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Nico

“Oh God.” I moan into the toilet bowl, feeling my gut heave again despite the fact that there’s nothing left in me to puke up.

I’ve been hanging out with the porcelain for a good twenty minutes so far, and from the feel of things, I’m not going to be up and out of here any time soon.

I feel so bad that when my stomach finally settles enough to move, I collapse to the cold tiles and close my eyes, intending to spend my time right there on the blessedly cold floor.

This is in no way anywhere close to the easy pregnancy I had with Cody, and I feel awful wondering if this kid might kill me, but honestly who wakes up at four in the morning to puke?

I start when a cold washcloth settles over my face and groan at the bliss, wanting nothing more than to lie just here and fall asleep. It’s been two months since I told Law about the baby, and despite feeling relatively calm about everything, I still resent the fact that I’m doing this alone.

“Nic, babe, you okay?”

I vault up and moan, falling back to the floor when my head swims, and I move the cloth enough to get one eye open. I meet a set of startling blue eyes and feel my stomach dip, this time in a good way, when I see Law on his knees beside me, his face a mask of concern.

“Law?”

The cloth is whipped away, and he’s lifting me in the next instant, his arms cradling me as he carries me to the bed and gently lowers me to the soft surface.

“What are you doing here, Law?”

And please tell me you did not witness me puking a minute ago. I can only imagine what I looked like with my ass in the air, exposed by the t-shirt that I know rode up and exposed my panty-clad ass.

Maternity undies are not sexy, and no, you can’t judge me for thinking about looking sexy in front of Law. The guy might be married, but he’s my baby daddy, too, and I hate the thought of looking like a hippopotamus with my ass in the air as I wretched up my stomach lining.

“Cody, Dad, and I are going fishing.”

Oh yeah, I forgot about the fishing trip.

“Oh. Uh—”

“Nic, don’t take this the wrong way, babe, but you don’t look so good. Are you still getting morning sickness?” he asks, caressing my forehead, as he gently pushes my hair out of my face.

The action is tender and everything I wanted four months ago.

“It’s not as bad as it was in the beginning. I ate cookies before I came to bed that’s all.”

He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, still stroking my face and instead of shoving his ass away and kicking him out, I’m leaning into the touch and sighing in bliss as the action settles me.

“Cookies, huh?” he chuckles.

“Yeah, not a good idea,” I whisper, trying not to breathe as I become aware of the fact that I haven’t brushed my teeth and my breath probably smells like it tastes.

Death.

Er, this is getting awkward, and after a few more minutes of basking in the bliss of his stroking hands, I yawn and look pointedly at the door.

“You should go.”

Law nods and stands, smiling the whole time as he makes his way to the door, turning back to look at me from the doorway.

“I got an annulment yesterday. The baby wasn’t mine.”

He leaves without another word, his smile at my shock so annoying that I look around for something to throw at the door before collapsing back with a groan as I bury my face into the pillow.

Well, how the heck am I supposed to go back to sleep now?

Two things jump out at me the second I allow my brain to think of anything other than the fact that Law is free. One, he got an annulment which means he never consummated his marriage, and two, the bastard is so making a play for me again.

I really hope this baby is a girl because the arrogance of these James men is just ridiculous.

I fall asleep minutes later with a smile on my face that really shouldn’t be there.

*************************************************************

“Mom! I caught a fish and it was huge! It was so much bigger than Grandpa’s or Dad’s, and then they took a picture and we released it back into the river, and Dad says it was definitely much bigger than anything they’ve ever caught.”

I laugh as Cody barrels in, all arms and legs and excitement. He launches himself at me for a hug and kiss before doing the same to Min and streaking off for the kitchen and Rose.

Minnie and I share a grin from our seats on the sofa where we’ve been sitting together to arrange a charity play day for underprivileged kids.

“That kid is definitely mine. Brilliant technique,” Law says, as he saunters in, a huge grin on his face.

“Or just because he’s absolutely focused on size,” I shoot back, laughing when he blushes and throws his head back for a good laugh.

