Page 71 of Expecting an Argument
I swallowed and my eyes flicked up to meet his. “I think I’ve given this all I can handle.”
He spun me once as the song ended. “As long as you got what you wanted out of tonight, we can end it early.” He held his arm out for me to grab. “Do you want me to get you a dessert plate before we head up to the room?”
I smiled as I wrapped my hands around his bicep. “Is that even a question?”
Beau had booked a king bed suite on the top floor of the hotel. I sat on my usual side of the bed in my baby blue nightgown, the eucalyptus smell from the hotel shower gel still lingering on my body. My e-reader rested on top of my bump as I read a very spicy dark romance and listened to the gentle rainfall sound from the bathroom as Beau took his shower.
Just as the dark-hearted hero was about to chase the heroine through the woods, my e-reader wobbled. Annie and Brady were awake.
The heat drained from my cheeks—suddenly my book seemed much too vulgar now that I had company.
I lifted my e-reader and looked down at my bump. “There was a content warning at the beginning of the book, you know. Nothing in this story is appropriate for babies, so settle down!”
The bathroom door opened, sending wisps of steam toward the bed, and Beau strolled out as he towel-dried his hair. He hadn’t bothered to put on his usual sleep shirt and the pajama bottoms I had gotten him for Christmas rested low on his hips.
He tossed me a look. “Do your dark and twisty little books have you talking to yourself now?”
I scoffed and set my e-reader on my nightstand. “No, the children are just being rambunctious.”
“And who do you have to blame for that?” Beau said with a smirk as he put the towel back in the bathroom.
“I don’t know,” I said as I took off my glasses and placed them on top of the e-reader. “Probably the parent who spent time injail.”
Beau sank into the bed beside me and rested his cheek on his fist. “Fine, deny any responsibility. I’ll just update my will in case you go off the wall and make me the subject of ‘Murder in the Heartland’ season three.”
I rolled onto my side to face him, but then my breath caught in my throat when I realized we hadn’t brought my pregnancypillow. Our bodies were no closer than a usual night, but now we didn’t have a barrier separating us.
A little tingle crawled up the back of my neck as I looked at him, but then Annie and Brady kicked each other so violently that I gasped.
Beau let out a sympathetic hum. “They really are giving you a hard time, huh?”
“Every day,” I sighed as my belly rocked.
I clocked his gaze, fixed on my bump and the precious children inside. The tingle on my neck returned and the air around us thickened like honey.
I gnawed on my lip, silently debating my next move, but I gave in. “Do you want to feel them?”
His eyes widened a little as he looked up at me, but he nodded. Slowly, I took his hands and rested them on my belly.
“And…there,” I said as I adjusted his hand to my left side. “That’s Brady, and on the right is little Annie.”
The twins rolled and kicked, each one of their tiny movements popping off like miniature fireworks across my belly. Beau splayed his long fingers across the satin fabric of my nightgown, certainly determined to catch every flutter and bump.
“They’re magnificent,” he whispered after a few minutes. “You’ve done a wonderful job, sugar.”
My heart swelled. My cheeks ached with my smile as I watched Beau finally feel the twins. His thumbs stroked my belly as he talked to them, telling them how excited he was to meet them and how happy he was to be their dad.
Soothed by his words, the twins settled into stillness.
“You put them to sleep,” I whispered.
He let out a little hum and patted my belly. “Goodnight, babies.”
He paused, just for a moment, before placing a gentle kiss onthe left side of my bump, then my right.
I held my breath. Beau gazed at our babies for a moment more and said, “I love you.”
The inside of my chest seized. He said it to the twins, not me—not me—, but I still heard him, still savored the words like the first sip of warm tea on a cold night.
