Page 82 of Blood Money

She grinned and rolled her eyes. “Like I hurt you.”

“I’m wounded,” I argued, eliciting a laugh from her beautiful lips. “I need medical attention.”

Setting the bag to the side, she grabbed my chin with her thumb and forefinger so she could tilt my head with squinted eyes as she leaned closer. “Hmm, you do have a bit of frosting… right… here.” She pushed up to her tiptoes and licked the side of my cheek. With a satisfied nod, she said, “Got it.”

“Now you’re licking me?” I cocked a brow and grabbed the wild mess of hair she had pulled up in a loose bun. Her red curls were like satin springs in my fist. When I gave a slight tug, it tipped her chin up, and her lush lips parted.

“Oooooo, is the Big Bad Wolf going to eat me now?” she asked with a snarky smirk.

Embodying the nickname, my grin turned downright wolfish as I leaned in and slowly drew my nose along hers. Then I feathered my lips over her cheek so I could whisper in her ear. “No. He’s going to devour you.”

A stuttered breath told me she wasn’t unaffected.

I nipped her soft earlobe before I trailed along her neck. Using her hair to guide her, I tilted her head to further expose her to me. Between the scent of sugar and spice, she smelled divinely edible. Unable to stop myself, I tasted her soft skin, kissing and licking as I followed the corded muscle to her shoulder. I ran my nose along her collarbone and inhaled, then ghosted my lips up her throat. When I reached the spot where my tongue rested over her pounding pulse, I groaned.

“You taste delicious,” I murmured, then dipped a finger in the bowl of pink frosting that sat on her makeshift workbench. After scooping some on my fingertip, I smeared it over her lower lip.

Her hooded green gaze was locked on mine as I wet my lips, then sucked her bottom one into my mouth. The frosting was sweet, but not as much as she was. That led to a lazy, seductive kiss as I slipped a hand under her shirt. I reveled in the smooth skin that stretched over her ribs, then pushed the cup of her bra up to free her tit so I could roll her nipple between my fingers.

“Vittorio,” she whimpered against my mouth.

Since her speaking interrupted our kiss, I gently pulled back to search her eyes, which had darkened to an evergreen so rich I wondered if woodland pixies had painted them for her. As I lifted the hem of her shirt, they darkened until they appeared bottomless.

“I love you,” I told her.

The corners of her pink lips tilted up, and she licked the lower one, looking for more frosting. “That’s good to know, because I love you too. But Ingrid is here.”

“I closed the pocket door,” I replied as I grabbed the waistband of her leggings, sliding them down and then off her legs.

“What are you really doing?” She blinked at me with a questioning pinch between her brows.

“I already told you, Little Red Riding Hood. I caught you when you went to help your grandma that summer. Now I think it’s time I eat you.”

She laughed. “I think you’re safe. You’ve done that a million times since.”

“Can never be too sure.” Ensuring her cookies weren’t in the way, I lifted her to sit on the island counter. Then I proceeded to do exactly what I’d promised.

By the time she’d come all over my face, she was practically limp. I stood up, and she wrapped her legs around me. Leaning down with my weight on my elbows by her sides, I kissed her as if I had all the time in the world. Then I reached over and stole one of her cookies.

“Hey! Those are for an order,” she chastised.

“You always make extras.”

She huffed, but I knew she wasn’t mad. I was the reason she made extras.

“Who’s having a baby girl?” I asked as I realized what the cookies were.

With a wicked glint in her eye, she grinned but didn’t reply.

I paused with the last bite of my cookie on the way to my mouth. Then, heart seizing, I pushed off the counter and looked down at her. “You’re…?”

She snorted a laugh as she sat up. “No, but the look on your face was priceless.”

Relief made my shoulders sag. Hell, I wanted twenty more kids with her, if that’s what she wanted. But I was hoping the boys would be out of diapers first.

“Gabriel and Alia just found out this one is a girl,” she explained.

My mouth fell open, and she swiped her finger in the bowl and shoved her frosting-coated finger into it. I sucked, and her eyes darkened. But first things first. “So you’re telling me he’s having a girl. The first one in our family since my aunt?”