I jerk my head up at the hesitation in her voice. “My baby’s really growing inside you?” I ask, my tone incredulous, as my hands slide over her belly. “This is really happening?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “Are you happy?” I hear the uncertainty again, and I snap out of my head. I never want to cause my wife another moment’s pain, and I’m already fucking this up.
I pull her into my lap, circling my arms around her waist. “I’m deliriously happy. How could I not be? A little piece of you and a little piece of me is growing inside you.” I kiss her lips tenderly. “Wanting a family with you has been my dream for so long, but I’m a little scared too. What the hell do I know about being a dad?”
“About as much as I know about being a mom,” she admits. “But I believe that makes us ideal parent material because we know exactly how not to be.” Her hands drift to her belly, and she smiles. “You are going to be the most loved little baby on the planet,” she croons, and fuck, if that doesn’t shoot my emotions into overdrive.
“Damn fucking straight.” I rest my hands over hers, and her smile is blinding when she lifts her head to look at me. “I love you, Mrs. Stone, and you’ve made me unbelievably happy.”
Pushing me down on the bed, she straddles me with a naughty look in her eye. “Well, today’s your lucky day, Rock Star,” she says, popping the button on my jeans. “Because I’m about to make you even happier.”
We tear our clothes off in record time, and I’m pushing inside her warm heat a minute later, reveling in the feel and touch of our bodies as we rock against one another. It feels like I’ve waited a lifetime to make love to my wife again, and while I want to take it slow, my greedy cock has other ideas. “I’m not hurting you or the baby, am I?” I yank her legs up over my shoulders, tilting her hips up and jerking my cock all the way up inside her as I feverishly fuck her, thrusting in and out, my orgasm already building.
“Not possible,” she pants. “I asked my Ob-gyn, and she said sex as normal was fine. You’re good, baby. Fuck me hard.”
And who am I to deny my wife anything?
We spend hours alternating between making love and talking, and having my wife back in my arms seems almost too good to be true. “I think we should move back to the penthouse,” I say after we’ve been discussing our plans. “It’s safer and less isolated in the winter. You’ll be close to the magazine, and I need to be in the city for the promotion of the new album and getting our label up and running.” The guys put everything on hold for me, and I can’t ask them to wait any longer.
“I love it here, and I hate the thoughts of going back to the city, but you’re right, it makes the most sense. But can we move in January as I’d really like to do Christmas here?”
“Me too.” I nuzzle my nose into her neck. “I was thinking you could ask Jill, Liam, and the kids, and maybe Luc could invite Kat and her family, if they want to come and celebrate Christmas with us? And maybe the guys and Kayla and Gage could come out a few days later, and we could have that wedding party we didn’t get around to?”
She twists around in my arms, grinning. “I would love that. We could make it a joint wedding party and baby shower?”
I tweak her nose, my eyes fliting to her little baby bump again. “Have I told you how much I love you?” I murmur, raking my lips up and down her neck.
“You might have mentioned that one time or twenty.” She teases, twisting around to kiss my lips. “But you could tell me a thousand times, and it’d never grow old.”
“I plan on telling you gazillions of times because the way I feel about you will never grow old.”
Christmas and New Year’s comes and goes, and soon we’re all packed up and moved to the city. I know Zeta’s not a big fan of my penthouse, and I suspect I know the reason why, so I’ve hired a realtor to find us someplace new. “You don’t have to do that, Rock Star,” she tells me, handing me a plate with eggs and bacon on it. Maggie only comes in every second morning now because Zeta likes to do most of the cooking herself and she still has an issue with anyone picking up after her. “I know you’ve got a lot to do with the album and label release. We can house hunt after the baby arrives.”
Getting up, I wrap my arms around her from behind, rubbing my hands over her noticeable bump. She’s eighteen weeks along now, and the world knows I’m due to become a father.
Of course, that unleashed another round of debate with many claiming I’m unfit to be a father, but I invoked my new strategies to avoid reading anything that could set me back. My weekly therapy sessions are helping keep me on track, but there are certain things that I’m careful to avoid in case they trigger a relapse.
My father is one.
Ren Winters is another.
I’m still on edge because I know he’s out there somewhere, plotting his revenge, and now I have a wife and child to protect.
Zeta never complains.
Not even when I smother her with my overprotectiveness. Three bodyguards go with her everywhere, and I have had locator chips installed on all her technical devices and the brand-new bulletproof SUV I bought her for Christmas. I’m taking no chances when it comes to that asshole.
“It’s not any trouble, babe.” I brush her hair to one side, kissing her shoulder. She shivers, and I smile into her skin, loving how responsive her body is to my touch. “I want you to be happy, and I know you’re uncomfortable in my bachelor pad.”
She spins around in my arms. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel like that. It’s fine.”
I drill her a look, as her cell pings on the counter behind her. “Babe. Honesty, remember?”
She grabs her cell, sighing. “I know it’s only a house and I’m being silly, but sometimes, the thought of all the parties and girls gets to me. I hate sleeping in our bed imagining all the things you’ve done with other women in it.”
I tuck her hair behind her ears. “And that’s why we need to move. I don’t ever want you feeling like that. That’s another lifetime and a different me. You’re the only woman who’s ever captured my heart. The only woman who’s ever known the real me.”
“I know, babe.” She frowns as she reads her new text.
