Months later . . .

It'd been five months since Max and I had officially moved in with Brad, and I still found myself overwhelmed when I saw the number of kitchen appliances he owned.

I was sliding a simple pan out of one of the cabinets to break an egg into when I felt him wrapping his arms around my waist and rubbing my pregnant belly.

"How's my little one doing this morning?" He asked, and I turned around, touching the bridge of his nose with my finger, then handing him the spatula. "The baby is hungry and is craving two big fried eggs with a ton of grease . . . please."

"Comin' right up," he said, then told me that Max fell asleep fairly quickly last night. "I told you I could do a better job at putting him to sleep right away."

I shrugged, placing a hand over my swollen belly. "Well, that's good news for me because once this one's out, my job is going to be done and you can put him to sleep every night."

Brad smirked, sliding the first egg onto a plate and turning his head toward Max's nursery when he heard him crying.

"Here we go," I said, standing in slow-motion.

"Oh, I got it." He held up his hand and I sat back down.

It'd been an absolute dream carrying Brad’s baby. I found out I was expecting about a month after we returned from our trip to London, and though we were living apart at the time, we would still spend most of our days together. So, once the pregnancy test came back positive, moving in with him was an easy decision, and it'd been an absolute dream to wake up to his gorgeously chiseled face since then. There was a time when I thought I couldn't be more attracted to the guy, but my hormones only had me wanting him more and more as each day passed. Lucky for me, he had the stamina to keep up with my ridiculous sex cravings.

When Brad showed up with my over-dramatic son whose cheeks were as red as cherries due to all the crying, we discussed the event that we were hosting that evening. Brad had bought his dream restaurant in one of the most central locations about six months ago. It took him a while to change the entire look and feel of the interior, and now that it was ready for launch, he could hardly wait to have everyone see Hash House.

Most of the important people in the restaurant business, the media, and our friends were expected to join us, and it was the first time that we were going to make our relationship official in the media. It'd been pretty official already, but we'd never let them snap a photo of us together with an article to go along with it. We'd just been too consumed by our love and complete obsession with each other to give these things too much importance. But that evening would be the perfect time to show up as a couple for everyone to see that we were really together.

"I feel like I'm too pregnant for this fancy party," I told him, almost whining. "I love being pregnant, but I also feel like a whale."

Brad burst out laughing and fed me my first bite. "You're awesome. You cook for me and then feed me too. But I really didn't appreciate that laughter."

I took Max from him when he began to extend his arms toward me.

"I'm laughing because you made no sense. You'll be the prettiest one there, regardless of the size of your belly."

I made a puppy face and told him that he always knew all the right things to say but I didn't believe him.

"Stop fishing for compliments," he joked, and I smacked the side of his arm, then finally stood and rested my hands on my hips.

"I know you said I should wear purple because it's your favorite color, but I think I’ll go with black instead.”

He shrugged. "As I said, you'll be the prettiest one regardless."

I smiled and ruffled his hair. "By the way, I need your help with the bookkeeping."

Brad had been helping me with my new job in his own way, trying to meet me at my level of understanding and teaching me things from scratch. Though his position at Coleman Advisory was at a much higher level, he knew a thing or two about some mundane tasks that I'd been struggling with at work. I was kind of a celebrity at the office, especially now that I was carrying a Coleman baby, but I was getting used to the attention. Contrary to what I'd thought would happen, I hadn't encountered any jealous or envious behavior from the other associates. After a few weeks, it'd become obvious as to why people were so incredibly nice to me. It was because of the amount of respect they had for their former boss, and I couldn't be prouder of Brad for creating an amazing team at that firm in such a short amount of time. That alone was a huge win, in my opinion.

"Sure," he said. "Let's work on it over the weekend."

I thanked him and went into the bedroom to lie down. It was going to be an exciting but long day ahead, and my pregnant self needed some time to snooze.

* * *

Brad and I arrived hand in hand at Hash House. He was pushing Max's stroller while I was trying to ensure that my long slit didn’t reveal more than it should. In my normal commoner lifestyle, I'd never seen a pregnant woman dress this way, so I was feeling like I'd just arrived at the red carpet. I could have sworn that my son was batting his eyelashes with all the attention that was being showered on him. Brad answered a few questions about the restaurant and the time it took to revamp it, then he politely asked the people who were pointing their mikes at us to back off when their questions got more personal.

"We'll get to answering these questions when we greet our friends inside," he said, then squeezed my hand. I followed him inside and waved at Lily and my sister, who approached me as soon as she saw me. Brad got busy socializing with the guests once he noticed that I'd met Jessica.

"This is just so crazy," she commented, and I nodded, then saw that Dani and Zander were walking toward me. I hugged them both, and Dani squealed, placing her hand on my belly.

"Were you nervous out there? I heard some of their questions."

"I'm trying to get used to it all." I shrugged. "Besides, Brad really makes sure I'm never uncomfortable in any situation."

Dani's widened her eyes and nodded exaggeratedly, then waved at Rachel and Kelly.

I turned around and shot them a smile.

"I'm going to go say hi to Brad," Zander announced, slipping away and leaving us girls by ourselves.

Rachel was getting married in two months. I'd been surprised by the amount of time she was taking between getting engaged and tying the knot. In fact, we were all quite surprised because she wasn't exactly a patient type of person. For once, I'd wished that she would hurry up because now, I was going to be seven months pregnant by the time she would hand me my bridesmaid's dress.

"I hate that I'm going to be like this at your wedding," I said, hovering my hand over my belly.

Rachel rolled her eyes because she'd already heard me say that before. She then arched her brows and nodded at Brad, whose eyes were on me. "Your boyfriend drools over you every chance he gets."

I blushed and Kelly elbowed me. "Damn, girl. Six months into the relationship and your cheeks still turn red when we tease you.“

"It's a pregnancy thing," I lied and attracted another minor case of an eye roll.

It made me happy to see how our lives had come together, both personally and professionally. All four of us were either married or in committed relationships, and I truly hoped that my sister, too, would find that special someone she wouldn't get tired of blushing over.

So, when my best friends scattered to find their significant others, I sat next to Jessica and told her that it was about time that she started dating.

"We need to break the Clayton sister curse once and for all," I said.

She laughed, then wriggled her fingers over Max's tummy and made him laugh.

"I agree," she replied, leaning closer to me so Lily wouldn't hear our conversation. "Besides, I am going to need a date for your wedding."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Rachel's wedding, you mean?"

She looked away almost immediately with some kind of guilt spreading across her face.

"Yeah, I meant Rachel's wedding."

I wrapped my fingers around her arm and forced her to look back at me. She was a terrible liar, so I wasn't sure why she even tried.

"Do you know something that I don't?"

She tightened her lips and fought back a smile.

"Jessica!" I squealed, and then she finally muttered.

"I'm sorry. I wasn’t supposed to tell you."

"Brad bought me a ring, didn't he?" I asked simply, but all I received in response was a straight, expressionless face. "Blink twice if what I said is true."

So, she blinked twice and burst out laughing. I covered my mouth just as quickly and felt my stomach turning into a ginormous butterfly.

Jessica cleared her throat just before I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Brad.

"Think it's time to answer their questions," he said. "You ready?"

I held his hand and stood up in my usual slow-motion mode.

"I'm ready," I said, standing on my tiptoes and kissing him deeply. That attracted the cameras and the attention of those around us. I didn't care, because I meant it when I told him that I was ready.

I really was, in every sense of the word.

"I love you," I whispered.

Placing his hands on my face, he kissed my forehead and smiled.

"And I love you."