“So we need to find a new normal,” she continued. “I think we should keep living together and sleeping together and being together, at least until I have this baby. That should give me enough time to decide if I want to continue with the marriage. But I have some rules.”
That was months away, and he could work some magic in those months. He could convince her. “Yes.”
She stopped. “You don’t want to hear them?”
“I don’t need to. I’ll do anything to keep you. I’ll do anything for another chance.”
“You can’t lie to me again. Not about anything.” She frowned. “Well, not anything important. You should tell me I look pretty even when I’m as big as a whale.”
He moved in, closing the space between them. “You are always beautiful to me.”
The tears started to fall and he knew she was softening. That was his wife. She couldn’t hold out forever, and if he was in her bed, he would be back in her heart in no time at all. But he would pay any price she wanted. There was no question he’d done the wrong thing. He wasn’t sure he would take it back because he’d needed her to love him, to accept him.
Or maybe he should have had more faith in her.
“You have to be yourself in front of me, and not only behind my back,” she continued.
Another step and he could almost reach out and touch her. His cock tightened because he’d missed her every moment they’d been apart. “You might not like that part. I’m ridiculously territorial when it comes to you, and I hide that well. You joke about my possessiveness, but you haven’t truly seen it yet. And don’t tell me it’s about not trusting you. I trust you. I could catch you in bed naked with another man and I would ask you what happened and believe what you told me. But you are my treasure. You are the one thing in this whole world I’ve loved with my whole being. I am a dragon hoarding your every smile.” He reached out and brushed her tears away. “Your every tear.”
She sniffled. “See. I should point out that you can’t own a woman, but I just want you to kiss me now.”
He pulled her into his arms, the curve of her belly nestling against his torso and making him want to strip her down and see every change the pregnancy had wrought in the weeks they’d been apart. “Baby, I’m a caveman at heart. I love you so much and I won’t ever hold you back, but deep in every man’s heart when he truly loves a woman he’s possessive. It’s all about how we handle that instinct. So I’ll play it however you like. What are the other rules?”
He would agree to them all.
“I think we should go into counseling.”
He could do that. “Okay.”
“Alexei is working on his degree and he’s got time.”
Alexei Markov as a marriage counselor? It was going to be surreal, but a former Russian mobster was better than Crazy Irene, who would likely force them into sage rituals to cleanse their marriage. “Of course. It would help him, too.”
“Irene tells me there’s a ritual to help cleanse all bad vibes.”
He managed to not wince. When he’d married Nell, he’d accepted the different people she brought into their lives. So different. “Absolutely.”
“You have to talk to me about things. You have to trust that I’ll handle your secrets,” she continued.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Her mouth went prim. “I think I shouldn’t be the only one who has body modifications in order to sexually please my partner.”
“It’s about more than sex,” he started and then realized what she was really saying. “You want a mark on me because they’re my marks on you. All right. I’ll talk to Austin about getting a tattoo. Anywhere you like.”
“I want you to get a Prince Albert.”
She wanted him to pierce his dick? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn’t that he was against the idea of something on his body that let Nell know he was thinking of her.
His dick was always thinking of her. Always.
“Oh, Nell, I love those nipple rings. I love how I can twist them and play with them,” she taunted. “I pierced my vagina for you.”
No, she’d pierced her hood. That had very little feeling in it. Still, he said he’d do anything. “I’ll set it up with Austin.” But as long as they were doing painful things. “I have one condition.”
A brow rose over her eyes. “What’s that?”
This was a gamble, but one he had to take. “You have to write. You haven’t written in months, and I think that’s part of the problem.”
“I haven’t felt like it,” she admitted. “You know sometimes I get blocked.”
“I don’t think you’re blocked. I think you’re avoiding it because writing is how you process the things that happen to you. I want you to write whatever comes to you. Not the next book in the series. Don’t worry about money or readers or anything. Just write and let it all out. That’s my only request.”
“Okay, but I can’t promise you it will be good.” She looked up at him. “I did miss you.”
It suddenly didn’t matter that his dick was going to go through hell. He leaned over and picked up his wife. “Let me show you how much I missed you.”
He carried her to the bed and vowed he would be right beside her no matter what.
Chapter Nine
Late September
Nell sat on her front porch, a thousand thoughts running through her head. Normally she would sit on the back porch and watch the river flow by at this time of the afternoon. In a bit she would go and start dinner. This was the lovely time when she and Henry would sit and talk about the day.
Henry had spent most of the day at Seth’s with all
