Page 71 of His to Save

I narrow my eyes at him, forcing myself to ignore the stupid way my heart pitter-patters in my chest. “You are sneaky, and you play dirty.”

“Damn straight.” The corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles. “I’m playing to win, Pip, and you’re a stubborn little thing, so I’ll gladly take a mile for every inch you give.”

“To win, huh?” I cross my arms over my chest and pretend to glare. “What’s the prize, then?”

“You are, Nora.” He gives me a thorough once-over before turning away and tapping his card to the reader. “You’re the prize.”

CHAPTER 24

ATLAS

“Thank you,” Nora whispers as we walk into the house. “Again.”

I glance back at her, my arms loaded down with Target bags. “Anything for you, Pip,” I reply, meaning every word.

There’s just something about spoiling Nora that sets my damn soul on fire. I don’t know if it’s the way her cheeks turn the prettiest shade of pink or the way she pouts her full, kissable lips at me, but I fucking love it.

She’s selfless to a fault, willing to go without so she won’t feel like a burden or an inconvenience. Too bad I’m dead set and determined to give her the world.

“You know you don’t have to buy me things though, right?” She follows behind me, down the hall, and into her—my—room.

“I know.” I drop the bags unceremoniously onto the floor. “I didn’t do it because I had to, I did it because I wanted to.”

She tries to scowl at me, but the way her lips keep shaking tells me she’s fighting a smile.

Honestly, it was a no-brainer to fill the cart with the things she liked at Target, and once she’s a little farther along in her pregnancy, I’ll gladly do it all over again.

I’m not wealthy by any stretch of the word, but I have some savings from my mom’s side of the family along with a nice nest egg, money I’ve just been squirreling away for a rainy day. Money I’m more than happy to spend on Nora, our baby, and the life I hope we can one day build together.

She sighs and flops down onto the bed. “Who knew shopping was so exhausting?”

Laughing, I motion for her to scooch over so I can join her, lying on my back with one arm tucked behind my head.

Nora wastes no time snuggling into me, with her head on my chest. I wrap an arm around her waist, and before I know it, we’re both out cold.

Minutes,or maybe hours later, I wake to the smell of bacon wafting through the house.

Ellis must be home.

I try to fish my phone out of my pocket without waking Nora, but she’s wrapped around me like a damn octopus again, making it an impossible task.

There’s no sunlight shining through the window, though, so we clearly snoozed for a few hours at the very least.

“Nora, you gotta wake up,” I murmur, running my fingers through her sleep-tangled hair. “Ellis is making dinner.”

She throws her leg over mine, mumbling some kind of unintelligible reply as she buries her face into the crook of my neck.

“C’mon, Pip.” I drag my fingers over her ribs, softly tickling her. “Up and at ‘em.”

“But I’msocozy.” She curls her fingers into the fabric of my shirt. “You’re so warm and soft and smell nice.”

I snort a laugh. If she were to slide her leg a little lower, she’d find out hownot softI am for her.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“You can snuggle me any time, you know that, right? Day or night, you want me to be your living, breathing pillow, all you gotta do is say the word and I’m here.”

“Fine.” She releases my shirt and pushes herself into a seated position. “I’m up, are you happy?”

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