Chapter 9
“You need to get more food,” Roarke said, his naked behind sticking out from where he was bent into the fridge, rummaging around.
“I have plenty of food,” she said.
“It’s all green shit. Get some Cheetos and soda or something,” he said, shutting the door and walking over to her.
“You don’t keep Cheetos in the fridge, even if I did have them,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, you want me to keep this hot bod? Cheetos aren’t the way to do that.”
“Your hot bod is going to disappear regardless of what I want, hate to break it to you, sweetheart,” he said, walking back with an apple in his hand, a massive bite taken out of it.
“That’s how babies work.”
“Gee, thanks for explaining that to me. I would have no idea otherwise.”
He had goosebumps coated over his skin like a second layer, just above his skin. He sat down next to her on the couch. She’d wrapped herself up in a wool blanket, covering her breasts. He preferred to walk around freely. He liked the air hitting him, the skin that she claimed, the skin she touched, and licked and bit. Every inch of him belonged to her now. It was far from their first time together but it felt like the only time that truly mattered. Everything before this had been rehearsal. He would remember this time as the true conception of his child.
They grew quiet together, bodies touching, sitting in the quiet. He wanted so many things with her, for her. He wasn’t going to get down on one knee in the next few days or anything but he did want her to know that he was going to, soon, one day.
She sighed and leaned down into him, sucking in a deep breath through her nose. She liked to smell him. He found that odd since he always smelled off gasoline and dirt but she said it was the smell that made him, him. It let her know he was nearby. She tried explaining that the olfactory sense was the strongest sense linked to memory and went on some anecdote about how it’s a strong piece of evidence in court when you can get someone to identify something by smell and all sorts of other things. He smiled and nodded because she got excited about talking about these things and it was adorable to watch.
That wasn’t a word he thought he’d ever use. She’d turned him domestic. He didn’t mind it one bit. Rick would make of him, Amber would be shocked, Robert would talk about how he always knew he could be the family man. He didn’t care what anyone else thought, what they expected out of him. All that mattered was her and the child between them.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, brushing some stray hair that was threatening to fall into his eyes.
“How one day I want everyone to know you’re mine,” he said.
“Oh, I think they’ll know,” she said, pointing to the blooming hickies on her neck.
“You know what I mean.”
There was softness in her eyes. Of course she knew what he meant. He could tell from her small smile that she wanted it too.
“Do you think it’ll be a boy or a girl?” she asked.
“I know you want a girl,” he said.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because women always want girls.”
“And men always want boys.”
“Hell, no. A boy would be an idiot, especially if he was mine. I want a girl. She’ll actually know how to have some common sense in this world.”
Right now it was dangerous, their steps were being followed, they were dodging danger at virtually every corner. But one day, when things were the way they were supposed to be, they’d be a proper family with their child. They made that promise to each other, silently, that night.