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SIX MONTHS LATER…
Laia
“Do you think my head is fat?” I ask over my huge bump to where Kenzi is sitting by my feet.
“Your head is not fat.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s pregnant.” She spoons her ice cream into her mouth.
My carton is empty already. I pout my lip out. “My head is fat. No more ice cream for me.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it.” She leans over to feed me a glob of her Rocky Road goodness.
I close my eyes and moan. Nothing has ever tasted better. Ever. My head is fat. So are my feet and my ankles. Even my ears are fat. But ice cream fixes everything.
Flopping back onto the huge gray sofa, I glance over to the door when it opens and blood rushes directly to my fat lady parts when Felix walks into the living room.
I moved in the day of Arma-Damon and never moved out again. Felix insisted. And I didn’t put up even a little bit of fight.
It’s taken time for the bruises, both physical and mental, to fade, but we’re getting there. It helps that Damon pleaded guilty for a plea deal—that, even so, he’ll be in jail for a long time. And it definitely helps that I have my little Clua family to get me through the freak-outs and late-night flashbacks when they inevitably show up.
But, back to the fat lady bits—nobody warns you about the horniness. It’s twenty-four-seven. All. The. Goddamn. Time.
My gaze roams greedily from Felix’s sweaty curls, down his hard, shirtless body and loose basketball shorts to the tips of his running shoes.
I take it back. There is one thing that tastes better than ice cream.
“How’s my favorite pregnant lady this afternoon?” He shoots me a grin and leans over the back of the sofa to kiss my ever-growing bump, his hands smoothing my loose green dress over my tummy.
“Up here, handsome.” I grab his ears and tug his head up to plant a kiss on his lips.
His mouth curves against mine and he sucks on my bottom lip until a breathy sigh escapes me. He so knows what he does to me.
“Gross, guys.”
Felix pulls away when a cushion bounces off his head.
“Your knocked-up woman needs more ice cream.” Kenzi stands and slides her feet into her flip flops. “I need to go. I have a hot date tonight.”
“Tell?” I struggle, not unlike an upside-down turtle, to pull myself up to sitting. I know nothing of any real-life men in Kenzi’s life. “How is it possible you’ve been here all afternoon and you haven’t said anything about a hot date?” Truth be told, Kenzi has been zipped up tight these last few months as far as men are concerned. Mylo going back to Miami last month seems to have made life with her man ban significantly easier for her.
Or maybe not.
“I was joking.” She blows us both a kiss. “My hot date is with my sofa, and Imogen Keeper’s brand new and extremely hot, but fictional super-soldier. You can have the book when I’m done. I’ll call you and your fat head tomorrow.”
“Fat head?” Felix takes Kenzi’s place on the sofa by my feet and pulls them into his lap.
“You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed my epic fat-headedness.” I circle my hand in the vague direction of my face and stick out my bottom lip again.
“I love your head.” His warm hands slide over my feet, his fingers pressing into the arches then beneath each swollen toe.
I groan and lay back onto the pile of pillows behind me.
I’m fat and round and filled with baby, but I’ve never been happier.
“Feel like getting out of the house?” He lifts my feet from his lap and stands, holding out his hands to help me up.
“Why? Where are we going?” I hold my hands up and let him pull me to my feet.
“I” —he presses a kiss to my nose— “have a surprise for you.”
“You do? Is it more ice cream?”
“Better than ice cream.”
“If you walk me into a wall, I’m taking you down with me.” My eyes covered by Felix’s hands, I reach behind me and tuck my fingers into the waistband of his shorts. “And I need to pee.”
“Baby, when have I ever let you fall? And there’s a toilet where we’re going.” The smile is clear in his voice.
“Just a few more steps.” He pulls me to a stop. “Annnnnd, open your eyes.” He drops his hands and I blink to focus.
“This is?” I stare up at the window of the building we’re standing in front of then spin in his arms to face him, confused. “I don’t get it.”
“Laia’s Palace of Pies.”
“What?” I screw up my face, baby brain has clearly struck again. I have no idea what this is. Unless. I glance back at the shop then narrow my eyes at him.
“Okay, the name sucks, that was Kenzi’s idea. This place belongs to a friend of mine. It’ll be up for sale as of tomorrow.”
My mouth falls open and I try to force my brain to catch up with what he’s saying. I told him about the promise I made to myself about using my inheritance to set up on my own. I just never expected him to … I blink back the wetness hovering on my eyelashes. “It’s perfect.”
“I thought so.” He nods slowly, the smile on his face heartbreakingly nervous. “He’s waiting on your offer before he puts it on the market.”
“I’m gonna buy a shop.”
“You are. If you want to.”
“Holy shit,” I half laugh, half sob-choke. “I don’t know what to say.” I cover my mouth and shake my head.
“You don’t have to say anything.” He chuckles roughly, rocking back on his heels. “It’s your dream, your decision. I just want you happy.”
“I am.” I bounce up on my tiptoes and plant a kiss on his mouth. “I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Thank you.” I spin back to face the building, my building.
I’m gonna buy me a shop.
“It needs a lot of work, but we don’t have to do anything until after the baby arrives. Mylo’s offered to do the refurb when he gets back if you want him to. I just—you said you wanted to set up on your own—to keep that promise to yourself and your parents.”
“You remembered.” Tears well, and I grab his hand, tugging him around until he’s standing beside me, facing the shop. My shop. “I can’t believe you remembered.”
“Of course, I remembered.” He dips his head to kiss the top of my hair.
“I love you, you know that?” I tilt my head to rest it on his shoulder and rub my hand over my bump, hoping, more than ever, that my parents can see me—see that everything is okay, that everything is better than okay. That I’m happy.
“I do.” Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he pulls me tighter against his side. “The feeling’s mutual.”
I have no idea how I got here, surrounded by pies and people who love me, but it doesn’t matter. In this moment, the only thing that matters is that I’ve made it.
I’m finally safe in Clua.
THE END
