Tate is still thoughtful.
“But I’m a rich man, Laurelin. I want to be with you, but I can’t just give up this home, and my company and my job, because you want to live in poverty. Is that what you’re looking for, honey?”
I shake my head, and suddenly my lip trembles. Maybe it’s the situation, or maybe it’s because I’m pregnant and have hormones rushing through me at light speed, but suddenly, my defenses crumble and tears spring to my eyes.
“I don’t want to live in poverty,” I say in a wretched voice. “It’s not that. I just needed an escape and I found that with you, Tate. I loved being with you, and you help me feel the things that I want to feel. I am in love with you, and I’m so happy I’m having your baby. I guess that’s what love does – it casts everything in a new light, and now, I want to live here, in this beautiful house you’re redesigning for us, and I want us to be together.”
The last part ends with a break in my voice, and suddenly, the sobs begin in earnest. Fortunately, my man’s strong arms are around me as he pulls my form against that hard chest. Tate gently places a big hand beneath my chin and tilts my face to his. “Thank you for coming back,” he whispers hoarsely. “That’s what I want too, and I love you, Laurelin. In all of your incarnations, rich and poor.”
I swallow hard, still struggling to speak. “Thank you for forgiving me.”
He nods. “How could I not? You’re the mother of my child, and the woman whom I adore. But no more lies,” he growls, “or I’ll tan your pretty little hide and you won’t be able to sit for a week.”
I swat at his arm then, and he laughs.
“I didn’t know tanning a girl’s hide was a thing,” I manage in half-tears and half-laughter. “What does that entail, pray tell?”
He chuckles too and then suddenly, we’re kissing ravenously while holding each other in the new nursery. Soon, our hands are everywhere, and he’s tearing at my clothes with the hunger of a man reclaiming his woman once more. Tate growls and roars at the moment of climax, even as those blue eyes glow into mine.
“Always,” he promises. “Never leave me again, Laurelin. I love you.”
I smile tearily even as I begin to climax myself.
“Yes, I love you too, Tate Connor” is my vow. “Always.” And with those words, our life together begins.
Epilogue
Tate
* * *
Eight months later.
“Okay, Daddy,” Rachel says, looking at me seriously. “I’m going to need you to stay calm.”
“I am calm,” I lie.
The spare room on the first floor has been transformed into a home birther’s dream. The light is low and dreamy; soft, twinkling music plays on the surround-sound speakers; and white curtains float at the windows. Lavender essential oils, which I’ve told are soothing, waft throughout the air. The only thing out of place is the huge inflatable pool in the middle of the room, and in it, screaming bloody murder, is my gorgeous girlfriend Laurelin.
“This hurts so bad!” Laurelin shrieks. “Oh my god!”
Her friend Rachel nods encouragingly. “I bet,” she says, her voice level. “But that’s okay, Laurie. As your midwife, I can say with 100% certainty that you’re going to get through this, and that you’re going to have a beautiful baby!”
“It’s true,” I growl, my voice shaking only slightly. “With how hot you are, and how hot I am, how could it not be a gorgeous baby?”
“I don’t care how hot my baby is!” Laurelin bellows. “I just want this thing out!”
At the shout, Channing pops his head inside the door. His wife Jolene is home with their own baby girl, but he decided to come by to check on his sister. Cradled inside his arms is Toodles, my girlfriend’s tabby, who came to live with us six months ago. I’ve never been a cat person, but I’ve made an exception for this mischievous ball of fluff.
“Everything okay in here?” Channing asks as Toodles meows his own concern.
“Does everything look okay?” Laurelin booms. “I’m about to push an entire human baby out of my vagina!”
To his credit, Channing quickly shuts the door and disappears.
Laurelin was blessed--and, okay, I was blessed, too--with a relatively smooth pregnancy. The past eight months have been nothing short of blissful. Watching her belly, her breasts, and her ankles get bigger was a joy, and I reveled in the knowledge that I put the baby in her. Even better, pregnant women are horny, and Laurie had me doing my duty twice, if not three times a day.
But at the moment, my girlfriend seems possessed.
“I hate you!” Laurelin screams in my direction, her face beet-red and screwed up in exertion. “This is all your fault!”