The sex is unhurried even as the stench of burning meat fills the air. I don’t need her to tell me that she loves me, not when she is letting perfectly good food go to waste in favor of fucking me.
I come with a force that bends my spine, right after she does. It’s only belatedly that I realize my mistake.
“Oh shit, sorry.” I roll off of her with a groan. The pill isn’t one hundred percent, neither are condoms for that matter, but the combination seems to be enough. “You want me to run down to the drug store for a morning after pill?”
Instead of seeming upset, Zaya sits up in bed and just stares at me for a long moment. “Are you sure you’re okay without the money?”
At the moment, my only focus is her bare tits, because the sheet has fallen to bunch up around her waist. “I’m sure.”
She continues to stare at me. “If you did have your inheritance, what would you want to do with it?”
The easy answer is that I would carry her off to some place nice and keep her chained to my bed until we both died of exhaustion. But I get the feeling she wants to hear something more than that.
“I’ve always wondered what Deception would be like if someone invested in it,” I respond with a shrug, wondering why the hell she is so interested in a hypothetical. “Cortland Construction only builds in the parts of town that are nice. But the Gulch might not be so bad if someone put some money into it. The mines closed a long time ago, but there are still plenty of people willing to work. We could create jobs if we really wanted to, instead of just taking them away.”
Zaya’s eyes are shiny, but there is a soft smile on her face. Still naked, she jumps out of bed and runs for the kitchen. “I have something for you.”
Thoroughly confused, I wait until she races back in with a manila envelope in her hand. She hands it to me with a flourish.
“What am I supposed to do with this.”
She rolls her eyes. “Maybe try opening it.”
I rip open the envelope, and several sheets of paper fall out onto my lap. The first page is clearly test results, but I can’t make heads or tails of the jumble of letters and numbers.
Then I pick up the smallest piece. The paper is thin and mostly black with a blurry shape outlined in white.
It’s a sonogram.
My mouth opens and closes again as my vision blurs.
“I went to the clinic this morning. Doctor says I’m maybe eight weeks.” Her voice is soft and her gaze never leaves my face, as if gauging my reaction. “It’s too early to tell, but I’m hoping for a girl.”
I have Zaya in my arms before I even make the conscious decision to reach for her. “Are you sure about this?”
Her smile is tremulous. “If you are.”
I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.
The money I worked so hard to keep is finally mine, just as soon as I realized that I didn’t care about having it anymore.
I whisper against her mouth. “I’ll eat burnt steak every day if it means I get to be with you. I don’t want to have it all.”
She smiles as she kisses me. “That’s exactly why you’re going to get it.”
And I do.
THE END
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