Page 8 of Guarded

She nodded, praying he would be as excited about this as she’d hoped. Of the two of them, he was the natural parent. She had a steep learning curve to navigate before the baby was born. “I took two tests when I got home. Both positive. I’ll go to the doctor to double check and make sure everything’s okay, but yeah. Looks like we’re having a baby.”

An elated smile broke over his face, filling her with warmth. “Oh my God,” he said on a laugh. He pressed his face into her hair, curving those hard, powerful arms around her hips to hold her tight. Another soft laugh shook him. “I can’t believe it.”

Smiling, she stroked his hair. “I know, it happened really fast.” Way faster than she had expected. Now it was a bit of a shock to the system, with the ultimate deadline looming in the distance. In less than a year from now, her whole world would change.

Matt eased her feet to the floor and straightened to stare down at her. His eyes were wet, and not from the shower.

Oh…Something caught in her chest. The sight of her strong, commanding husband standing there with tears in his eyes because he was overwhelmed with emotion turned her heart upside down.

“Don’t cry,” she murmured, wrapping her arms tighter around him.

He shook his head and slid an arm around her back, stroking her wet hair away from her face. “I just… I’m overwhelmed.”

Briar rested her cheek on his sturdy shoulder, loving him even more, thrilled that the news had made him so happy. “I know. Me too.” It thrilled her to be able to give them this. Matt had wanted a family for a long time and he’d been through so much, losing his first wife while she was pregnant with their child.

He’d grieved for them for a long time, and though he had moved on with Briar, he would never completely get over that loss. She had struggled with that initially, due to her own insecurities that she kept well buried, but now she understood why it would always affect him and didn’t begrudge him for it.

She kissed the edge of his jaw, rubbed her cheek against the rough stubble there. “So you’re happy?”

He nodded and hid his face against her hair again, seemed to struggle with himself as he held her.

It made her smile. She had known he would be deeply affected by the news, hoped he would be happy, but he was even more emotional about it than she had expected.

After a long moment he released her and eased back to blow out a deep breath. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Little tired, but not sick. I’m actually hungry all the time.”

He splayed a big hand over her abdomen, his expression awed. “How far along are you?”

“Almost five weeks.”

“So you’re due when?”

“Early January, I think. I’ll find out for sure when I see the doctor.”

A crease formed in the middle of his forehead. “What about your heart?”

There was no mistaking the deep concern behind the question, or the reason for it. “Matt, my heart is fine. I’mfine.”

He didn’t look convinced. “When do you see the doctor?”

“Thursday morning.”

He nodded once, his eyes burning with that familiar protectiveness she recognized all too well. “I’m coming with you.”

“Hey.” She reached down to take his hand. Laced their fingers together. “Babe, I’m fine. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

“Yeah.”

But he didn’t sound convinced and she knew him better than anyone walking this earth. And so she sensed the buried fear warring with the protectiveness in him. The ghosts of his former loss fighting with the vow to her written in his gaze.I won’t let anything happen to either of you.“Are you happy too?” he asked.

“Yes.” She lowered her gaze to the center of his sculpted chest, his HOG’s tooth bullet resting on his wet skin. “I’m nervous too. I don’t know anything about how to be a mother, and barely know anything about kids. I don’t want to screw it up.”

She had only a handful of memories of her own mother, and fewer still of her father. After losing them in the car accident she had been taken straight into the Valkyrie Program. There had been no nurturing there. Her trainers and handlers had done their best to turn her into a stone cold killer with her rifle, deprogramming any maternal instinct she might have had out of her. For their baby’s sake, she hoped there was still a bit of it buried inside her somewhere.

Matt tucked a finger beneath her chin and tipped her face up until she made eye contact. “You’re going to be a fantastic mother.”

She sure as hell hoped so. But his confidence in her was a definite boost. “Well, I figure if I can love you this much, then maybe I have what it takes after all.”

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