Their daughter was due in just a few weeks, and Ary couldn’t wait. Not only was she having a little girl, but she was also an ocelot shifter. Heaven help her. She would be living with two bear shifters and now another ocelot, who probably had a fiery little attitude if her acrobatics in her belly were anything to go by. Charlie looked up at her and did that sexy little half-mouthed grin.
“Have I told you I love you?”
“Not since this morning, but I am always willing to hear it a second time, and a third and fourth.” He started massaging her other foot, and not even the sound of Cole banging his toys together, or the tea kettle screaming, could take her away from this one perfect moment.
“Well, Mrs. Charlie Wylde, I love you more than a fish loves water.”
She threw her head back and started laughing.
“You are so dang cheesy.”
He was grinning when he sat beside her on the couch and enveloped her in his big arms.
“Maybe, but I still mean every word I say.” Resting her head on his chest, she listened to his heart beating steady and strong. Yeah, she knew he meant it all, corny or not, and because of that, she loved him to the end of the world and back.
She couldn’t help smiling at the thought of that phrase. It had been what he told her the night he came back from Slater’s and poured his heart out to her in a poetic way.
His words might have seemed cheesy in context, but he meant them from the bottom of his heart, and she knew that without a doubt. He had given her a beautiful little boy and soon a little girl, and he constantly made her feel like the most cherished woman on the planet.
He was soft and gentle with her, but was also fierce and strong and protected her and Cole with every part of his being.
“You know what, Charlie?”
He smoothed his hand up and down her back. “What, baby?”
“I love you more than the flowers love the sun.”
He started chuckling, and everything came rushing back to her—the noise of Cole laughing and throwing his toys against the wall, and the sound of the tea kettle still screaming. She went to stand, but Charlie helped her back on the couch and went to the kitchen.
Even with her life hectic and boringly domestic at times, she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.