Page 57 of Silver Fox Firefighters Next Door

I wrapped my arms around Tate next. “I’m not arguing with him. Don’t believe him if he says I was. And I just brushed my teeth.”

I’d just brushed my teeth because I’d just thrown up. Morning sickness, my ass.

Tate squeezed my ass and took his time kissing me hello. “How was work? Did you go see Billie and the babies?”

I watched him move to Turtle after letting me go and scratch the dog’s head. “Work was fine. I didn’t get much done. And I figured I’d let Billie recover with her guys for a couple of days before I go over.”

“Should we get a dog? I love this dog. He gives serious side-eye.” Tate glanced back at me. “Are you sure you two weren’t fighting?”

Aiden rolled his eyes before picking me up and kissing me. He groaned into the kiss and took his time with me before easing back. “God, I needed that.”

“Why was it a long day?”

“We had a surprise inspection and then training for the second half of the day. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the Sheriff’s Department hadn’t joined us.” Aiden shook his head. “Your grandfather is a pain in the ass. I love the old coot and I’ll forever be in his debt for luring us here, but fuck. He sat on my back and demanded I do my pushups better.”

“And he called you his sweet, bouncing, baby boy in front of everyone.” Tate laughed. “That was great.”

Grandpa had fallen in love with teasing the guys. He was really, really good at it. I stroked Aiden’s hair off his forehead and bit my lip. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Nash stuck his head back into the room from where he was stripping down in the kitchen. “Oh, yeah?”

“I didn’t realize you’d been called a bouncing, baby boy, too.” I laughed at the scowl Nash sent me. “Of course, I’ll make it up to you, too.”

Tate tugged his shirt over his head and dropped it on the ground. “I’m serious about the dog. We’ve been together for a year. I know you’re all anti-planning now, Evie, but maybe we could take the next step of getting a pet together?”

“I’m not sure you’re mature enough to take care of a pet, Tate.” Nash opened the fridge and pulled out three beers. He walked back over to me, butt naked, and grinned after taking the cap off of his beer with his teeth. “Do you want a pet? We’ll do whatever you want, baby.”

I cast a look at the dog and frowned. “Maybe a less judgy dog wouldn’t be so bad.”

“I’m convinced you two are in a fight. He hasn’t stopped giving you looks.” Tate patted Turtle’s head and took a beer from Nash. “And I’m the only one out of the three of us fit to raise a dog.”

I swallowed. The sense of panic I felt wasn’t lessening. If anything, it was growing larger. Looking around the house at the mess they’d made just in coming home, I accidentally let out my internal thoughts. “You guys are so messy. We can’t have a dog in this house. You leave your stuff everywhere and a dog could choke on it.”

“A dog could choke on our clothes?” Aiden tilted his head as he watched me, a sign that he was processing something.

“Yes! We’re not ready for a dog. We haven’t planned for a dog, you know? I’ve been so busy taking things one day at a time and I don’t know what to do with a dog. And what if we get a dog and we’re bad at it? What if this only works because we don’t have a dog? Or plans? What if we get a dog and we can’t handle it? You can’t just give a dog back! We can’t have a dog yet. We’re not ready!” I shoved my hair behind my ears and paced away from them. “Look at the house. Choking hazards everywhere. A fire could happen. The outlets. The dog could get trapped under the couch or in the dryer. It could get lost under your clothes or it could eat the food you all drop on the floor without noticing when you’re cooking. What then? What if we kill our dog with human food it found on the floor?!”

Tate cleared his throat. “I’m picking up a lot here.”

“Like we’re messy and it’s getting on your nerves.” Aiden winced.

“And that you’re damn near hyperventilating. Over a dog.” Nash moved closer to me. “But it doesn’t feel like this is about a dog.”

“Or our mess.” Aiden looked around. “We’re not that bad, are we?”

Tears filled my eyes but I let out a choked laugh. “You’re worse than that bad! You guys wouldn’t know a hamper if it bit you on the penis.”

“I think she’s starting to see we’re not perfect, guys. What do we do?” Tate smiled gently at me. “Baby, whatever’s going on in that head of yours, I need you to spell it out.”

“I’m pregnant.” I wiped my nose and sniffed as tears streamed down my cheeks. “I took a bunch of tests and they all came back positive. I didn’t mean to get pregnant. I know we weren’t planning for this. We never even had the conversation. We skipped the pet and I’m freaking out because I’m not sure you guys are going to want this.”

Nash let out a loud whoop and picked me up with his arms around my thighs. “You’re pregnant? You’re pregnant with our kid?”

I nodded, still crying and leaking snot, my hands clinging for dear life to his shoulders. “I am.”

“Maybe you weren’t planning for this, Evie, but we sure as hell were!” Tate beamed up at me, his eyes suspiciously glassy, too. “You’re serious, right? You’re really pregnant?”

“You’re not upset?”

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