“Damn straight,” Maddox agreed. “I think we just found our new work uniforms.”
“Only while I’m pregnant,” I giggled.
He leaned down to whisper, “Plan on wearing this shirt often, baby.”
Epilogue Maddox
One year later...
The bell over the door rang merrily, but judging by the stomping coming from the customer, they weren’t in a matching mood.
“Of all the nerve!” Aurora snapped as she marched through the door to the bakery’s kitchen. Ariel’s head popped up from where she’d been bent over a cake doing some intricate piping.
“What’s wrong?” Ariel asked, her brow furrowed in concern. I frowned, unhappy whenever my wife was upset. I’d been sitting at the counter watching her work and getting turned on, like I always did. Every time she taste-tested something, every time she licked her lip, every time she bent over and put her sweet little ass in the air, I got closer and closer to bending her over something and fucking her senseless from behind.
I also loved to watch her work because of the way her eyes lit up with joy. It was almost as bright as when she looked at me or Faith, our six-month-old.
So, I bristled at the negative energy Aurora had brought with her into my wife’s happy place. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. A low growl grumbled in my chest before I could suppress it.
The sound drew Aurora’s attention and when she clocked my expression, her jaw dropped, and she swung her gaze back to Ariel. “You’re pregnant again?” It was my turn for the jaw-dropping.
“How did you know that?” Ariel gasped.
Aurora stuck her thumb in my direction. “He gets extra growly when you’re knocked-up.”
Ariel stretched out to the side so she could see me around Aurora and scowled. I just shrugged. It was true, and I didn’t give a fuck. Ariel insisted that we should wait to tell people, but I wasn’t going to back off just so they wouldn’t guess.
Ariel sighed and straightened back up. “I assume there’s a reason you came stomping in here like someone kicked your puppy?”
Aurora punched her fists onto her hips and huffed angrily. “Some jerk just opened a law office next door to our chapel! Next door!”
“Oooookayyyy…” Ariel drew out her answer and studied her sister quizzically.
“It’s an outrage!” Aurora shouted.
I shot to my feet and hurried over to Ariel’s side; my dark expression trained on Aurora. “Yelling at my pregnant wife isn’t going to fix whatever has you pissed, Aurora.”
She took a deep breath and tried to calm down while Ariel petted my arm, clearly trying to soothe me as well. “Calm down and explain,” Ariel requested. “What’s wrong with a law office?”
Aurora opened her mouth before stopping suddenly to let out a humorless laugh. “I forgot to mention he’s a divorce lawyer.”
I couldn’t help it. I really tried, but I couldn’t contain the bark of laughter that escaped my lips. However, it died quickly when both sisters turned their angry gazes on me. I held up my hands in surrender. “Sorry, you’re right. Complete outrage.”
Ariel smacked my arm then turned back to Aurora. “It’s annoying sure, but is this really something to get so worked up about?”
Aurora threw her hands up in the air and shrieked, “Maybe if he wasn’t so drop-fucking-dead gorgeous on top of it! He’s like a walking advertisement for a deliciously drunken mistake!”
Ariel’s head fell forward, and I heard a quiet snort as her shoulders shook. Aurora started pacing and hadn’t seemed to notice her sister’s reaction. Except, then Ariel lost it and started belly laughing so hard tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes.
I just stood there and smiled like an idiot, completely enchanted with how beautiful she was when she laughed. When she stopped and wiped her eyes, I glanced in the direction of her sister only to find she’d gone.
“Oh, dear. I’m going to pay for that,” Ariel said, still giggling. “Nobody gets even like Aurora.”
Taking Ariel’s hand, I urged her up and took her into my arms. “She’ll have to wait until you aren’t pregnant, so maybe she’ll forget,” I murmured as I trailed kisses along her jaw to a sweet spot just below her ear.
Ariel snorted. “Fat chance. She’s like a freaking elephant. She never forgets anything. She still likes to remind me about how I lost her favorite scrunchie when I was five.”
“Hmmm,” I hummed softly. “I bet I can make you forget.” She dropped her head to the side to give me better access.
“I dare you,” she sighed.
I lifted my head and grinned at her twinkling blue eyes and playful smile. “But, do you double dog dare me?”
Ariel shook her head a little wildly. “No way. The last time I double dog dared you to do something, I ended up pregnant again.”
“You were begging for it, baby.” She glared at me, and I simply smiled smugly in return. One of my hands caressed her belly, while the other palmed her ass and pressed her body into mine. “Good thing you can’t get more pregnant.”
“Um, yep,” she replied breathlessly.
“Belle and Griffith have Faith, baby. How about I get started on fulfilling that dare?”
I kissed her lightly and chuckled when she whispered, “Um, yep.”
Without another word, I swept her up into my arms and carried her through the connecting door to Ink Addiction and into our shared office. Then I flipped the lock and set her on the couch. Ariel shook her head as I went to work on her clothing.
“I think maybe we should build me a separate office in the bakery.” I stopped as I was sliding her jeans and underwear down her legs and frowned up at her. “Think about it, Maddox,” she explained. “The only thing we
