My hands meet the back of his head, and I pull him back so I can see him. My heart thunders, but nothing has ever felt as right as saying, “I love you,” to him. “I would have told you before, but then you got paged.”
His eyes sparkle, and his expression softens. “Yeah?”
I laugh at his slightly bewildered tone. “Yep. A lot, actually.”
A smile splits his face. “Does this mean I can officially call you my wife without you arguing with me about it?”
I puff a feigned annoyed breath. “If you have to.”
“I have to. Because I’m so fucking in love with my wife.”
“Good. Because I’m so fucking in love with my husband.”
He cups my face and kisses me until we’re both breathless. “Do you have to go back to work?”
I laugh. “Yes. Like right now. But incidentally, you need to go back to work too.”
His fingers trickle along my jaw, and he stares into my eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you. I was formulating a serious battle plan, and you just kicked its ass.”
“A lot of it was Michaela, but I think it’s pretty easy to say I’d do anything for you, especially tell the truth.”
His forehead presses to mine, and his hand slips to my lower belly, where he holds me possessively. “I love you so much. You, Zoey, and our little girl in here are my world.” His thumb glides up and down. “I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to any of you.”
Damn him.
I sniffle and blink, trying to will the tears back. “You mean that? Our little girl?”
He smiles. “I thought you got that yesterday at the ultrasound, but yes, my swan, ours. You’re my love. My life. My family. My forever.”
“I want that. I want all of that with you.”
He kisses me softly. “Now I just have to tell your brother.”
Oh. Right. That.
37
ASTON
Micha: I’m so sorry. It’s a total shit show here, and not only do they need me to stay, but my flight from Khartoum was canceled. Next week for sure.
Iblow out a frustrated breath and set my phone back down on my nightstand. He’s said next week four times now. Meanwhile, I’ve continued to hold off on telling him about me and Skylar because he was going to come home and I wanted to do it in person. Yet my wife’s belly is growing. Our daughter is getting bigger, and we’re planning things for her. And yet her brother, my best friend, still doesn’t fucking know.
We’ve sworn Rina and Brecken to secrecy. I need to be the one to tell him. And if he reacts badly, that falls on me too.
“He canceled again. I’m going to tell him over text.” I kiss a line up Skylar’s neck as she curls sleepily into me.
“Go for it,” she murmurs. “Serves him right for not coming home.”
“He is saving lives.”
“And he knows we’re married and living together. How mad can he get? Or frankly, how shocked?”
“He told me to take care of you. And I told him we weren’t sleeping together.”
She smiles, her eyes still closed as she rolls over and hikes her thigh up and over mine. “I’m fine with you taking care of me. I am very needy.”
I grin against her lips and kiss her. “You are. Does my pregnant wife need to come?”
