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“It can wait. I need you more than I need a drink.” I snuggled against him, basking in the familiar reassurance he always provided.
“May I?” He hovered his free hand near my stomach. I took it and pressed it against my lower belly.
“Can you feel that it’s harder there? I think I can feel it when I’m lying down.”
“It does feel different, but it might be my imagination, because we know. I stumbled across information on cryptic pregnancies during my ride from the airport. What if you’re nine months along?”
“If I was nine months along, I think we’d have noticed by now.” I counted back in my head. “Besides, if I was nine months pregnant, it would be immaculate conception. We didn’t see each other in person for like…four months around then.”
He stroked my stomach but was gentle enough that it didn’t make my queasiness any worse. His gaze went soft as he cupped his hand possessively over where the baby probably was.
“I don’t know why I was so afraid of this.”
“You’re happy now?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I’m ecstatic and worried and about a million other emotions, but I think excited is the main one.”
My heart felt so big that it was in danger of not fitting entirely in my chest.
“What if it’s Loïc’s?”
He paused, but then shrugged. “I can’t imagine not loving a baby I’m going to have a hand inraising.”
“We need to tell him.”
“Yes, of course we need to tell him. He has as much right to know as we do.”
“Let’s hope he isn’t gone for too long. Can you imagine? He disappears off the face of the earth for six months and comes back to find me big as a house.”
“Didn’t he sign a contract to do more work on Rose Red?”
“Like that would stop Loïc Leduc from doing as he pleases?”
Valor laughed. “He’s going to be so excited and full of himself. You know he’s going to take all the credit.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
He shrugged. “The baby probablyishis. Better him than an anonymous donor. I did some research on donors a couple of years ago, and they were saying there are so few rules that some doctors substitute their own sperm and don’t tell prospective parents.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re not serious.”
“I’m absolutely serious.”
He cuddled me for a few minutes, mindful of my hair and makeup, then pushed to his feet. “I’m going to go find you some lemonade before your interview. Hopefully, I can find some that doesn’t have added caffeine in it.”
“And nothing with artificial sugar.”
“Oh, right. There are so many extra things to remember.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead, but his lips lingered there, heartfelt.
My eyes welled up again.
“Back in a bit.” He flashed me a smile that might have knocked me on my ass if I hadn’t already been sitting down.
We’d been together so long I sometimes forgot how ridiculouslysexy he was.
He slipped out the door, closing it behind him.
About four minutes later, there was another knock.
