Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

water and set Daniele down on the beach. Loulou inspected him at once as if she
worried the ocean could have harmed him. I handed Simona to Cassio, and
before he went back into the water, he kissed me.
Daniele ran along the water’s edge, Loulou still barking close behind him.
Her fur had grown in again, and she was the cutest curly fluff ball.
“Not so fast!” I called when Daniele and Loulou became too wild, and then
Daniele stumbled and fell down hard. I rushed over to him. Loulou was already
licking his face. I knelt beside him. He was cradling his knee, crying. He’d
landed on a stone and was bleeding from a cut below his knee. “It’s all right.
We’ll fix you.”
Cassio’s shadow fell over us. He handed Simona over to me and carried
Daniele into the house. He managed to calm down in his dad’s arms.
The wound didn’t need stitches, thankfully. Cassio cleaned it and patched it
up with a Band-Aid, all the while talking in a low, soothing voice to Daniele.
Daniele didn’t shed another tear. He tried to be a big boy when he was
around his dad. Cassio patted his head.
“Do you want a popsicle?” I asked.
He bit his lip, looking down at the sofa, shuffling his legs.
“Daniele?” I got down on my haunches in front of him, trying to figure out
what was wrong. He wrapped his arms around my neck, surprising me. “Hey,
you okay?”
I hugged Daniele tightly to my chest, not sure why he needed my closeness
but more than willing to give it to him. “Mom,” he whispered. I froze. Cassio
tensed, his eyes tumultuous as he watched. Was Daniele thinking of Gaia?
Missing her? I pulled back slowly.
Daniele looked down at my chin. “Can I call you mom?”
I choked and tears sprang into my eyes at his unexpected request.
Cassio’s face became still.
I kissed Daniele’s cheek then crushed him to me once more. “Yes. Nothing
would make me happier. I love you.”
He began to sniffle, and I couldn’t hold back either. Cassio averted his eyes,
his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. After a moment, he came over to us
and knelt beside us, hugging us both. I pressed my face into his chest, feeling his
heartbeat thundering in his ribcage. Cassio kissed the top of my head then
Daniele’s.
Daniele called me mom every chance he got that day, shyly at first, but later
with adorable giddiness.
In the evening, Cassio and I sat on the swing in front of the house, watching
the sunset. We hadn’t talked about today’s events yet. With Daniele and Simona
around, there hadn’t been time.
“I didn’t expect it,” I said. Cassio knew what I was referring to without me
stating it outright. His arm around my shoulders tightened, holding me even
closer to his side.
“Me neither. He’s old enough to remember his mother, but I suppose even