Chapter Twenty-Seven-Anna
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN-ANNA
“ C an you believe it? Less than two months and he’ll be here.”
“You’re so amazing,” Nico says, lifting our joined hands to his lips and kissing my knuckles.
The doctor gives us a smile, then leaves the room so I can get dressed. Nico helps.
The second he realized I’d have to be naked for my appointments, he started coming to every single one.
He already chose this doctor, and I’m glad. She has an excellent bedside manner, but it didn’t escape my notice everyone in her office is female.
My sexy husband is as possessive about me as I feel about him, and it makes me love him even more.
“You good?” he asks .
Nico helps me stand once my panties are on and my swing dress is back in place. I slide my feet into my sandals, and I nod.
“Yeah, I feel great.”
And I do.
The baby is healthy, and my belly is starting to round out like other pregnant women.
We go home. Nico makes me breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes, these are made with strawberries and chocolate chips.
We eat at the counter. And we talk.
I love that I’m learning so much about him. That he’s so open to sharing with me. I want to know everything.
“So, I know you’re the, um, king of the Vipers,” I mumble, a little embarrassed to be saying this out loud. “But what does that mean?”
“What do you think it means?” he counters.
“I don’t know. I assume you do illegal stuff?” I squeak the question.
“You’re not wrong. But I’ve learned that illegal, or legal, is only a matter of time. Laws change. And sometimes people wearing collars and badges are the worst crooks,” he says, and I nod.
I agree.
“Do you, uh, do you hurt people?” I ask .
“Sometimes.”
He doesn’t shy away. He is very still, his eyes on mine, but he answers. And I love him for it.
“Do you use a gun?”
“Sometimes. But I prefer fists or a blade.”
“Why?”
“It's personal that way. And killing should always be personal,” he says nonchalantly.
“So, you kill people?”
“If I have to.”
I wait a beat, absorbing the fact my husband just admitted to being a murderer.
It doesn’t bother me. But it should. I feel like maybe I understand Nico enough to know he wouldn’t kill someone without a reason.
“I’ll never lie to you about who I am, Rosebud. But I won’t tell you all of it. It could put you in danger, do you understand?”
“Yeah. I understand.”
I think about what he’s already admitted to me about Sammy. About wanting me and that being the reason he took his marker.
I should be angry. But I’m not.
If it wasn’t Nico, it would have been someone else. The assholes who killed him probably, and I actually feel sort of grateful to my brother for bringing me and Nico together.
I probably need all kinds of therapy for that. But not now.
“Have you, um, found who is responsible for Sammy?” I murmur.
“No one is claiming it. But we’re working on it. I promise you,” he says, and squeezes my hand.
“That reminds me. There is some stuff going on right now with a rival of mine, Sanchez. He wants my territory, but he won't get it.”
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Fear flashes through me. And worry. For him. I can’t imagine a world without my husband, and I don’t want to.
“Of course, I’m fine. But while this is going on, I need to know where you are at all times. No leaving the condo without telling me. And absolutely no going anywhere without a bodyguard.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious. I need you safe, Wife. Understand?”
“Yeah. I understand.”
“Anything else you want to ask me?” He smiles and my heart thuds in my chest.
“Did you marry me just to give the baby a name? I mean, I know you love me now, but you couldn’t have loved me then.”
I make a noise I intended as a laugh, but it’s something between sob and whimper.
“It was one of the reasons,” he says, and he moves closer.
“What's the other?”
I ask as he cups my cheeks in his hands.
“Don’t you know?”
I shake my head.
“Because, Rosebud, you were mine from the first moment I saw you. You're all I need, all I want. I love you, Wife. You’re my everything.”
“I love you, too,” I say and sigh into his kiss.
Nico envelops me in his embrace and I feel him sink into every part of me.
My heart. My body. My mind, My soul.
I am so in love with this man. He ends the kiss with a moan and presses his forehead to mine.
“I’ll finish cleaning up. Go put on something comfortable, and we’ll watch TV.”
I change into a soft maternity pajama short set and snuggle next to Nico on the enormous sofa to watch an old movie with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant .
It’s a romcom with a wonderful supporting cast of characters and there’s even a dinosaur and a leopard.
It’s hilarious. I’m surprised Nico likes it, but really, I shouldn’t be.
My husband has a lot more depth than I think he gives himself credit for.
The sun is setting outside, and I doze off before the film is over. I stir when I feel Nico lift me, but he brushes his lips over my temple and tells me to go back to sleep as he carries me to bed.
It seems ludicrous that I’m so at ease with an admitted murderer. And yeah, it’s entirely possible Nico is a little crazy.
But I’m surprisingly okay with that.
I love him.
I love everything about him.
His unhinged tendencies.
His dark parts.
All the good and the bad.
And I hear my husband whisper the last part of our vows against my temple as he kisses me and tucks me in, and I fall into a deeper, more contented sleep than I ever have with our baby growing right under my heart .
“Till death do us part, Rosebud.”
And my soul rejoices at his vow.
It feels so right. It’s what I always wanted, and he is just what I need.