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She got to watch George for us, too.

Carrying the cat out to the kitchen, I feed him first, then start on the coffee. Reaching for the mugs, the glint of my diamond setting catches the sun, and I pause, looking at the ring on my finger.

Six months ago, while I was finishing up a job in Australia, he proposed. Two weeks later, we said our vows on the beach in Hawaii. My mom and Cadence were there. His sister, Charlotte, and his new best friend and business partner that he met in Belize flew out. Just the six of us with a minister on a windy Saturday. My dress wasn’t even white, but I didn’t care. Neither of us did. We just wanted to make that promise and start our lives.

Since that day, it’s been a whirlwind. He launched his business, a marketing agency geared toward pairing young artists with major brands. I took on my biggest job to date, a collaborative piece with Valerie and Gino in New York, and we were so busy working and traveling that we never took a minute to celebrate married life or enjoy a honeymoon.

So, we made this homecoming our honeymoon. No one is allowed to bother us for a whole week. With my birthday tomorrow, we made big plans to do absolutely nothing but sit around the pool and enjoy each other all day long. Everyone including Hanna and Valerie are bugging the shit out of me to go out with them, but I keep putting them off. Call me old-fashioned, but there’s absolutely nothing in a bar that sounds better than my new husband at home on the couch.

Alexander weaves his arms around my waist and kisses my neck. He settles in, taking a deep breath as we just hold each other, my body pressed between his and the countertop.

“You sure you don’t want a party tomorrow?” he asks. Always so concerned I’m missing out on something, which only makes me laugh. The last year has been so busy, a constant adventure, that I’ll need at least six months to recover. I laugh, squeezing his arms a little tighter.

“I’m very sure.”

He kisses my head again and snatches his earbuds and phone off the counter.

Just before he turns toward the door, our gazes meet, and he seems to lose himself in my eyes. I wonder if he ever feels this thing between us as intensely as I do. When my heart felt so empty, he was there, not to fill it with his own love, but to teach me how to fill it with my own.

Suddenly, he tosses his earbuds on the counter. “I’ll run later.” With that, he hoists me up onto his shoulder, and I let out a yelp as he carries me out to the pool. Luckily, the trees are in full bloom, giving us enough privacy from the neighbors as he tosses my barely clothed body into the water, following closely behind. The only watching eyes are from the brightly colored mural on the wall of the pool house.

BONUS EPILOGUE

ALEXANDER

Five years later

It’s nearly midnight, and I know she can’t sleep. Neither can I. As my wife stirs next to me, I quietly climb out of bed and pad down the hallway toward the patio door. It’s a warm spring, warm enough to sit outside at midnight in nothing but my boxer shorts.

I’m turning forty-seven tomorrow, and the uncertainty of our future has me feeling more sleepless than relaxed these days. Everything was going so nicely for the first five years of our marriage, but now…I don’t know what to expect. Part of me wants these days to go by faster, but another part longs for the days when I had control. When I had my beautiful wife and nothing but time to savor every second with her.

I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin, so I dive into the deep end, coming up and seeing a light turn on in the kitchen. She stares at me from across the way, and instant shame floods my senses. She’s worried about me. Worried how I will handle all this. Deep down she might even be worried I’ll bolt.

As she walks out into the darkness, my gaze lingers on her perfect ankles and travels up her legs to the swelling mound growing where her flat stomach used to be. She’s worried her body will change too much, that I won’t find her attractive anymore, but as she dangles her legs in the water, I swim up to her, unable to keep my hands off her soft hips.

I love our midnight swims because it’s the only time she’s comfortable coming out in nothing but her panties. Her swollen breasts are there for me to caress. I can’t get enough of her changing body. I know it won’t stay this way, but I’m along for the whole ride.

“It’s after midnight,” she whispers as I scoot her bottom to the edge of the pool so I can kiss her inner thighs. “Happy birthday.”

“Got my birthday present right here,” I moan against the warm fabric between her legs.

Leaning back on her hands, she lets out a gentle hum of pleasure. But just as I move back in for another kiss, I feel something move against my hand.

Both of us jolting, I stare at her face with wide eyes.

“Did you feel that?” she gasps.

“Yes,” I stammer, holding my palms against the tight skin of her belly. Up until now, only Sunny has felt our little girl kick. I seem to miss it every time she says she’s active. Every step of the way through this pregnancy, I keep waiting for the moment when it feels real. The two blue lines on the stick, the heartbeat at the doctor’s office, the first ultrasound. When I asked Joachim if this was normal, he just told me that until you hold that baby, nothing feels real. And nothing will ever be the same after that moment.

I can’t wait.

But I’m also fucking terrified.

What kind of father will I be after the mistakes I’ve made? What if she ends up like me—reckless and wild? What do I do when she inevitably finds out about my life before her?

These questions swirl around my head with every passing day.

“You have that worry in your eyes again,” Sunny whispers, running her nails along my scalp to calm me down.