Luke: Fair warning dude, Mom’s on the warpath. Don’t get married.
Me: I can handle Mom.
Luke: You can barely handle Willow. Trust me on this. She’s trying to get Dad to fire me.
Me: Sweet! Can I have your office?
Luke: Fuck off. Have fun. Don’t get married.
“Texting your girlfriend?” Willow teased when Kathy went back to the cockpit.
“You’re not cute,” I told her, rolling my eyes. “Luke was just warning me we’d better not get married while we’re gone.”
“Good thing we don’t have to worry about that,” she said.
“Why do you say that?”
“That’s not what this trip is about,” she explained.
“What is it about then?” I challenged.
“You wanted this,” she reminded me. “This is about connecting. About trying to be nice to each other for long stretches of time.”
“We’ve done well so far,” I said.
“Yeah, well, you’ve been asleep for most of the flight.”
That was true.
“How’s my baby?” I asked, changing the subject before I got myself in trouble.
“I’m okay,” she said. “A little tired.”
“I meant my actual baby,” I told her. “But if you’re tired, there’s a bedroom suite in the back. Come on; let’s go lay down.”
“No way.” She shook her head emphatically. “That’s how you got my virginity.”
I tried to smother a laugh but didn’t quite manage. She was right. We’d just graduated, and my parents had thrown a massive party for the entire graduating class. Willow had claimed to have a headache, and I’d offered to let her rest in one of the guest rooms. Except when we’d gotten up there… Well, there hadn’t been much resting going on.
“Come on,” I told her, getting to my feet and holding out a hand. “I promise, no funny business.”
“Damn straight,” she muttered.
Well, now, that sounded like a challenge if ever I’d heard one.
I led her to the bedroom then shut and locked the door behind us. She crawled up on the bed and lay down, flinging her arm over her eyes and sighing.
“How do you have a better mattress on your plane than I have in my apartment?”
I climbed in next to her and spooned her from behind, wrapping my arm around her and splaying my fingers over her belly.
“You really have my baby in there,” I whispered, placing a soft kiss on her neck. “How is that possible?”
“Well, Jameson,” she said, her tone haughty. “When two people hate each other very much—”
I spun her onto her back and pushed her arm away, forcing her to meet my gaze. She worried her lower lip between her teeth, and she stared back at me, but she didn’t pull away.
“I know you’re worried about this. About me. About us,” I said. “But you do know that I love you, don’t you? I’ve been a complete jackass; I know I have. I just… God, Willow, I can’t stand the thought that you think I hate you. That I ever hated you.”
She shook her head, but tears pooled in her beautiful eyes.
“I know you don’t hate me,” she whispered. “Just like I’ve never hated you. Not really.”
“I’m not going to ask you to marry me,” I promised. “Not yet. When I do, I want to make damn sure you know it’s because I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Both of you.” I ran my palm over her barely-there-bump. “You’re not ready to accept that yet, but you will be.”
I leaned down and kissed her again. This time, her arms snaked around my neck, and she pulled me tighter against her. I tried to keep my weight off of her, not wanting to risk crushing my little bean.
“Jamie,” she said, pulling back and looking at me. “You’re not going to hurt me.”
“I know…” I didn’t even sound convinced to myself.
“It’s okay,” she promised. She pulled me down to her mouth again.
I probed her lips with my tongue, and she opened to me, sighing into my mouth as my hand slid down her body, pressing firmly at her apex. The heat from her core against my fingers, even through her jeans, made my cock instantly hard. I groaned as I deepened our kiss, rubbing harder against her until her hips bucked up into me, a soft sob escaping her throat.
“Naked,” I insisted, rearing back and pulling off my shirt then dropping it next to the mattress before popping the button of her pants. “Now.”
“You’re so bossy,” she complained, even as she wrenched off her own tee and tossed it aside.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I growled. I fell over her, placing wet kisses over her breasts and up her throat before pulling away again.
I slid down the mattress, gripping the waistband of her jeans and tugging them down, discarding them along with her panties while she unhooked and removed her bra.
When I stood to kick off my own pants, I looked down at her and froze. It was the first time I’d seen her naked in months. My mouth went dry at the sight of her spread on the bed, her gaze wild, hair fanned out over the pillow.
“How did I get so lucky?” I climbed up next to her again and ran my fingers over her swollen belly. Lying there naked, it was more pronounced than it was when she was clothed. “I love you, you know?”
“I know,” she said, smiling as she followed the trail of my fingers over her abdomen. “We’re gonna have a baby.”
“I know.” I rolled over her and reclaimed her mouth, trying to put every emotion wracking my body into the kiss. My love, my devotion, my admiration of her. All of it. Everything I had, everything I was, belonged to her now.
If I were being honest…it always had.
I shifted my hips between her legs, spreading her open for me, before sliding inside her wet folds. As I rocked gently against her, my hands
