Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Clara

"Where are we going?" I asked suspiciously as Gio led me down the street. Something was up. I could tell because he'd been smiling all morning. Over the past week, I'd gotten to know my husband's habits pretty well, and smiling during the morning was not normal for him.

Married life was… interesting. Rather than working at the precinct, I was now working with Hailey on charities and other beneficial works. She focused on children; I focused on animals. Having the money to do what we wanted was a heady experience. I missed the thrill of taking from the rich and greedy, but I was behaving.

It was hard to go out in the dark to collect involuntary contributions to my cause when I was too busy getting fucked into the mattress by Daddy. Gio was relentless, and it hadn't taken me long to realize he was also obsessed with getting me pregnant. I didn't object to the idea.

"You'll see," he replied with another easy smile and a wink.

Was it wrong that I was more suspicious of his motives since he was smiling and winking? Pursing my lips, I trotted along beside him. Whatever had him so excited, I was certainly curious.

"How far do we have to go?"

I just wanted some kind of little clue.

"Not far at all." As he said the words, he came to a rather abrupt halt. I stumbled to a stop, looking around.

We were standing at the end of a walkway leading up to a house. It wasn't as big a house as the DiNardo house, but it certainly wasn't small. We'd only walked about a block away, but the houses along the street were all different sizes—and the DiNardo's was the biggest.

This one was two stories of brick with white shutters and flowering bushes on either side of the front door. There was a wrought-iron fence between the sidewalk and the small yard, as well as a gate.

Stepping forward, Gio opened the gate.

"What is this?" I asked. Demanded to know, really, because I had a suspicion, but I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed. "Who lives here?"

"We do." He flashed a grin at me as he confirmed my hope, and my heart jumped in my chest. "I thought it would be nice if we had a place of our own."

Squealing, I jumped up to throw my arms around his neck, my feet dangling as I kissed him firmly on the mouth.

"You bought us a house?"

"I bought us a house." He kissed me back, one hand traveling down to my bottom, but I was already squirming away. Not because I cared if anyone on the street saw us, but because I wanted to see the house!

"Let's go in!" I dropped to the ground, and now it was my turn to pull him. He chuckled as I dragged him up the stairs to the front stoop, dancing in place while he got out the keys to open the front door. The second the tumblers clicked, I had my hand on the knob and was pushing the door open, darting inside.

A large foyer greeted my eyes, with a chandelier hanging in the center. Stairs to the second floor were on my left, the bottom step only a few feet away from an open door. There was another room on my right and a hallway beside the stairs that headed toward the back of the house.

"Clara—" Gio started to say, but it was too late. I was already off, darting into the room on the right to see what was there. Empty bookshelves lined the interior walls and between the windows, which were decorated by some dusty red drapes. I made a face at them.

"Well, those will have to go," I said out loud, mostly to myself, though Gio answered me from where he leaned against the doorframe, watching me.

"You can decorate however you want."

There was something in his tone, as if he was saying that such a project would keep me busy for a while, which made me smile. Between Hailey and me, I didn't think it was going to take long at all.

Before I could answer him, I heard a small mew behind me… but I knew we'd left Faithful at home. Turning away from the ugly red drapes, I cast my gaze about, aware that Gio was grinning even wider than before.

"What was that?"

A fluffy orange cat came trotting into the room, mewing louder.

"Truman!" I dropped to my knees, holding out my hands. "Here, sweetie, here, kitty kitty!"

Mewing even louder, he trotted toward me… not just him. More meowing followed him, more cats appearing in the doorway and then rushing to me, like a river of cats.

Moxie, Sweetie, Star, Little Bit, Rainbow, Rocco, Felix… they were here, my babies were all here. They crawled all over my lap, rubbing against me, meowing—except for Rainbow, who made a beeline for Gio's ankles, purring loudly. Tears sparked in my eyes, happy tears, as the cats wound around me. Every single one of them was wearing a collar.

I looked up at Gio, unable to speak because I was too overwhelmed with emotion, trying to put my gratitude into my gaze so he could at least see it.

He shrugged, appearing almost embarrassed as he scooped Rainbow up. She bumped the underside of his chin with her head.

"I figured you'd rather have them here than have to travel to see them all the time," he said almost sheepishly.

Getting to my feet, ignoring the protests of the cats, I walked over and grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pulling his head down to me for a kiss. Rainbow purred against my shoulder, the other cats winding their way about our legs, begging for attention.

When Gio lifted his head from mine, he frowned down at the cats.

"I can see we're going to have to have a rule about if and when they're allowed in the bedroom with us."

I laughed, and he moved his gaze to meet mine, his frown fading.

"Thank you," I said, beaming up at him. "You don't know what this means to me."

He raised one eyebrow at me.

"Of course I do. That's why I did it."

Warmth surged up inside me. I didn't know how or why, I didn't know exactly when, but at some point I had fallen in love with this man. Not just mad love, as Hailey had called it, but madly in love.

"I love you." I couldn't hold back the words anymore, and it didn't matter if he said them back or not. He'd already shown me that he did.

He smiled that slow, almost sweet smile, and as he bent his head down to mine again, I heard the words.

"I love you, too."