“I’m bringing the eggnog,” Amy says.

“Is that what you’re giving us for Christmas?” I joke.

“Oh, can it.” The video chat on my phone lags a little, but I can still make out her giant smile.

“Hey, wifey! Merry Christmas!” Matt shows up behind Amy’s shoulder, grinning just as big as she is.

“Merry Christmas, both of you.” I blow them a kiss. “When are you guys coming over?”

“I think we’re going to be a little busy today,” Matt says, wrapping his arms around Amy from behind. “So, tomorrow morning?”

“That’s a bit TMI, but yes, tomorrow morning works great.”

Although my moving out of Amy’s apartment eight months earlier had been bittersweet, the transition was made a lot easier when Matt moved in with her a couple months later.

It’s funny, really, how my best friend and Benjamin’s best friend ended up together. They met on New Year’s Eve, right after I left the hospital and Benjamin had a little party for me at the mansion, and bam. Sparks flew so hard, it’s a wonder everyone in the room wasn’t burned.

“See you guys tomorrow,” I tell them.

“Bye,” they echo. I have to hurry up and end the video chat, because they’re already kissing.

“Who was that?” Benjamin asks, coming into our bedroom from the master bathroom. He’s just showered, and neglected to put a shirt on. The sight of his toned muscles has an ache forming between my legs.

“Matt and Amy,” I breathe, my eyes still on his sexy form. “They’re coming over tomorrow morning. Hey, why don’t you—”

Before I can suggest he come back into bed and take me, Mia is knocking on the door.

“It’s Christmas!” she shouts gleefully.

Benjamin and I share a grin.

“It’s Christmas,” I agree.

“Your favorite time of the year.”

He finishes getting dressed, and the three of us rush downstairs, Mia so excited she’s nearly tripping over her feet the whole way.

The space under the tree is piled high with presents, and it’s all Mia can do to not tear into them at once. She manages to control herself, though, and we take turns opening gifts.

The pile dwindles, and soon, there are only a few presents left.

“What’s this?” Mia asks, picking up a small box.

“What does it say?” Benjamin says. He’s sitting next to me on the couch, arm casually slung around my shoulders.

“Jayne,” she reads.

As she hands it to me, my heart flips. The box is square, the perfect size for jewelry.

I shoot Benjamin my own questioning look, but he shrugs.

I unwrap it, feeling just as eager as Mia. Opening it, I gasp.

“Wow,” I whisper, opening up the box within.

The diamond ring is extraordinary. But, wait…is this a regular ring…or…

Before I can wonder any further, Benjamin is getting down on one knee in front of me.

“Oh my God,” I gasp.

“Jayne, you and Mia mean everything to me. I don’t know how else to put it. This last year has been the best one of my life, and I never want this perfect happiness to end.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Same here,” I whisper.

“Will you marry me?”

It’s Mia’s turn to gasp. She gapes at us open-mouthed.

Benjamin takes my hand, his eyes imploring, full of love.

“Yes!” I shout. I’m crying and laughing as he puts the ring on my finger.

“You’re getting married!” Mia screams.

She twirls in a circle, and I catch her in my arms. “Did you know about this?”

She flashes me a grin. “Daddy asked me yesterday. Now you’ll really be my mom!”

I kiss the top of her head.

“I love you, Mia bug.” Over her head, I catch Benjamin’s eye. “And I love you.”

He squeezes my hand.

“And I have some news,” I continue, letting Mia go. “I was going to wait until tomorrow, when our friends come over, but now, this seems like a perfect time.” I pause for dramatic effect. “In about seven months’ time, give or take a few weeks…Mia is going to have a little brother or sister.”

There’s a long silence. Benjamin and Mia both stare at me, then look at each other.

“What?” they ask at the same time.

“Yeah.” I nod and laugh.

“Jayne,” Benjamin gasps, pulling me close. “Wow,” he breathes against my neck. “Wow.”

“I’m going to have a little sister!” Mia sings out. “Or a brother!”

Hours later, once all the wrapping has been cleaned up, once Christmas dinner has been had and the dishes piled in the dishwasher, once Mia has played with every new toy and fallen asleep while watching a Christmas movie, Benjamin and I lay cuddled together on the couch. Eddie is at his brother’s for the holidays, Benjamin having given him the whole week off, and the house is peacefully silent.

“So, this is why you were so cautious on the trip,” Benjamin says, referring to the Aspen trip we returned from a couple days before.

“Guilty as charged.” He’s laying stretched out on the couch, and I’m snuggled up with my back against his chest and his arms around me.

“I can’t believe it.” He runs his palm over my belly. “This time next year, we’ll have a five-month-old.”

“I know.” I sigh in happiness. “And I can’t believe this.” I hold my hand up so I can look at my new ring for only the thousandth time.

Benjamin kisses the top of my head. “Believe it. There’s nowhere else I want to be than right here with you.”

I sit up and look into his eyes. “The same goes for me.”

Benjamin tucks some hair behind my ear. “Hey, Mrs. Glen,” he whispers.

A delightful shiver runs up my back. “I’m not Mrs. Glen yet.”

“You’ve been that to me for a while, now.”

I start to smile, but Benjamin’s lips against my own makes it hard to. He kisses me slowly, his sweet taste coating my tongue.

He pulls back and gives me a heated gaze. “Come with me?”

“Anywhere,” I respond, letting him take my hand and guide me up the stairs and to our bedroom.

Sometime this evening while I was playing with Mia, he must have snuck upstairs and set the room. Candles burn on the wardrobe and bedside table, and jazz plays softly from the stereo.

“Ooh, romantic,” I comment.

