He turns the baby, lifting it just enough for everyone to see. “That’s a lot of red hair.”
I tip my head back with a groan just as Rory lets out a wallop. “Aye, there’s Big Red’s swimmers!” He shuffles to my side, beaming. “What do you want to call him, Lass? Rory Junior?”
“Her,” Jude grins.
Rory blinks. “What was that?”
I lift my head again, squinting, a rush of feminine warmth spreading through me. “Her?” I rasp between the baby’s cries.
Jude nods and brings her to me. “Strong, redheaded baby girl. She’s got a set of lungs on her.”
“Definitely Rory’s,” Seth blows a half-hysterical laugh.
I stare down at the tiny, wrinkled human Jude places on my bare chest. Her cries taper into whimpers, then into soft snuffling as her little body molds to mine.
Rory’s in a daze.
“I think I did it,” I whisper while settling a hand on our daughter’s back. “Did I really break him this time?”
His eye keeps twitching.
But then he snaps to, his gaze sharp and deadly. “Oh, I’m breaking all right. Breaking the bones of any bloody motherfucker who evenlooksat her wrong.”
On my left, Vincent blows out his amusement.
“She’s beautiful, Briella Darling,” Seth declares right next to me.
Rory shoves Seth out of the way like an afterthought, takes up all the space on my left, and cups my sweaty forehead with his big, calloused hand. “Guess I’ll have to be nicer to ye then.”
I shoot him a death glare. “The hell you will.”
He lifts his brows like a challenge, but I look back down at the tiny girl warming on my chest.
“Only when she’s around,” I say softly, rubbing my lips along her red wisps. “You’re on your best behavior. The rest ofthe time, you’d better be the same hot-blooded, good cooking, bloody pain in the ass that I love.”
“Aye. Cause you said it first to me.”
“WE KNOW!”bellow the others.
I laugh softly, my heart never so full.
“Ye know…” Rory tilts his neck to get a better look at her, at her tiny mouth opening and closing in little sucking motions. I’ll need to feed her soon. “Rory is a girl’s name, too.”
I roll my eyes. “We arenotcalling her Rory Junioress or whatever.”
“Aww, come now. It’s not like we can call her Firecracker.”
I press my lips into my sweetest smile because I had stockpiled away name options for the three of them. “What about…Scarlett?” I ask.
Rory pauses. I hold my breath.
“Oooh,” Seth muses eagerly, and Rory shoves his face back again.
When he turns back to me, Rory grins. Confident, cocky, self-assured. “Aye, Lass. Scarlett will do. And she be my little Scar. The kind of beautiful scar I love to show off.”
Fair enough.
The others express their agreement and approval.
