Natalie sat on the couch next to Adrien.

He was watching the season’s final episode of his favorite crime series. Totally engrossed in the action, he didn’t even notice her.

A lot was happening onscreen, especially to the hero, who was locked in a life-and-death battle with the villain.

But Natalie couldn’t wait. The intel she’d just gotten in the bathroom from a little plastic stick was too hot.

Life-changing hot.

She’d explode if she kept it to herself for—Natalie glanced at the clock on the wall—another thirty minutes.

She needed to tell him and she needed to see his response.

They did plan to have a family, and she knew Adrien truly wanted it… but not this soon.

At present, their goal was to travel and have fun. She was going to accompany him on his tournaments whenever she could. He’d already taken her to Croatia and South Africa. He wanted to show her so many places! He wanted to take her to Japan, Argentina and Russia, and to make her truly a part of his life. In a year or so, they were going to get married. She dreamed of an intimate wedding in a romantic abbey somewhere in the South of France. Then they’d take out a mortgage and buy a cozy little house in a sleepy Parisian suburb.

And only then would they make a baby.

Ah, those were good plans.

And the life they were living right now was good, too. Really good.

By Christmas of last year, Natalie and Adrien had met each other’s families and friends and rented an apartment together in the 10th arrondissement, a spitting distance from the Canal Saint-Martin and its live music venues, movie theaters, and cafés. She still loved her job. He rocked at chess even more than before. When practicing, he still enjoyed battling his virtual nemesis Fritz at La Bohème.

At first, Natalie stayed away from the bistro because of Jeanne. But sometime in February, she gave in to Adrien’s coaxing and stopped by for an after-work drink with him. Since then, she would go there two or three times a week to enjoy a drink or a light supper before she and Adrien would head home. What with Jeanne always being around, and so easy to chat with, the thin crust of ice between them had melted away before spring settled in.

It, no doubt, helped that Natalie was happy now and that Jeanne turned out to be such a fun person, despite a clearly self-destructive bent when it came to boyfriends. Like her hooking up with Fred six months ago. Or like her current beau—a rude and self-important biker Natalie took an immediate dislike to. The few times he showed up at the bistro, he barely said a word. Neither did he act like a man in love. He acted like a man who believed he did a woman a huge favor just by spending some time with her outside the bedroom.

What a shame Jeanne won’t dump him!

If she did, she might finally notice that lanky student with thick glasses and a head of crazy hair. In stark contrast to Jeanne’s boyfriend, he came to La Bohème often, stayed a long time, and gazed at Jeanne as if she were a miracle.

But hey, Natalie reminded herself, who was she to judge?

Hadn’t she been just as stupid and blind when she planned to spend a lifetime with a man who didn’t love anyone but himself?

Thank God, she’d come to her senses.

Natalie studied Adrien’s profile.

“Sweetie,” she said quietly.

Too quietly. There was no way he’d have heard her.

Adrien gave her a sidelong glance, his head and the rest of his body still turned toward the TV where the hero was running and ducking with a bunch of armed gangsters on his heels.

She’d wait, Natalie decided. She’d somehow keep the lid on her news so he could finish his episode.

But Adrien must have seen something in her eyes, because he muted the film and turned his whole body toward her. “Nat? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said.

He drew his eyebrows, unconvinced.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.

God, that was so not how she’d planned to deliver the news! She was going to ease him into it—not drop a brick on his head.

He blinked. “You sure?”

She nodded. “My period is like a Swiss clock, and I’m two weeks late. I just did the test. It was positive.”

He took her hands in his.

“I know this is too soon,” she said, searching his face. “We were planning—”

“I’m going to be a dad?” he half questioned, half wondered.

She nodded. “I hope it isn’t too—”

“I’m going to be a dad,” he repeated, this time a smile curling up his lips.

“You OK with it?” She wasn’t sure she could believe her eyes, needing him to confirm it.

He nodded. “Come here.”

“You’re not upset?” She scooted closer.

“Are you kidding? I’m proud of myself. And of you, too, of course,”—he gave her a wink—“but, especially, of myself.”

She rolled her eyes skyward and grinned.

“I’m not up-set,” he said, stressing the last syllable. “Quite the contrary.” His eyes brimmed with mischief. “I’m… ahem… just up.”

He lowered her hand to his bulge. Natalie gasped in incredulity and then looked up at him. His smile was still there, but his expression had changed. His eyes were darker now. They held that familiar hunger she couldn’t get enough of even after five months of nightly, and often morning-ly, sex—a hunger that always had the same effect on her. It made her lightheaded and weak in the knees.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, trying to diffuse the sexual tension with a joke so she could draw out this wonderful moment. “Is it that I’m going to look like I’ve swallowed a gym ball that makes you horny?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure…”

He pressed her hand to his groin, and she began to stroke him though his jeans. Then she unbuttoned and unzipped him before stroking his hard, warm flesh.

She couldn’t help herself.

He closed his eyes and leaned back, looking awfully happy.

“It’s not the gym ball as such,” he said at length. “It’s what it means.”

“A future rug rat with a permanently runny nose?”

“Our rug rat.” He opened his eyes to watch her ministrations. “Handmade and home-brewed by us. A new human who’s going to be half you and half me, and yet an entirely distinct person.”

“And that makes your horny?” Natalie widened her eyes in fake disbelief.

He nodded. “It’s borderline magical, come you think of it. And, yes, it makes me horny.”

His smile suddenly gone, Adrien leaned in and took Natalie’s mouth in a blistering kiss.

Oh, he was good at this—her chess champion—just as he was good at peeling off her clothes while they kissed. His hands were everywhere, stroking and undressing her. Through the haze of her spiraling desire, she heard her bra snap come open as he freed her breasts. Then he unzipped her pants. She raised herself up just enough to let him pull them down. A few moments later, she was on her back on the couch, completely bared to him.

He hovered above her for a moment, staring, and just as fully bared as her.

And ravenous.

The next moment, he was all over her, pressing kisses across her body as his evening stubble grazed her skin. He rubbed and kneaded. She dug her fingers into the muscles on his back and writhed when his hand reached her core and stayed there, strumming.

When he pushed into her, he did it slowly, giving her time to savor every delicious second of his entry. Because she liked that. When he began to thrust, she was oh so ready. Beyond ready. Each of his measured, deep thrusts raised her hips up off the couch, and each withdrawal threw her back down. Clutching his ass, she urged him to keep going.

So he did—harder, faster.

She was getting close.

Suddenly, his face contorted.

Natalie knew that look—Adrien was nearing the edge, and his self-control was slipping away with every stroke.

“Not yet,” she begged, “I need more.”

He slowed down, then stopped completely, and stared into her eyes. “I love you, Nat,” he said. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered against his mouth, as he pressed his lips to hers in a hot kiss.

This wasn’t the first time he’d hit her with the L word. Not the second, either, or the twentieth. Perhaps not even the hundredth.

But it was still the sweetest imaginable music to her ears.

And she knew it would always be.

When he started to thrust again, his tongue delved deep inside her mouth and his fingers rubbed her most sensitive spot at the same time.

She came in a heartbeat, hard and sweet.

A second later, he groaned and collapsed on top of her.

There was something to be said for being ravished by a man who knew your body so well.

And who thought you carrying his baby was the sexiest thing in the world.