“Girl.”
“Boy.”
“Girl,” he growled.
Kara sighed. “Healthy. I’ll be happy if our baby is just healthy and happy. I don’t really care. He or she will be dearly loved.”
Simon felt his eyes moisten, his happiness almost too much to bear, even though he was fucking losing it about Kara’s safety. “Me, too, baby. I’d love to have either one. I just hope the baby looks like you. I’ll love our child so much and give the baby everything I never had.”A stable, happy childhood, security, love.“Are you feeling okay? You said you were emotional. Are you sick? We should see the doctor. What else do we need to do? What do you need? Tell me and I’ll get it for you.” He sounded anxious, desperate. His gut clenched, his protective instincts gnawing at his insides. Kara was pregnant. Simon needed to research the condition immediately, find out what Kara needed to do to stay healthy. Didn’t women need things when they were pregnant, special things? Oh hell, he didn’t know a damn thing about pregnant women, but he needed to change that situation immediately. How could he safeguard Kara when he didn’t have a clue what to do to protect her?
“I need your hot body and some ice cream,” she answered in a sultry voice. “But first I need a shower.”
“Me? You need me? Should we be doing that?” Sex was safe when a woman was pregnant, right? Shit, he really had to lookthatinformation up immediately.
“Oh yeah. We should be doing it a lot. I’m horny all the time. Hormones,” she whispered as she gently took his earlobe between her teeth and nibbled.
Christ.He had no control when it came to Kara. His cock throbbed with the need to bury himself inside her welcoming heat. “We should be careful,” he answered, his mind already filled with erotic thoughts, his caveman wanting to take control.My woman. Pregnant. My baby.
Mine. Fucking completely mine.
“I need sex. Lots and lots of sex. Hot, sweaty, crazy sex,” Kara told him emphatically. “And I expect you to meet my needs since you knocked me up.”
Yeah. He had. He’d planted his seed inside her and it had taken root. An animalistic, male satisfaction slammed into him. “How crazy exactly?” Simon shifted, his cock ready to explode inside his jeans. “What’s safe?”
“Any way I want you to fuck me. I’m only at about five weeks pregnant right now. Some women get tired, sick or lose their sex drive during their first trimester, but not me. I want to get laid at least five times a day.” Kara rubbed against him sensually with a small, breathy moan. “Don’t be afraid to make love to me. It’s safe. And I need you. In every way.”
At that moment, Simon wanted to meet any needs Kara had, give her whatever she wanted. “I’ll take care of you, baby. Always. And you’ll tell me how you feel?” If she just wanted him to hold her, cherish her, be close to her, he’d do it quite happily. His inner beast might be snarling because of the way Kara was rubbing against him, but Kara’s needs would always come first.
“Right now I want a shower. I want to orgasm. And I want ice cream,” she answered insistently, moving out of his arms, walking toward the door, her hips swaying sensually.
Shit. How was he supposed tonotact like a possessive maniac when he was marrying the sexiest pregnant woman on the planet? “I’m up for that.”Literally.His cock was as hard as granite.
Simon followed in Kara’s wake, catching up to her at the bottom of the stairs and wrapping his arms around her from behind. Hands stroking her still-flat belly, he whispered, “I love you. Ask me for anything and I’ll do it. No questions asked, no negative replies.”
She relaxed, letting her body rest against him. “I thought I just did.” Laughing, she entwined his fingers with hers, both of them covering her stomach protectively. “I just…need you. I feel needy as hell. I’m not myself right now. Please try not to take anything I do or say personally. It’s not you. It’s hormones right now. I think they’re eating my brain.”
“Be needy. Be grouchy. I won’t even tell you not to cry.” Well…he’dtrynot to anyway. Shit, Simon hoped she didn’t cry a lot. He’d be a wreck by the time the baby was born. “Just don’t ask me not to worry, or be protective, or be concerned about your happiness and safety. I can’t do that,” he growled, his fingers clenching hers.
“You won’t be bossy?”
Simon gulped. “No.” Okay…maybe notquiteso often.
“Or demanding?”
Uh…he could manage to tone it down, couldn’t he? “Nope.”
“Domineering? Controlling?”
Well, crap. She was hitting him where it hurt. “I’ll try,” he told her sincerely.
Kara burst out laughing, a full belly laugh that he hadn’t heard in more than two weeks, a delighted sound that made his heart soar. She laughed so hard she snorted. “I give you twenty-four hours. Those traits are so deeply embedded in your DNA that you’ll never make it more than a day.” She continued to chortle as she went toward their bedroom, making his mouth go dry as she lifted her scrub top over her head, revealing an abundance of smooth, silky skin.
He chuckled, knowing she was probably right. But it wouldn’t keep him from giving it his best. “A week at least,” he called after her in an arrogant tone.
Her laughter rang out louder, stronger, drifting through the hallway and echoing back to him, making him grin ever broader. Damn it. She knew him too well.
Shaking his head, he walked to the kitchen to get his woman her ice cream.
Maddie Reynolds chewed on her thumbnail, a look of total concentration on her face, as she flipped the pages of a medical file on one of her five-year-old patients at the clinic. It was seven p.m., way past time for her to get home and try to get some rest, but something about the case was nagging at her. She had to be missing something, something important. Timmy was tired, listless, having occasional vomiting and diarrhea, and it had to be more than a virus. The poor tyke had been that way for weeks.