The action makes me tingle from head to toe, and I frown at the happiness that bubbles forth seeing him so relaxed and joyous. I shouldn’t care about his feelings or anything that makes him happy right now. I really shouldn’t, but that day we’d spoken in his office…I hated seeing him so tense and exhausted.

“The two of you are looking fantastic.”

Minnie laughs and pats his cheek when he leans down to kiss her and then comes over to fall down beside me, the picture of paternal pride.

“Whatcha doing?”

I look down at the lists in my hand and raise a brow to Min.

“Lawson, is your father creeping upstairs to prank me while you sit here distracting me?”

He blushes again and throws her a wink, getting a squeal as Minnie leaps to her feet and runs for the stairs.

“What was that all about?”

He leans closer to inspect my work and chuckles when I shove him back and raise a brow.

“Last time we went fishing, Dad made me talk Mom’s ear off so he could put a fish head on her pillow. She knows him too well though and switched her pillow with his before he went to bed.”

We laugh together for a while, him telling me that Jack has always tried—and subsequently failed—to prank poor Minnie since the dawn of time because she always seems to know and usually turns the tables on him.

“Why did you try again today? Seems he’s just asking for a fish head pillow.” Law shrugs and grins at me, shifting closer. I eye him and scoot over a little, trying to put a little distance between us without seeming to. When I end up pressed to the sofa arm, a grinning Law peeking at me through his lashes, I stop my nervous shifting to glare.

“Is your dad distracting your mom for you, Law?”

He grins wider and shrugs easily.

“Maybe.”

Law

I see the way she tries and fails to move away from me, her teeth worrying at her lip when she realizes there’s nowhere to go. It’s a bastard move to crowd her this way, but I can’t force myself to give a crap when the heat and scent of her wrap around me, pulling me in, reforming me.

The last two months have been an absolute torture for me. I managed to not only catch Melissa and Justin in the act, laughing and enjoying themselves as they screwed and discussed plans to swindle me out of millions, but I got to take my findings to a judge and get an annulment.

Melissa confessed that the baby she was carrying is not mine and that Justin had planned the whole thing. Seems that guy hadn’t minded his lover being taken by another man, or that I would raise his kid for the two years that they planned for us to be married.

His goal had been to bleed me dry and then secure a divorce worth millions after Melissa left me with the child and flitted off back to him.

Just the thought of that woman raising a defenseless kid set my teeth on edge, so instead of just crucifying the bitch, I was forced to fly to her family and set everything on the table.

They were horrified, of course, and made immediate plans for the little liar to go back home for the remainder of her pregnancy and delivery—after which they would keep the baby while Melissa is kicked to the curb.

So now that everything’s taken care of, and I am once again a free man, I feel the need to claim what is mine, namely the hot, very nicely rounded woman currently eyeballing the tar out of me.

Aaah, Nic, so suspicious, I think, chuckling silently at her distrust.

I can’t say I blame her for her attitude, but I hate that she has a right to feel this way, and I hate even more that she won’t be an easy conquest. I can see from her narrowed eyes and tense body that she’s probably on to me already.

Crap.

“Law!”

I look up from her lips when she squeaks and slaps at the hand I didn’t realize was creeping its way up her thigh. I smile, feeling the urge to laugh at the fact that my hands and brain are so desperate for her. Here I am, wanting nothing more than to reassure her and find a way to ease her into this, and my hand’s already going for broke. Can’t say I blame the poor bastard.

We’re so starved for her that—if I could—I’d be in her already.

“Sorry, babe. Got a little ahead of myself there,” I say sheepishly, holding back a grin when she leaps to her feet and takes a seat across from me, her mouth in a stubborn line.

“Got a little…more like your brain is no longer working, a-hole. What’s going on? And stop freaking smiling at me Lawson, you’re starting to scare me.”

I’d scare her if I told her what my dick wants to do to her sweet self.

“Sorry, babe. I don’t mean to scare you; I just missed you is all.”

Her cheeks heat, and she eyes the door, probably ready to bolt, and I shake my head, letting her know that I see her intentions.

“We need to talk about what I said this morning.”

“Er, no, we really don’t, Law. This is really none of my business, and I can’t say that I’m too eager to know half of the things going on in your life either.”

