Page 91

“I remember.” I kiss along her neck. “We’ll try not to bore you with too much business talk.”

“Should we tell him about the baby? Or is it too soon?”

My hands tighten on her belly. Ryker doesn’t know yet. I wanted to wait until we were sure. I know the fear that he might have to help with the situation has been weighing on him, and I wanted to make sure it was going to be real. I put too much on him already, and I want to give him the relief of knowing that he doesn’t have to step in and help with getting Laine pregnant. The reversal took, and I’m going to be a father again.

“He’s going to be happy for us.” Laine reads my silence the way she always does. “He’ll probably give you shit about it.”

“My son gives me shit about everything.”

“Because he loves you.” She tilts her head back to look at me. “This baby is going to have a brother who would burn the world down for them. That’s not a bad thing, Rhett.”

She’s right. Ryker will be what he’s always been—my son, my best friend, and the best, most loyal man I’ve ever known. He’ll love this baby the way he loves me, and how he’s come to love Laine too. Without conditions and without limits.

“There’s something else.” She takes my hand under the water and presses it harder against her belly. “I want to go visit Elise’s grave. Together. Before the baby comes. I want to tell her she’s going to be a big sister.”

My chest tightens, and my arms lock around her. I haven’t been to Elise’s grave in years because standing in front of that headstone made me feel like the man who failed her. But somehow Laine always knows what I need. I never want to forget my little girl.

“Yeah.” I press my lips against Laine’s temple. “We’ll go, baby. We’ll see if Ryker wants to join us.”

She settles deeper against my chest, and I hold her in the warm water with my hands on the place where our baby is growing. The same tub where she asked me about Elise months ago and I shut her out. I’m not shutting her out anymore. I don’t know how to, even if I wanted to. She kicked down every door and made herself at home inside the darkest parts of me. And I let her because my body knew she belonged there before my brain caught up.

I press my lips against the side of her throat. My hand slides from her belly to her throat, my thumb finding her pulse. My heart fucking beats for hers.

“I love you, little one.”

“I love you.” She turns her head and kisses my jaw.

This is my life now. A bratty pregnant wife who provokes me every chance she gets. A son who isn’t afraid to give me shit. The best part of Laine and me growing to prepare to meet us.

And a debt to Dane Sinclair that could come due any day.

Our life is messy and dark and fucked up in ways that most people would never understand.

But it’s mine. Every piece of it. And no one is ever going to fucking take it from me.

THE END