Page 77 of Protector Daddy

But I didn’t. Not because I didn’t trust his response. Right now, I didn’t trust myself.

I’d taken an early test. It had been negative. So, technically, as of now, there was nothing to tell. It wasn’t as if I felt any different. Those wives’ tales that ‘a woman could just tell’ so far seemed to be BS. All I could tell was that I really wanted more chicken tortilla soup.

And that sometimes there really was nothing better than being held. I’d never been someone who craved cuddling but along with being built for a woman’s pleasure, Christian was a grade-A level snuggler.

“What was her name?” I asked late in the night after I used the facilities and came back to bed.

“Who?” His voice was thick with sleep.

“Reagan’s mother.”

“Oh. She doesn’t matter, Honey.”

“Christian.”

He sighed. “Penelope.”

“Did you love her?”

“I thought I did.” Even in the darkness, his eyes were direct on mine. “I didn’t have a clue.”

I curled into his side and traced a heart over his chest before I pressed a kiss to his warm skin.

Boomer snuck his wet nose under my arm to stick his head between us. I laughed and looped my arm around his big head to plant kisses all over his snout. He licked my face excitedly, clambering onto Christian while he groaned and tried to cover his important parts with his hands.

Boomer dropped down between us and lifted his enormous head for more kisses. When he turned his back on Christian to block him from reaching me, I laughed even harder.

“Glad to see where I rate,” he muttered.

“I didn’t know how to tell you I only wanted you for Boomer.” I rolled onto my back and Boomer laid his head on my stomach adoringly.

“Think it’s obvious the feeling is mutual.”

I smiled but the warm haze from the night was already fading. “What time will Reagan get here?”

“Around ten.” He turned onto his side and propped his head on his hand. “I’m not forcing you into some mom situation. I realize how awkward this is for you. She’s almost eighteen.”

“As if I’d have more of a clue what to do if she was a baby.” Slowly, I stroked his dog’s downy soft head. “I want to meet her. Then we can go from there. Is that okay?”

“It’s more than okay.” He shifted toward me and leaned over to kiss me—until Boomer nudged him away and licked my cheek. “Hey, dude, she’s mine. Get your own woman.”

I laughed and kissed his pup’s nose again before leaning up to wrap my arm around Christian’s neck. Boomer made a disgusted noise and jumped off the bed with zero finesse, trampling half of my internal organs in the process.

I cradled my ribs, wincing through another laugh. “Ow.That hurt.”

“Let me kiss it better.” He peeled up my tank and did indeed kiss it better with soft butterfly kisses that verged on ticklish. Then he rolled my shirt upward, finding my hard nipples and giving them the same treatment.

I wasn’t at all ticklish anymore.

“I wasn’t going to do this.” He lifted his gaze to mine as he cupped my breasts. “I was just going to hold you tonight.”

“You did a fine job of that earlier. Now feel free to continue as you were.”

He sucked my nipple between his lips, grazing the tip with his teeth just right so that I arched under him. “We aren’t just about this, Honey.”

“Stop talking.”

He slipped his hand into my boxers.Hisboxers, that he’d left over here one time or another and I’d immediately stolen. “You like when I talk. Like when I say you’re so wet around my fingers, I never wonder if you want me. Getting my boxers all wet no less.”

---