Page 265 of Mountain Men Heroes
I giggled and tipped my head to the side as he ran his nose along my cheek. He gave me one more, quick kiss, and then he hopped up in one swift, graceful movement.
I watched as he grabbed our plates and the platter of food. He walked into the kitchen with them. I shifted to stand, but he caught me before I got any farther than up on my knees.
“Don’t move. As you know, my culinary skills extend to being able to heat things in the microwave. You stay right there.”
I laughed and dropped back down, crossing my legs as I watched him move around the kitchen. The fear and the doubts tried to crowd their way back in, but I refused to give them room in my head.
For once in my life, I was going to give into my feelings. I wanted to stay in my happy little bubble where Mac and I were a normal couple preparing for the arrival of the baby who would make our family complete.
Our family. Happiness warred with the fear at the thought that I could be part of a family of my own.
And just this once, I fought alongside happiness and refused to let fear reign. Hope bloomed.
Nine
Gabriella
Igot to live in my happy little bubble for six days. And they were the six best days of my life. Morning, noon, and night sickness notwithstanding.
Mac helped me move my stuff into his bedroom. And by helped, I mean when I got out of the shower the morning after we made love that first night, he’d moved all my stuff into his room.
“No more separate bedrooms and doors between us.” He’d growled the words at me. Like I was going to argue with him.
Honestly, it was a little tempting, just to see what he’d do. But the thought that he might give in and move my stuff back to the guest room zipped my lips. I was glad I hadn’t teased because the next words out of his mouth stunned me speechless.
“Besides, we should probably think about converting the guest room into a nursery soon. That room’s closer to the master bedroom. We don’t want Slugger too far away.” He’d wrapped his arms around me and stroked a hand over my baby bump.
His words added fuel to the fire of my happy little family fantasy, firming up the walls of the little bubble I was living in.
The next few days, we fell into a pattern. Mac left for work early while I stayed in his house tidying up. At his insistence, I’d added starting a baby registry to my to-do list. He seemed to think his family would want to help with the baby stuff.
Instead of giving into my first inclination—to argue against the need for a baby registry—I jumped into the task wholeheartedly. I’d spend some time online every day checking out nursery décor and receiving blankets and nine thousand other pieces of equipment every website I could find seemed to think I’d need to care for one teeny, tiny baby.
Mac would come home in the afternoon. We’d have lunch together and then he’d bring me back to town with him. Some days I’d go to the tattoo shop, others I’d wander through town, and still others, he’d take me to the Kratos offices and I’d give Trinity a hand, the two of us chatting the whole time.
At night, Mac would make sure I ate every bit of food on my plate at dinner. That gave me a happy thrill right along with the rest of it. I’d never felt so taken care of in my entire life.
But the minute the last bite was eaten, he’d be on me. Some nights we wouldn’t make it past the rug in front of the fireplace, just like the first night. Others he’d tug me up to his bedroom.
Some nights he made love to me, soft and slow, lingering over my body for an hour or more, driving me to a place where I was mindless with need before he’d slip inside me. Other times, he’d turn me over the nearest available surface and plunge inside me, sheathing himself to the hilt while my mind tried to catch up with the immense pleasure he gave my body.
I couldn’t decide which way I loved best.
On the sixth day, I had an especially rough bout of afternoon sickness. It hit me right after I finished doing a tattoo for a tourist who wanted something pretty to commemorate her Hardwood adventure. Luckily, my late afternoon appointment canceled and Ivy, the girl who worked the front counter during the summer, offered to run me home so I wouldn’t have to bother Mac during his workday.
I walked into the quiet house that felt more and more like home with every passing minute. I smiled when I realized I’d left a sweater over the back of the living chair last night.
A bit of movement from outside the wall-to-ceiling windows caught my eye and I wandered over. I still hadn’t lost my fascination with the way the forest felt almost part of the house. I spent a lot of time sitting by the windows, trying to see as deeply into the forest as I could like I did with the ocean back in Lover’s Cove.
But here it felt different. Like the place spoke to my soul as much as the man living here did.
As I watched, a bear stepped out from behind a stand of trees. My breath left me on a gasp and I pushed closer to the window. He was huge, his shoulders high. His coat a dark brown with a few lighter patches around his muzzle and back legs. It gleamed even in the muted sunlight the trees let in.
I stared in awe and wonder as he hefted up on his hind legs and used one of the trees as a scratching post, raking his claws down the bark. He was wild and beautiful.
Just how I felt.
I pressed my hands flat against the glass. I half expected fear to take over, but it never came. Instead, I felt like I got to witness a little bit of magic.