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He spreads his fingers wide, covering all of my lower tummy, and leans up to me. “I never wanted to be a hero until I met you. You’re mine, Liv, and this is my baby. Do you get that? Mine. Both of you. That means you’re mine to love, mine to protect, and mine to look after. If I want to do it, I’m going to, no matter what you say. I can’t imagine it being any other way and it never will be.”
I run my fingers through his hair. “I know,” I say quietly. “I’ll try to let you.”
“No trying. You will let me because I’ll make you.” He nudges my nose with his. “If I want you to sleep in my bed because you’re poorly, then you will. I don’t want you away from me.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.” I smile sleepily.
He smiles back, staring into my eyes for a moment. He pulls away and presses his lips to my stomach. The heat of his mouth lingers on my skin even after he moves his lips to mine.
“I’ll let you be my hero,” I whisper against him.
He smiles, covering me up with the duvet and tucking me in. “I’ll be your hero, baby girl. I’ll be your hero so damn well, Superman will be jealous of me.”
My smile widens. “Cocky British bastard. Go and spend some time with your family.”
He nods, kisses me once more, and heads for the door.
“Ty? I’m sorry.”
He stops and looks over his shoulder. “Don’t be. Don’t ever be.”
He closes the door behind him, and I settle my cheek against the pillow. I look at the TV without really seeing it. I stare blindly until my eyelids grow heavy and I give in to the lull of sleep.
The bed creaks next to me. I force my eyes open and roll over to see Tyler crawling into bed. He turns the television off with the remote and lies down, only seeing that I’ve noticed him when he turns.
“C’mere, baby girl,” he says in a low voice, pulling me into him.
My eyelids drop as I snuggle into the warmth of his body. His arms fold me into him fully, and he rubs his hand over my back. His breath scoots across the top of my head, and I smile when he brushes his lips across my forehead.
“I can’t believe your mom thought we were getting married,” I mumble through a yawn and press into him further.
He laughs softly but doesn’t respond. He keeps soothingly rubbing my back, settling me back into the lull of sleep.
But not before I hear him finally reply, “One day, Liv. One day.”
There are two types of freak-outs in the world. Shocked-what-the-effing-hell freak-outs and angry-what-the-effing-hell freak-outs.
I’ve experienced both in the past sixty minutes. The former from my mom and the latter from my best friend. In fact, Day is still going.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! I bought the friggin’ pee stick. How could you leave me hanging?!”
“Yes,” I reply dryly, pouring a glass of water and leaning against the counter. “My new state of mind is nauseated, and in a few months, a person will be passing through my vagina, but let’s focus on how I didn’t let you know immediately.”
“You’re lame, you know that?” She narrows her eyes. “How did Tyler take it?”
“Better than I did,” I admit, summarizing the events of that night.
“What about his parents?”
“Asked us when we’re getting married.”
She snorts. “And your parents?”
I sigh and put the glass down. “Asked me when we’re getting married.”
