Page 33 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“Stop filling her head.” I walk over to her and she reaches up for me when she sees her bottle. “Get lost so I can tell her the real story.”

“Good night, girl,” he says, kissing her cheek. “I’m going to go and get a shower.” I just nod, sitting down in the chair.

“Are you ready for bed?” I ask Cici, laying her on her side. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” I tell her as I give her the bottle. “That Levi, he’s a charmer, the key is not to fall for it.” I rub her cheek as I rock her. Her eyes close as soon as she finishes her bottle. I get up and place her in her crib. “Good night, baby girl,” I whisper, turning on the white noise machine before walking out.

I walk into my bedroom, collapsing on my bed. My body feels like it hasn’t slept in over five years. I literally can’t move, even if I tried. I’m about to slip out of my pants when the door to the bathroom opens and Levi comes out dressed in shorts. “She down?” he asks and I nod at him, my mouth suddenly dry. I must really be fucking tired if the only thing I can do is stare at his chest. Also, when did he start working out like this?

All I do is watch him walk around the bed to the other side, tossing the throw pillows to the floor. “Um,” is the only thing that comes out of my mouth. My heart beats really fast as I sit up.

He throws the covers back and then slides into bed. “I’m exhausted,” he says.

I jump out of bed as if someone told me that it was on fire, or you threw ice water on me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Going to bed.” He fixes the pillows under his head.

“In here?” I point at the floor as my voice goes really, really high.

Levi sits up in the bed. “Where else would I sleep?”

“I don’t know?” I throw up my arms. “On the couch?” I point at the door toward where the couch is.

“For a year?” He is the one who is hollering now and all I can do is roll my eyes at him.

“We can also get you a blow-up bed.” I try to think of where we would put this blow-up bed.

“For a year?” Again, he yells. “A year! You want me to sleep on a couch or a blow-up bed. I will remind you that—”

I hold up my hand. “Fine,” I relent, huffing out, “but no fishy stuff.” I point at him, walking back to the bed.

“Do you want to put a pillow between us?” he asks once I get into bed next to him.

“Obviously.” I grab one of the throw pillows and place it between us.

“This bed is so small.”

“It’s a queen size,” I tell him, fixing my own pillows, feeling suddenly like I’m going to crawl out of my skin.

“We should upgrade it to a king size,” he suggests and all I can do is look at him.

“We should, shouldn’t we?” I say sarcastically.

“Okay, fine, I’ll upgrade it.” He lifts the covers and then tries to make himself comfy.

“Well then, I want a memory foam one.” I look at him as he chuffs.

“This isn’t even memory foam.” He stops moving to look at me.

“Well, if we’re upgrading, might as well go big, no?” I try not to laugh as I turn the light off in the room. I lie on my side, looking away from him as he huffs and puffs from his side of the bed. “I’m happy you’re home, honey.” Secretly laughing, but the bed moves.

I look over my shoulder at him as he turns his back on me. “Yeah, whatever,” he mumbles.

Chapter Sixteen

Levi

My eyes blink open for a second, seeing the blackness of the room before closing again. A weird sound fills my ears,maybe it’s my imagination,I think to myself,or a dream.It sort of sounds like grunts but then the sound of screeching fills my ears. “What is that noise?” I mumble, asking myself as I turn to my side. My arm flies out beside me, falling onto a warm body. My eyes suddenly fly open, looking around I realize I’m not home. My eyes get used to the darkness of the room to see Eva lying on her back. My eyes go from her to my hand draped over the pillow that is acting as a barrier between us and toward her stomach where my hand has landed.

“It’s the baby,” she murmurs, moving her head from side to side, no doubt trying to wake up from sleep. It takes her about five seconds before she goes from lying down to sitting up in the bed, then she turns and swings her legs to the side, standing up. My hand moves slowly off her and falls onto the bed with a thud.

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