I looked at Ginger across the table. Being pregnant was working well for her. Her tits were swollen under her dress, the curve of them tantalizing from where I was sitting.

We were at the gentleman's club, my woman in clothes this time around. It had become our regular spot when she needed some attention, and she sure as fuck was popular around there.

I still hadn't taken her to one of the club's parties. Now that she was carrying my kid, I wasn't in any rush to change that. But even before I'd knocked her up, I was possessive, jealous. The thought of the other men in the club staring hungrily at my property was fun, but at a party, I knew she'd be more vulnerable. They'd want to touch her, maybe even fuck her, and I knew I could never let that happen.

But tonight wasn't about Ginger, though she still attracted every single man in that room with her statuesque beauty. Someone else was bringing their woman to the club, and Ginger had been giddy about it all day.

Now she looked at me over her filet mignon, her eyes bright.

"Why are they looking at me, Daddy?" she asked coquettishly. "I thought this wasn't my day."

"You're just too fucking irresistible," I told her with a grin. "It's the glow."

"What glow?" She giggled, looking nervous.

"You are pregnant, aren't you?" She paled. "It's obvious, my treasure. I could tell on the first day. Probably before you knew. When were you going to tell me?"

"I… I can't believe you already know."

She looked so sulky and upset that I couldn't help laughing.

"Relax," I told her. "I can act like it's a surprise. Either way, you've made me the happiest man alive."

"Really?" she asked, turning her pretty eyes to mine. "You're really happy about it?"

I reached for her hand over the table, and she turned her gaze to mine. Still so shy, still just a sliver of that innocence remaining. God, she was sexy. I wanted to ravage her on the fucking table.

"Of course I'm fucking happy about it," I laughed. "I may be an old man, but I fucking want our babies, Ginger. They're going to be so beautiful. I hope they look like you."

Tears filled her eyes as I took her hand and kissed it. I couldn't believe she'd been so nervous. I was excited, and she should be too. We were embarking on this new journey together, and it was going to be incredible.

We ate our dinner while she chatted excitedly about all things babies. I couldn't help but grin at her obvious enthusiasm.

"I never knew you wanted a family so badly," I told her. "I didn't think you were the mommy type, tesoro."

"Neither did I," she admitted. "But I think it'll be so beautiful to have a baby of our very own. I can't wait. You're going to make a good dad."

"And you'll be the world's most beautiful mother."

Her eyes sparkled with something more than just excitement. I could tell she needed me the way I needed her, but once again I had to remind myself that the day wasn't ours. We needed to stay in the background; it wouldn't be fair to steal somebody's thunder.

"You'd better behave," I told her in a low growl, my cock swelling in my pants, "or I'll have to take you to the powder room."

"I would love to see the powder room," she replied sweetly.

"Don't you want to see your friend first?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Is Allegra coming?" she asked, and I hated letting her down.

That look of hope in her eyes was almost too much for me, but she needed to accept that her sister had her own journey to embark upon. I just hoped Ginger could let her do that.

"No," I said. "A local friend."

I winked, and her eyes sparkled.

"Is Valentina coming?" I could tell just how excited she was.

"Maybe," I replied with a mysterious smile. "Maybe we'll go to our first club party this weekend. I think you should meet the other members, don't you, tesoro?"

"I would love to," she said, biting her bottom lip. "Is that okay, Daddy?"

"Of course."

Just then, the doors opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man in an expensive suit walked in, holding the hand of a beautiful petite woman. 

I'd met Valentina before, and she'd always been a charmer. Now, dressed up in nothing but expensive jewelry, she was dripping in luxury. But my eyes were only meant for Ginger, and while everybody else—my wife included—gasped at Valentina's entrance, I couldn't take my gaze off my girl.

As soon as the man and Valentina had taken their seats, I reached for Ginger's hand across the table, and she looked up at me with questioning eyes.

"I need you," I told her simply.

"Now?" she mouthed, and I just grinned in response.

It wasn't unheard of. There were special powder rooms in the building; I just hadn't fucked in them before. But that day seemed as good a day as any, and I helped Ginger off her seat and led her into a private suite.

She slipped her faux fur off her shoulders and stared into my eyes with a desperate need.

"You can't be too rough," she reminded me.

"I don't want to be rough. I want to fucking worship you."

I knelt at her feet, looking up at her with feverish eyes desperate to see her naked. Slowly, as if reading my mind, she slipped her glittery midnight-blue dress off her shoulders. It pooled around her feet, and I swallowed hungrily as I stared at her practically bare before me, wearing nothing but a thong and sky-high heels.

"My fucking empress." She blushed at my words. "You look like a goddamn royal tonight, tesoro."

I took her in my arms and carried her to the bed in the room. My hands were all over her, exploring her skin, touching her belly that was still flat, not a bump in sight.

