He didn't turn the kiss intimate, but the passion surged between them like an electric current all the same. It probably only lasted a matter of seconds, but Annette felt dizzy, like she'd been holding her breath for a long time.
She swayed a little and Carlo put his arm around her waist to hold her up as everyone in the room took turns congratulated them on their marriage.
CHAPTER 17
Carlo watched Annette, though he pretended interest in the lively discussion around the table as they shared a family lunch to celebrate the wedding.
He was married.
To the woman he had once thought hewouldmarry and later believed to be the one woman he wouldnevermarry. But when they'd discovered she carried his child, all his determination to get over his sexual obsession with her went by the wayside.
Not that said determination had been bearing much fruit.
He could feel nothing but satisfaction that she had spoken her vows with him today. He understood better now how much those promises meant to her and that her walking away five years ago had not been about breaking her promise to him. She'd been trying to avoid what she was convinced would be a disaster.
Oh, she'd put it differently, but it amounted to the same thing.
Annette had refused to fit into the mold he'd set for her. Not because she did not care about him as he'd made himself believe, but because she simply could not do it. He understood that. How hollow had he felt when his father had asked Carlo to sign those shares over to him?
And it had not meant that Carlo would no longer be President of the company, but he'd still felt like part of him was to be stripped away.
Annette didn't run a multinational corporation, but the work she did with at-risk youth was just as important to her. He would never forget that again.
Nor would he forget all those family time clauses in their prenuptial agreement. Because as important as her work was to her, it was clear that her family would be as well. And she expected their family to be important to him too.
She always made him stop and think in new ways and he hoped she would always care enough to do that.
His father stood up to make a toast. "To my dear son, Carlo, may your marriage be filled with joy and blessed with many children."
Annette smiled, winked and mouthedfour and that's itto him.
Everyone else read her lips as he did and burst into laughter.
Fantino tapped his glass and made his own toast, followed by Joyce and then his mother.
Carlo was unaccountably touched by the very personal well wishes and realized that he was glad they had not had a big wedding like they'd planned five years ago. This felt so much more real, like a day of promises, not a production put on for the guests.
Carlo lifted his own glass to toast his bride. "It might have taken five years, but we got here in the end."
"When my brother knows what he wants, he doesn't stop going after it," Fantino said with a lift of his own glass.
He sat beside his wife, their daughter in Joyce's lap, the picture of family contentment. They had been through the wars, but they got their happy endings as modern fairytales promised, and Carlo couldn't be happier for them.
Everyone around the table laughed, but Carlo was struck by his brother's words as sure as if they had been a blow. Because he'd wanted Annette five years ago and he'd given up pretty damn easily. What did that say about his supposed stubborn resolve?
Or had he been lying to himself five years ago when he said he'd let her go? How quickly he'd fallen into bed with her after seeing her again gave credence to that theory.
Whatever his past mistakes, he was married to the woman now and his satisfaction was greater than he'd ever before experienced in his life.
He wondered what she would think if she knew? Call him a throwback no doubt, but he couldn't deny it. He was done lying to himself.
Carlo had only ever wanted to marry Annette and now their lives were joined.
A few hours later, they were ensconced in side-by-side seats on his jet, sipping bubbly, though Annette's was of the nonalcoholic variety.
"Where are we going?" she asked him.
Finally.