King of Stars (The Next Generation #2)

32. Stella

Chapter 32

Stella

F or the first time since I’d known Matteo, my husband , I woke up earlier than him because…I had to use the bathroom. Bad. It felt like my bladder was a second away from bursting. When I tried to untangle myself from my husband’s strong arms, though, he locked me tight inside of them.

“Matteo,” I said. “I really, really, really need to use the bathroom. Like…this isn’t a test, but a warning. The explosion is imminent.”

He laughed, all raspy. A “too early in the morning” sexy laugh. “Tell me…what will happen if I do this…” He straightened his pointer finger and came close to my neck.

I instinctually lifted my shoulders. “Don’t you dare! This is a new mattress!”

“Okay, then, what do you call me?”

Oh. “My husband!”

He laughed even harder, setting his finger down. “Since this is an emergency, and I move faster—” He didn’t finish his sentence. He hauled ass out of bed, looking finer than any law should allow, and lifted me in his arms, making it to the bathroom in a few seconds.

He was barely out of the room when I already started to sigh from the release of pressure. I could hear him laughing on the other side of the door. After I freshened up a bit, he went in to use it, and I hopped back into bed.

Big.

Mistake.

That hopping business.

I didn’t realize how sore I was from the night before. It felt like my muscles were bruised, and the softest mattress known to man had just hit them as hard as rocks would.

“Owww,” I said as I stretched my arm, and it felt like the muscles were about to pop. My legs…it felt like I’d danced nonstop for weeks without a break. Then I gasped, and my hand slapped against my heart. Maybe to hold it in. Matteo was leaning a shoulder against the bathroom door, watching me. “You’re too effing quiet.”

“Effing?” He quirked up a thick brow.

He was naked.

Totally naked.

And…I lost my train of thought.

He was…turned on…already. Pointing to the north, or was it the south?

He said my name and I said, “Huh?”

“Effing,” he repeated.

“Oh.” I tucked a wild strand of hair behind my ear. “I got it from your mom.”

He put his finger to his lips, as if to say, shhh , then came over to the bed, picking me up out of it again. I laughed, thinking how he didn’t want me to talk about his mom. He bit the side of my neck, and I started to laugh even harder. Until he lowered me down into the huge, steaming tub full of bubbles and what smelled like herbal salts. I hissed at first, then sank into the warm caress of the water. Matteo stepped in and sat behind me, his hard cock stabbing me in the back.

We said nothing for some time as he scooped up some water and let it run down my shoulders. He was like a rock behind me, but more comfortable. Then I looked up and he looked down and…a few seconds later, I was wrapped around him while he carried me back to our bed. We hadn’t even bothered to dry off.

This time, though, I found myself on top. I leaned down, sucking the water from his skin, my hands as ravenous as the night before. As I kissed my way down his body, my hair caressed his skin, and he kept groaning and sighing.

Maybe he wasn’t expecting it, but when I took him in my mouth, his hips bucked up. I made a strangled noise, but I didn’t stop. He tasted so fucking good. He tasted as good as he smelled, but a little saltier.

He was making uncontrolled noises, and I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to make him lose control like he always made me lose control. But right before he did, he hooked his hands underneath my arms and pulled me up, sitting me on top of him.

“Oh…fuck…” A garbled sound came from my lips as I started to move. It felt so, so, so good, I couldn’t stop.

“That’s it, baby,” he groaned, bucking up, hitting that spot deep inside of me that knocked the breath from my lungs. “Take what you need from me.” He started to speak in Italian, things that sounded so romantic, and maybe a bit dirty. And it was like his words were moving me, causing me to go forward and back, swirling my hips. And as soon as my nipples started to ache, because they needed to be touched, licked, pinched, he touched them, and lifting some, licked, sucked and pinched.

“ Oh, oh, oh, oh …” I was moving even faster, bouncing on top of him, and a rush of heat seemed to explode inside of me as I screamed out. He turned me over onto my back, pounding into me, making me lose all control a second time before he exploded with a hiss, his hips jerking, milking himself inside of me.

He kissed me as we tried to slow our breathing, but it was like we couldn’t help ourselves. “What you do to me,” he said over and over. “What you do to me. You’re going to kill me.”

As long as I took him with me.

We were still naked, in bed, however long after, when a knock came at the door.

My stomach made an obnoxious noise.

“Breakfast?” I asked, hiding my stomach, hoping it wouldn’t do that again.

“Breakfast?” He set his feet on the floor, going for our clothes. “More like lunch.”

