Page 5 of Ribbons and Roses
“Nope, not Rena either.”
“Or Santa will be mad?” he asks, blinking up at me.
I can’t help caressing his head of curls. “Santa will never be mad at you, Dom. You’re a sweet little boy who behaves himself. But if you tell someone about the presents, then it won’t be a surprise.”
“Rena likes surprises!”
“And so does Dante, so you have to keep it a secret. Can you do that for Mommy?”
He beams up at me, showing off his missing front tooth, and nods vigorously.
“What’s going on over here?”
The familiar smooth voice makes me and Dominic both look up. Salvatore’s turned down the hall, still in his work clothes for the day—a basic black dress shirt and slacks. He looks as sexy as he always has, everything about him stealing my breath away.
Dark hair slicked and his beard thick yet trimmed, his intense blue-green eyes meet mine and his jaw tics in an almost-smirk like he knows what he does to me.
“Daddy!” Dominic dashes over to him for a hug.
Salvatore puts his arm around his eldest son and ruffles his curly hair. “There’s my boy. Did you keep your mother and brother and sister safe?”
“Yup! All by myself!” he squeaks proudly.
“That’s my boy. Go wash up for dinner and we’ll play ball later, alright?”
“Yes, Daddy!”
Dominic rushes off with the same amount of excitement he’d had about hiding the presents.
Now alone, I can’t hide the smirk that spreads onto my face. Salvatore steps toward me, arms sliding over my hips to draw me close. He drops a kiss on my lips and peers into my eyes in the intense, butterfly-inducing way only he can.
“How’s my beautiful wife doing?” he asks with a hint of humor.
“She’s doing well. She took your children to the Galleria today for some Christmas shopping.”
“Phi, you know I don’t like you around crowds. Not when you don’t have a full security detail.”
“Crowds? You mean like all of twenty people who were at the mall today? Black Friday isn’t what it used to be.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
I lean forward to kiss him this time. “You should come with me. We can finish the kid’s gifts.”
“You know Christmas shopping’s not my thing.”
“Christmas anything’s not your thing.”
“I’d rather keep it that way.”
The smirk that had spread on my face dims. “Does it bother you that the decorations will be going up soon? Shonda and I were going to start putting everything up.”
“Do what you think the kids will enjoy.”
“But how doyoufeel about it?”
“Phi, you know the answer to that. But it’s not for me. It’s for you and the kids.” Salvatore gives a quick caress to my cheek before he turns and walks off, letting me know he’ll be in his office getting some more work done before dinner.
I watch him go with a sensation I can’t place pitting in my stomach. It’s best described as the kind of longing you feel when you want something that seems so out of reach. In this case, it’s my yearning to give my husband the kind of Christmas cheer I know is possible.