Page 42 of Rekindled Desires

“Okay, seriously. What’d she do?” Gabi was watching us with wide eyed fascination.

“She convinced Jo to start trying,” Liam replied, his soft expression glued to his wife. She leaned back against him, closing her eyes when he kissed her forehead.

My eyebrows flew up. But before I had a chance to reply, Gabi spoke up.

“I guess we can be pregnant at the same time then.”

All eyes whipped over to Gabi and Dmitriy. Gabi was blushing hard and Dmitriy had a huge shit eating grin on his face, his arm tossed over the back of Gabi’s chair, posture relaxed. He probably felt like the king of the world.

Everyone congratulated them, someone breaking out a bottle of whiskey and handing out drinks. Jo and I leaned in close to talk over the noise.

“Seriously?”

Gabi nodded, biting her lip. “It was sort of an accident. My IUD failed.”

My expression turned thoughtful. “That’s why you said you weren’t feeling well this morning and you looked kind of pale.”

She agreed, lamenting about morning sickness and frequent bathroom breaks. Liam covered Jo’s ears.

“Don’t tell her that, she’ll change her mind.”

Jo snickered, batting his hands away. “Will not. I want to use the outfits Elizabeth got me.”

While Jo told Gabi about the outfits, Liam and Dmitriy discussed their wives and pregnancy. Jaime complained loudly that it wasn’t fair, I was stealing his best friend and James swatted at him again. Isn’t this supposed to be a house full of criminals? I watched them in avid fascination, leaning against James. They should seriously make an anime about this place, it was insane.

When Gabi’s stomach turned again, Dmitriy demanded she go home and rest. She looked like she wanted to argue until he wrapped his arms around her, whispering something in Russian. She melted and I almost had to look away. They are so cute.

“So, Elizabeth, James, do you guys want kids?” Jo raised an eyebrow, smirking at me.

“Nope.”

“Not really, no.”

We answered at the same time and I leaned against him with a sigh. That was a conversation that I was worried about having. I always figured sooner was better with that kind of stuff but I was always too embarrassed to bring it up.

Jo frowned. “Why not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really have the lifestyle for kids. I prefer to play video games and buy nerd stuff. It just never felt like a thing I wanted to do.”

Jo slid her eyes over to James.

“I work a lot,” he remarked.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not a real reason. But I guess it doesn’t matter since you guys seem to agree on it.” She leaned against Liam, looking over her shoulder at him suspiciously.

“You work a lot too. If you leave me at home with the kids all day, I’m going to kick your ass.”

He kissed her temple. “I would never do that to you. Besides, when I’m not home you have Marcus and Andre to help you. Deirdre told me Marcus is excellent at changing diapers.”

She looked thoughtful. “Okay, I guess that’s not so bad. I still want you home though.”

“I’ll make it work.”

And I had no doubt he would. Liam was dedicated to Jo, his eyes almost constantly on her. When we were at the convention, I watched them together. He seemed to move in an orbit around her, blocking people from getting too close to her. Dmitriy seemed to part the seas with his intimidating nature but Liam was more subtle. I couldn’t tell if that made him more dangerous or not.

“Speaking of video games, what’s in the bag?” Jaime pointed at the bag by James’s chair. We still hadn’t opened it, too distracted from the craziness of the afternoon. I noticed him squinting at it more than once.

“James’s new Switch.”

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