“Nic, babe, that simply isn’t true. You deserve an explanation after what happened, and I want to give it to you.”

“No.” She leaps up and makes for the door, gasping when I shove it closed and lean in, pinning her body to the barrier and settling my face close to her, just taking in the feel and scent of her beautiful, round form.

I want her so much right now that I’m trembling with the need to restrain myself. For starters, I want to lay my hand on her belly and feel the life that’s growing within.

I’m so turned on just thinking about my baby in her that most mornings I have to jerk off before I roll out of bed, or I know I won’t get a damn thing done for the day.

And that leads me to the other things I’m desperate to do. Three months I’ve been deprived of her, and I can tell you I am so hard and needy that if she so much as grazes her lips anywhere near me I’ll probably come in my pants.

Mostly, I just want to hold her and reassure myself that she’s still mine. Dad and I finally had that talk while we watched Cody fish and hop around all day, and I know what he was trying to tell me all along.

I find it hard to put much credence in some old family curse that dictates that any James man will be cursed to an unfulfilled life unless he meets his soul mate, but I’m one hundred percent on board with the whole loving only once thing.

I’ve never loved another woman besides Nic, and I can safely say I don’t think I ever will love another. She’s it, my one, and I will want and love her for the rest of my life.

I’m praying that that includes having her beside me for the remainder of my life not only as my wife but also as my lover, best friend, and partner in crime.

I just need to convince her to take a chance on me.

“Nic. We belong together, babe, and you know it.” I take in her shivers when I smooth a hand down her side and rest it securely on her soft round belly.

The contact is so profound that I’m forced to shove my face into her neck and breathe deeply when arousal and pure love surge through me, making my knees weak with need and longing.

“Law, no.”

Her voice is a choked whisper that leaves me feeling some hope even as she scoots out of my arms and scuttles behind the sofa, her hips swaying at her escape.

I allow her the small space and turn to lean against the door, as we stand staring at each other.

“I went a little nuts when Justin told me that I was going to be a father, and then to hear that Melissa was going to give my baby away if I didn’t marry her…”

Nic gasps and frowns deeply, her eyebrows coming together in a maternal show of anger and offense. I almost laugh when her hand shoots to her belly, as if calming our child and assuring us all that nothing like that will ever happen to him or her.

See, I knew she wouldn’t be anything like that cold-hearted bitch Melissa, not even after everything that’s happened. Nic is a natural nurturer, and she would be horrified to know that Melissa was cursing and threatening to abandon the poor baby first chance she got after I let her know that Justin was being arrested and taken back to Monaco to face charges.

“Oh, Law, that’s terrible. How could she even think about giving her child away?”

“She’s not what you’d call…loving. She fell pregnant by a man who isn’t very good or caring, and they planned to take me for a ride, using that defenseless little kid. Unfortunately for them, I snapped out of it real quick when you told me you were pregnant, and I went searching for answers I should have searched for before even thinking of marriage.”

Nic blows out a huge breath and falls into a seat, her eyes looking so sad for a moment that if not for the hand she puts up I would go over to comfort her.

“What, the baby isn’t yours?”

“No, babe. The baby is Justin’s,” I say, taking my own seat and stretching my legs out as tiredness swamps me suddenly.

I’ve spent so much time and lost so much sleep trying to get everything done and squared away. Not to mention the effort it took not to come here and do something stupid. I am finally feeling the long hours and sleepless night.

“Justin? Isn’t he that smarmy dick I met when I went to your office?”

Can I just say how much I love the fact that she finds one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors unattractive? My chest swells at her words, and I have to keep myself from beating my chest and marking her right then.

Later. I’ll reward her later for that one, I promise, imagining all the naughty, sweaty things I want to do to her once I get her back. And make no mistake. I’m not leaving here till I have my woman and family back and that’s that.

The only reason Dad let me back in for this whole father-son fishing trip was because I finally cornered him at the golf club and laid it all out for him while running after his golf cart.

Old bastard.

“Yup. That bastard. He and Melissa were looking for a meal ticket after his family cut him off, and apparently, they thought they could fool me into thinking one drunken night had resulted in a baby.”

