Much, much later that night, I climbed under the covers beside Susannah. As much as I’d wanted to hurry away from Wildlands earlier, Rex hadn’t allowed me. While I’d been in the bathroom with Susannah, someone had made a call to the police. We’d lucked out, if only because after I hauled off and punched Chad and then Susannah hit him, he’d been drunk enough to try to punch Beck and Levi when they dragged him out of the mess the second time.

As luck would have it, he managed to land a punch on Beck’s cheek. So Rex gave us a scolding and gave Chad a choice. Either all of us got charged, or none of us got charged. Chad might be an asshole, but he wasn’t stupid. He decided he didn’t want to face charges, so we were off the hook.

Then, Susannah had asked me to go ahead and talk to the few crewmembers from our crew who happened to be witness to the entire messy debacle. With her permission to gloss over our history, I’d told them we’d been involved before and so on and so forth. Unbeknownst to me, Susannah had also decided during the week we’d been apart that it was a wise move for her to switch over from one of the hotshot crews to the local crew.

As she’d pointed out, “We’re having a baby. We can’t both be going out in the middle of nowhere at the same time. This way, I’ll still be doing what I love, but I’ll always be home.”

I couldn’t say I was one hundred percent on board with that choice, but I knew it was the smart choice. I also knew I needed to let Susannah make her own decisions, so I’d have to accept there would be weeks when we’d be apart. Given the alternative—leaving our baby with someone else—it was definitely the best option.

I was so fucking relieved to be climbing into bed with Susannah. She was resting on her side, so I followed suit, curling up behind her. She was warm and silky, every inch of her feeling like heaven. When the hard ridge of my cock bumped into her bottom, I murmured, “Ignore it.”

She giggled and reached between us behind her back, her palm curling over my hard length. “What if I don’t feel like it?” she asked, her voice husky.

“I don’t think I can say no. Not to you.”

Then, I was breathing in the scent of her, tasting her skin with my lips and tongue as I blazed a trail of kisses down her neck and over her shoulder, my hand cupping her breasts and teasing her nipples.

She’d crawled into bed bare ass naked. It would’ve taken an act of God to keep me from making love to her. When my hand slid down over her belly, her voice caught my attention.

“Can you tell I’m putting on weight?”

I let my palm coast over the subtle curve of her belly. “I wouldn’t call it ‘weight.’ I call it curves. The more, the better, as far as I’m concerned. In fact, you’re hot as hell pregnant.”

When she giggled, I slipped my fingers through her curls, dipping them into the moisture between her thighs, finding her hot, slick and ready.

I didn’t want to wait, it had been too long. A single week had felt like forever. Reaching between us, I lifted one of her legs, resting it over mine, giving me more access to tease her. In a matter of seconds, she was rocking her hips back against me.

“Ward, please.”

With need pounding through me, I gripped my cock in my fist, sliding my other hand over the curve of her lush ass. Pushing it apart and making room for me, in one subtle shift, I sank into the warm, clenching heat of her core.

I held still for a beat, savoring how it felt to hold her close against me and be buried deep inside of her. She was home to me. Or rather we were home to me.

Brushing her hair away from her cheek, I rested mine against hers as I rocked into her. Her channel throbbed and pulsed around my cock, nearly pushing me over the edge instantly. Skimming a hand down over her breasts and belly again, I teased her wet folds, circling over her clit.

She cried out, my name a husky gasp. Her channel clamped down around me as she found her release, sending my climax thundering through me.

I held her close, absorbing the feel of her. For the first time in weeks, I felt relaxed. I hadn’t consciously realized what an effort it had been to keep my feelings caged inside.

After a moment, she spoke. “Well, so much for telling myself I could keep my hands off of you.”

“I think that was my fault.”

She giggled and started to roll over, but I shook my head. “Don’t move.”

“How come?” she asked.

“Because I want to stay right here. Forever would work.”

I felt her smile against my cheek and her hand lifting up to ruffle my hair. “I’m going to have to pee in a minute,” she said. “It happens all the time now.”

I reluctantly drew back, sliding up to rest against the pillows as she slipped out of bed. Within seconds, she returned, slipping under the covers beside me. She curled up against me, her fingers tracing circles on my chest.

“I want to get a dog,” she said out of nowhere.

My laugh slipped out unbidden. “Okay, you want to get a dog? Where did this come from?”

“I’ve always wanted one, but I felt like my job wasn’t a good fit. But if we’re going to have a baby and I’m switching to one of the local crews, then we can have a dog.”

My heart squeezed so hard it hurt. “If you want a dog, we’ll get a dog.”