Page 77 of The P Arrangement

“Well, I—”

“Do. You. Understand?” I repeated. “Just remember, if we kick you out of our lives, you won’t see either of your grandchildren.”

My mother visibly swallowed, and she finally started to look worried. “Grandchildren?”

“Yes. Delaney is pregnant. No, that is not why we got married. We just found out a couple of days ago.” I didn’t need her assuming anything. But I wanted her to realize the stakes.

“I—I will try to be nicer.” My mother looked like she was physically in pain.

But it wasn’t good enough.

“Nope.” I started walking toward the door.

“Okay, okay. I will be nice.” She looked at Delaney and tried to smile.

It was awful and awkward, but at least I felt like she might really make an effort to be nicer to her daughter-in-law.

I smiled. “Thank you. But unfortunately, it’s time for you to go anyway.”

“But I haven’t even seen Paxton.”

“He’s not here at the moment, and I’m not going to pick him up for a little while yet. First, I need to take my wife upstairs and make love to her.”

Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Delaney’s eyes widened, and she clamped her lips together as she tried not to laugh.

“But you’re welcome to wait if you really want to,” I told my mother. I shifted my gaze to Delaney and let her know how much I wanted her. “I don’t know how long we’ll be though,” I said, keeping my eyes on Delaney but talking to my mother.

“Preston, I will be more respectful of your marriage, but there is no reason to be vulgar.”

I looked back at my mom and laughed. “That’s not vulgar. If I was trying to be vulgar, I would have said,I need to take my wife upstairs and fuck her until she can’t walk the rest of the night.” I ignored her horrified gasp. “But I didn’t. Now, if you will kindly leave. We can set up another time for you to see Paxton.”

Delaney’s skin was flushed, and her eyes were filled with heat.

“Actually…you know what? You know where the front door is. You can see yourself out.” I marched over to Delaney and grabbed her hand on my way upstairs. “Come on, baby. With you looking at me like that, I can’t wait any longer.”

We were halfway up when she paused to turn around. “Thanks for coming over, Rebecca. We’ll have to do this again soon.”

We hurried the rest of the way up before I burst out laughing. “You are horrible to taunt her like that.”

Delaney tried to look horrified, but she was also laughing. “Me? I’m not the one who said I was going to fuck me.”

I lifted a shoulder. “I know. I was trying to remain civil, but she gets under my skin too. And I think the five-year-old in me likes to push her buttons sometimes, especially since I couldn’t when I was little.”

“It was pretty funny.”

Pulling her into our bedroom, I yanked her close to me. “I love you, Delaney St. James.”

“I love you too, Preston St. James III.”

Lowering my head, I slanted my mouth over hers. I slipped my tongue in her mouth as I undressed her. When we were both naked, I walked her back until she hit the mattress and sat down.

I was ready to push her back and climb over her, but she stopped me.

Gently, she ran her hand over her name on my rib cage before kissing me there too. “I love that you never removed this or covered it up. I know it wouldn’t have been as easy to get rid of as my piercing would have been, but it doesn’t make it any less special.”

I placed my hand over hers on my side. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I had gotten it removed. You’re still tattooed on my heart.”

EPILOGUE ONE

---