Page 47 of A Nine-Month Deal With Her Husband

She tipped her head to the side. ‘That’s it? Is that all you’ve got?’

‘No,’ Ben told her as he slipped off his coat and threw it over the back of her couch. It looked, damn him, as though it belonged there. He looked as though he belonged in her flat, as though it was a space he’d always been part of. She’d felt the same when she was in his house in Reykjavik, completely at home, as though the house had been waiting for her arrival to make it complete.

Ben came to stand next to her, close enough for her to smell his heady cologne. But he didn’t touch her and she was grateful. If he did, she might just shatter.

‘I was stupid to run out of your life, to give up on what we had. I was scared. Love, being in love, is a scary business, Mils.’

Hearing him admit his fears made hers recede. Just a little. ‘I’m scared, too, Ben. But not so scared that I’d prefer a life without you to one with you in it.’

The tip of his index finger ran down her cheek, along her jaw. ‘At the Harpa Concert Hall, I started to tell you that I wanted more than a December fling and I felt overcome with emotion. Then I tried to speak and my words wouldn’t come. That petrified me.’

‘You managed to keep arguing with me just fine,’ Millie pointed out. She’d told him that the night they argued, but her words hadn’t sunk in.

‘I finally, with a little help, realised that,’ he admitted, his hand cupping the back of her neck. ‘Olivier helped me understand that my stuttering was a minor blip, not a complete meltdown.’

She narrowed her eyes at him, needing to make sure he heard her words and took them seriously. ‘I said it a few nights ago and I’ll say it again... I don’t care if you stutter occasionally, I don’t care if you stutterallthe time. I’m in love with you and my love isnotconditional.’

Ben rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes. ‘You don’t know how much I needed to hear that, Mils.’

‘But do you believe me?’

He opened his eyes, nodded, and Millie caught the sheen of emotion in his deep blue eyes. ‘I—I really do.’

She swiped her lips across his, but pulled back before she got distracted. ‘You have to talk to me, Ben, I need you to let me in. I can’t be the only one talking all the time.’

He kissed her forehead, left his lips there before pulling back. When his eyes met hers, she saw capitulation in his. ‘I know. I promise to work on that, but you’ve got to keep reminding me.’

She touched his jaw with her fingertips. ‘Okay.’

Millie was happy to see his eyes were a lighter blue. He stroked her hair off her face before rubbing the back of his neck. ‘If our kid has a stutter...you won’t blame me?’

Ourandkidin the same sentence... Millie thought her heart would burst with happiness. ‘Ifourchild stutters, we’ll get him the best help possible, as early as possible. And we’ll never let him think there’s anything wrong with him,’ she told him, sounding a little fierce. ‘Because there isabsolutelynothing wrong with you, there never has been.’

Ben’s emotion-filled grin was a little crooked. ‘We might have a girl, you know.’

She’d always been so certain she’d have a boy, but now she didn’t care. ‘I will take any gender you give me, Ben.’

He brushed his lips with hers in a kiss so tender it closed her throat, just a little. ‘I love you so much, Millie. I can’t contemplate a world without you in it,’ he admitted.

All the tension of the past few days drained out of her. ‘Good, because I’ve been miserable without you. Don’t ever leave me again, Ben.’

‘I promise I won’t. And I hope you know that you can trust what I say, sweetheart.’

She did. He was the only man she’d ever trusted. She couldn’t wait for the rest of their lives. She returned his kiss, winding her arms around his neck. Lovely minutes, or hours later, she pulled back and tipped her head back to send him a loving smile. ‘Can I ask you a question?’

He brushed her hair back and swiped his thumb over her bottom lip. ‘No,’ he told her, a small grin touching his mouth.

She frowned, puzzled. ‘Why can’t I ask you a question?’ she demanded.

His smile grew bigger. ‘So far in our relationship, you’ve asked me to marry you and to give you a baby, and to sleep with you. I would like to be the one, just once, to ask a big question.’

‘And what might that be?’ she asked, her heart accelerating to warp speed.

‘Well, I wanted to know if you’d marry me...’ he softly said, love in his eyes. And at that moment, Millie saw her future in front of her, loving and being loved by this man. The money and the lavish lifestyle meant nothing—having Ben to support her, to love, and to do the same for him, was all she needed.

‘We’ve been married a long time already, Ben,’ she pointed out.

‘In name only. I want to do everything we didn’t do before, starting with the big engagement party, the church wedding, and the lavish reception.’ His eyes held hers, as serious as a heart attack. ‘I’ll make a speech, Mils. I don’t care what I sound like, as long as you hear how much I love you and how happy I am to make you mine.’

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