He couldn’t help laughing. “Thenextone? I figured you’d be ordering me to get a vasectomy before she even arrives.”
Dewi was working on a pretty impressive pouty boo-boo lip. “No. I just…” She sighed. “I’d want Mom and Dad to be proud of me for what I’ve done. Not think I’m rolling over and giving up on what I do.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He stretched out next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Your brothers, Beck, and Badger all said your parents would have been over-the-moon proud of you. They’d have been happy for us. No one expects you to stop being Head Enforcer. But everyone deserves a vacation. If it helps you to think of it like that, then do that. I just need you to be as safe as possible once you go back to work. And it’s not like you have to stop working right now. Work up until you feel labor start, ifyouwant to.”
She tucked her head in the crook of his arm and slung an arm across his chest. “Does it make me a horrible mom to want to return to work as soon as possible?”
“No, honey. Forget the ‘have it all’ bullshit. We’re lucky that I can stay home with our baby and work from here. If it means anything, you’ve mademydreams come true.”
She tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “Really?”
“Really. You know I can’t lie to you. You once told me a wolf’s priority was to keep their mate safe and happy. Well, congratulations, sweetheart. I feel safe, and Idamnsure feel happy. I’ve got an extended family I never dreamed possible, I have you, and we’re about to have a baby. I am literally happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I mean, have youmetyou? You’re frickingamazing.”
That finally coaxed a smile out of her.
“There’s my beautiful wife.”
She rolled over, onto his chest, so she could nuzzle noses with him. “I’m fat, and cranky, and growly, and hungry all the damn time.”
“Well, the last three are business as usual for you, and the first is our daughter. Therefore, I’m not complaining about any of that.” He laughed as she poked him in the side, tickling him.
“I’m alsohornyall the fricking time now,” she muttered.
“I’m not complaining aboutthat, either.” He nuzzled her nose again. “I know once she arrives you’ll want to cut my dick off.”
She smiled. “Only for a little while.” She kissed him again, brushing her lips over his and doing what she always did to him.
Especially since he could read her emotions especially well right now.
“Just think, sweetheart,” he whispered. “For the next few months, I can boink your brains out, as much as I can get it up, and we don’t have to worry about anything else.”
“Silver lining.” She sat up, bracing her hands on his bare pecs. Then she scowled as she stared down at him.
“What?” he asked, her sudden confusion confusinghim.
She was literally feeling his arms, his pecs. “I just realized you’re…different.” He wasn’t sure what to make of the legitbafflementwashing through her right then.
“What do you mean?”
“You’redifferent.”Poke, poke, squeeze.“I swear to the Goddess, you’re beefier than you used to be. You been working out with Beck, or something?”
“No. Just running. And biking through the woods.”
“Not lifting weights, or doing machine reps, or something?”
“No.”
“Not doing anything different than you used to do?”
He opted for humor. “I get more cardio when we’re in bed together.”
“I’m serious.” She studied him. “Have you gained weight?”
“Gee, thanks, Dewi.” He tried to keep his tone playfully snarky but her sudden and unusual intensity about this was honestly starting to wig him out a little.
“Muscle weighs more than fat,” she said. “Have you gained any weight?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a little. I haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks, at least. My pants are still fitting fine.”
