Dirty Thief

Zee is going to be so pissed. It’s been way more than a second since I told Rowan the results of the pregnancy test. It’s actually been about… I look over at the clock and see it’s been about twelve hundred seconds.

I’m lying on my back, and my sexy husband is naked beside me. He kisses my ribs, and I laugh. He moves higher to suck one of my nipples into his mouth, and I squeal. Tingling heat is still radiating from where he gave me the most mind-blowing orgasm with his mouth.

“What shall we name her?” he says, leaning on his hand and looking down at me.

I smile up at him, twisting my finger in the dark hair around his neck. “You think it will be a girl?”

He places his palm on my flat stomach, spreading his long fingers over my skin. “I’ve been watching Cal with Belle, and I think it would be fun to have a little princess.”

“She would have you completely wrapped around her chubby finger. Exactly like Belle has Cal.”

My phone buzzes once. Before I can reach for it, it buzzes again. Then it buzzes again. “She’s pissed,” I laugh.

The first text is one word: Bitch.

Text #2 is, I’ve been chewing my nails trying to figure out how to make you feel better.

Text #3: You are the meanest sister.

“Oh no!” I cry, quickly typing back an apology, blaming my sexy husband, and telling her the positive result.

Rowan smiles as he watches me. “Two girls, I think.”

Setting the device aside, I turn to face him, sliding my palm over his scruffy cheek. “And I want two boys.”

“Sounds like we’re back to four in four.”

“Or we’ll have to compromise.”

* * *

Dinner is a celebration, only no champagne for me. The four of us spend most of the time over grilled fish and lobster tails discussing family names and trying to decide which we like best.

Cal, of course, is dragging up the worst from the Tate line. “We had an aunt Hernietta, I believe…”

I almost send sparkling grape juice through my nose. “As in hernia?”

“I’m pretty sure he made that up,” Rowan says with a grin.

“That’s nothing,” Zee says. “Our grandmother’s name was Flowinia.”

“That is completely made up,” I cry. “And even if it wasn’t, there’s no way in hell I’m naming my baby Flowinia.”

“Nice try,” Cal quips, and Zee only laughs.

“Hernietta was pretty good,” she says.

I reach out to slide my hand under Rowan’s beside me. He’s more relaxed and happy than I’ve seen him in a while, and warmth surges through my chest. We’ve had such a positive day in the face of all this negative.

At last, we’re saying good night and going to our separate chambers. Belle is once again asleep on her daddy’s shoulder, and Rowan has his arm around my back.

He pulls me close and whispers in my ear. “Nine months.”

Which reminds me. “I’ll need to make an appointment with Dr. Klein in the morning.”

“At some point, we’ll have to tell the queen mother.”

I do a little shrug. “I suppose the bulk of our trying is behind us now.”