Page 92 of Diary of a Biker Queen

He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “It’s not sex. It’s better. I think. But it requires some preparation. So I need you to close your eyes while I set it all up.”

I squinted at him and the excitement written all over his hopeful, handsome face. “You’re really excited about this, huh?”

He swept a strand of my hair back off my forehead and tucked it behind my ear. “I’m scared more than excited. I don’t want you slipping away because you’re mourning Dax like he’s dead.” He stared at me. “He’s not. He chose to leave.”

I knew it was what everyone was thinking. Hell, I’d had days where I tried to convince myself Dax had willingly walked away. Because I swear, it would have been easier to let him go if I did.

But I was the only one who truly knew him. Who truly knew there had to be something more than him just disappearing. I just didn’t believe he had.

But I was at a dead end trying to find him. And so was everyone around me.

So I forced a smile for Lynx, because he’d done nothing wrong, and it wasn’t fair for him to have to put up with my low moods. “I’m closing my eyes now. I could use a nice surprise.”

He kissed the top of my head, and then the Slayers’ clubhouse door squeaked open. I thought about peeking but decided he was right and I did need something nice. Something fun. And he’d clearly gone to a lot of trouble to plan whatever this was, so I didn’t want to ruin it for him.

So instead, I just tilted my head against the back of the couch and rested, while he dragged things in and out of the doors and into his room. Whatever he was doing sounded like it required quite a bit of equipment, so I quickly ruled out rose petals on the bed.

When the loud whirr of something mechanical started up, I got really confused. “Lynx? Are we renovating? Because as much as your bedroom probably does need the floors sanded and the walls patched, that’s not really my idea of a fun, relaxing afternoon…”

He kissed me upside down on his way back out to whatever car or van he was unloading. “You’re so cute. Don’t peek. It’s nearly done.”

More weird noises came from his bedroom. The hissing of air, which had me questioning if he was setting up a bouncy house in there. Which probably wasn’t the worst idea. I’d pee myself, for sure, but I was getting awfully pregnant, and perhaps a bit of jumping might start getting my cervix ready for labor. But then came the rush of water, and I was confused all over again because I was pretty sure that there was not room for a waterslide in the Slayers’ clubhouse, and that even if there were, War would allow it.

“Lynx…”

“Nearly done! I swear, you’re gonna love this so much. Do. Not. Peek.”

I couldn’t help but smile. He was the cute one. I didn’t know how this man who was running around, gleefully putting surprises together for me, was the same man who could end a man’s life in such a brutal way that he’d earned himself a serial killer name, but he wasn’t that man around me.

Around me, he was just sweet and protective and did things to my body that made me want to have a hundred more babies, just for the chance one might look like him.

“Okay, stand up. But don’t open your eyes.”

I did, and he came up behind me and put his hands over my already closed eyes and leaned down so he whispered into my ear, “It’s ready. I hope you love it.”

I already knew I would because he’d gone to so much trouble. If it really was a bouncy house with a water slide, we’d just invite X over and watch him fight the kids for a turn.

I stifled a giggle at the thought, and Lynx shuffled along behind me, steering me toward his room. We stopped in what I knew was the doorway, and he took his hand off my eyes with a flourish.

“Ta da!”

It took me a second for my eyes to adjust after being in darkness for the past twenty minutes. But when they did, I had to blink a few more times to actually take in what he’d done.

Just outside the bathroom door was some sort of blow-up pool. But not a little kid one. The kind that was deep enough for a fully grown adult to sink down into and have warm water engulfing them. Even one as pregnant as I was.

I spun around and stared at him. “You brought me a bathtub I can actually fit into?”

He nodded. “You said something a few weeks ago, at Carlos’s party. About not fitting into the tub anymore. I got the impression you missed them. It’s actually a birthing bath. I thought—”

I raised an eyebrow in alarm. “If the next words out of your mouth are, I thought I might deliver the baby here in it, I’m going to have to stop you there. This baby is only coming into this world in a hospital, after I have had a blissful epidural and can’t feel a thing. You are good at many things, Lynx, but I don’t want to find out if being a midwife is one of them.”

He chuckled. “I was going to say, I thought we could leave it here until the big day. You might want to use it before the contractions get bad enough to go to the hospital.”

I loved baths so much. And that sounded like the best plan I’d ever heard. I’d given absolutely no thought to the day this baby decided to make an appearance. I’d almost completely blocked it out of my head, at first because it had so much stress and fear around it. Not because of the birth itself. I definitely would be getting that epidural. But because of what Carlos would do once the baby was actually here.

That fear hadn’t gone away, even with Luca claiming paternity.

But Lynx had noticed and taken all of it into his own hands, making sure it wasn’t yet another thing I needed to worry about.