Page 78 of Peacock Me Like a Hurricane

I bat my lashes at her and grin.

“On that note, let me go or he’ll not have anything to do with me.” She stands and gives me a wink, heading out the door.

Before I even blink, he’s in the door and scooped me up to drop us on the bed with his face buried in my neck.

“Eek!” I sense for the martini and when I figure out that this one has also survived being spilled everywhere, I murmur, “Are you okay?”

~Feeling homicidal. Not sure why, but everything is eating at me. ~

He holds me and I brush kisses on his hairline. “Something bad happened?”

~No. I feel a bit lost. ~

“I missed you while you were away. Does that help?”

~Really? ~

I nod, looking down at him with a soft smile. “I did. I did some stuff at the house in the morning after we got back from hunting. I also had the talk with my family.”

~You told them? Even though the earliest we could know is Sunday from a blood test? ~

“Uh-huh. It was kind of amusing, but it went fine.”

~I got you something today. ~

“What did you get, baby?” I smile a bit, pretending that Talia hadn’t spoiled the surprise earlier.

He apparates a box, his smirk deepening.~Just a little something. ~

I take the box and sit back, looking like a kid in the candy store. “I’m going to get used to this present stuff.”

~It’s for when you get all roly poly—as you called it—with the wee one. If you still want her. ~

“Have we decided it’s going to be a ‘she’ then?” I wrinkle my nose, turning that idea over in my head and finding that despite my reservations—it’s a fifty-fifty chance—I like it a lot. I sure as hell like it more than everyone asking if I’m still sure I want her. “I still want her, especially given that she could already be here. We haven’t wasted any donation opportunities.” I grin and lift the lid on the box.

~It’s leather pants. I mean, lots of them in different sizes, made for when you get a little bigger and a little... and so on. I thought I’d head off a session of the doldrums when your favorite hunting duds get difficult. The touchy nit made some of them with an abomination that he says will stretch for you. I don’t know for spit, but he sure seemed to, so I let him do it. ~

My eyes light up and my face breaks into what is the cheesiest smile in the universe as I hold up what must be at least ten pairs of my favorite pants in different sizes. “How did you know?”

“I don’t enjoy seeing you upset. It occurred to me that in a movie, I might have seen a bird cry once because she waspregnant and couldn’t fit into her dress. I don’t want to walk in and find you crying about clothes.” He gives me a grin and I struggle not to thump him. His expression is innocent as I sigh in both adoration and consternation at the same time.

Everything inside me goes squish and I melt into him. “Oh, love, this is perfect.”

“I want her. You said Sunday, right?”

“I think so, baby. About three days from conception with a blood test is the closest to accurate we’ll get this soon.”

He frowns. “I’m going to have a lab coat on call for house calls. Plus, we have to shag a lot.”

I blink. “More than we do now?”

“What if we miss a chance because we’re not? In fact, we should do it now!”

I kiss his forehead. “Relax, baby. It’ll happen without us freaking out.”

“You aren’t humoring me, are you?”

I chuckle. “No. We have to come up with names.”

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