“I know, I know. Pregnant lady, don’t drop you. Heard it all before.”
She rolled her eyes, still grinning, her arms looped around my neck. “You’re a menace.”
“I’m just in love with a woman who’s trying to seduce me slowlywith her new boobs.” I dragged a hand over the curve of her back, over the edge of her bikini. “This thing’s criminal.”
“You paid for it.”
“And now I’m paying the price.”
She pressed her hips against mine and gave me that look that was too bloody clever for her own good.
“You’ve got thoughts,” she murmured. “I can feel them,” she said, pressing herself against my shorts, feeling my cock straining.
“I’ve got problems,” I muttered, dragging my mouth along her shoulder. “And all of them are you.”
She laughed, her forehead against mine, and I had to pause. Just for a second. Not because of the raging hard-on she was giving me. But because this was…everything we needed. This was our life, taking shape in all its chaos and sheer, dumb luck.
“I love you,” I said quietly.
She looked up at me with that knowing smile. “Good. ’Cause you’re stuck with me now, Jordan Taylor.”
I loved the way she said my name. Because soon, it was going to be hers. ?
We spent the afternoon in the water, her legs around me, her laugh carrying over the ripples, until eventually I scooped her up and carried her inside. She crashed hard around 4:00 p.m. flat on her back, one hand splayed over her bump. One minute she was talking, the next, out cold. The tropical heat and exhaustion of growing our little boy had finally caught up with her. Somehow it made me love her more. I watched her sleep peacefully for a bit, then finally woke her softly with a kiss to her shoulder.
She thought we were just heading out for dinner. Which, fair enough, we were. Kind of. I might have been up to something…something that involved candlelight, a private stretch of sand, soft lights strung above the table. But I’d been planning this for weeks. Since the scan. Since I looked at her face on that hospital bed, eyes glassy, the weight of what we’d made between us. That was the moment I knew how I was going to do this.
I’d loved her before that day. But after, I knew I couldn’t go back to a life without her in it, permanently. So no…this wasn’t just dinner.
She walked out of the villa barefoot, wearing a long, olive coloured floaty dress that swayed around her legs. Her bump had appeared properly by the end of the week, and I was gone all over again. She was the most beautiful, glowing pregnant woman I’d ever seen. Her hair was wild from the salt air and she had this glow about her that I hadn’t seen in a long time. She was just stunning. When she spotted me waiting by the table, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“What have you done?” she asked.
“Nothing illegal,” I said, trying to act innocent. “Promise.”
She gave me theKate look, full of suspicion and amusement. “This is…fancy.”
“It’s almost our last day.” I shrugged. “Gotta mark the occasion.”
“It’s Wednesday. We go home Saturday.” She laughed.
“Shit, really? Even better.”
She laughed as I pulled out her chair. The table was lit with lanterns, the sea metres away, the noise of it somewhere in the background. She stole food off my plate like she knew it was her right to do so, transferred her onions to my plate because they made her feel nauseous lately, and rolled her eyes when I told her I wanted a dozen babies just like her. ?“Let me push this one out first, then we’ll talk.” She laughed.
“Deal. But I warn you, this kid’s gonna be adorable,” I teased.
“If he looks anything like you, he will be,” she said, her hand brushing my jaw. Her other hand rested under her chin as she gazed softly at me.
She looked good out here. God, I was nervous.
Just before sunset, when the sky turned that stupid, perfect molten gold colour, I stood up and offered her my hand.
She took it with a confused but curious look on her face, and let me lead her to the shoreline. A cushioned area sat waiting on a soft, patterned rug.
“This is very romantic, Jordan,” she said, suspicious but smiling asthe lantern light caught her eyes which appeared more turquoise than ever against the sunset.
I dropped into it and pulled her gently into my lap, her back against my chest, so that my hands could settle over her belly.
