Page 26 of Claiming His Wife
Chapter Sixteen
Scott
I’m still reelingas I help Mallory pack up her things from Zack’s. A daughter. I’m going to have a daughter. I’m not too manly to admit that I shed a couple of tears when I saw our little girl on the monitor. Her strong heartbeat filled the room, and that whooshing sound was the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
People say that fathers don’t bond with their babies until they are born, and I call bullshit because from the first moment I laid eyes on her I was attached. My entire world flipped on its axis, and she became the most important thing in the world to me. Her and her beautiful mother are my life.
Zack comes in with more boxes. “I’m glad you guys are back together, but it’s going to be awfully quiet around here without you.”
“You could always get another roommate,” Mallory suggests. “Or you could move that top-secret boyfriend of yours in.”
“How did you—” Zack stutters.
Mallory throws her head back and laughs the first real laugh I’ve heard in longer than I can remember. “Because you’ve been walking around here like a fool in love? And you’ve been on how many ‘business trips’ in the last four months? We both know that you rarely have to travel for business.”
“Busted.”
“What I want to know is why didn’t you tell me?” Mallory can’t quite hide the hurt in her voice.
Zack grabs her up in a quick hug. “I didn’t want to prance around bragging about my happy relationship when yours was falling apart.”
She smacks his arm and pushes him away. “You idiot! I would’ve been happy for you. You’re my best friend, it doesn’t matter what I’m going through, I wouldn’t have let my issues rain on your parade!”
“Sorry, sorry,” Zack says warding off another smack from my feisty wife.
“So, when do I get to meet him?”
Zack shrugs. “I don’t know… things are complicated. Good but complicated. I’ll talk to him and let you know.”
Mal gives him her best stink-eye but lets it go—for now. I have no doubt she’ll be persistent in her pursuit of meeting the new boyfriend. She’s almost as fierce as Jen in her protectiveness of her friends. I almost feel sorry for the poor schmuck that’s going to have to wade through both Jen and Mallory’s inquisitions.
* * *
“I thinkthat’s the last of it,” I say as I break down the box I just emptied.
Mallory collapses back onto the bed. “I hate unpacking, it’s worse than packing.”
I smirk. “Guess that explains why half of your things were still in boxes in the closet at Zack’s.”
“Moving is the worst.”
I crawl on the bed, covering her body with mine, careful not to put pressure on her stomach. “I guess we’ll just have to live here for the next seventy years.”
“I think I can live with that,” Mallory says then pulls me down for a kiss.
Her lips are soft and still taste like a hint of cherries even though I’ve taken every opportunity to kiss her today. I can’t get enough of her. What starts as a sweet meeting of lips quickly turns into something ravenous.
Within minutes our clothes are in a heap on the floor, and Mallory is stretched out before me wearing nothing but a shy smile and a pink flush of arousal.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Mallory gives me a doubtful look, her hands moving self-consciously to her rounded stomach. I brush them away. “Don’t hide from me. You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”
I run my hands over her belly following the touch with hungry kisses.
“Your body is fucking perfect.”
I flick my tongue across her nipple before she can contradict my words. Her breath hisses out on a moan, and I do it again. She wriggles underneath me, pushing her breasts to my mouth, silently begging for more. Not wanting to disappoint I suck her nipple between my lips. Back arching, she digs her fingers into my hair, holding me in place as I lick and suck first one nipple then the other.