I swallow a laugh. “I once cheated at Monopoly.”
“That’s not a real crime,” he says.
“I hid a five under the board.”
“Ah.” He sighs, faux tragic. “White-collar.”
“You asked.”
“I did.” He tips my chin with two fingers, studies my face like I might change in front of him. “Tell me something true.”
I run my palm over his chest, feel the slow rise and fall. “Sometimes, when you’re asleep, I count your breaths and match mine to yours.”
He goes very still. “Do you?”
“Mm.”
“And what happens when I snore?”
“I stop,” I whisper.
His lips quirk.
His hand slides lower, to where my stomach rounds beneath the sheet. The gesture is instinct now, reverent, protective. “How are the two of you?”
“Hungry,” I say. “Always.”
He makes a considering noise and kisses the top of my shoulder. “Room service again?”
“I want French fries and a milkshake, and also the chocolate tart we didn’t order because you said it was past midnight.”
“I rescind my prudence,” he says solemnly. “And I’ll add a plate of fruit so we can pretend this is balanced.”
“You can put a strawberry on the tart.” I take his hand and press his palm flat against my belly. “She’s never quiet when you’re here.”
“She?” He arches a brow, amused.
“I have a feeling,” I say quietly. “We’ll know for sure in a few weeks.”
He leans down and says, low to my skin, “Ciao, piccolo,” and my heart flutters foolishly. The baby answers with a flutter of her own.
“Just a few more weeks,” he murmurs to my belly, “and we’ll get to officially meet.”
I swallow and look away for a second because I am not going to cry in a hotel bed on our “babymoon.”
He shifts, rolls me gently to my back, and props himself above me on an elbow. I can see him better like this—the cut of his cheek, the lines at his eyes I didn’t put there but know how to soften, the way his mouth goes tender when he looks at me.
“You want to hear something true?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“I thought I had used up all my luck.”
My throat tightens. “You didn’t.”
“No.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “Apparently not.”
I slide my foot along his calf. “Tell me another one.”
