Page 76 of Cruel Love

She chuckles. “A few hours, I think.”

“Couldn’t sleep either?”

Her head shakes. “Coffee is fresh.” She winces. “And caffeinated. Sorry, I don’t know the rules about that…”

“Neither do I.” I set the bottle down on the table. “But I’ll risk it.”

I pull myself out of bed and wander over to the tiny coffee station next to the TV. I fill the second mug nearly to the brim and turn around just in time to see Dani’s eyes flick away from me.

“Well…” I say, breaking the tension as I sit back down on my bed across from her. “I call dibs on the award for Most Immature Freak-Out.”

“It’s all yours.” She smiles. “Actually, watching you freak out makes me feel pretty good about myself, so if you’ve got more freaking out to do…”

“Hard pass.”

“Fair enough,” she says with a chuckle.

“I don’t know what happened,” I say, holding my coffee up to my nose. “I guess… I wasn’t ready to be back here again.” Dani’s head tilts. “The last time I was in Vegas, me and Box—”

“Got married!” she finishes. “Of course.”

I nod and take a sip. “Those memories plus, well…” I point at my stomach.

“Massive freak-out.”

“Right.”

“Just try and relax,” she says, grimacing. “Take it easy. I know that’s the worst possible thing anyone could say, especially me. I’m barely keeping it together myself, but…”

“It’s true.” I sigh. “Last night, I was all about just hitting that reset button.”

“What are you thinking today?” she asks.

I inhale a deep, steady breath as my lips curl slightly. “I’m thinking that my husband and I have been married for two years and maybe it’s time. Okay, sure, out of those two years, we’ve spent a grand total of about twenty days together, but…” I chuckle and Dani laughs with me. “I don’t know if that matters. We love each other, we got married because we loved each other, and this baby was conceived because we loved each other. What could be wrong with that, you know?”

“I get it.” She nods. “Fox and I have only been together a few months but after everything that’s happened, it feels like a lot more.”

“Honey, Fox has always been with you,” I say. “From the day I met him, it was all Dani all the time.”

Her eyes fall to her lap. “Maybe,” she says.

“Not maybe, Dani. Being away from you tore him apart. I guarantee he’s thinking about you right now and counting down the moments until he sees you again.”

She stares downward, barely moving as a shadow crosses her eyes.

“Dani,” I say. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she answers. She clears her throat and forces herself to look up but her eyes don’t reach mine. “Does he really want kids?” she asks.

I study the worry lines on her forehead. “Does that bother you?”

She pauses. “No, that’s just… not something I’ve ever had time to really think about.”

“You still have plenty of time to think about that kind of stuff, Dani.”

“You probably thought the same thing a week ago,” she says.

“Okay, yeah. Sure. This was not planned but that’s me and Box. We don’t plan shit,” I joke. “Things just happen with us. I follow him outside the barracks to scold him for wandering off and his tongue ends up down my throat. He shows up out of the blue with assassins on his ass and the next thing I know, he’s got me propped up on my kitchen counter and my panties are somewhere across the room.”

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