Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

so full of energy it was admirable. It was hard to resist her enthusiasm. I swung
out of bed and straightened, stifling a smirk at her appraisal. Giulia never tried to
hide that she liked my body. I picked up my pajama bottoms from the floor and
dragged them over my hips.
Giulia slipped into her nightgown and grabbed the baby monitor then rushed
toward the door, holding out her hand. Shaking my head with a chuckle, I took
her hand and let her drag me down. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever been this
spontaneous. Maybe as a teenager, but that time seemed like a lifetime ago.
Giulia’s eyes widened when we entered the cigar lounge, which rarely
functioned as that—only when my father or business acquaintances insisted on
cigars. The faded smell of smoke lingered, but it wasn’t very prominent because
Sybil always worked her magic with air freshener.
In the beginning, I’d occasionally played pool by myself or with Faro, but
even that seemed like forever ago. Work had filled every waking second of my
days recently as I tried to stop people from talking about Gaia by creating new
incidents to talk about. But my brutality in the job hardly drew the necessary
attention to take away from the gossip surrounding my wife’s death—it was old
news after all.
Giulia took everything in. Apart from the four armchairs in front of the
fireplace, there was a professional pool table. Giulia rushed over to the cues and
took one. “Show me?”
Fuck yes. I’d suffered sleepless nights with less entertaining things than
teaching Giulia how to play pool.
Giulia was bent over the table, trying to hit the eight ball. Her tongue was
wedged between her lips in concentration. My chest was pressed up to her back.
I’d sent most of the balls into their respective pockets and again, my hand guided
Giulia’s as we sent the eight ball flying into its hole. Giulia grinned, twisted her
face, and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to my lips.
Simona’s cry blared from the speakers, reminding me that our life couldn’t
only be filled with nights of pool and sex. I straightened, the weight of my
responsibilities returning to my shoulders and with it the worry that this wouldn’t
last. Giulia snatched up the baby monitor, and we headed up to Simona’s room.
As usual, Simona’s cries escalated with every passing moment, and the
longer she cried the harder it would be to calm her down. Giulia turned on the
lights and walked into the bedroom, but I waited in the doorway, wanting to see
how she fared.
Giulia leaned over the crib and lifted my daughter up, cradling her to her
chest. I was always the one who took her out of bed when she cried.