Tilting my head to hers, I move my nose along hers, feeling all kinds of things that I made her happy. It’s all over her face, in her eyes, and the way her lips are curving. She loves it. Swallowing hard, I kiss her lips and then cock my head to the left. “Let me show you one more thing.”

“Tease.” She laughs as I pull her through the bathroom, the only room that’s actually big and huge because of the position of the walk-in closet. “Ooh, this is nice.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I laugh as I keep pulling her through.

“Aw, you put away my clothes?” she asks, pausing to look, but I pull her again.

“I did. By the way, you have a lot of clothes. Come on,” I say before pulling her into what I’ve decided is the baby’s room as she laughs. A crib sits up against the wall, and when she sees it, Avery gasps as she looks up at me.

“We won’t bring the baby here, though? It’ll be born after school’s out.”

I shrug. “Yeah, but Lucy gave us Angie’s crib. It’s superawesome, apparently. Really expensive. My mom got it for her, and she wanted us to have it. Guess she needed room or something, I don’t know. But I figure we can keep baby things in here.”

Her lips curve as she leans her head to my chest. “This is all so sweet.”

Wrapping my arms around her shoulders, I nuzzle my nose in her hair. “Do you like it? The apartment?”

She nods against me. “I do. I love it. It’s ours.”

“It is. But hey, go look in the crib.”

She looks up at me, suspicion in her eyes. “There isn’t like some creepy baby doll in there, is there?” She moves out of my arms and I roll my eyes.

“No, freak, just go look.” Walking behind her, I stop when she does and smile when she gasps.

“Oh my goodness,” she coos, picking up the little Bullies jersey. Turning to me, her lips puckered out, she holds it up. “It’s perfect.”

“I figured baby needs one.”

“They do,” she giggles as she lifts her shirt and lays it against her little bump. I know it’s such a simple little movement, something that women probably do all the time, but it does something to me. I don’t know, but it just seems so much more real when she stands like that, her hands grasping her little bump. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes, and I smile as I reach out, poking my baby’s little home. “I never thought this would happen when I met you,” she whispers.

Looking up from her belly, I shrug. “Me either.”

She smiles brightly up at me. “But I’m so happy.”

“Good, that’s what I want.”

Chewing on her lip, she looks down at her stomach. I take a step forward, holding my hands onto hers. As I lean my chin against her forehead, she sucks in a breath. “I’m glad we’re doing this. I’m glad that I grew a pair and walked out of that damn abortion clinic. I can’t believe I thought that was the only way. Watching my stomach grow and realizing that I’ll feel it move soon just blows my mind, you know?”

“Yeah,” I say roughly against her hair. Sliding my hands around her, I hold her to me as I close my eyes. “But you were leaving no matter what. If I had to drag you out, you were gonna have my baby—with me.”

She kisses my throat. “Oh, is that right?”

“Oh yeah, and you know it.”

“I guess I always did,” she whispers, sliding her hands up my chest and around my neck. “But now I couldn’t walk away if I tried.”

“Probably ’cause I’d take out your knees.”

She nods. “There is that.”

“And chain you to the bed.”

“You dirty man,” she gasps and I grin.

“Yeah, sorry for ya. You’re mine.”

“And you’re mine.”

“No doubting that,” I whisper against her temple just as a little pink envelope catches my gaze. “Hey, there is something else in there for you.”

She doesn’t even pause; she lets me go and reaches for the envelope, opening it quickly. Her eyes widen and she grins before looking up at me. “You got it?”

“I told you I would,” I say as she rocks back on her heels.

“Yeah, but it costs a lot. We can wait.”

“Or we can go find out what the baby is early.”

She wiggles her hips before wrapping me up in her arms, her lips coming crashing into mine. Holding her tightly, I slide my hands down her back, gripping her by the back of her thighs before lifting her up and carrying her back to our bedroom. Still kissing her, I lay her down slowly, her fingers threading in my hair as I cover her body with mine, not wanting to hurt her.

“Oh God, we can have sex without interruption. However will we contain our excitement?”

I laugh as I pull her leggings and panties down. “Baby, you don’t have to contain anything.”

Giggling, she throws off her shirt as I do the same, tossing it to the floor with hers. As I undo my pants, I take in her sweet body, her growing abdomen, and then the scars that cover her inner thighs. Leaning down, I kiss her right in the middle of her breast before trailing kisses down her ribs to her belly. I fall between her legs, and they come up, wrapping around my chest as I move my fingers along her. Looking up, she meets my gaze as she slides her fingers into my hair, a little kitten smile on her sweet lips.

A lump forms in my throat as I get lost in her eyes, my finger dancing along the place where my child grows. I wonder what it will look like. Will it have my eyes, hers, or a mixture, changing with its mood? I want to know if it will be a girl, because I think that’s what I want. I want a little version of the person who holds my heart in her hands. I want to come home to my girls, my loves. But then, a little boy would be life-altering too. Someone like me. Tearing up the world. Jeez, it would be awesome. Either way. But I don’t care because what I want is for it to be healthy and come from this gorgeous woman I’m totally in love with.

Moving her finger along my cheekbones, she smiles. “You look like you’re gonna cry.”

Smiling bashfully, I look away, shaking my head. “Men don’t cry.”

She grins, rolling her eyes. “Sure, they don’t.”

“It’s allergies.”

“Oh, those pesky things.”

“For sure,” I say, swallowing hard. “Hey, Avery?”