That was his job.
He did it.
“You want that dick, huh?”
Valeria laughed breathlessly. “So bad.”
See, and now he had wakened her up with his tongue between her thighs, it only made her want more. That was the win-win for him.
It was only once Chris slid home inside Valeria’s clenching pussy, feeling her tightening around him in the best way, that he kissed her again. He loved to feel the way her lips trembled against his when he stretched her open one inch at a time, slow but so fucking good, too. She was always so shameless, her hips rising to meet his while her hands pulled him closer to her.
“Stop teasing ...”
Because she knew.
And he loved that, too.
His control snapped when her heels dug into his back, and her fingernails found the best spot to dig in along his sides. He couldn’t fuck her hard enough, then, or fast enough. He would never get enough of this woman, no matter what.
But wasn’t that the beauty of it?
Chris lost himself in the way Valeria worked her body against his, fast to seek her own bliss while he was chasing his. Her noises muffled against his kiss until he felt that climax rush through her again as she froze beneath him. He followed soon after, holding her tight as he thrust deep, and came hard.
“God, I fucking love you.”
Valeria’s laughter, so high and sweet, was better than a morning prayer. Hell, maybe it was his new prayer. He tangled his arms around her, flipped them over so they were both on their sides, and he could bury his face into the mess of her hair, and sighed.
“Happy birthday,” he heard her say. “I love you, too.”
“Best fucking birthday yet.”
“You wait,” she whispered, “it will get way better.”
He didn’t know how.
Chris was willing to find out though.
• • •
“Can I get it for Daddy now, Mamá?”
Hearing Maria call him daddy never failed to make Chris smile. It didn’t matter if she was saying it because it annoyed her that he refused to let her wear her pink, sparkly running shoes on a rainy day, or because she was asking for five more minutes of storytelling at bedtime. He wasn’t sure when she thought of him as her father, but he vividly remembered when she asked if she could call him that.
You’re kind of like my daddy, right?
Kind of?
It’s all he wanted to be.
She all out refused to call him papa or father, and Chris understood why. She related those titles to a man whose name they didn’t speak because it upset her, and of a time in her life which was still all too recent, and traumatic.
So, instead, he got to be her daddy.
That was better.
Because her daddy didn’t let her down.
Ever.
Her daddy loved her unconditionally.
No exceptions.
“Okay,” Valeria said, “you can go get it, but hurry before Uncle Les gets up there to take his bat.”
Chris shot her a look across the backyard of the mansion where she sat beside Cara and Ginevra. There, they could watch the rest of the Guzzi men—well, most, as the younger Guzzi twins had been sent off to Chicago after their twenty-first birthday—and the other guests who wanted to join from their birthday dinner play their game of baseball from a safe distance. Valeria pretended like she didn’t see Chris glancing her way with his questioning stare about just what she was hiding from him, but he knew she did.
Alessio came up to bat after Maria darted for the back of the mansion, and from the spot they’d chosen as the pitcher’s mound, Corrado grinned. “You want that curve ball, Les?”
The man tapped the metal bat against the heel of his shoe before pointing it at Chris’s twin, saying, “I’m up for whatever—you know that.”
“Right.”
Sitting on third base, Chris just wanted to hit home so he could sneak over to Valeria and find out why Maria disappeared into the mansion. She had already given him a birthday present earlier after they cut the cake. A damn nice Rolex, custom-made with the Guzzi G designed in diamonds on the face.
What else was there?
“I mean, we’ve already won,” Corrado added. “There’s no way you will get those two runs, and this is your last bat.”
“Stop gloating,” Alessio returned. “That’s your one warning.”
“That’s what makes it fun.”
“Throw the goddamn ball.”
“Language,” Cara called out.
“Sorry.”
Corrado threw the pitch when he thought he distracted Alessio with his apology, but he should have known better. He got his two runs when the metal bat connected with the ball and sent it flying past the tree line on the back property—their designated space for a home run. Because no one wanted to go searching for balls in the small patch of forest.
Alessio only stepped off the home plate as Chris came jogging across it, tossing his bat so it flipped around in the air before landing back in his waiting palm. He pointed the bat at Corrado, smirking wickedly.
“I think I’m gonna walk it,” he said. “Remind you who you’re trying to better, yeah?”
Corrado shook his head, grinning. “Who’s gloating now?”
“And who likes it, huh?”
Chris would have enjoyed the banter between his twin, and Alessio, but he was already heading toward Valeria who was smiling his way.
“Where did Maria go?” he asked his wife.
Valeria peered up at him. “In the house. And congrats on winning.”
“Why?”
“Because you won the game.”
“No, why did she go in the house?”
“For a surprise.”
“For me?”
“Since when are you nosy?”
“Just because it’s your birthday, son,” his father called as he crossed the backyard with Maria skipping at his side, “doesn’t mean you get everything you want ... or does it?”
He might have questioned his father on that statement, but he was more interested in his girl, and the gift in her hands. A white box, maybe twelve inches long, and wrapped with a big, golden bow. She held onto it like it was a lifeline.
“What’s this?”
Maria smiled. “It’s for you. And me.”
Chris shot Valeria a look.
She only shrugged.
“Open it?” Maria asked.
Chris took the chair his father pulled out so he could sit beside his wife, with his mother on the other side of him. Gian came to stand behind his chair while Maria placed the box in his lap. Sweet as could be, she bounced on the spot while she waited for him to reach for the gift.
“Any hints?” he asked Valeria.
She shook her head. “It’s better if you ... understand all at once, I think.”
“Definitely,” Gian added.
His brow dipped. “They know what it is?”
“We needed help with—”
“Details,” Cara was quick to interject. “Don’t give him too much to go on.”
Valeria laughed. “Yeah, that. Open your gift.”
Well, okay.
Maria’s excitement only grew like her huge smile when Chris pulled the satin ribbon from the top of the box. He gave her a laugh before opening the top, and then he looked down.