I held the plastic bag in my hand, my fingers wrapped tightly around it, and my heart thundering.

Over the last month or so, Dex and I had been inseparable, or rather, Dex hadn’t wanted me out of his sight. We spent our free time together, but it wasn’t just having incredible sex—even though he was insatiable, and I was more than okay with that. He lavished attention on me, showed me a bad boy could have a softer, gentler side, too.

His protectiveness might not fly with some women, but for me, I was all about it. Heck, his jealousy over a guy even looking at me, the fact he wanted to stake a claim, even if that was glaring at said guy and wrapping his arm around me in ownership made me feel pretty damn wonderful.

“That you, baby?” Dex called out from somewhere in the house, and I took a deep breath. We weren’t living together, but I spent a lot of time at his place, and when I wasn’t here, he was at my house.

“Yeah,” I called out. I didn’t want to tell him what I was doing, especially if it came back negative. I don’t know why I didn’t just come out and tell Dex I was taking a pregnancy test. We never used protection, and we both knew what the result could be because of that.

He was hoping for a baby, and he made no secret of that.

And even though I’d never actually told him I wanted that too … I did.

I went into the bathroom, shut and locked the door, and pulled out the pregnancy test. Maybe I should have gotten more than one, but I didn’t want to be a freak about this. I also didn’t want to get his hopes up, or mine for that matter, by saying anything. I’d been late plenty of times in my life, and it had never been because I might have been pregnant.

I read the directions three times, although I was pretty sure this was all self-explanatory. I’d also seen enough movies with chicks peeing on the stick and waiting for the results that I knew the drill. But still, I read the damn pamphlet again and again.

When I pulled out the stick and eyed it, my heart started beating double time.

I did the whole unwrapping, taking the cap off, and before I did the whole peeing on it thing, I stared down at this little white and purple test.

After getting my thoughts as clear as I could, I finished it off, put the cap on, and set it on the counter. While I waited for it to do its thing, I washed and dried my hands and then stared at my reflection. My hair was piled up on my head, the heat making things unbearable. I lowered my gaze to my breasts. They were fuller, so sensitive even wearing a bra was a little uncomfortable.

After I figured enough time had passed, I reached out to take the stick off the counter. My hands shook, and my heart momentarily stopped. I looked down at the little clear window, my throat tightening even further at the results.

Pregnant.

I stared down at it for long seconds, making sure I was reading it correctly. On instinct, I placed a hand on my belly and looked at my reflection again. The woman who stared back at me had wide eyes and a look of shock on her face. It was after the initial surprise left me that I felt excitement.

I was pregnant.

I’m pregnant.

I turned around, unlocked the door, and pulled it open, and standing on the other side was Dex. He looked a little worried, maybe thinking something was wrong since I had hauled ass to the bathroom. But then he looked down at the test I held. A moment of silence passed, almost like time stood still, like this moment was frozen.

I lifted the test up so he could see the window, and although he could read it fine, I was sure, I still said, “I’m pregnant.” Those words hung between us, and slowly he looked up from the stick to my face. “I’m pregnant, Dex.” My voice was nothing but a whisper, and before I knew what was happening, he had me in his arms.

He had a hand on the back of my head, holding me to his chest. The warmth of his breath moved the hairs on the side of my face. He was tense, and now I was worried maybe something was wrong. Maybe he was having doubts? But before I could move or say anything, he pulled back an inch and looked down at me.

“You’re pregnant,” he said with a smile on his face, and I felt all the tension leave me.

“Is this crazy?” I asked, but I was smiling, feeling elation finally rise up, when just moment ago, it had been masked by my nervousness.

He cupped my face, stroked his thumbs along my cheeks, and the happiness I saw on his face made me love this man even more.

“You know how much I love you, Eva?” He kept stroking my cheeks, and I knew he wanted me close. I could feel it in his touch. “I love you so fucking much.” And surprising the hell out of me once again, Dex dropped to his knees in front of me and rested his forehead on my belly. “My woman. My baby.” He pushed my shirt up and kissed the skin below my belly button. He looked up at me, the seriousness on his face evident. “Marry me,” he said, and I was speechless.

“We don’t have to get married just because I’m pregnant—”

He stood up, interrupting what I was saying. Taking my hand in his, Dex pulled me down the hall to his bedroom. He let go of me, walked over to the dresser, and when he opened it and pulled out a small black ring box, my heart jumped in my throat.

“I don’t know when I planned on asking, Eva, but it’s not because I wasn’t sure.” He turned around and showed me the ring. “I’ve had this for a couple of weeks, but was going to wait longer so it didn’t look like I was crowding you.” He moved closer to me, and I knew my body was shaking. “I also wanted to make this special, and for you to be sure what you wanted when I asked.”

I breathed in sharply.

“I want you, not just as the mother of my baby, but as my wife.” He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. “Marry me, Eva. You’ve already made me the happiest man in the fucking world, but I want this so damn badly, too.”

I didn’t want to cry, but God, I could feel it coming on. He placed his hand on my belly, smiling. “Yes,” I whispered. He leaned in and kissed me.

“I think we’ll be pretty kickass parents.”

“Yeah, I think so, too.”

* * *

There it was … my baby. I squeezed Eva’s hand and looked at her. She was staring at the ultrasound monitor. She had this rounded belly, and I wanted to cover her skin, run my hand over the swell. My baby grew in there.

God, I love this woman so much.

“Do you want to know the sex?” the tech asked.

Eva looked at me then. “Do you?” I could hear the excitement in her voice.

I reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze, and nodded.

It took a few seconds while the tech was doing more measurements, more typing, but then she pointed to the screen. “Right there,” she said and looked at us. “It looks like it’s a boy.”

My heart jackknifed in my chest, and I looked at Eva. She was smiling from ear to ear.

“We’re having a boy,” she whispered, and I couldn’t stop myself from cupping her face and kissing her. I didn’t give a shit if the tech was seeing this PDA. I’d always show my affection when it came to Eva.

The tech started cleaning off the gel from Eva’s belly, and when that was done, I placed both hands on either side of her swelled stomach and leaned down to kiss her skin softly. Eva placed her hands in my hair, smoothing her fingers over my scalp.

I turned my face so I could see Eva. “I love you, baby.”

She smiled in return. “I love you, too.”

God, what I felt for Eva grew every single day.

It was the best fucking feeling in the world.