“That late?” I couldn’t believe it, but when I was with him, it was scary how time didn’t exist.

“The only reason we’re leaving this room is because you’re hungry.”

I shrugged, letting him dress me. “Fine with me. But who’s at the door?”

“One of the soldiers to tell us the neighbors keep knocking at the front door.”

“The neighbors?”

I answered my own question when, after we walked downstairs, Matteo opened the front door, and a plethora of goodies were at our feet. Armando told Matteo they checked everything, and it was all safe. Or that was what I assumed was said, since Matteo nodded to all the wonderful things and told me they were gifts from the neighbors left for us to enjoy.

I was so freaking excited!

Scarlett and Mia had baked things for us to eat. The other neighbors had brought seeds from their gardens so we could start our own. One even brought a vine because it was customary.

Matteo brought me close to his chest and kissed my head when I started to cry. “This is so nice.” I sniffed. “I can’t wait to do the same for someone else once all our stuff starts to grow.”

“Come,” Matteo said, bringing me back inside while some of the soldiers brought our gifts inside. “I’ll make us something to eat.”

Not sure why, but I started crying harder. “That’s so nice.”

“I’m your husband. I’m here to take care of you.”

I wasn’t sure why that had hit me so hard, but it did. I cried even harder. Matteo looked like he might want to run for Uncle Tito, the doctor, or he wanted to kill whoever was making me feel this way.

I wrapped my hands around his bulging arms. He was almost twitching, not sure what to do with me. “I’m just…so happy, Teo.”

He nodded at me, so serious, and closing his eyes, leaned in and kissed me on the head. “Yeah, but I should have known better. You need to eat.”

“You wiped me out, but in the best way.” I smiled.

He wiped the tears from my eyes and cheeks. Then he nodded to the bread Scarlett had dropped off. “Snack on that while lunch is heating up.”

He told me to eat it, but he fed me bites while warming up soups and pasta dishes Scarlett had stocked the fridge with. She even brought over desserts!

After lunch, Matteo brought me back upstairs and set me in the big tub again.

“Where are you going?” I asked when he started to walk away.

“Giving you time to relax.”

I shook my head and patted the water. “I’d be too lonely without you. The water doesn’t even feel all that warm. You warm it up, like you warm our bed.” I set my body toward the tub, my hands on the rim, then my chin over my hands, looking up at him.

He stared at me for a second, before he sighed, going for his shirt. His phone started to ring in the other room, but he ignored it. But as he was going for his pants, it started to ring again.

“Maybe you should take it?” I suggested.

He looked toward the room, at me, and when the phone started to ring again, went for it. It was all probably going to be in Italian anyway, so I sunk underneath the water, coming up a second later. I didn’t know how to swim. Or how to ride a bike—a regular one. Or how to drive a car. Matteo had promised to teach me how to do all three. But I didn’t want to push it with the water. Out of all three, water seemed the scariest to me. Maybe because I did okay with the Vespa, but I had no idea how to save myself in water.

He seemed to explode back into the bathroom, the phone clutched in his tight-fisted hand. “Mia’s in labor.”

“Oh!” I stood up too fast, and started to slip, but Matteo already had his hands on me.

He set me on my feet, then grabbed the towel. We were both trying to dry me off at the same time.

“It’s too early,” I said, feeling panicked for her and the baby.

“Yeah.”

“Are we meeting them at the hospital?”

“No.”

“No? I don’t understand. Shouldn’t she be on her way? Since she’s so early, especially?”

“Yeah, but she’s already in labor. Too late to move her.”

“Okay. She and the baby will be okay.” Those were the words that came out, but deep down, I was freaking out but trying not to let Matteo see it.

Mia was going into labor too early, about two weeks too early, and she couldn’t make it to the hospital in time. What was going to happen to the baby if he or she needed help? But I could tell Matteo was all shaken up, even if he was like a rock on the outside. His face was a mask of calm, but I could feel the trembling in his hands.

He and Mia were so close.

We dressed in record time and made it to Scarlett and Brando’s villa in just a few minutes. The house was tense. Mostly everyone was waiting in the kitchen, while Saverio, Scarlett, and Brando were upstairs with Mia. Matteo’s brothers walked in the door right behind us, and we all went straight to Magpie, who stood from the table, hugging us all in turn.

“She was working on the villa,” she whispered, holding my hand. “When she went into labor.”

Saverio and Mia had bought a place down the hill from ours. Matteo said she and Saverio had been wanting to, but they didn’t decide to do it until we moved into the castello . As Matteo’s future right-hand man, Saverio would need to stay close to us.

