“To strong women.” Sasha holds her shot glass in the air, toasting all of us gathered around her today.
“The strongest,” Mack agrees. “We have to be to put up with them.”
Our gazes collectively move across the lawn where our husbands are gathered with small children nipping at their feet like dogs, begging for their attention. Two of the men, Nikolai and Mischa, are presently hovered over Mack’s latest addition to the Irish syndicate.
“And to think they still don’t know how to change a frigging diaper,” she hoots.
All the women break into laughter, and Talia leans over to reassure me. “Don’t worry, they figure it out eventually.”
My hand comes to rest on the top of my bump, and I give her a relaxed smile. “I’m not worried. I already know Nikolai will be a good father.”
“Pfft.” Mack pours another drink. “You are still in the honeymoon phase. Don’t let him get out of his daddy duties just because you’re all starry-eyed now. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it later. You have to put your foot down. Make him get up in the middle of the night. Let him change a few diapers. And most importantly, don’t give him any nookie unless he’s pulling his weight.”
“Don’t let her scare you,” Sasha says. “She isn’t as tough as she sounds. One look from Lachlan and she turns to mush.”
I’m not scared. But I am grateful when I look around me. In the span of such a short amount of time, my life has changed so much. The thing that I was most afraid of has turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. This isn’t just a group of women and their husbands. They are my family. The family I never thought I would have.
We look out for each other. We laugh, and we cry, and we poke at each other. And even though I am still relatively new, they have accepted me with open arms.
Ronan, the Irish Reaper, comes to collect his wife, Sasha, and the other men are quick to follow suit. Lunch is ready, and there is a celebration to be had for baby Franco’s birthday. But while the others filter into the garden at Alexei’s request, Nikolai holds me back, taking my hand and sneaking us into the house.
“What are we doing?” I whisper as he closes the bathroom door behind us.
He props me up on the vanity, his hands roaming over my body. It has changed so much, and I’m still struggling to accept it. Every day, my belly grows, and not just that but my breasts and my hips too.
“You’re beautiful,” Nikolai murmurs as he gropes at my breasts. “And these are magnificent.”
“We’re going to get caught,” I laugh.
“So let us get caught.” He grabs the bulge in his jeans and shows it off proudly. “I want to fuck my wife.”
“Mmm.” I want to resist him, but it’s hard when he knows all my weaknesses. Particularly when he kisses my throat. And before I know it, he has the top of my dress pulled down, rubbing his face all over my breasts.
“You are obsessed.”
“Large or small, I’ll never get enough of them, Nakya. Get used to it.”
“Soon you will have to share.”
He grunts and rests his hand against my belly where his son grows. “In that case, I won’t mind. It will be good for me to learn moderation.”
He’s right, but I don’t voice it, because it’s just occurred to him that his opportunities are limited, and now he’s back to molesting my breasts again. Sucking them and squeezing them and licking them while he fumbles with his zipper.
He’s been taking me so often since I told him I was pregnant that I joked he would keep adding babies if he didn’t stop. But he has no intention of stopping. He tells me so when he wraps my legs around his waist and stuffs himself inside me.
“Zvezda,” he says it like a prayer. “You are having my baby.”
“I know.” I kiss his throat.
“I still can’t believe it,” he groans.
He says it every day. And every day, I agree. It has been an adjustment, learning to love my body as it changes for motherhood. Nikolai is careful not to let me slide back into old patterns, and he is also quick to point out everything that he loves about me often and passionately.
“Come for me, my sweet,” he begs.
I come twice. My nerve endings are more alive than they’ve ever been. Nikolai loves it, and so do I.
Someone knocks on the bathroom door, and Nikolai grunts. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“You better not be desecrating my house,” Alexei calls through the door.
I smile up at Nikolai, and he shudders out his release. Something I have come to realize about him is that he likes the thrill of getting caught. He seizes any opportunity he can to take me in public places, including his own brother’s home.
“Just tending to my pregnant wife,” Nika says even though Alexei can’t hear him. “Right, pet?”
“Apparently, I’m very needy.”
He brings my hand to his lips, kissing the place where his star resides. “Are you happy, zvezda? Have I given you a life worth living?”
“You have given me a life worth loving,” I amend. “Always, Nika. Because I am yours.”
In the end, I let him ruin me. It was the only way.
The End.
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