Barbarian's Bride (Ice Planet Barbarians)

"Did we wake you, my pretty one?" Dagesh asks, hovering over the furs and holding a hand out to me.

I push my hair out of my face—it got loose from my braid while I slept—and take my mate's hand. "How long was I asleep? How long have you been home?"

"It does not matter," he says in that easy way of his that tells me he's been letting me sleep for a while. He hauls me to my feet, effortlessly strong, and then curls a big arm around my back and puts a hand on my belly. He nuzzles my neck affectionately, his teeth scraping ever so lightly against my skin in the way he knows I love. "How do you feel?"

Better now. I suck in a breath, because it doesn't matter that I'm ridiculously pregnant and half-asleep and it's been a long day and he smells like sweat and hunting—I'm utterly turned on. I cling to him, wondering if we'll have another night tonight like last night, where I was too big and ungainly to do much, so Dagesh just murmured naughty things in my ear as he worked my clit until I came, quaking in his arms. "I feel good."

"Yes, you do," he teases. "Food is ready. Are you hungry?"

"I should be taking care of you," I protest. Some people might not like to be a homemaker, but I really love it. I love making my little hut snug and taking care of my loved ones. I love making sure that everyone around me is comfortable and happy. Maybe that's one reason why I'm so bad at being pregnant—everyone takes care of me instead of the other way around. "Take a seat. Let me fix up a bowl for you."

Dagesh presses a kiss atop my head and then steers me toward my normal seat by the fire. "Hush. You are tired and your belly is big. Let me take care of you."

It doesn't matter how much I protest. Within moments, I'm tucked in securely in the most comfortable seat in the hut, a bone-lattice making a firm back for the chair so I can relax against it. Anna tucks a thick fur around my legs while Elsa hands me a bowl of food, and Dagesh moves behind me and begins to braid my hair so it's out of my face. I want to protest again, but my mate's fingers on my scalp feel so good that I bite back a moan.

It's quiet except for the click of bone spoons against bowls as the girls eat and I manage a few mouthfuls of food.

"Have we been good enough for a story tonight?" Anna asks.

Oof. I was hoping they'd forget.

Dagesh just chuckles, dragging his fingertips along my scalp in a way that sends prickles up my spine. "I wondered why you two were so very quiet. Did you make a deal with your mother?"

"Mama said we could have the story of how you two resonated if we were good." Elsa holds out her empty bowl. "And I ate all my stew. That means I'm good!"

"Did she?" My mate sounds amused.

"Girls, take your bowls and wash them out please?" I say, and they race away to the far side of the hut, where our tiny “kitchen” is set up. The moment they do, I grab Dagesh's big hand. "Help me," I whisper. "They've backed me into a corner and they want to hear our story and all I can think about are the dirty parts."

He rumbles with amusement, and he sounds sexier than ever. This big guy can still make my toes curl with arousal even after eight turns of the season. We rarely argue, the sex is scorching, and he loves to rub my feet or my head and dote on me. I absolutely scored with this man.

"I will tell them our story, then," he offers and then leans in to nip at my ear. "But perhaps not all of it."

Oooh, he's frisky tonight. It doesn't matter that I'm heavily pregnant and feel ungainly—this man is absolutely getting the best hand-job in the world the moment the girls are asleep. I give him my best sultry look…and then my back cramps, ruining the moment.

"Come and lie down in the furs, my pretty No-rah," my mate says. "It is hard to carry our kit in your belly all day long. Do you want me to rub your feet?"

I groan, because I really do, but I bet he's tired. "I'm so sorry, Dagesh. I hate for you to wait on me. I'm terrible at being pregnant."

"You are perfect at it," he reassures me, helping me back over to the furs so I can recline. "In fact, you are so good at it that you did twice as much as everyone else on your very first time."