I squeezed Magpie’s hand. “She and the baby will be okay.”

“They will,” Nonno said, making the sign of the cross. “Mia and the baby have Fausti blood. The baby is Saverio’s. That, together, is fighting blood.” He squeezed Magpie’s shoulders, and she set her hand over his.

It was clear to see, though, that the men in the family didn’t have the…patience to wait out what was going to happen. These men were used to things going their way whenever they gave an order. But like Mother Nature is known to do, she had them shaken. They were all sweating, and it seemed like Mia’s brothers were taking turns pacing the floor, looking out the window, sitting, then repeat. Matteo kept touching me, like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Like he wanted to do something, but he wasn’t sure what he could do.

Someone had already called for a helicopter, just in case, but…

If I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I had the nerve for this waiting game either. Mia was a sister to me, and I didn’t want to think about anything bad happening to her or the baby. I loved how this family loved fiercely, and taking one of them out of the picture wouldn’t be right or fair.

I stared at Matteo while he stared out the window. I wondered how Scarlett and Brando had coped with the loss of their first Matteo. That had to be so hard. Just the thought of it made tears come to my eyes. Just as Matteo was about to look at me, I looked toward the window. I didn’t want him to see me get upset or feel me out and know that I was in shambles on the inside too.

A scream echoed from upstairs, and it seemed like every eye in the room flew up to the noise. The men seemed to get worse after that, and so did the women, but in a different way. I suggested to Juliette that we cook something for dinner.

She nodded, about to get up, when Nonno started to talk.

“My mamma was born in this farmhouse. She gave birth to me here. In the same room Mia is shedding blood for her child.”

“And you were both okay,” Magpie said, kissing his hand.

He looked toward the window again when another scream seemed to tear from upstairs and make its way downstairs. His hands clenched, then relaxed, but I noticed that happened a few times. Almost as unnerving as the situation was the unease these men were almost sweating out.

As I was about to stand up, nudge Juliette to help me in the kitchen, a different kind of cry came from upstairs. A baby’s new cry. Every hair on my body stood up, and a rush of warmth seemed to flood through my heart and invade my veins. Matteo let out a breath, like he’d been holding it, and set his head on my shoulder.

“A cry,” Magpie shouted, covering her mouth, before she moved her hands. “A cry!”

I wiped my eyes, so moved by it that I couldn’t control my tears. All the women were crying.

“Mia. The baby,” Maestro said in a quiet voice.

No one said anything, because no one knew. But a minute or so later, when Saverio came quietly into the kitchen and invited us all up, we knew.

Everything was okay.

Matteo’s grip on my hand felt like it might break my bones, but I was holding him just as tightly.

Mia was sitting up in the bed, tears on her cheeks, gazing down at her new baby like Matteo and I gazed up at the stars. The baby was covered in purple, and both sets of grandparents were sitting next to Mia and the baby. Scarlett was crying, and Brando looked like he might collapse against the wall, but his hand on Scarlett was keeping him steady. It was the same on the opposite side. Mari was in tears, and her husband had his hands on her shoulders, using her for support.

When Mia noticed all of us, she smiled. “Everyone, come closer. Everyone meet Graziana Margherita.” She looked at her grandfather and grandmother. “Your great-granddaughter.”

With tears in his eyes, Nonno walked over to the bed, leaned down, and closed his eyes as he kissed Mia on the forehead. She handed over Graziana Margherita, and Nonno looked at the little dark-haired baby like she was the sunshine, and he was a blind man seeing it for the first time.

“A baby girl,” he breathed. “Graziana Margherita, after my mamma and my entire heart.” He took her over to the window and held her up to the waning light, like he wanted her to bathe in it. They were both glowing. The sun had wrapped its arms around her and was welcoming her into the world, just like her great grandfather was. She was making the softest noises, her tiny fists balled and peeking out through the purple blanket, and he was smiling at her, laughing softly.

I thought maybe he would melt.

I was. I was melting.

And as I looked up at my husband and he looked down at me, his hand on my shoulder, I couldn’t wait for this moment for us. A moment where my husband would look at me like Saverio was looking at Mia—like she’d just given him the world, and he couldn’t be more thankful or in love.

With her. With their life.

That moment when Matteo’s parents and family would welcome our child just like this. Our child would know that he or she would forever be a part of something so special. Of this circle of never-ending love.

I couldn’t wait to see my mom in my child. Or just know that she existed inside of him or her, just like she existed inside of me. I’d make sure she’d live on.

I couldn’t wait.