Billionaire Brothers 2 : Love Has A Name (62 page)

When we next emerged from our bedroom, starving and thoroughly screwed, it was past noon. Much to our satisfaction, Rosa had just finished preparing lunch.

“I make heavy lunch,” she’d said. “For you skip breakfast, yes? So lunch heavy.”

I’d nodded in agreement at the food loaded on my large plate: baked hen, yellow rice, grilled carrots and fried plantains.

Moments after I’d devoured every grain, however, I came to the conclusion that a lunch like that might have been heavy when I wasn’t eating for two, but now, that was like an appetizer. No joke.

Lovello had finished eating — managing only half of what was on his plate — and had grown quiet and pensive, while I was rummaging around in the refrigerator, searching for something easy to eat. Spying a cantaloupe, I grabbed it up with a knife and began peeling.

“Let Rosa do it, beauts. I don’t want you handling sharp objects,” Lovello said without looking at me.

That made me guffaw. “Are you serious? I’m not a baby, Love. I’m just carrying one.”

In the hopes of easing his qualms about a grown ass woman like me handling a knife, I went to sit next to him on a stool and continued peeling the cantaloupe.

“Well, I guess I better get used to it. Because I want you to start cooking dinner instead of Rosa. I miss your hand,” he said quietly.

“That’s manageable,” I nodded.

Comparing to how good-humored he’d been all morning, his sudden quietness was beginning to scare me. Was he going to relapse into his revengeful mode just like he’d done on that day he promised me he’d take care of me, then suddenly began eschewing me? I tried not to overthink things, but when his quietude became intolerable, I plastered on a smile and nudged him with my shoulder. “Hey, you okay?”

When he glanced at me as if I’d startled him, I knew his mind had been anywhere else but planet Earth. He kept his eyes on me for less than a second, then shifted them past me. “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

As I felt my heartbeat growing to loud, erratic thuds, I set down the knife and half-peeled cantaloupe. “What do you mean? W-what’s the matter?”

His gaze dropped to his plate. “I was just wondering —”

I cut him off by leaning over and placing my palms on either side of his face, forcing him to lift his eyes to mine. “
Look
at me, like you always do, Love, and tell me.”

He brought his hands to cover mine on his face, and staring at me as I requested, he said, “I’m sure you’ve heard what my intentions were on … that night.” He raised his brows for confirmation and I nodded. Yes, he was going to propose. So … ?

“Well, I was wondering what you thought about that.” Smiling hesitantly, he added, “You know, us getting, um, married.”

Lost for words at the moment, I could only stare back at him. Was he
serious
? Of course I didn’t want to get married … yet. Why would he spring this on me now? I was pregnant and hadn’t even grown comfortable with the idea yet. And now marriage?

When I tried to move my hands from his face, he gripped them tight, refraining me. “No. Please. Just answer me.”

“Love…” I trailed off, unsure how to answer. “Not now. It’s too much. I’m just getting used to the idea of being pregnant. It’s all still new to me and the changes in my life are just happening so fast, it’s overwhelming. You have to understand that now is not the right time.”

As if I’d burned him, Lovello’s hands fell from mine as he turned away from me. I reached out and touched his arm when he made to get up from his stool, but he shrugged me off. “Don’t,” he gritted out. “I don’t know
why
I continue to make an ass of myself with you, when I know there’s nothing but a huge, dark hole where your heart should be.”

My eyes lifted to his height as he stood. “I never said I didn’t want to marry you. I’m just saying, not right now. I can’t take on so much all at once, Love. You want a baby. You want to cage me up in your home. You want to keep everyone and everything away from me, including my own business. You want marriage … Dios mío, you want too damn much from me. I … maybe in a couple of years or so after I’ve adapted to this whole baby thing.”

“A couple of years? A couple of
years
?” he said in disbelief. “Do you have any knowledge about love and relationships? Or is that ‘new’ to you, too? And oh, what will I introduce you as to people? My ‘babymomma’?”

Indignation crept into my veins at his reluctance to see things from my point-of-view. Shifting on the stool to face him squarely, I seethed, “So you only want to marry me because it’s the right thing to do? Because it’s decent? Because it’s the Christian way?”

“No!!” he bellowed, his veins bulging beneath his skin, his face reddened. “I want to marry you because
I love you
!”

Bringing both his hands to his head, he gripped his hair and began pacing the room like an asylum patient. “I love you! I love you! I love you! That’s why I want to marry you, Axia. And I want,
so much
, for you to want to marry me, too. I want to make you mine. I want to be yours. Officially. I want so much more of you, more than you’re capable of giving. Every bit of you that I can have, I want it. I
need
it. Please. Please just give me this one thing, Axia.”

“I’m already yours. And I’m already giving you something: a baby … and my heart.” I breathed an exhaustive sigh. “Love, this pregnancy —”

“I
prayed
for it.” Lovello stopped pacing and came to stand before me, staring down at me with raw eyes. “I prayed for something,
anything
to bring us back together. I prayed to have you back.
Every. Single. Day
. This,” he said in a soft tone, as he placed his palm on my stomach, “is not a mistake. It’s not an accident. It’s a miracle. Don’t let anyone tell you that prayers don’t get answered. They do. Please, Axia, don’t take my miracle away from me.”

