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“We have to tell him,” he said quietly.
I stiffened for a moment before going back to scrubbing the taste of bile from my mouth. Using that as an excuse not to answer, I avoided looking in the mirror, so I didn’t have to look at him.
“He’s going to find out soon. The morning sickness is getting worse, and you can’t help whimpering when the stomach cramps start. He’s going to hear you in here eventually, firecracker. Then things are going to become more tense between the two of you.”
I hunched my shoulders, because in my head, I knew he was right, but my heart didn’t want to listen.
“Nik loves you, Mia. This standoff between the two of you will only get worse, and then you’re going to be upset on the day of our wedding. You’ll be grumpy as he walks you down the aisle. I don’t want to start off our marriage like that.”
I lowered my head, knowing he was right. I didn’t want to start our journey as husband and wife with anything but joy. “Maybe…” I shrugged. “Maybe I won’t let him walk me down the aisle.”
Behind me, I felt Barrick’s tension fill the room. “Mia,” he growled in a low voice. “Stop talking nonsense. You want him to give you away. I know you do. Stop punishing yourself as well as him.”
Spitting out the toothpaste, I cupped my hand under the faucet to scoop up enough water to rinse my mouth. It gave me a moment to gather myself before I turned accusing eyes on the man I loved. “Stop being on his side!” I whisper-shouted. “Stop feeling sorry for him.”
He scrubbed his fingers through his beard as he got to his feet. The man towered over me, making me feel small, dainty—protected. I’d felt it from the first night I’d set eyes on him. Oddly protected mixed with a hell of a lot of lust for a complete stranger. It was a new experience for me, but not necessarily unwanted. The only thing that had changed since then was that I loved him now. Maybe I’d loved him a little that night too, but it had only grown the more I’d gotten to know him.
It made forgiving him for his part in everything easier. I couldn’t live without this man.
The problem was, I couldn’t live without my dad either, but I had to keep my heart blocked off from him. The hurt he’d caused was too much, and I shied away from it and him whenever the urge to let it all go began to twist at that painful spot in my chest.
Grasping me by the waist with one hand, Barrick smoothed his other hand over my bare midriff where my sleep cami had ridden up. My bump felt even bigger at this point and kind of squishy. We only had a week left until the wedding, and I didn’t even know if I would still fit in my wedding dress by then.
He caressed his fingers over where our baby was growing, his eyes intense as he stared down into mine. “I hate that his choices hurt you, Mia. I hate that I was part of it. But you forgave me. You blessed me with another chance. Can’t you find it in that huge heart of yours to forgive him too?”
Tears blurred my vision. “You don’t understand. No one understands! He’s my dad. Dads aren’t supposed to break their kids’ hearts. But he broke mine, Beast. He broke it, and I can’t put the pieces back together, no matter how hard I try. And I’ve tried. Over and over again, I try. But it hurts too much.”
Sighing heavily, he lowered his head to press his forehead to mine. “He never intended to break anything. All he wanted was to protect what he loves most in the world. You.”
“Lies. He loves my mom most.”
“Maybe in a different way, but his love for you is something that overpowers any other emotion he’s ever felt.” Barrick skimmed his fingers over my belly button. “Listen to me, firecracker. His need to protect you was something I understood from the moment I admitted how much I love you. But when we found out you were expecting, I understood that need on an entirely new level. This baby is a part of us, just like you are equal parts of your parents. His love for Emmie created you, and that means his heart is doubly invested. He doesn’t have to hypothesize the bad things that could happen to you because he lived through nearly losing you. Twice. Just thinking about those things happening to our little one is enough to drive me insane. He went through it, Mia. He spent hours thinking the worst, and it nearly happened.”
“But nothing has happened since then,” I argued. “I was only a child then. I’m an adult now.”
“Because you were always guarded. There’s no way of knowing if another crazy person would have attempted to harm you over the years.”
Frustrated, I stepped away from him. “He wasn’t like that with Jagger. He didn’t have him under lock and key twenty-four seven. My brother got to leave the house without a bodyguard shadowing his every move. He got to be normal.”
His husky laugh filled the bathroom. “Trust me, firecracker. There is nothing normal about your brother. And if someone tried to take Jagger, they would pay your parents to take him back.”
“This is not funny, Barrick. I’m being serious. All I wanted was a normal college experience. Just once, I needed a balance that was somewhere between the shadows of bodyguards and the spotlight that is always on my parents.”
He caged me in against the sink with his arms. “Whether your dad facilitated our meeting or not, we would have eventually found each other, Mia. We are soul mates. It was meant for us to love each other. And once I set my eyes on you, there was no way in hell you would have gotten that normal college experience. Because I would have been all over you, protecting what is mine. Once fate stepped in and gave you to me, your chance at a life free of an overbearing bodyguard shadowing your every step was over.”
A tiny smile teased at my lips. I knew every word out of his mouth was true. He was too possessive not to have taken over every aspect of my life—my security—once we’d met.
But he still didn’t get it.
“Consider how much you love our baby already,” he urged when I didn’t respond. “However strong it may be, multiply that by a million. That’s how much your dad loves you. Making sure you’re safe is the only way he knows to show you how much he cares now that you’re grown up.”
Huffing, I gave in—a little. “Fine, Beast. We’ll tell him.”
“You’ll tell him,” he corrected. “I’ve already arranged everything. You just have to show up.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You jerk! You played me.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead, which never failed to make me shiver and melt into him. “Nah, I would never do something like that.”
