A Partridge and a Pregnancy (Holiday Brothers, #3)

by Willa Nash

He blew out a long breath, then he fished my right hand from my coat pocket, cupping his fingers to mine so our thumbs were opposite. “One. Two. Three. Four. I declare a thumb war.”

“I like your beard.” He nodded. “So you’ve said.” Right. I’d told him that a few times six weeks ago, specifically when those bearded cheeks had been between my thighs.

We might not have spoken much in recent years, but she knew me. And if there was a woman to go through this with, I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else.

“I forgot how stubborn you are.” “No, you didn’t.” I chuckled. “You just forgot that you liked it.”

It was the reason I’d become an architect. Designing houses wasn’t simply making them aesthetically pleasing. It was about creating a sanctuary.

“Wine. Chocolate. Books.” You.

This was Tobias’s fault. He’d given me two orgasms last night and now I was an emotional mess. Or maybe it was the baby’s fault, which was actually his fault because his sperm had escaped the confines of a condom.

But this bathroom felt like a black hole. Just me and my baby. Just me and the soul-deep fear that I was going to fail. I was going to let this kid down.

Stress didn’t bother me. Hell, I thrived on it. I’d made a career of thriving on it. But the anxiety . . . God, the anxiety was paralyzing.

“I don’t want to miss this. I want to be able to tell our kid stories about when you were pregnant. I want to be the nervous dad at the doctor’s appointments. I want the ultrasound photo to carry in my wallet. I’d like to figure out a way to make that happen.”

“You kissed me and now I can’t sleep.” He tossed the book aside, his gaze tracking my every step as I rounded the foot of his bed.

Tobias was magnificent. He was mine. He’d always been mine, even when I’d let him go. I stretched a hand for his. He took it, lacing our fingers together, and raised it above his head.

“We’ll always be family. But we’re not your family. Yours. The one you’re making. I love Mom and Dad. You and Heath. But my family is Violet. And for my daughter, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”