Page 125 of Pucking the Enemy

“You need to drink more,” Phillip encouraged from where he was leaning against the doorframe. “I’ve hardly seen you drink anything today.”

“It’s difficult when your gigantic child is squishing every one of my organs!” I growled, grabbing a throw pillow and tossing it at him.

He batted it away with ease. “You’re just uncomfortable. How about a shower and nest cuddles? Seb and Cormac will be home soon, and I can get them to bring Chinese food. Have your Braxton Hicks been getting worse?”

I groaned. “That does sound good, but I have a few bits of classwork to finish before I can take time off with the baby. The Braxton Hicks are the same—if this is practice labor, I’m scared for the real thing.”

“Okay.” Roman kissed the top of my head. “How about we cover the sofa in blankets, make you a mini nest you can work in, and get you Chinese food?”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I spoke. “That sounds annoyingly good.”

“We want our omega to be comfortable,” Roman said, leaning forward and kissing the mark he had left on my neck. The simple touch made my body feel mushy with need.

“No!” I shouted, shoving him away. “My body aches and my back is on fire, thanks to carrying around your heffalump of a child. There will be zero sexy times happening right now, so stay the heck away from my marks,” I growled at him.

His only response was to pout. All of the guys had been obsessed with their marks, and I couldn’t really blame them. I loved seeing my marks on them.

Being bonded was amazing. We were now so attuned to each other, I could sense their emotions, and they could sense mine.

Not that mine made much sense, thanks to pregnancy hormones running riot in my body.

“Have you heard anything from your mother?” I asked, turning to look at Roman as I rubbed my stomach.

“Nothing yet. Terry is certain that a judge will throw out the case the moment he sees it, especially now that we’re bonded.”

“I don’t like waiting,” I grumbled, hissing when the baby moved.

“Are you okay?” Phillip asked, crouching down in front of me.

“Fine, the baby is just having a dance party in there,” I grumbled, taking his hand and guiding it to the spot on my belly with the most movement.

He grinned. “She’s a wiggler.”

“Could still be a he,” I grumbled.

“We really should have found out.” Roman laughed as I shook my head.

Everything was getting more difficult, and it was making me easily irritable. Walking up a set of stairs left me huffing and puffing like I had just run a mile. I had near-constant acid reflux, and my belly was now so large, I couldn’t sleep comfortably or even walk properly.

I was waddling like a bloated, cranky duck.

The guys were taking it all in stride, though. The nursery was set up and ready, despite me constantly rearranging it.

Cormac had bought several books on what to expect with a new baby, and I had found all the guys reading them at various times.

“Don’t you guys have an away game soon?” I asked with a frown.

“I’m staying back,” Phillip said. “Coach agreed that one of us will always be home, so we are going to rotate.”

“Can I come to the next home game? I want to see Sunny again.”

“Sure, if you’re up to it.”

Sunny and I had been texting fairly regularly. Mostly, it was me moaning about how large and pregnant I felt, but she had some amazing advice about teas that helped heartburn and sleeping positions that actually worked.

Through our conversations, I had found out she was totally on her own—no alphas in sight—and I hated that for her. She seemed happy enough, though, and I didn’t feel like I was close enough with her yet to pry into why she was alone.

Groaning, I threw my head back as the baby moved again. My insides felt bruised and battered.

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