Chapters (50)
- 1. Weddings and funerals
- Weddings and funerals
- 2. A deep regret
- A deep regret
- 3. A bloody nightmare
- A bloody nightmare
- 4. The importance of traditions
- The importance of traditions
- 5. A walking angel
- A walking angel
- 6. Vicious little mouse
- Vicious little mouse
- 7. Walk of shame
- Walk of shame
- 8. Dogs and other animals
- Dogs and other animals
- 9. A cold-blooded killer
- A cold-blooded killer
- 10. Northport
- Northport
- 11. A gilded cage
- A gilded cage
- 12. Observation
- Observation
- 13. We bleed together
- We bleed together
- 14. Everyone had something
- Everyone had something
- 15. High end champagne
- High end champagne
- 16. Transgressions
- Transgressions
- 17. An entire bowl of bullshit
- An entire bowl of bullshit
- 18. Boundaries
- Boundaries
- 19. ‘Til death and beyond
- ‘Til death and beyond
- 20. How do you do it?
- How do you do it?
- 21. Only human
- Only human
- 22. The Disciples
- The Disciples
- 23. Done
- Done
- 24. At peace
- At peace
- Epilogue
- ACCEPTANCE.
Tor’s body stilled. From under me, I held up the white stick with shaking fingers, and for a second, he just stared at it. He stared at it a long moment before he looked down at me and when his unreadable eyes met mine, I swallowed hard. He gave no indication of how he felt about this news. When he closed his eyes and lowered his head with a long sigh, my face fell and my heart sank deep into the pit of my stomach.
Uh oh.
He was unhappy.
My heart stopped dead.
Well, I didn’t see that coming.
A moment passed, then two, and just when I thought to open my mouth to say God knows what, out of his mouth came a quiet, “Finally.”
My head snapped up.
One word, but it had my heart beating again. Mouth dry, I exhaled deeply in relief and held a hand to my chest. A light laugh left me but it faded fast and I found myself scrambling backwards as my gorgeous husband started for me. His hungry eyes had my lips parting and his towel fell away when he put a knee to the edge of the bed. He crawled forward, strong body looming over me, naked as the day he was born, and I lay trapped underneath him, cheeks pink and warm, blinking in surprise.
“How long have you known?” he demanded.
“A couple of days,” I responded.
He glanced down at where my top had ridden up, belly exposed. “Are you sure?”
Why did he sound so tense?
My smile was warm and my nod was light. “Three tests says so.”
His rigid body hovered, his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, and then, a miracle.
The hard angles of his face gentled, his usually cool eyes warmed, he curled a hand around the back of my neck, gripped my nape and lifted my head as he lowered his own. He kissed me tenderly and I sighed against his lips. Soon, kissing wasn’t enough and he undressed me carefully, lowered his solid body over mine and although it was sex, he didn’t fuck me. I felt the difference.
He maintained eye contact as he made love to me, refusing to let me look away, begging me to see him, demanding I feel him, ordering me to understand how precious I was to him. And I did. My heart was flooded with it.
Afterwards, Tor wrapped his arms around my nude body and refused to let go, tenderly nuzzling my belly as he lectured our baby, “And you are going to be good to your mama. None of this heartburn bullshit, okay? No getting her sick in the mornings either. You need to learn this shit early. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
My body shook in silent laughter as I lightly scratched at the short hairs that covered his nape.