I called Ivan to set up a meeting. Ivan didn’t ask questions, but I was sure he knew already. He would want to hear it from my lips, want me to disrespect him to his face. So I agreed to see him later.
Then I proceeded to tell Rome to leave my penthouse. He’d walked me to the door while I continued my conversation with Ivan. He followed me in, not at all concerned that he was overstaying his welcome.
When I hung up the call, I told him to leave.
He didn’t. He stayed the night.
He wouldn’t go.
He wouldn’t even try to hide himself anymore either. The smell of him teased my brain before I even opened my eyes that morning. I woke up in a haze. I had just gotten used to sleeping in my penthouse alone. But now, I’d never sleep alone again.
At least not for the next 9 months.
The last day’s events came flying back.
Rome’s home would be mine now. There was no way he was letting the baby in me out of his sight.
Or me for that matter.
And maybe I wasn’t letting him out of my sight either. I wanted him close enough to aggravate, close enough to infuriate, and close enough for me to tempt his monster. It was the thing I loved about him, knowing a man would tear apart a city for us instead of inflicting pain for power.
Some instinct in me overruled everything else too. I was pulled to his protection because I wanted it now more than ever. I hadn’t cared before about my wellbeing, probably still didn’t really. I cared about the change in the city. I cared about making a difference. I would have died for that difference without hesitation before.
Now, for the first time in a long time, I was willing to put something else before my reign.
“My stomach’s going to grow.”
“Huh?” Rome looked up from his breakfast with a coffee mug in hand.
I sat down at the table, across from him. “She’s going to grow in here and stretch me to twice my size. I won’t be able to move. Definitely won’t be able to defend myself.”
“You keep saying ‘she.’”
“It’s probably a girl.” I shrugged and pointed to his coffee mug. “You make extra?”
He got up from the table and grabbed a glass from one of the cupboards. “No, I didn’t. You can’t have caffeine.”
“What?” I frowned at him.
“It’s maybe bad for the baby. I just looked it up.”
I grabbed his phone and saw that he had in fact been looking up things I couldn’t eat and drink. “It says one cup is probably okay.”
“You willing to bet her health on a ‘probably?’”
“Are you willing to risk your health on a ‘probably?’” I shot back, ready to find a knife and stab him if I needed to. I was tired, like bone-dead tired, and I’d slept well.
Which meant the baby was growing.
And I was in for the long haul.
He sighed. “One cup, then.”
He poured the coffee and gave me a glass of water too. I grabbed the water despite my hedging. I guessed I’d be doing more research before sipping caffeine for the next nine months.
I stared at his phone. “This list is long, probably too long for me to remember.” I clicked on deli meat and read that I could harm the baby if there was listeria in it. “Oh, my God! I…Oh, my god.”
“It’ll be fine.”
I glared at him. “You don’t know that.” I clicked on wine—it could cause death or fetal alcohol syndrome. I shot up and combed my hands through my hair. “When’s the last time I had a drink?”
“Calm down.”
“Calm down?” I racked my brain for the last time I’d even taken a sip but couldn’t remember. It’d been a long time; I’d shied away from alcohol when I took over the bratva. I thought my aversion was just because of all the responsibility, but maybe it was my body too. “Oh, God. What are we even doing?”
“We’re doing this.” He stepped in my path and pointed to my belly, then motioned between us. “And this…together.” His tone was authoritative, firm. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember the list.”
“Rome, we’re in the fucking mob. We don’t have the time to remember all this! And even if you happen to remember it, you’re not always going to be with me. You can’t be by my side all the time.” I swerved around him and stalked up to the counter, looking for my phone. “We should call the doctor.”
“For what? We were just there.” He leaned his hip on the counter and waited for me to say the words.
I knew some people thought abortion was a dirty word. Sometimes, I wondered how my mother’s life would have turned out had she aborted me. So many lives were dismal, tragic. Was a life like that worth it? Could they have been spared?
We stared at one another. Rome’s gaze was harder than normal, more determined. I figured mine looked scared or unsure.
Either way, I couldn’t get the words out. They clogged my throat, then ran away so that I couldn’t say them.
I sighed. If I couldn’t say them, I wouldn’t do them. My body was closing in on the fact that I was about to embark on protecting my dream and my baby at the same time. I wrapped my arms around my stomach. “I guess we can call him to set up the regular visits, then.”
The first smile of the morning that whipped across Rome’s face had my heart pounding loudly.
“Rome,” I said in warning. “We have to set boundaries.”
