“What time is it?” I asked as I started cleaning up the storage boxes all of our ornaments had been in, plus the cardboard boxes that had held the new ones I’d ordered for this year.

“Just after six.” Harris stood and started helping me. When I would have lifted a particularly heavy box, he pushed me aside. “You look dusty. Go shower. Dad won’t be home for at least another forty-five minutes. I’ll clean up and listen for the baby.”

“You’re a good stepson. I think I might keep you around after all.” I hugged him tight before rushing upstairs to shower.

Upstairs, I showered and washed my hair. It had grown out faster than I ever would have expected thanks to the prenatal vitamins that I’d taken during my pregnancy. It was now down to the tops of my shoulders and I was determined to never cut it off again.

Once I was clean, I got out and dried off then stepped into the red dress that I’d laid out on the bed earlier in the day. Tonight we were going to a Christmas party over at Emmie and Nik’s house. All of the Demons were going to be there since Drake and Lana were spending the holidays on the West Coast this year. All of the OtherWorld guys were also joining us as well as a few of the Alchemy and Trance band members. Even Linc was staying a few weeks with Harper and Shane.

It was going to be a good night, and I was looking forward to seeing everyone. After the shit that this past year had thrown at some of my family, we needed this night to help us all realize that we were lucky to have each other.

I was just putting the finishing touches on my makeup when I heard Devlin’s deep voice outside our bedroom door. I hurried to put on my lipstick and then almost sprinted across the room to open the door and throw myself into his arms. Those arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the floor, already kissing the lipstick off my lips before I could even tell him hi.

For the last six weeks, OtherWorld had been in the studio recording a new album. They had some amazing songs that they had all had a hand in creating. Thankfully, however, we wouldn’t be going out on tour anytime soon with the new material. After the summer tour, I was pretty sure that we were all toured-out for at least a year.

My back hit the mattress and I had enough sense not to start tearing his clothes off. I still had a few more weeks to go before getting the all clear from my doctor. It wasn’t easy to sexually deprive myself of my delicious husband, but it was something we both had to deal with for a little longer. As soon as the doctor gave me the green light though, I was going to jump his bones and we weren’t coming up for air until I was unable to walk straight.

With a groan, Devlin rolled onto his back, taking me with him. I fell against his chest, struggling to get my breathing under control. “You’re killing me, Nat.”

I lifted my head only to burst out giggling when I saw that my lipstick was all over his face. “That’s a good color on you.”

“I don’t know why you wear that shit anyway,” he complained. “You don’t need it.”

“I wear it to feel pretty.” I kissed him again before climbing off of him and going into the bathroom to fix my makeup. When I saw just how much damage I’d caused from our kisses, I sighed and reached for a makeup remover cloth. I’d have to start all over again.

“The tree looks beautiful,” Devlin murmured as he came into the bathroom. He pulled his shirt over his head before reaching into the shower and turning on the water. When he turned back, his eyes were bright with a happiness that had been there for the majority of the last six months. There had been a hiccup here and there that had made that brightness dim along the way, of course, but for the majority we had been blessed.

I tossed the makeup remover wipe in the trash and turned to ogle him as he started to unfasten his jeans. “Harris helped,” I told him.

“What about Trinity?” Devlin asked, his eyes lighting up with the thoughts of our daughter. “Did she help?”

From the day we found out we were having a daughter, Devlin started freaking out. I’d wondered if all dads flipped their lid at the idea of having a little girl to watch over for the rest of their lives, or if it was just my crazy husband. Did men really threaten to put up bars on the nursery’s windows? Lana and Emmie had assured me that it was a dad thing. I was just glad there had been no talk of buying a gun, although he and Harris had been looking at scary knives for a few days after we’d first found out that the baby was a girl.

“She spit up on the stockings. Does that count?” I grinned.

“It counts,” he assured me and then my mind went completely blank as I watched his jeans fall to his feet and he stepped out of them.

Fuck, why did he have to be so sexy when I couldn’t even have a little taste? “You’re an evil man, Devlin Cutter.”

He rubbed his hand over his bare chest as he walked toward me in nothing but his boxers. They didn’t hide the impressive outline of his hard cock. “I’ve been thinking…”

“Yeah?” I murmured, licking my lips as I watched him come closer. Would it be so bad if I dropped to my knees and started sucking his cock? I’d been dying to do that but he’d stopped me every time I’d tried. If I couldn’t have it then he didn’t want it either. We would both have to wait until the doctor lifted the sex ban.

“What if we went away for a few days once the doctor has given the all clear?”

I lifted a brow. That question had really not been what I’d been expecting him to say. “Define ‘we’, Dev.”

“Me and you. Just for two nights at the most.” I opened my mouth to answer him but he rushed forward, thinking that I was going to automatically veto his plans. “I know that you don’t like to leave Trinity, but I want to take you on a mini honeymoon since we weren’t able to have one after we first got married.”

My mouth snapped closed and I lowered my eye so that he wouldn’t see the emotions swirling around in them. My mother hadn’t wanted me to marry Devlin. Even after telling her that I was pregnant she hadn’t accepted that he was going to be a huge part of my future whether I married him or not. When she’d point blank told me she wouldn’t come to any wedding I happened to have, I’d lost it and told her to go fuck herself. If she couldn’t accept Devlin then I didn’t want anything to do with her and her judgmental, uppity bitchiness.

So I’d convinced Devlin to elope with me. We’d flown straight to Vegas after the last concert on tour and gotten married at the same little church that Jesse and Layla had gotten married in. It had just been him and me. No other family. Not even Harris or Jenna. I’d been happy with the way we’d gotten married and that we didn’t get to have a honeymoon because of all the shit that happened around the same time didn’t bother me.