“Oh, geez,” he laughs, taking my hand and leading me back towards the couch. “How many buckets of ice cream have you gone through?”
“None,” I snap. “I’ve been healthy, remember.”
Rivers’ eyes bulge out of his head. “Shit. I don’t know which is more surprising. The fact that you’re seven months pregnant or that you haven’t been binging on ice cream.”
“Shut up,” I laugh, swatting his arm.
He falls into the couch, pulling me down beside him while being as gentle as can be. Rivers curls an arm around me, drawing me into his chest when he notices the design on the blanket and the cushion covers. He picks one up and studies it with a fond smile. “Shit. I can’t believe you actually did this.”
“Yeah, the second the idea popped into my mind; I couldn’t resist. I got us matching pajamas too.”
“Fuck me,” he groans. “I’m assuming you’re going to force me to actually wear them?”
“You’re damn right, I am.”
Rivers rolls his eyes as I relax deeper into him. “You’re fucking lucky that I love you,” he murmurs making a wicked grin spread across my face.
“Just you wait until you discover all the other things I’ve been doing to keep myself busy over these past few months.”
A horrified expression cuts across his handsome face before he shakes it off and begins on the questions that I have no doubt have been plaguing his mind over the last seven months. We talk about everything. I tell him step by step how the pregnancy has been, I fill him in on the Spencer and Lacey situation, give him an update on his mom, and share all the juicy gossip on Henley and Noah, though, there really hasn’t been much.
He tells me about his mission and while some of it seems downright terrifying, all he manages to do is get me hot. I mean, I’m a woman with needs and after thinking about my badass, soldier boyfriend absolutely killing it out there, I seem to be unable to control myself.
“Come on,” I tell him, lacing my fingers through his before pulling myself up off the couch and dragging Rivers along with me “It’s getting late. We should go to bed and then we can see everyone in the morning. Candice can cover me, Noah’s on a late shift, and I’m sure Henley can go in late. It’d be great to have just the four of us together again.”
“Whatever you want, you got, Tullz,” he tells me as he follows me down to my bedroom. “But you’re right. I should probably head over and see mom after that. I’m sure she’s been worried this whole time.
I roll my eyes, thinking about just how understated that comment was. “You have no freaking idea.”
“Oh, no,” he groans. “I hope she hasn’t been bugging you.”
“No, not in the least,” I tell him. “She’s been great. She’s so excited about being a grandmother.”
A fondness creeps onto his face as his eyes fill with love. “Yeah,” he says. “She’s going to absolutely love it.”
I push open the door of my bedroom and the conversation takes a dive, making me wonder what the hell is going on. I turn back to Rivers and take in his face, only to find it staring at my bedspread with a strange look that has his raging, jealous, alpha side coming out.
Rivers shakes his head before dropping my hand and muttering to himself. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Not a second later, Rivers storms straight back up the hallway and into the kitchen while I hear him opening and closing drawers until he’s striding back down with a pair of scissors.
I realize what his intentions are way too late and before I know it, he’s cutting up my Jason Momoa bedspread until there’s nothing left and looking down at it with a proud grin for a job well done.
Not a second later, he takes my hand and tugs me towards my bed, being careful not to let me fall. “From now on, I’m the only man you’ll ever need in your bed. Got it?”
Well, damn.
Heat floods me. What can I say? There’s something incredibly sexy about this man’s possessiveness over me. I crawl across the bed until I’m straddled in his lap with his hands at my waist. “You know, I think you might just need to remind me why you’re the only man I’ll ever need. I seem to have forgotten.”
“It would be my fucking pleasure.”
With that, he curls his hand up my back until it’s circles the back of my neck and he slowly lays me down on the bed. His lips move to my neck and he doesn’t stop until the neighbors know his name.
Chapter 19
Rivers
Tully grins down at me from where she straddles my morning wood, though morning probably isn’t the right word for it. I’ve slept half the day away out of pure exhaustion from the past seven months.