We’re both shaking so much that I think it takes at least an hour for this news to really sink in. Of course I’ve had a couple weeks to process the idea of having a baby in our home. His green eyes. My golden-hued skin. I see a baby resting against the tattoos of his bare chest, and it’s a vision that makes me breathless. But then the fear that the closed-hearted man I’d first met would be too devastated to accept it.

As we drive to the house, I keep my hand in his. We pull up to the house, and we’re barely in the door before I’m stripping him of his shirt. I can feel his hesitance, and I won’t fucking stand for it, so I undo his belt buckle, which I know gets him every time.

He lets out a hearty groan as I pull his thickness into my mouth, taking him slowly inch by inch. Watching the pleasure on his face only makes me hotter, hungry for that growl so that by the time he gets close, I don’t just want him inside me, I need it.

“Get up here,” he orders as he guides my mouth to his.

We kiss until we’re breathless, devouring each other to hold out on what will be our first official fuck in this house—our house. But he can’t take much more before he’s dropping me on the bed, gently on my back, of course. Then he slides in, and I feel the hesitance in his thrusts at first until I wrap my ankles around his back and make him give me what I want.

“Look at me when you come,” he says. His hand works its way between us and I fall to pieces shortly after he starts to thumb that sweet spot just above where we’re joined. I do as I’m told, keeping my eyes on his as I’m swept away, clenching in pleasure. Keeping my eyes open is difficult as it shakes through me, more intense than usual—a side effect of this pregnancy that I don’t complain about.

Just as he lets himself go, he clutches my face in his hands and brings our mouths together.

“I love you,” he breathes. “So fucking much.”

Epilogue

Three years later…

Charlie is passed out on her mama’s chest, her legs dangling over the now round bump that seems to be growing so much faster than the last one.

“I’m going to lay her down, and you better not fall asleep, Ian Murphy. Be ready for me.” She sends me a fuck-me smile and a wink before she disappears into the nursery.

Jesus Christ, my wife is like a feral animal when she’s pregnant. You won’t catch me complaining.

“Yes, ma’am.”