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"I’m fine, Raf," she murmured, reaching for his hand and swiping her phone open with her other. She set the image in his hand and nudged him to look at it.
The big man—or dragon, whatever—froze, staring down at her phone in wide-eyed shock. It was the man who had recognized her who broke the silence, clapping Rafael on the shoulder. "Congrats, man."
The deep voice at his shoulder seemed to break into whatever he was thinking. He glanced up, and she was surprised to see his eyes were glassy with tears. "Thank you," he whispered, holding onto her phone carefully and pulling her into his arms again. She felt her tension ease as he held her and it really sank in that this was what she’d been missing the last couple of weeks.
"Mm-hmm," she acknowledged in his ear.
A laugh burst from him after a moment; he picked her up and spun her around. She clung to him as he laughed and spun. "I’m going to be a father!" he shouted to the room at large. A couple of whoops and a whistle answered him, most of the people present smiling at the picture they painted. When Raf finally set her down, he kissed her—to additional whistles—and then led her toward a hallway leading to the offices.
She vaguely recognized his name on the door of the room he pushed into, pulling her along behind him. The instant the door was closed, his hands gripped her cheeks and pulled her close to kiss her. "Damn, I’ve missed you."
Chapter 17 - Rafael
By the time Monday morning rolled around, Ashley and Raf had repeatedly been through all the stages of anger, forgiveness, and make-up sex that they could physically and emotionally handle. Having lost her for a couple of weeks, Rafael had new appreciation for even the little moments that he now could hold her close. It was wonderful to wake up with Ashley curled against his side, and what was more, he knew she had taken the week off to spend time with him and to figure things out between them. She wasn’t someone who would put off hard conversations, which he’d been a little worried about ever since she’d thrown him out of her office the day he discovered she was pregnant. They hadn’t solved everything—the bedroom interludes had taken up much of their weekend—but they had established resolutely that they wanted to raise a child together, and that they would talk things over instead of ever pushing one another away like that again.
As soon as she’d shown up mid-afternoon Friday, he’d started making plans. He knew how he wanted things to turn out between them, and he was doing everything in his power, including getting his friends in on the surprise he had planned, to make sure she agreed. The ring had been eating a hole in his pocket since he’d had it made, figuratively speaking, even when it was safely hidden away where she wouldn’t come across it.
He had been planning to try and get her to go away for the weekend with him, to show her properly who she would be raising a child with, but instead she’d just asked to see him shift the way he had been the evening she happened upon him. The number of questions the woman could ask was a little daunting, but it seemed like she was coming around. As she started to stir in his arms, he certainly hoped she was. He’d had to explain to her that what she’d seen wasn’t the full shift, and that conversation had been taxing, to say the least. He’d promised he would show her his dragon, but not until they could get away to somewhere secluded.
Michael had offered to have them over for dinner for the purpose, but Rafael hadn’t wanted her to have witnesses when he scared her. A full-sized dragon was frightening; even when they controlled their size, being a dragon alone was going to unsettle her. Even if she was ready for it, which he was working on, he didn’t want her to feel like she had people watching her if she freaked out.
Ashley muttered something, but from the slurred sound of her words, she was still asleep, even if she was dreaming actively. He just stroked her bare back, letting her settle against him with a quiet noise that sounded awfully contented. Her beautiful hair was silky where it fanned out to caress his chest and shoulder, and he tried not to fiddle with it. The woman had a shifter baby growing in her belly; she needed her beauty sleep. She was too damn tempting. They’d said they wouldn’t jump into bed again until they’d talked, but that hadn’t exactly been how everything played out. They hadn’t even made it out of his office at the club, in fact. He chuckled and then winced, knowing the sound would rouse his lovely mate.
His mate.
As much as he found it hard to believe the legends about shifters and the one person they were fated to be with, it was equally hard to have been away from her for so many days. If his friends hadn’t been watching out for him, he really didn’t know how much trouble he could’ve ended up in. It was a form of insanity, to be forced to stay away from the one person he wanted most.
Ashley stirred again, the arm she had around his middle tightening before she moved and stretched. "Morning," she purred, her eyes not open yet.
"Good morning, my love," Raf said into her hair, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I have a surprise for you this afternoon," he told her quietly. "What shall we spend the rest of the morning doing?"
Her head rose to look at him. "A surprise?"
He smiled, not at all surprised that was what perked her up. "Yes. Our appointment is at one thirty, so we should leave around one in case there is traffic."
It was almost possible to follow her thought process in the tiny shifts in her expression as she wondered what constituted a surprise that would have an appointment time. "We should probably talk," she said slowly, almost reluctantly.
That made Raf chuckle again. "I think the important parts have been said. I’m going to try and convince you to let me take care of you in every way I can think of, and I don’t doubt you’re going to push back on almost all of them."
She buried her face in his chest and laughed. "Probably," she admitted a moment later. "I will try not to fight you every step of the way, Raf." Ashley sat up and smiled when his eyes instantly dropped to her naked body. "I was thinking brunch, but if you keep looking at me like that, we won’t get that far."
Raf gave her a predatory grin. "I’m happy to start breakfast with you."
Before he could reach for her, she slid away and out of bed. His mouth went dry as she sashayed into the en suite bathroom, unabashedly swinging her delectable butt for him to ogle. "Coming?" she called before the sound of the shower turning on drowned out anything else she might have said. He was quick to follow.
One long and very pleasurable shower later, they were starting to get dressed before he thought to ask. "Would you like to go out to brunch, or is an omelet good enough?"
"Have I mentioned it’s so sexy that you can cook?" She turned, wearing only a pale pink cotton bra and panties. Her smile was seductive, even after they’d spent time pleasuring one another in the shower.
He returned her smile, but pulled on a pair of khakis to support his limited control before he let himself consider moving closer to her. Prowling up to his delectable mate, his hands found their way to her hips and then tugged her against him. He bent his head and gently brushed his lips against hers, forcing himself to draw a line at spending the entire day in bed. "I love making you happy," he said simply. It was the unvarnished truth. Ever since he’d met her, everything he’d done had boiled down to what would get him closer to her, and then to make her happy.
Ashley licked her lips, blinking suddenly-glassy eyes. "I can’t believe I’ve been so lucky," she whispered. It wasn’t clear if it was a comment to herself or him, but she put her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly.
With the amount of time they spent kissing and touching—they seemed almost unable to avoid doing so after being parted—their brunch took all the time they had before they had to go. Rafael doggedly refused to answer any of Ashley’s questions, putting her off using every trick he had, down to questioning baby names on the car ride west into Golden.
He pulled up next to the house he’d found a couple of blocks down the street from Michael’s property, hearing Ashley gasp when she saw the 'for sale' sign. "Rafael!" she whispered.
"Yes, dear?"
