Page 52 of Deep Waters
Like the Fae, I’d invited her in. I groaned under my breath. It was my own damn fault. I shook my head. Rae was fifteen feet away, probably getting naked. I needed to be there more than I wanted to haggle with my Gran.
“What do you want?” I asked shortly.
“To name your firstborn.”
“Done,” I retorted without thinking.
Nothing I agreed to was legally binding. And Gran tended to bestow nicknames whether we wanted them or not.
She yawned, stretching tall with Thumper in one hand until the muzzle struck the ceiling above. “Suddenly, I’m feeling very tired. I’m going to go rest these old bones. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Her intonation was fake as fake could be.
“Good night, Gran,” I said in my most deferential tone.
She could think she won. For now.
I slipped into the main bedroom, shutting the door behind me and leaning back against it. Rae looked up from her Kindle.
“Gran all settled for the night?”
I nodded, holding her gaze. Did I admit what I’d done? She looked cozy and adorable, clad in her tiny tank top, the soft swells of her breasts emerging from the neckline to tempt me. She’d taken out her contacts and put on her glasses. The frames accentuated her big brown eyes, softening them somehow. Making them bigger. Harder to lie to.
I cleared my throat, delaying the inevitable. Part of me was still bitterly disappointed that she and Simon hadn’t confided in me. Showing her trust, that she could trust me, seemed important. Even if it painted me as an idiot. One in way over his head in more ways than one.
Because, in my flip response to Gran, I’d realized I was willing to promise her anything for Rae’s safety and comfort. Not the naming rights for our firstborn, but just about anything else. I’d bargain with the Fae or the Devil himself for Rae. As long as we were together, everything else was just details.
I swallowed, easing the tightness in my throat. Rae frowned, and I realized she was still waiting for an answer. “You know I’m yours, right?”
Her expression softened before turning suspicious. “What did you do, Fenwick?”
I shifted. “I may have agreed that Gran could name our firstborn.”
Rae blinked. The shock on her face would have been comical another time. Like when my heart wasn’t on the line.
“Excuseme? I swear you just told me you gave your grandmother permission to name a baby. One that doesn’t even exist yet.”
She looked more confused than pissed, which I took as a win.
“You said ‘yet.’” I gave her my most charming grin. “Does that mean you’d consider it?”
“Letting Gran name our baby? No.”
“You said ‘our baby.’” My grin broadened. “Raelle Dawkins, are you gonna have my baby?”
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. But the way her lip twitched kept me hopeful. I loved it when she toyed with me. Even if these stakes were sky-high.
I held her gaze, picturing her round belly. She’d look impossibly cute pregnant. Would I be able to wrap my arms around them both? As if she could sense the direction of my thoughts, she flushed. Suddenly, I wanted that future so bad, I could taste it. A tiny infant with Rae’s sweetness. A family with her.
I stalked toward the bed, loving the way her eyes darkened. She dropped her Kindle on the bedside table. Climbing over her thighs to straddle her hips, I braced my hands on the wall above her head, leaning in until our mouths could almost touch. Until we were breathing each other in.
Rae’s pupils blew wide, an emotion I couldn’t quite name bending her features. Softening them.
“What’ll it be, Captain? I think we make a pretty great team. Pretty sure I was born to be your first mate.” I brushed a brief kiss across her mouth, pleased when she turned, trying to maintain contact as I drifted past to pull back. “I can see us doing it all together. But we have time.” I relented, wary of scaring her. She just got out of one long-term “relationship.” Maybe she wasn’t interested in jumping into another.
“That’s good,” she said faintly. “We’ve been together all of nine minutes, and word on the street is it takes at least nine months to hatch a baby.”
I chuckled, tilting her chin. “Word on the street, huh? Which street is that?”
