Page 51 of Bodyguard Baby Daddy

“At what, though? Who‘re these Russians? What’s the note?” I ask, intertwining my fingers and scratching nervously at my leg.

Sebastian pauses for a few beats and then makes himself sit up again, against my wishes. “On the trip, do you remember when we stopped for lunch?”

“You asked Leandro about the Russians, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I guess my head is a little rocked.” Sebastian sits back again. His breaths are short, I can only guess that his ribs have been bruised or broken. I hope for the former. “Well, the note is from some other family. I’d begun to think that after our drop off, and I always meant to ask him who he’d worked for up North. Now that he was feeling better, he was always in a more of a talking mood. But I didn’t, I forgot. And then it came out when he was having a go at me. Turns out he’d been having us followed.”

“What?” the word shrieks out of my mouth in shock. “I mean, what?”

Sebastian shakes his head. “I know. He denied it—the following, but he knew we’d been doing all this stuff together. Said he’d seen evidence of us at the restaurant, the beach, and the cafe.”

The words sound so foreign to my ears. My brother is hiring a private investigator? Carlos has never been one to get nosey, he’s always confronted a problem head on. “But why use it against us if he then denies it?”

Sebastian shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, he was pissed that we didn't tell him. It wasn't the only thing we fought over. He seemed off anyway. Which is why I know he wasn’t being fully honest about the Russian thing.”

“How was he off?” I fold my arms now. Of course my stupid ass brother is going to go and make a mountain of trouble. But Sebastian shrugs. “He’d been rereading some letters. I dunno.” Sebastian now looks at the tv and console that’ve been on the whole time. “Worst part is that he kept calling me a backstabber. He kept saying it was me ruining him, like all his problems are my fault.”

“That sounds like the Carlos I know.”

“Yeah, but it pissed me off because this isn't wrong.” He swivels round now and looks up at me. “I want to take care of you. I want to marry you. I would never consider what I’m doing backstabbing because all I want to do is love you.”

Of everything he’s just said, all my dumb ears hear is the end. “You love me?” I ask.

Sebastian smiles. “That’s all you heard?”

I grin. “Sorry. It’s just that no one’s ever said it to me before.”

Sebastian leans over despite his pain and kisses me tenderly. Our lips come together like cushioned magnets. “That’s what I told him, though. He was saying I was a backstabber, and I told him that this was not what I wanted. I wanted us to move forward with this. I wanted us to be stronger. I told him I loved you because—”

“I’m pregnant,” I blurt.

Sebastian stutters to a stop, and his eyebrows convulse in surprise. “What?”

“I’m pregnant,” I repeat, more slowly and a hell of a lot quieter.

“When did this happen? When did you find out? How?”

“This morning. I was on my way here to tell you. I just—well, these last few weeks have been so tough. And missing you has made me sick to the core, you know? And well, I thought the nausea was just me being overly dramatic. But after it hung around for the second week, and became a bit more intense, I well—” I go quiet now. I’m stumbling a lot and insanely nervous. I keep frigging saying ‘well’.“ So I hightailed it down to the corner store and bought some tests…”

Sebastian is shaking his head and grinning. “And you waited until now to tell me?”

“Before didn’t exactly seem fitting.”

He laughs. Then he laughs harder even though it hurts. He hugs me. “You mean I’m gonna be a dad?”

“Well yeah. I mean, it’s probably like seven weeks old. But I’ve been searching on my phone since peeing on the sticks and—”

“Seven weeks old? I’ve got a kid who’s seven weeks old, and we’re talking about your brother?” Sebastian jumps up, grimacing only slightly, and then pulls me up.

We just smile at one another for a solid minute while holding hands. Sebastian pulls my hand up to his mouth and kisses it. Even covered in blood, and with a swelling face and bruised body, he still looks like the most beautiful man in the world to me. I start grinning like an idiot. Joy spreads through my body, and the nerves are replaced with joy. “You love me,” I utter.

“You love me too,” Sebastian pulls me in close. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been rushing over here to tell me.”

“Like I wouldn't rush over just to see you.”

Sebastian laughs and hugs me harder. We kiss and spin.

We keep grinning. The whole fight with my brother was all but forgotten.

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