He nodded, the smile somehow spreading even wider as he walked toward me. “Sure, babe. Set your boundaries.”
I held out my hand, and he walked right into it and farther still until he was up against my chest.
“I’m serious too. Set all the boundaries you want.” He nestled into my neck like he could care less about the gravity of the situation. “I’m going to rip them all down anyway. The monster doesn’t like any boundary between him and you.”
“The monster needs to get on board, asshole. We can’t be stupid with a baby on the way.”
“We’ll be smart by staying together.”
“The bratva doesn’t want that,” I said, but my hand was rubbing his chest. “They want me standing on my own. They want you all bowing to us.”
“I’ll bow to you any day. I just need you bent over too while I do it.” He grabbed my ass and rubbed his cock into me.
My body had been more than sensitive to his advances lately. “You need to stop with that too. I read women can be more aroused early on in pregnancy. Everything is sensitive.”
“All the more reason for me to be tempting you, woman.”
“No. We need to focus on other things.”
“How about I fuck you and then we focus on other things?” His hand was already inching up my thigh.
“Rome, contact the damn doctor,” I said, but I sounded breathless. He laughed against my collarbone and then shoved himself away from the counter and from me.
My body revolted, but I gripped the edge of the granite to make sure I didn’t jump his bones.
“Fine. We’ll get some appointments out of the way, Kate-Bait.”
I nodded and wiped a hand over my face, trying to rid myself of the nerves. “I would like you to ask him how to keep my stomach from growing to twice its size and stretching me all the way to Zimbabwe.”
“Woman, I don’t think we can avoid that.” He grabbed his black phone from the table and sent out a text message.
“Well, then, I have to go shopping. For all things baby.”
He hesitated for a few seconds on that one. I knew he hated shopping. The man could barely handle me at a boutique, let alone running around looking for maternity wear. “Probably need to discuss this with all parties.”
“Why?” I shrugged and then smiled, because I knew it would press his buttons. “I got you. You’ll protect me, right?”
He shook his head at my goading and then looked me up and down. “You really want me to go? Why don’t you call Brey and Vick?” The question came out high like I was crazy and like he was a little scared.
“If I call Brey and Vick, Jett and Jax will be coming. I’m the head of the bratva now. They aren’t letting us out of their sight. Should I go with other men to shop for your baby?”
That side-eye from him came quick. “And the queen reigns. Let’s get you fed and out of those ratty socks. We call the doc and get some updates. Then we go.”
“What is with all men and trying to get rid of these socks?”
“What other men?”
“I used to wear them at Bastian’s.”
He scooped some scrambled eggs he must have made before I woke up onto a dish for me. He smacked it onto the table harder than necessary. “Fucking Bastian,” he grumbled and pointed to a chair for me to sit.
I plopped down in front of the eggs. “That was months ago, Rome.”
“It could be years ago for all I care.”
“You’ve been with other women. You don’t see me getting all hot and bothered.”
“You don’t have to see them every day like I do Bastian.”
“I wasn’t with him. We kissed. That’s it.”
“That’s it, like your mouth isn’t fucking gold.” He stood over me, one hand on my chair, one hand on the table. He didn’t wait long before he crushed his lips to mine. I took in the kiss, smiling. This morning was a blip of sunshine on our dark radar.
I pushed him away after a minute, knowing we wouldn’t get anywhere that day if we kept doing what we were doing. “I’ll remind you again, I only ever kissed him. He never fucked me, okay?”
He jerked back and quirked his head. His voice came out low. “Nor will any other man ever again.”
His hand went between my legs to rub my pussy. I rolled my hips, practically ready to screw him there at the kitchen counter.
“Jesus Christ. No wonder you’re pregnant with my child.”
My body wanted nothing to do with shopping. I curved my back, pushing my tits out for him to see.
He groaned. “I swear, either I’m dreaming or your tits are growing already.”
My hands slid up my top to cover them and squeeze. “They’re more sensitive too.”
“Fuck the store. You can order whatever you want.” His hands flew off me and then went under my armpits to lift me onto the table. He grabbed the chair from the table and sat in front of me, a predatory smile on his face. “I’m hungry.”
“You already ate. We should go.” I crossed my arms over the baggy t-shirt of his I wore.
“That’s not the meal I’m starved for, Kate-Bait.” He scrunched the material up at my thighs and then snaked his hands under the shirt and over my belly to my tits. He didn’t rub them nicely. He pinched each nipple and rolled it between his fingers. I gasped, and I knew we wouldn’t be going anywhere if I spread my legs further.
I did anyway.
