Page 110 of Shots Fired

After a few beats, he inserts a four into the central square on the third row down and hands the book back to me.

I check it over to make sure it doesn’t clash with any other row or column. “You learned how to play?”

He flushes the cutest color, placing the pencil down on the side table. “Some of the team flights can be long and boring. It’s kind of fun when you get used to it. Good for the brain.”

He taps his temple twice, and I swear I fall further.

“That said, I still hope our baby girl gets her mom’s brains.” He chuckles as I slide the puzzle book next to the pencil.

He lowers the duvet from around my waist and lifts my sleep top to just below my breasts.

“You’re definitely starting to show now.” His warm lips rest against my bump, the vibration of his voice firing more sparks beneath the surface of my skin. “The way your body will change as it grows my baby will be a sight to behold.”

Another kiss, and I’m melting.

“I’ve been chewing over potential names, and I think I might have one.” He lifts his gaze to mine as he rests his chin on my growing belly.

“I’m not calling her Archer,” I muse, running a hand through his soft brown hair.

“Damn.” He clicks his tongue. “Good thing that wasn’t the name I had in mind.”

“What did you have in mind?”

He exhales a long, smooth breath, and I feel my shoulders relax in response to his calm.

“Emily.”

Okay, that wasn’t the kind of name I expected him to say. I was anticipating something more modern.

But I love it so much.

“Why Emily?” I ask, already choking up.

Archer climbs up my body, hands pressed into the mattress on either side of my ass as he looks into my eyes.

So much emotion, so much depth to this man.

“Back before I first met you at the Scorpions game, I was winding Jack up about his sister. Little did I know that when I met her, I’d be enraptured within minutes and fully in love with her a couple of years later.” He sets a kiss against my forehead. “When we were talking in the group chat, I called you Emily since that was the first British name I could think of, and fuck did I think it was beautiful.”

We’re so close that I can feel his breath as it caresses my face, the beat of my heart growing faster.

“You know what I think?”

“What’s that?” he replies, his voice intense.

“I hope Emily gets her daddy’s brains because that will make her the kindest, smartest, and most thoughtful person I’ve ever met.”

I see the shine in Archer’s eyes as he lifts my top overhead, and I raise my arms for him.

It’s late, and I have work in the morning, but screw it. I want him. All of him.

Archer kisses his way up my body, starting at my stomach and continuing past my breasts. I reach for his pants, but he stops me with a hand.

“No. This is about you tonight. Chasing your high is the ultimate prize for me. Plus …” He kisses my left breast, and my nipple tightens at the sensation. “We have all the time in the world to explore each other.”

When he moves to my right breast, I know what he’s going to say; I can feel it in my gut as it squeezes.

“We’re never going to be anywhere but with each other.”

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