Her mouth curved in a smile. “I suppose we’ll have to keep it more neutral, until we find out.” They still didn’t know the gender of their child, and the excitement sometimes kept Kyril awake. A daughter or a son? Either way, he knew it would be, like Hannah, a love of his life.
“Whatever you want.” He kissed her full on the lips, mindless of who might be watching, and then forced himself to stand. “I have an absurd number of meetings. Tell me over dinner what you’d like, and I’ll get you whatever you need.”
Hannah was already absorbed in the next page of that first magazine.
Kyril went inside and paused at the window, watching her hat tilt as she focused on the page. “Hameen.” He beckoned to Hannah’s personal security leader, who he’d long ago instructed to remain at a respectful distance so she’d feel like she had a bit of breathing room. “Take her a drink soon, would you? And move that umbrella over—I don’t want her skin to burn.”
* * *
Hannah was waiting for him when he stepped out of the shower, excitement plain on her face. She rose up on the balls of her feet, and her maternity sundress danced around her knees. “Finally.”
“Finally? I’d expected a little more adoration than that.”
She came toward him and slid a gentle hand over his arm, down to his wrist, and over his knuckles. “I adore you.”
Kyril tried to stop the stirrings below his waist, since she clearly had something else on her mind. “What has you so excited?”
“I have some things to show you.” Hannah disappeared as soon as he stepped into the combination walk-in closet and dressing room. While he dressed, Kyril could hear the soft thwap of magazine pages being arranged and rearranged. Had she already made a decision? Leave it to her.
When he emerged from the closet, she had multiple magazines spread out on the bed, flipped open to pages she’d marked by neatly folding the corners. Clearly, Hannah had spent the entire afternoon with these magazines. It would have taken at least that long to go through them all.
“I’ve narrowed it down to two options.” He breathed her in, the sunny scent of her clouding his mind. Pay attention—this wasn’t the time to get distra
cted. “I love this gray and white theme.” Hannah motioned to one magazine. “I’d change things to add in elements of this, here and here.” She tilted her head, considering. “But there’s something to be said for the blue. It’s so relaxing. A few things I’d change, but—” She looked up at him then, eyes wide and hopeful. “What do you think?”
Kyril stifled a laugh. “About the nursery?” He peered at the magazines. “Honestly, Darling, the man isn’t usually involved in decisions like this.”
Hannah nodded. “I thought you might say that.” She seemed to stiffen, brace herself. “But I want us to do this together. Okay? It’s important to me that we do this together.”
Kyril could not deny her anything. “Of course.” But first, he had to kiss her, had to feel her lips yielding to his. “I’ll be happy to help.”
Hannah relaxed into his arms, eyelids fluttering shut. “Maybe you could…help me with something else first.”
"Oh? More magazines to look at?" He couldn't help teasing her.
Shaking her head, she placed her hands on his chest for a teasing moment before sliding one down to cup his erection through his pants.
"I was thinking more about this." She squeezed his cock gently in her hand, and Kyril groaned.
How could he ever deny her?
* * *
“It’s simply not safe enough. Four out of five stars? The thing could collapse.”
Hannah sighed at him. “That’s not what that means. Mostly it just means that people didn’t like the colors.”
They were huddled together on the bed, the magazines spread over their laps, Kyril doing his best not to get drawn in by her creamy skin and delectable mouth for the third time that night. This was important work. The safety of his child depended on it. Their baby had to have the best crib, and the white one Hannah had chosen was not the highest rated. He’d researched it, his phone held tightly in his hand.
“We should choose based on which products have the best safety ratings.”
“Of course we should.” Hannah glanced up from the phone’s screen. “It’s a good idea. Of course we want the baby to be safe.” She pursed her lips. “But this crib has a fine safety rating. It’s highly rated. See?”
“Look at these reviews.” Kyril clicked down to the negative review section of the website. “These people are adamant. It’s not a good crib.”
“Fine,” Hannah said with a sigh. “Let’s look at the gray one.”
On and on, through cribs and bouncers and bassinets, Kyril found nothing but mixed reviews. By the time he happened upon the negative review section of a swaddle blanket, he dropped the phone to his lap in frustration.