That gets me a frown, and I see her eyes narrow and squint in displeasure. Ah, my Nic doesn’t like the thought of my dick in another woman?

That’s okay, baby,
I think, adjusting my dick not so subtly when it gives a kick, demanding release and a clear shot at our woman.
This cock is yours and yours alone
.

Her eyes stretch, and she blushes, looking away, but not before I see her lips twitch at my predicament.

“You seem to be having a problem there,” she mutters, flicking a hand at my crotch.

“Nope, my boy’s pretty clear and making his needs known now that he’s in the vicinity of his mate. Don’t mind him though. I got to think without his input for three months, so I’m pretty sure we can at least get through the rest of this conversation without me shoving him in you,” I drawl darkly, laughing at her gasp of outrage.

“Keep that thing away from me if you know what’s good for you, Law. Every time he gets involved, I get in trouble and my heart gets broken again.”

God, babe, don’t look so torn up.

I hate the pain I’ve brought her, but honestly, if I had to do it all over again I think I’d do it exactly this way. See, I’ve learned a few things in the last three months. While I’ll never be the old Law who loved hockey, making love after a night of partying, and praise after a game win, I am still enough of the same guy who never, not for a minute, stopped loving her.

I’ve carried her in my heart and in my wallet for years, as I sought out a life that was never mine to live, and I know now that everything I was searching for has always been here.

Yeah, I am indelibly changed and scarred and battered from years of debauchery, but I’m a man now, and this man wants nothing more than to settle down and spend the next lifetime seeking out adventures with my loved ones.

I no longer feel trapped or itch for the freedom I valued so highly. My place is here, surrounded by my family and my Nic, as I endeavor to build a legacy for the line I intend to leave behind.

And most importantly, I now forgive her and myself for the foolish mistakes we made in our youth. Yeah, I know you’re probably asking what I had to forgive her for since I’m the asshole and you hate me, but I need you to understand, Nic wasn’t all sunshine and roses herself.

That girl I loved was driven to succeed and build her career, and while she was great as a girlfriend most of the time, she was also very cruel and uncaring about my injury and the loss I suffered when I learned I would never play again.

She wasn’t there for me, and I, in turn, lashed out and hurt her for that. I hated us both for a long time, but now I can forgive and let it go because I know that if none of that had happened we wouldn’t be here today.

“Law? Lawson James, are you sitting there thinking about sex while I’m trying to speak to you?” Nic snarls, her eyes going to slits, as I grin and shrug again, not ready to admit that what I think of most are the feelings I have for her.

See, I’ve grown! My dick no longer rules me. Well. Not all the time. I am now capable of more than just lust and self-gratification. Although if she wanted to suck my dick right now, I wouldn’t complain too much.

“A little, but give me a break, Nic, my dick hasn’t seen action in months, so he’s a little rabid at the moment.”

Her eyes narrow some more, and I wonder how she can possibly see me through the slivers when she suddenly starts giggling and doesn’t stop till her eyes are watering and tears are streaming down her face.

I’d laugh right along with her, but I’m not sure I should since she seems to find something amusing about my monster, and I can’t be sure she’s not thinking some very uncomplimentary thoughts about that very important part of me.

“Are you trying to tell me you haven’t had sex in months? What a crock! I bet it gets hard when the wind hits it.”

Well, hey now, I take offense to that shit ,and I let her know it right quick, going so far as to shove off of the sofa and lean over her, my arms planted firmly on the arm rests.

“I haven’t fucked since the last time I had my dick in you.” I grab her hand and shove it against my raging erection.

The contact makes me groan, but I push that away and step back with a glare, letting her know how annoyed I am at her lack of faith in me.

“Melissa all but gave me a fucking hand job in the limo after the wedding but my dick, the dick you seem to be so scathing about, hasn’t been hard for any other woman since the day I fucked you!” I yell, running a hand through my hair.

This conversation is not going the way I planned, and it’s starting to drive me nuts. Why can’t she just hear me and believe in me for once?

“Really?”

I pause in my pacing and look back at her, instantly losing my anger when I see her biting her lip and looking so hopeful it breaks my heart. And okay, so I get a little harder at the thought of her wanting to believe that I’m telling her the truth.