Valentine (On Dublin Street 5.5)

They giggled at my conniving and nodded in agreement.

***

No matter how many times I stared into the mirror there was no way to change the image reflected back at me.

I grimaced.

It was probably just as well that it was my and Braden’s turn to babysit this Valentine’s Day. It was hard to feel sexy when I was six months pregnant.

“Little Ellie.” I patted my stomach, talking to my unborn daughter, something I did a lot. “You’re killing my mojo and all my best moves. Bad timing little fetus, bad timing.” It was possible I was a little inappropriate with the sharing sometimes, but I was counting on the kid not remembering any of our one-sided conversations during her time in my womb.

“What’s bad timing?” Braden sauntered out of our bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips. He’d just returned from the gym.

I immediately felt a tingling between my legs. My eyes hungrily followed a drop of water as it trickled down his abs.

And that was another drawback of being six months pregnant. I was freaking horny all the freaking time and yet I wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable enough to just jump Braden like I’d normally do.

That didn’t mean we didn’t have sex.

Because we did.

A lot.

My being pregnant did not turn off my husband. In fact it seemed to flip as much of a horny teenager switch in him as it did me. He got all caveman and possessive. In fact he might as well have worn a T-shirt with the words “Me Man. Me Put Seed In My Woman’s Belly. My Woman. Mine!” on it.

“Being pregnant on Valentine’s Day.” I bit my lip so I didn’t sigh in pleasure as he unwrapped the towel to give his naked body one last rub down before dressing.

I swear a little bit of drool dribbled down my chin as I fixated on his ass. He had a gorgeous ass. I loved grabbing it while he pounded into me. I shivered, lust fogged.

His naked ass disappeared inside his suit trousers and I pouted.

“Why is that an issue?” Braden turned around and I quickly lifted my eyes to his face. I was a little too late though and he smirked, having deduced I’d been ogling.

“You’re my husband.” I refused to be embarrassed for drooling over him. “I can objectify you if I want to.”

He snorted as he pulled on his shirt. “Why is being pregnant on Valentine’s Day an issue?” he repeated.

“Because I can’t wear sexy lingerie and heels and we can’t have rough, hard sex against a wall. You know… typical Valentine’s Day stuff.”

He finished buttoning his shirt and walked leisurely over to me, sliding his hands around my rounded stomach and drawing me as close to him as baby bump Ellie would allow. “You can still wear sexy lingerie and we can have slow, hot sex with you on your knees or faster, hotter sex with you riding me.”

“After we babysit.”

“All that time we could be having sex, and you made us stick to our babysitting promise.”

I glowered at him. “Believe me, the queen of pregnancy hormones agrees, but last year Ellie and Adam looked after Beth and Luke so it’s only fair we take a turn.”

He nodded reluctantly. “You’re right.” He kissed my nose and released me to finish getting dressed for a night of babysitting fun. “A quiet night in then.”

“Yup.” I made a face and rubbed my hands over my stomach. “You better be ten million times funnier than your brother and sister, and that’s asking a lot because they’re pretty darn funny.” I opened our bedroom door to go in search of said siblings. “Although we won’t tell them that because they get their ego from their daddy.”

“I heard that,” Braden called out to me as I wandered down the stairs to the second floor.

“You were meant to,” I muttered.

“I heard that too!”

I bugged my eyes out at my stomach as if Little Ellie could see me. “Jeez Louise, he has radar ears.”

***

Braden stood with his hands on his hips, surveying our large double sitting room. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

Three down, three to go.

Somehow, against all odds, we got Jarrod, Sophia and Bray sleeping in the nursery next to our bedroom on the top floor of the house. We had the main nursery on the second floor that was all ready for Little Ellie arriving, but Braden was determined to tire our remaining three kids out and didn’t want to wake up the younger kids while we did it.

He had a baby monitor tucked in his back pocket so he’d know if they needed us.

“How about a game of hide and seek?”

“Yes!” Will and Luke nodded excitedly.

Beth eyed us skeptically but it was that kind of ‘I really should act like I’m older and above it but I want to play’ skepticism.

“It’s me and Dad against you lot,” I said to her. “You can be their team leader.”

“No fair!” Luke crossed his arms in a huff.

“She’s older,” Braden said. “When Little Ellie comes along you’ll be older than her and therefore her team leader in games of hide and seek. It’s just how it works.”

Luke screwed up his face as he thought about it and clearly decided it made sense because he nodded. “Okay.”

“Now the wee ones are sleeping,” Braden reminded them, “So no squealing or shouting or waking them up. You’re sticking to the ground floor and the basement. The first and second floors are off limits to you three.”

The kids nodded, their little expressions so serious I couldn’t help but grin.

“Mum and I are hiding. You lot are seeking.”

“We’ll find you in under five minutes,” Beth boasted.

“You wanna bet on that?” I said.

She narrowed her eyes on me. “What’s the bet?”

“If I win I get foot rubs for the next four weeks. If you win I clean your room for you for the next four weeks.”

Beth’s eyes lit up. “We’re so winning this!”

Braden grinned at her confidence. “Right. Your mum and I have sixty seconds to find a place to hide.”

Beth played with her digital watch. “Okay… starting… Now.”

I grabbed Braden’s hand and we dived out into the hall. “Which way?” I whispered.

In answer he dragged me to the very back of the house to what used to be the servant’s staircase. When he started to go up them I tugged on his hand. “That’s totally cheating,” I hissed. “First and second floor are off limits.”