“Don’t you always?” Giovanni asked, rubbing his daughters back.
Dominic approached. He peeked at Eve and touched her cheek. “She’s the mother of your child. That changes everything Gio.”
He nodded. “I agree.”
“I suggest you go a little easy on her. If you want her again, she needs to know it’s not by force. I saw what losing her did to you.”
“She turned to another man, and she kept my child from me. I can’t necessarily forgive that.”
“He saved her life when you couldn’t. Think of it that way.”
Giovanni patted Dominic on the shoulder. “Forever looking out for me aren’t you?”
“Eve is beautiful. She named her after your mother. It looks to me she hasn’t completely cut you from your daughter’s life.”
Giovanni nodded. “Yes. She did. She never forgot about me. That’s a start.”
Chapter Four
When they first boarded the plane, her daughter grinned excitedly. She prattled on in baby talk to her father and his men reaching for each one of them. They all took turns passing her around, and finally she was strapped in the seat next to Giovanni for takeoff. Mira sat on the other side keeping an eye on her. Eve sucked her pacifier, mildly entertained by Giovanni’s platinum watch that he turned over to her. That was until the plane began to race down the runway, and then lifted to the clouds. She spit out her pacifier and screamed. Giovanni unhooked her seatbelt and tried to soothe her but she cried and called for her mother. Mira got up and took the seat next to him to hold her. Within minutes she was asleep in her arms. They then coasted through the sky on their way back to Italy, peacefully. At least on the surface, because underneath the tension between them was nuclear.
Giovanni told her he would send someone to pack up the rest of her things and have them shipped to Italy. What could she do but go willingly? She and her baby left behind the house of lies prepared to return to the house of secrets. She could have told him that Kei wasn’t her lover, but she was so angry that he assumed he was. He was supposed to know her. Yet every time she tried to explain her heart he lashed out at her, wounding her pride.
“Are you hungry?”
“No.” she answered in a dry monotone voice. Mira held Eve to her chest as she slept.
Giovanni reached to touch Eve’s little hand. “I have a question for you.”
Mira said nothing, keeping her eyes closed. “Why did you take on my mother’s name? If you were trying to flee me why name yourself Evelyn, name our daughter Eve Battaglia?”
“I thought it best, since she and I have something in common.”
His answering silence let her know she hit her mark. He hurt her. She wouldn’t make it easy for him. After several minutes of silence, she opened her eyes, turning her head slightly to look over at him. To her surprise his face was temptingly close to hers, and she immediately blushed and looked away. He was doing it again, and damn it he could do it still with little effort. Affecting her in ways she’d forgotten, and she definitely wouldn’t acknowledge now. “I wanted Eve to have a piece of you. I had to take the name as well.”
Giovanni continued to stroke his daughter’s tiny hand that rested on her mother’s breast with two of his fingers. “Is that the only reason?” he asked.
“You said my sin is unforgivable, what difference do my intentions make now?”
“I have missed talking with you, sparring with you, touching you.” He touched her chin with his index finger turning her face to his. Her pulse rate quickened, and she remained paralyzed by the desire banked in his unblinking stare.
“I never meant to hurt you,” she heard herself say weakly, as if he elicited the response with his own sheer will.
“But you did.”
“You hurt me too, Giovanni. Can’t you see that?”