“I didn’t hear you complaining when we were making our pup. In fact, I seem to remember you screaming yes an awful lot.”
Thora giggled and dropped her forehead onto my chest. “Okay, so maybe it isn’t aaaallll your fault.”
“Thora?” Peppa’s concerned voice suddenly floated to the bathroom from the office, and my mate hopped off the counter to walk out the door. “Are you okay?”
Thora smiled weakly and nodded. “Yeah.”
Peppa studied her for a moment, then grinned. “I knew it. You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” I answered with a cocky lift of my lips, popping the P at the end.
“We don’t know for sure yet,” Thora added, rolling her eyes at me. But a smile played at the corners of her mouth. Until she looked back at her boss. “But if I am, I guess I’ll have to quit. I know you won’t be able to hold my position until after I have the baby, but—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Peppa interrupted, holding up a hand in a stop gesture. “No one is quitting.”
“But if I can’t stand to be around meat—”
“Thora,” Peppa cut her off again. “I had the same problem when I was pregnant with Arbor.”
“Rome,” I muttered. It made more sense not to get everyone confused with two Romes, especially since I lived in town half the time. But it still irritated me that they’d named their son after me and didn’t call him that.
Peppa ignored me and kept talking. “The doctor gave me some anti-nausea pills that worked like a charm. And the urge to vomit usually only lasts a month or two. If you need to take some time off until it passes, your job will be waiting for you when you’re ready to come back.”
Tears filled my mate’s eyes again, and even though I knew they were because she was happy, I still glared at Peppa for making my woman cry.
“You know I hate it when you cry, pretty baby,” I murmured as I put my arms around her and dragged her back against my chest.
“Well, you better get used to it,” Peppa snorted. “Pregnancy hormones are a bitch.”
Thora laughed. “Thank you, Peppa.”
“Of course.”
Thora’s hands covered mine where they were resting on her still flat belly. “A baby. I can’t believe it.” Her tone was infused with wonder and excitement, fueling my own happy emotions. The satisfaction of knowing I’d put my baby inside her didn’t decrease my want for her, though. If anything, it was even more intense.
Thora squirmed, and I knew she could sense my growing desire and felt my swollen cock against her ass.
Peppa cleared her throat and backed up toward the door to the office. “I’ll just leave you two to, um, celebrate. Try not to break anything. Take a couple of days off and go see the doctor, Thora.”
My mate nodded, her head bumping my chin since I’d been resting it on her crown. “Okay. Thank you again.”
Peppa waved off her gratitude. “Congratulations!” Then she was gone.
Once the door was shut, I turned Thora into my arms. “You heard the boss, we’re supposed to celebrate.”
Thora smirked as her hands slid up my chest to lock around my neck. “That’s what she said, so we’d better do it.”
Epilogue
Thora
I cooed at Danika and grinned when she grabbed my finger and held it tight while her curious eyes wandered all around her. My heart filled with warmth, just like it always did when I looked at my eight-week-old daughter.
“How are my gorgeous girls?” Rome asked as he sauntered into the extra room in our cabin that we’d turned into a nursery.
This was Danika’s first trip to the wilderness because we’d decided to stay close to town, near our doctors, while I healed, and she grew a little stronger. Our baby girl had been enthralled with her surroundings ever since we arrived, and I knew she was going to love it up here as much as her mommy and daddy.
“We’re amazing,” I said with a happy sigh as I dropped my head back for a kiss when Rome came up behind me.
“Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?” he asked softly.
I pretended to think hard. “Not in the last…oh…thirty minutes or so.”
“Excuse my neglect,” he teased with a wink, then kissed me deeply, leaving me panting with need and anxious for Danika’s naptime. When he lifted his head, my sexy mate gazed down at me with no barriers blocking the depth of his emotion in his eyes. “I love you more than anything, pretty baby.” Then he tickled our daughter’s tummy and grinned when she gurgled something akin to a laugh. “And our little pup.”
Before I could say anything else, there was a loud, insistent pounding on our door. Rome scowled and muttered something as he stalked from the room. I followed but stayed back far enough that no one would see me, though I could still see the door.