“Emma loves me the way I am. She knows what I need and she’s willing to give it to me. In return I give her every damn thing I can think of that might make her happy.” He hesitated. “Including that baby she’s carrying. I didn’t want her to risk it. She nearly died that last time and I was done. We’ve got two, Kyle, who is about to turn four, and Andraya, who is eight months younger.” He gave no explanation how the children could be so close in age. “We love them, and as far as I’m concerned we were complete. She wants a couple more. Took me a long time to let myself realize it mattered to her. So I gave in, but I don’t like it.”

“The idea of more children, or Emma at risk?” Eli watched him closely. He wanted children. A lot of them. He’d always wanted a family, and he wanted that family with Catarina. It hadn’t really occurred to him that a man might lose his wife in childbirth. Clearly Jake had faced that nightmare already with Emma.

“I love the idea of more children, but I wanted to use a surrogate. Emma wanted to carry them herself. Emma won, but I don’t sleep so good at night right now. Sometimes I just lay there next to her and listen to her breathe.” While Jake spoke, he was looking through the sliding glass door to his woman.

There was raw, naked love there for the world to see. Eli wondered if he got that same expression on his face when he looked at Catarina. He certainly felt it. He felt stripped bare, his soul exposed, naked and vulnerable and it wasn’t a comfortable state of mind for a man like him. He realized that was when he felt the most aggressive. The most dominant toward Catarina.

Already he didn’t like being too far from her, but he enjoyed watching as she bent to check something in the oven and the two women immediately went into a discussion about how the moisture from the mushroom roast flavored the potatoes as they were grilling in the natural juices. It was all Greek to him, but he loved the way Catarina’s voice was soft and excited and happy.

Andraya, Jake’s little girl, came running into the kitchen, clutching a little stuffed leopard. Both women immediately turned toward her, Catarina automatically closing the oven door and blocking it with her body as she crouched down to be face-to-face with the child. Eli found himself smiling. She didn’t think she was good with children, but she’d instinctively protected the child and crouched low to greet her. Yeah, his woman was going to be great with their children.