Page 63 of The Bourbon Bargain

“Happyanniversary,mylove.”I wrap Paige in my arms and kiss her as she stands in the kitchen, her heels already kicked off as she adjusts to being home from work.

We got here within minutes of each other, but the short wait to see her had me antsy and needing her in my arms. Who knew a year into our marriage I would still be anxious to have her against me, my hands on her body, my mouth on hers?

“Which one are we celebrating, again? The first wedding, or the second?” she grins up at me before rising on her tiptoes to press a kiss against my mouth.

“Both. We’ll start now and celebrate through the end of the year. I heard Paris is extra fun for New Year’s Eve. We could leave now and spend the rest of the month there.”

“You absolutely wouldnottake three weeks off from work just to celebrate our anniversaries. You’re a workaholic and would be climbing the walls after threedays.”

“I could find it in me to relax with you for a few weeks straight,” I argue just to be contrary.

“Remember our honeymoon? Even the warm ocean and our villa where I spent most of the time naked couldn’t keep you away from work the entire week. Besides, we can’t jet off to Paris right now; we have Christmas and this one to consider.”

My hands travel down her body to rest on the small bump at her front. It’s not even big enough to look like she’s pregnant, but a fierce love rises up in me every time I caress her belly knowingwe made that. It keeps dawning on me that she’s pregnant like I haven’t had two months to digest the news. It’s fucking wild that she is carrying our child, so little and precious, and that we will be parents in a few short months.

If I was protective of Paige before she got pregnant, now the urge to keep her safe is on a whole new level. I insisted she go back to driving the G-wagon despite having her own sportscar, and I assigned a security detail for any time she’s not at home or with me. I very much want her to stay safe, but part of my abundance of caution is the tiny baby inside who already has me wrapped around their finger. I have the first sonogram picture up in my office and stare at the tiny bean many times throughout the day. It’s too early to know the sex of our child, but I’m ready to spoil it rotten either way. But first, I must spoil my wife and my instinct is to convince her that she needs to go away with me right this moment so I can spend the next few days holding her in bed to make sure she gets the rest she needs while thanking fate for putting us together just over a year ago.

“We could work and play.”

“Paris is cold right now. Don’t you like the mild December we have here in Georgia? We should really just stay and enjoy it.”

I pull away and give her a skeptical look. She’s working extra hard to dissuade me from taking her on a vacation.Who does that?“What are you up to, wife?”

She casts innocent eyes up at me but can’t help the twitch of a smile that tugs at her lips—her tell that she is absolutely plotting and scheming in her best Southern belle Machiavellian way. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Is this because of the Christmas Eve dinner at The Mansion? We can come back before it or leave after the dinner is over if that is what is holding you up, but you know you don’t actually have to be there in person to make sure it runs smoothly.”

“You know for a fact I have to be there! I will not let this be the first year without a Fairchild host in over a hundred years. I won’t allow that.”

Her indignation is cute. She’s a board member for the entire Olympus Hotel Group, but she still maintains a soft spot for the hotels that were once her legacy. She took it upon herself to host this tradition and she’s grasped the reins as naturally as one would expect from her upbringing and as the daughter of an absolute hurricane of a woman who was intent on planning out every detail of Paige’s life.

But this first trimester has been hard on her. She’s often sick, and she’s always exhausted.

I double down on my resolve.

“I don’t like watching you work yourself to the bone each evening after a full day at Underworld Spirits. I’m more inclined to sweep you off to somewhere remote where you will have to rest and relax after all of this.”

“Actually, I have a surprise for you here in Atlanta and I can’t give it to you just yet, so we have to stay. If you want to leave as early as Christmas Day to go somewhere else, we can, but not before, please.” She bats her long lashes at me and gives me a coquettish grin that I can’t refuse.

I don’t particularly like surprises, but a surprise from Paige has me intrigued. It’s usually lingerie or something sexy, but I don’t think that’s the case for this one. “Just what have you got brewing, angel?”

“Something even you wouldn’t have thought to do for yourself.” Her smile is radiant and her joy at my lack of knowledge is quite evident in the shiver of anticipation that runs through her.

I’m slightly terrified.

“Is it a Christmas present or ajust because I was thinking of yougift?“ The two are one and the same, but Paige insists they are different and only accepts the latter from me now.

“Can’t it be both?”

“Not when we’ve agreed that lavish presents are not how we do things. If I can’t heap them on you, you won’t be allowed to do it, either.”

“Fine, I have been looking for just the right gift for you for the last year and I finally found it. You spoil me far too regularly to have any leg to stand on now if we’re going to argue about it.”

With a growl, I scoop her up into my arms and turn toward the stairs. “We are not arguing about this. There are not enough hours left in this day to spend even a few minutes arguing when I could just as easily strip you naked and fuck the surprise right out of you.”

“You are an impossible man, and this is why I have such a hard time shopping for you,” she grumbles, but she’s not actually upset. She leans her head against my chest and lets me carry her up the stairs to our bedroom.

“You love me all the same.”

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