Mal blushed and took another bite. “Not really, no.”
“I do.” He slowly started around the island toward her. “I love you in flannel.”
Mal swallowed before she was ready, purely out of instinct. “Just in flannel? That’s good to know.”
Hunter chuckled in a low, warm tone, his eyes still on her.
“Wait,” Mal warned. “Wait. Cereal in hand. Lemme finish.”
“Hurry,” he suggested.
She pointedly took another bite, which he approved with a nod. “What did Audrey want?”
That shut him down, and his posture eased at once. “Oh. Abby’s got a new gig. Believe it or not, she’s going to interview Reed Summerfield.”
Mal grinned at that. “No way, really?”
“Why does that make you happy?” he asked, his tone tense. “He’s a partier and a playboy, Hollywood royalty.”
“Yes, I know,” she replied, rolling her eyes again. “He’s also decently nice when he’s not being that, and he still emails me project pitches.”
“Does he?” Hunter growled.
Mal scolded him with a look. “Down, boy. He’s perfectly professional, even by your standards. And it would be a good op for Abby. Everyone will buy it. When is it?”
“To be determined,” Hunter said, his tone and expression returning to normal. “Reed is very busy.”
“No doubt he is.” Mal took another bite of cereal and sighed, looking out of the kitchen to the pictures on the wall.
One of their wedding pictures was front and center, and it was her favorite shot. Taryn and Dan had taken them, and though they hadn’t been her assistants anymore, they had insisted on doing it for them. Not wanting to recreate Jenna and Tom’s wedding in any way, they’d kept things small and intimate. They had married on his parents’ estate, though she was the only one who called it that.
“It’s just a house,” they all said.
The word house would refer to half of the place, but not the whole of it. Very estate-like, especially with the garden and fountain in the back. Still, it had been perfect—simple, elegant, and without any fuss—and everyone important to them had been there.
And now, just five months later…
“Mallory.”
She jerked to look at Hunter, the milk in her bowl sloshing onto her thumb. “What?”
Hunter smiled warmly. “You’re drifting. You okay?”
Mal’s stomach clenched, and she chewed on the inside of her lip for a moment.
Well, when the time was right…
She carefully set the cereal down on the counter behind her, then turned back to face Hunter, folding her arms. “Actually, no.”
“No?” Hunter asked at once, his eyes raking her over. “What’s wrong? Are you sick again? You shouldn’t have dairy so soon after, you know.”
Mal laughed to herself and shook her head, taking a few steps forward. “No, I’m not going to be sick again. At least, not right now. Probably a lot more for a few weeks. You’ve been getting up early for the past little bit, so you’ve missed my usual morning bouts, but I’m told it’s all pretty normal.”
“What’s normal?” His eyes were wide and confused, completely clueless as to what was coming.
Mal paused, cherishing the anticipation even as fear licked at her. “I was late, and I never am, so I wondered, but then I started feeling off, so I was pretty sure…”
“Mal, baby, stop playing.”