Taming Her Bad Boy

“Party time,” I laugh as he helps me into the passenger side of the car and closes the door for me.

Such a gentleman.

“Your parents will meet us over at the community hall, and my parents just had to run home first to grab Mom’s cellphone charger. You know she’ll freak out if she can’t use the camera on it every two seconds for the rest of the night.”

Cohen just chuckles as he climbs into the driver’s seat. He knows her too well, and he knows I’m right. “Hope you’ve got your perma-smile ready, Vienna Bradley.”

I look over at him, biting down on my bottom lip. “If you keep calling me that, I’ll keep smiling.”

He leans over, kissing me softly. “You’d better get used to it. You’re going to be using that name for as long as I can convince you to stay with me.”

My eyes narrow despite the lightheadedness I’m feeling from his lips on mine. “If that’s your way of saying forever, then I guess I’ll agree with you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he replies, then grins like a fool.

“You ready for this?” I set my flowers on my lap and pull his hand into mine, running my thumb over his knuckles. Anything to touch his bare skin. “The party, I mean. All the people waiting for us.”

“We’ve just got to get through the next few hours, then we’ve got our whole life to be together, just the two of us.”

“The two of us, huh?” My stomach tightens at the mere thought of getting him out of that suit.

Cohen leans over again and presses his mouth against my ear. “I’ll even let you have my tie, Vi, to use however you see fit.”

His warm breath on my skin is sending a tingling sensation over my body, straight to the innermost parts of me. “That’s very, very intriguing, Mr. Bradley, and really good to know.” I pull my head back slightly to meet his gaze again. “But that’s not exactly what I meant.”

One eyebrow shoots up, and he searches my face for answers.

“I meant, what if it’s not just the two of us?”

“Why wouldn’t—”

I’m waiting for some typical Cohen-type answer involving possible threesomes, but he must recognize the seriousness in my expression, and the anticipation in my tone. “Wait,” he says. “Are you saying—”

“I’m saying I’m pregnant, Co.”

“You’re pregnant,” he repeats, like he can’t quite comprehend what that means. Then suddenly his brain must start processing information again because his eyes come alight with excitement and he exclaims, “You’re pregnant!” Cohen dives toward me, kissing me fiercely and hugging me to him. “Jesus, Vi, that’s incredible. Absolutely fucking incredible.”

I laugh, and he presses his forehead against mine, his chest heaving with the excitement coursing through him. “So, I take it you’re happy about this, then?”

“Happy? I’m goddamn ecstatic, baby!” He kisses me again. “How long have you known?”

“Only about a week. But you were going to figure it out tonight anyway when I turn down the first glass of wine offered to me.”

“Jesus,” he whispers, reaching down to place his large hand over my stomach. “We’re going to have a baby, Vi.”

“We are,” I assure him, unable to stop grinning. Cohen will be a good dad, a great dad, and that thought has me feeling more emotions than I know what to do with. “So, I guess it’ll be just the three of us from now on.”

“I kind of love the sound of that,” he tells me.

“I kind of do, too.” It’s my turn to kiss him. “We should get to that party, Cohen. You know, being the guests of honor and all.”

“We probably should.” But his hand doesn’t leave my tummy, and he makes no move to shift his weight back into the driver’s seat.

“The sooner we get through that, the sooner we can go to the real party,” I advise him, smirking devilishly.

“The real party?”

“Yeah, the one where we spend the rest of our lives showing each other just how much we kind of love each other, too.”