I blinked. “What do you think will happen when Damien comes home?”

“Honestly?” Bronagh asked.

I nodded my head.

She shook her head. “I have no fuckin’ idea what will happen between them, but whatever does go down, no doubt it’ll be fuckin’ insane. I expect nothin’ less from Damien Slater.”

Five weeks later...

“Yeah, I get that, but what I don’t understand is how women can bleed for days... and not die? That blows my mind.”

Alec?

I walked into the kitchen, leaned against the doorway, and folded my arms across my chest.

“We’ve been over this,” Branna groaned and rubbed her hand over her tired face. “That blood supply is not pumped from your heart. It doesn’t come from a veins or arteries-”

“Then where does it come from?” Alec cut Branna off in an ah-ha tone like he caught her on something.

What in the hell did I walk in on?

Branna stared at Alec. “I’m too sober to have this conversation with you.”

I snorted and it got both Alec and Branna’s attention.

“Preggers!” Alec beamed when he saw me and jumped to his feet.

He walked over to me and leaned his head down to my stomach, kissed it, and rubbed it with his hand. “Hello, baby.” He stood up straight and rubbed my head, kissed my cheek, then said, “Hello, Mama.”

I smiled and rubbed his chest. “Hello, Uncle.”

“Is this a new thing?” Branna asked from the table. “Rubbin’ and kissin’ body parts when we greet one another?”

“Yes!” Alec instantly replied. “Yes, it is, and for future greetings, my preferred body part to be rubbed and kissed is between my thighs.”

“Pervert,” I said laughing as I playfully swatted at him before walking over to the table where I sat down across from Branna.

I groaned as my feet pulsed with delight when my weight was taken off them.

“Tired?” Branna asked me, smiling.

I nodded my head. “I’m exhausted, and me feet are killin’ me. I feel like I gained fifty stone this week alone. I can’t stop eatin’ pizza. It’s a curse.”

Branna snickered at me. “You’ll be fine; it’s just your cravin’s.”

I frowned. “Why can’t I crave fruit or vegetables though? Why does it have to be pizza? I have no willpower to stay away from it.”

Alec laughed from the sink as he filled himself up a glass of water. “Blame Kane. Pizza was all he ate back on the compound.”

“What are we blaming me on?”

Speak of the Devil.

I didn’t look at Kane as he entered the room; I was too tired to even move my head.

“Aideen has pizza cravings, and pizza is all you ate when we were kids so I told her to blame you for her weight gain,” Alec snickered.

Kane mumbled curse words at him then moved across the room to me where he hunkered down next to me and nudged my arm with his head. “What weight gain? You look hotter than ever.”

I growled. “Don’t. I’m too tired to hit you for lyin’.”

Kane chuckled and leaned in, pecking my lips. He rubbed his nose against mine, and it only caused me to lean into him further.

I sighed against his mouth. “Did I give you your second injection yet? I can’t remember.”

Kane licked my lower lip before he pulled back and said, “No, we can go do it now... then watch a movie?”

That sounded perfect.

“Okay. Help me up.”

Kane stood up, took hold of my hands, and pulled.

My back clicked and I groaned. “That felt brilliant.”

Branna laughed at me. “It’s goin’ to be interestin’ to see how you are in a few months when you’re bigger.”

Bigger?

“If I get any bigger, I’ll split in two,” I said to Branna, my eyes narrowed.

She burst into laughter. “You’re twenty-seven weeks gone, and though you are big for that time scale, wait till you’re four weeks out from your due date. That is when hell happens. You will balloon out, you’ll be constantly uncomfortable, you’ll never sleep, you’ll cry a lot... all the good stuff.”

I stared at Branna, my eyes wide.

“I hate you.”

She laughed as I left the room with Kane in tow.

“Bye, preggers!” Alec shouted after me.

I grunted but didn’t reply.

I walked up the first flight of stairs without much effort, but halfway up the second flight, it almost killed me. “I can’t make it up to your room,” I groaned.

This was ridiculous; I was pregnant, not disabled, and yet I could barely walk. Pregnancy was hard, so fucking hard.

Kane placed his hands on my hips. “You’re nearly there; you can nap when you get to my room.”

“Okay,” I breathed.

Kane kept his hands on my hips and I felt him push me upwards as I took the stairs one step at a time. I appreciated it; he was giving me a much-needed boost.

“What can I do to make you comfortable?” Kane asked me when I laid down on his bed.

I glanced at him, feeling a little embarrassed though I wasn’t sure why. He was my boyfriend after all... but I was wary around him because we still hadn’t had sex yet. I wanted to. God, I really wanted to. But I wasn’t comfortable enough with my body right now to even attempt it.

“You can rub me back because it’s hurtin’ a lot lately.”

“Okay, turn on your side,” Kane murmured.

I did as he asked, but stilled when he moved very close to me. I quickly relaxed and groaned when he pressed his fingers into the base of my spine and rotated them in a circle. “Here?” he asked.

It felt nice, but not nice enough.

I gnawed on my lower lip. “Pull up me top, the material is botherin’ me when you rub.”

Kane mutely pulled up my top and exposed my skin. I felt a little insecure with what I knew he was looking at so I cleared my throat and said, “Sorry about the stretch marks. I tried a few different creams to keep them at bay, but they don’t seem to work on me.”

Kane stilled. “Don’t apologise for what your body is going through because you’re growing my baby. Not ever.”

I flushed when he placed his palm on my soft hip and slid it around to my front where he rubbed over my belly in lazy circles. “Your body is perfect, babydoll, even more so now that you’re swollen with my baby. I love that you look like this because of me.”

Oh.

I needed to break the sudden rise in temperature in the room.

“Come back to me in a few months when me body is enormous, and I have stretch marks so purple they look like a roadmap to Hell.”

Kane vibrated with laughter then placed a kiss on my still covered shoulder. “Relax, be quiet, and let me rub your pain away.”

The growing, aching pain between my thighs or the one in my back?

I grinned to myself as I exhaled and snuggled deeper into the pillow under my head. I licked my lips when Kane brought his hand back to the base of my spine and rubbed.

“Harder,” I groaned.

Kane brought his head to my shoulder and growled. He dug his fingers into my back and I felt myself go cross-eyed as an amazing but unexpected sensation crashed into my body.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Right there. Harder.”

Kane moved he fingers faster against my skin, and I gasped when hot heat spread throughout my body. I closed my eyes and hummed in delight at the relaxation that spread throughout my body in hot tingles. I was silent and dazed for a few moments until I opened my eyes, and then widened them to the point of pain when I realised what just happened.

Did I just... Did I just?

“Omigod,” I breathed and flung hand over my face. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.”

Kane was silent for a moment then he said, “For what?”

Like he didn’t know.

“I’m mortified right now. I didn’t realise I would be able to... to...”