Benjamin doesn’t answer. He’s behind me, too busy kissing a line up my neck. I close my eyes in pleasure and sink against him. His arms wrap around my waist, and I feel my whole body break into goosebumps all at once.

We’ve been together for over a year, and every time he touches me, he takes me to another plane. If that never changes, I’ll be the luckiest person in the world.

After reaching my ear, Benjamin kisses his way down my neck. He works my shirt over my head and my jeans down my hips, leaving me standing there in my panties and bra. Coming to stand in front of me, he kisses my lips before charting another path down my body.

His lips land on my cleavage, my stomach, my hips, always taking their time and savoring me. With a feather-light touch, he drags my panties down my thighs. His tongue darts out, running across my swollen nub.

I groan, and dig my fingers in his hair. Soft licks make pleasure rocket through me. My breathing increases, till there’s hardly any space between the inhales and exhales. The pleasure is all-consuming, filling my body and heart till I think I might burst.

When I do explode, I come with a shake, clinging to Benjamin’s shoulders and calling out his name. He smiles up at me and gives each of my inner thighs a kiss before standing up and leading me to the bed.

There, he lays me in the middle of the mattress. I watch as he stands up and strips, his clothes falling away to reveal the body that I worship on a daily basis. His dick is engorged with need, and it gives me an extra bit of satisfaction to know that I’m the one he so badly wants.

Crawling onto the bed, he lowers his weight partially, so that his weight is barely on me.

“You don’t have to be this careful,” I quietly tell him.

Benjamin runs his thumb down the length of my arm. “You can never be too careful.”

“Okay,” I laugh, not willing to argue. It’s sweet how cautious he’s being, and I already know that the next seven months are going to be amazing.

“Oh, hey.” He looks at my bra as if he’s only just noticed it. “You still have that on.”

“I do,” I agree with a grin.

“We can’t have that.” Deftly reaching under me, he unhooks my bra and tosses it away from the bed.

I snuggle closer to him, inching my hips right under his and wrapping my arms around his back. Every curve and line of his body molds to mine. It’s been this way from our very first time together, but over the last twelve months, it seems like our bodies have grown to accommodate each other in a new way.

Now, when we come together, we’re two puzzle pieces snapping into place.

Benjamin’s lips brush across mine, bringing the sweet taste that makes my head spin. I tilt my head back and push my lips against his. Eagerness grows in my belly as we kiss, swirling around like a maelstrom before stretching into the rest of my body. Pressed against Benjamin’s back, my hands shake.

I send them lower, and my palms grasp at everything they can reach. Benjamin’s hips. His tight ass. His smooth, firm back. All of it belongs to me.

“We’re engaged,” I find myself murmuring against his mouth.

“And pregnant,” he adds.

It’s almost too much to comprehend. Ever since he asked me to be his girlfriend a year ago, Benjamin and I have grown closer every day. I always knew our relationship was likely headed in this direction, but now that our family is growing and becoming stronger, I’m close to exploding from joy.

“I love you,” he murmurs.

“I love—”

He doesn’t let me finish my sentence. His mouth is on mine again, the new kiss soaked in a heady passion.

I push my hands up into his hair as his hard length slides along my inner thigh. I can feel the heat coming off of it, just as I feel the love seeping from Benjamin’s hands, mouth, and heart.

He slides up a little more, settling his length’s tip against my folds. As we kiss, he gently rocks against me. I roll my hips back, opening myself to him, and with the next rock, he smoothly glides all the way in.

My muscles clench around him, welcoming him back. He keeps it slow, grinding in and out of me. He still holds himself off of me a bit, and I’m not having it.

Looping my arms under his, I pull him firmly down onto me, planting his hips and weight against my own. Benjamin smiles against my mouth, and I can tell he’s finally relaxing a bit.

“We have a while to go before you have to be careful of the baby,” I whisper.

“If you say so,” he breathes, driving into me faster, now.

I cry out, arching my back and curling my toes. Benjamin leans back a little bit, just enough so we can look into each other’s eyes. As he pushes down into me, I rock up toward him. Our rhythm is as smooth and steady as waves.

The pressure deep inside me hardens, strong as a diamond. Benjamin keeps everything slow, though, dragging my ecstasy out and making me twist underneath him. Finally, I come, his name leaving my lips with every exhale.

Our eyes still locked, Benjamin pushes into me once more. I feel his release, and my body hungrily sucks it up.

With a heavy breath, Benjamin grins down at me. Sweat has stuck tendrils of hair to his forehead, and his face is flushed. He’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.

“Come here,” he softly says, drawing out of me and laying down. He pulls me into his chest and cradles me there, arm wrapped around my shoulders.

I breathe in deep, absorbing the happiness of my life, then exhale, letting out a lifetime’s worth of gratitude.

“We have everything,” I find myself saying.

“Yeah.” Benjamin strokes my hair. “We do.”

Over the last year, nothing has gotten in the way of our happiness. As it turned out, Benjamin’s kidnapping led to a major breakup in San Bravado’s mob network. The men responsible for abducting Benjamin are in jail, and plenty of other arrests were made as well.

Beyond that, we have an amazing little girl and a baby on the way. I get to spend every day with Mia and every night with the man of my dreams. We have friends. We have a home—and it doesn’t hurt that it’s a lavish one, at that.

But, for all the luxuries, I wake up every morning knowing what matters the most, and I never forget what that is. We’ve found a little slice of heaven in this big and crazy universe.

That little slice is in our hearts. It’s the love that we share, the love we give to each other and to everyone else we care for. No matter what happens, no matter where we go from here on out, we’ll always have that love to bask in and share.

And that’s how I know, without a doubt, that I’ve found my happily ever after.