Trying to make him understand, I spoke in a gentler tone, “Love, I’m
pregnant
, and we’ve only been together for what, six months? That’s not enough time for two people to know —”

“
I
know!” he cried out, dropping to his knees and gripping my thighs. “I’ve known since the very first time I woke up in your house and came downstairs to a well-prepared breakfast. I’ve known when, for the first time in my life, I wanted to
make love
. I’ve known since I realized that when it comes to you, I’m straight up stupid as shit. I’ve always known. I knew that no one else would do, but you. There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. No one else can cater to a slob like me in such an altruistic manner, without complaints. No one else can please me. No one else can make my heart beat in that erratic way it does whenever I see you, feel you, taste you. I’ve always known you are the one, beauts. I don’t need time to confirm anything. My love for you has no expiration date. This is it. You are it.
Please
, Axia, give me you. Marry me.”

A lone tear rolled down his cheek and he immediately buried his face in my lap, no doubt ashamed of displaying such weakness.

Stroking my fingers through his silky, dark hair, I took a few minutes to think of how I could give him what he needed, without giving away more than I could afford. Trying to sound as unselfish as possible, I finally spoke. “Love?”

He lifted his head to look up at me, his eyes slightly glazed. I hated it that I was hurting him. “I’ll accept your proposal on one condition: You have to promise me that you won’t push me for a date until a year at least. So, you can introduce me to others as your fiancé. It’s better than ‘babymomma’, right? But a wedding date will have to wait. Let’s see how things flow after the baby.”

I felt his pain and disappointment as they pushed a rush of tears to brim his eye sockets. But he quickly lowered his head and rubbed his eyes before the tears escaped and embarrassed him further. “You tricked me.”

“What?”

“Last night. You tricked me. You made me think you’d submitted. But you haven’t. Not in the slightest. You told me you’d ‘forever’ be mine, yet now you sound like you have no faith at all in us. Why do you need time to ‘see how things flow’? Do you really think I’m
ever
going to leave you?”

Before I could answer, he said, “You know what, don’t answer that. You’re Axia Victoria Blacksille, and that’s who I’ve fallen in love with. A sweet sin. What can I do but accept you as you are and take you however way I can get you? It’s not like I have a choice. Loving you is what I excel at, it’s what I’m addicted to. It’s what I can’t not do. So all I can do for now is hope that one day you’ll submit
wholly
to me.”

Lovello slowly stood and asked me to give him a minute, then disappeared down the hall. I sat there feeling awful that I was unable to give him what he desired. I loved him to bits and pieces, but I also loved me, too. I couldn’t put my hat where I won’t be able to reach it until I bought a ladder
and
learned how to climb it. Sometimes a woman had to look out for herself, her well-being, refusing to take more than she can manage, because, without knowing it, men were inherently selfish. And sometimes we give so much of ourselves to them that we lose our own identity. We end up living in their spotlight.

I could only give so much of myself and no more. There’s nothing left that I could do to prove to him that I loved him.

I wasn’t heartless. I was just realistic. One step at a time was the smartest way to journey. That way, we wouldn’t pull stress on ourselves and end up taking it out on each other when shit became unbearable. But he was unable to see that right now because he was too blinded by love. He would thank me, though. When the craziness of this pregnancy started, by gad, he was going to thank me.

Lovello returned a few minutes later and sank back down on his knees in front of me. Then he opened a black ring box that revealed an elegant diamond ring with, yes,
black
stones encircling the huge oval-shaped diamond on the platinum band. “I’ve no words left. I’ve poured my heart out. I’ve stripped bare and exposed myself to you. And yet, it wasn’t enough. I accept you as you are, because I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

Pointing to the stones he said, “These black stones, they represent the color of your heart, your soul. And this diamond, is my heart. So now you see, you have my heart held captive in your darkness. But believe me, I’m not crying for freedom. I love being held captive, by you. So will you take me? Keep my heart in your possession? Marry me … whenever you think ‘the time is right’?’’

He bit down on his lower lip, holding back a laugh, but I couldn’t hold mine in.
This stinking asshole.
But he was my asshole.

Laughing, I rolled my eyes and held out my hand. “Yes, Love, I will.”

Still biting down on his lip, he removed the ring from the box and slid it onto my finger then stood up to kiss me, dragging me to my feet. “In a marriage, one plus one equals one. I can’t wait to become one with you. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered in his kiss. “Can we go and make love now? Please.”

Lovello pulled back and gave me one of his spiteful smiles. “Or, we could do something to wind down.”

“And isn’t making love the perfect way? Couples always make love after an emotional proposal, don’t they?”

“Nope. Anything but that.”

As he stepped away from me and stuffed his hands in his pockets, I knew then that Mr. Revenge Seeker was planning on playing every spiteful trick in the book until I agreed on a wedding date. And I just might give in. But for now, I was willing to play his little game.

“Okay, you’re right,” I shrugged.

By the wary look he gave me, it’s clear he wasn’t expecting me to catch on to his game. I brushed past him and started out of the kitchen and down to the theater den. “How about a movie?”

“Uh, watch a movie with
you
?” I heard him say behind me. “I don’t think I can manage another one of your movies. I’d rather make love. You win.”

“Oh, none of that this time. The movie I have in mind is a classic. You’re gonna be in tears just the first ten minutes in … From laughter,” I quickly added when his brows shot up.

I lay sprawled on the zebra-striped carpet at my favorite spot in the corner of the theater den and watched with a satisfied grin as Lovello laughed until he was clutching his stomach at the hilarity of one of my all-time favorite movies.
Hangover.

“I just don’t understand,” he barely got out through his fit of laughter. “How-How on earth do you get a tiger up to your room in a five-star hotel?”

“I told you you’d love it,” I grinned back, unwittingly rubbing my stomach.

Dragging his eyes from the screen, Lovello looked over at me, then his eyes drifted down to where I was rubbing my stomach. “No. I love
you
.”