"How far along are you?"

"Just over three months," she admitted breathily.

"I can't wait for it to show. I can't wait until the world knows you're carrying my baby."

"Babies," she whispered, and I stopped touching her, my eyes going back to hers.

"What?" I asked, at a loss for words for once in my life. "What did you say, tesoro?"

"Babies," she repeated, a sly smile on her lips. "They're twins. I wanted to surprise you."

"Boy and a girl?" I asked with a shit-eating grin. 

"I don't know yet," she giggled.

"I hope it's two boys," I replied, making her giggle again.

And then I was back to touching her. She'd made me a man again after seven years of floundering and wishing I could have her back. She made everything better, made everything beautiful. I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms for now, forever. 

She belonged with me, and now that we were both ready for it, I was never letting go. Especially with two perfect, healthy babies growing in her belly. Fuck, she was perfection, and she'd given me the life I'd always dreamed of.

Everything we'd left in the past seemed so far away. Nothing mattered but the fact that we were together. And soon our family would grow again.

"I love you, Ginger Marino."

Her eyes sparkled just like the ring on her finger.

I touched the stone with shaky fingers. We didn't say it often enough. I wanted to tell her how I felt every fucking second of the day.

"I love you too, my emperor," she said in a dazed whisper.

I took the ring off her finger and turned it around in my hand.

"Still think it's cursed?" she asked with the hint of a smile. 

"No. I don't believe in curses, tesoro. But I'm going to rename this stone."

"No more Cursed Beauty?" she asked, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

"No," I said firmly. "It's going to be named after you."

She smiled shyly, the glint in her eyes telling me she was touched by the gesture.

"You still have that rose?" I asked her. "The one I gave you, when I sent you flowers."

"You know I do."

"You've always been my flower girl. I'm calling the stone Ragazza di Fiore. The Flower Girl."

"I love it," she said with a bright smile, and I slipped the ring back on her finger, showering her skin with kisses. "Oh, Ryker, I love you so much. You've made me feel complete. For the first time in my life, I know what it means to be happy. You saved me from myself. Saved me from it all."

"You're welcome," I growled against her skin.

"I didn't say thank you," she reminded me.

"Well you should have. Maybe you will after this."

My fingertips trailed over her navel, and she gasped when I touched her nipples. In seconds, they pebbled under my fingertips, the rosy tips hard and needy for my mouth. I sucked on her tits, hungry and desperate to have every bit of her I could see.

Meanwhile, my hand wandered between her legs, and I plunged two fingers into her sopping-wet pussy.

"Such a wet little girl," I growled at her. "You're always so wet for Daddy."

"Always," she breathed, arching her back off the bed to take me deeper. "God, please, Ryker. Fuck me."

"Not yet. You're going to come like this first, and you're going to look at me."

It had become an obsession of mine to look into her eyes when she was coming. I was an addict, and her orgasms were my drug of choice.

As I started fingerfucking her, she locked eyes with me, and nothing in the world would have been able to pull me away from her at that moment. I watched her come apart because of me, covering my fingers in her stickiness and making me crave her more than ever.

"Tell me you're mine," I ordered as her orgasm built.

"Ryker, please," she begged breathlessly.

"Daddy," I reminded her on a growl.

"Daddy. Make me come. I can't wait."

"Tell me you're mine. I want to know this gorgeous, sexy little body is all fucking mine."

"It is," she whispered. "All of me belongs to you. Only you. Nobody else."

"Nobody else," I repeated, plunging another finger into her and grinning when her eyelids fluttered. "Look at me, tesoro. Your orgasm belongs to me. You belong to Daddy."

"Yessss," she hissed, her body crashing on the waves of the orgasm she was riding.

I climbed on top of her and pulled my cock out, plunging it into her still-coming pussy. I didn't need more than a few thrusts to fill her, to fuck my seed into her like she deserved.

"Maybe I can fuck another baby into you," I growled in her ear, and she gasped, taken over by another orgasm as my seed dripped into her luscious body.

After I was done, I pulled her thong back in place and helped her leave the room on shaky legs.

When we made our way back into the restaurant, I knew everyone was aware of what we'd done. Ginger was blushing fiercely, but she kept her head high, a mysterious smile playing on her lips as I led her back to her seat and pulled the chair out for her, fussing over her.

"You don't need to do everything instead of me, you know," she giggled once we were both sitting again.

The waiter appeared with our dessert, and we looked at each other over the torta della nonna.

"I can do whatever I want," I told her with a grin, feeling the eyes of everybody in the room on us. "Isn't that right, my pretty little treasure?"

She licked her fork as she looked at me. My little vixen. My fucking Empress.

"Whatever you want," she repeated. "I'm all yours, Ryker. For better or for worse."

"Good," I growled. "And just so you know, my little treasure, I'm never fucking letting go."