“Hey, Xave,” Jae said from the archway to what he assumed was the living room.

“Hey, Jae. Tell me where the bedroom is, then you can leave. Set the alarm behind you.”

Jae laughed and pointed to a hallway, then headed for the front door. “Let me know when you need me, Aud.”

They were halfway down the hall when Xavier heard the door close and the ping of the alarm. Audrey’s bedroom was small, like the rest of her house. Her bed was queen-sized, filling two-thirds of the room.

He set her on the mattress and said, “When we move in together, we’re going to need a bigger bed.”

She laughed. “And a bigger house. This one is only a two-bedroom. What if we have guests, or want more children?”

The idea that she’d just agreed to move in with him and was pondering more than their one accidental baby made his heart leap.

Audrey studied his face as she waited for his response, and her belly did a small somersault at the spark that lit him up.

“You want more than one child?”

“If I can. I’m already in the advanced maternal age category, so we’ll have to see. But as an only child who always wanted siblings, I would be happy if we had more than one little peapod.”

“Do you want to learn the baby’s sex before they’re born?”

“No. I want the mystery. I don’t care if we have a boy or a girl—I just want them healthy, and they may end up being a different gender than what they’re assigned at birth anyway.”

He nodded. “Works for me. Mystery it is.”

She rose from the bed and reached for the top button of his shirt. “Okay, I need to see the damage for myself.” He’d refused to show her his bruises during their video chats this week, leaving her to assume they were gruesome.

She opened his collar and gently pressed her lips to his healing clavicle. “I can’t believe you picked me up and carried me.”

“There weren’t stairs involved, and it was a short distance. Worth the pain.”

She gave him a stern look. “No more hurting yourself for me.”

“I’m fine, Aud. I wore the sling until the doctor said I should start using my arm. It’s even possible I might not need another surgery.”

She knew that was because the doctors weren’t confident another surgery would help and not because he was in better condition than they’d estimated a week ago. But she’d let him take it as good news. Either way, the surgery wouldn’t happen for a few months, and he’d been relieved by that.

She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his muscular chest and the tight white wrapping around his rib cage.