residue of my touch, then struts off toward his basket in the corner of the room.
She straightens, then peers up at me from under her eyelashes. I hold her gaze and her cheeks pinken.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she murmurs.
"Like what?"
She raises her shoulder, "Like you’ve never seen me before?"
"Maybe I haven’t. Maybe I have underestimated you all along. Maybe, if I had known how you were going to turn my life upside down, I’d have run from you the first time I laid eyes on you."
She blinks, "Is that a compliment? Because I am not sure."
"It is," I push the hair off of her forehead, "a compliment. It takes a lot to surprise me, and I can safely say that you have done so at every turn, my Beauty."
"And you, my Capo," she goes up on her tip-toes and presses a kiss to the side of my neck, which is all she can reach, "constantly challenge me. You make me want to push myself to keep up with you. You make me want to reinvent myself so I can hold my own against you."