Page 51 of Hitched

“I’m sure your ceiling tiles felt it.”

I snort a laugh. “We were both in need of a good fuck.”

“Aye. Yes, we were.” He lifts his head and looks at me. “I like making love to you when you’re pregnant.”

“Just wait until I’m a whale and looking for love and see how much you like it.” I say, matter-of-factly.

“I’ll make love to you no matter what. You’re mine. All mine. And that, to me, is as sexy as hell, baby.” He wiggles his brows, looking so fucking sexy I could die. Caleb looks the sexiest after sex. His hair is all over the place, and he’s got this satisfied expression that you know is only from one thing: you.

He removes himself from me and we lay there, face to face. “What do you say about moving in with me?” He just says, out of the blue. “I mean, we could live at my place or at yours, it doesn’t matter, but I already told Peg that we’d live at my place. What do you think?”

I think about it for a moment and frown. “It doesn’t matter to me where we live, as long as we’re together. I’d still like to keep this place as an investment.”

“For sure.” Caleb nods. “Or, we can buy a new place, for all four of us to live in.”

“How about we see what Peg wants? If she likes my place or yours better, or if she wants a new place.”

“That’s a great idea.” He kisses my lips. “And you’re right. It doesn't matter where we live as long as we’re together.”

We lay there, in bed, and finally fall asleep. He wakes me unintentionally, very early, as he’s getting up. “Where are you going?” I ask him, groggy.

“I’ve got to go into the office for a bit before I take Peg out. Go back to sleep.” He says, kissing my forehead.

“What time is it?”

“It’s just after six. I’m going to run home and get showered and go into the office for a couple of hours. Your mama told me she’d text me when Peg is up, so I’ll go over and get her after breakfast. I’ll be caught up with work by then.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you, too, baby. I’ll see you soon.”

He kisses me goodbye and I roll over, hand on my belly. And it occurs to me that there’s a bairn in there. It’s strange, but I feel myself falling in love with it. Like the bairn is keeping me company, like it’s here for me more than I’m here for it. And I suddenly realize that having a baby is something that I’ve secretly always wanted, but hated myself for thinking it. But now that it’s real, now that I have a being living inside me, I fall in love with the idea of being a mama, with being the person that I now am, which is someone that I’ve always wanted to be, I just never knew it until now.

Declan, my older brother, is at the office when I arrive. He’s walking to his office, meeting me halfway, and he smirks at me. “Ah, so it’s true then.”

“What’s true?”

“You and Laney McAdams.”

I follow him to his office. “What did you hear?”

“What everyone already knows. That you two are a thing now.”

“And what do you make of that?” I ask, sitting in his guest chair, while he sits in the captain’s chair behind the desk. I fan my fingers together, wondering just what sort of things my family and the general public have been saying about Laney and me, not that it matters, but I guess it does.

“It’s a great pairing, but I don’t think it’s the chess move that everyone thinks it is.”

“Aren’t you the astute one, Declan.”

“I’m not astute. It’s that shit-eating grin on your face that I’d have to be blind not to see, man.” He chuckles, good-naturedly. “And something tells me that grin is not because you’ve taken over the McAdams estate, either.”

“Again, you are astute.”

“I just know my little brother is all, Caleb.” He draws in a deep breath. “So, I’m gathering you haven’t fucked it up yet. When’s the wedding?”

“I haven’t asked her yet. We just found out that she’s pregnant, so I want to give her some time.”

“Caleb, do you know anything about women?” He asks, with a quirky smile on his face, like he knows something I don’t know.

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