Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Post-pregnancy hormones are filling me with even more love and emotion than I’ve ever felt before, which should be freaking unthinkable.
And yet I’m starting to learn that this is a pattern where Braden and I are concerned.
Just when I think we can’t fit any more love between us, he finds a way to awaken another wave inside of me, prompting wave upon wave of affection to blast through me.
It’s been the same all year, and it was especially potent on our wedding day, as Maximillia walked me down the aisle and I laid my eyes on Braden standing at the altar. He looked so huge, so imposing, but the smile on his face was soft and kind.
As our eyes met – the music swelling around us – I could tell he was struggling to hold back one of his signature single tears.
I teased him about it afterward, all in fun, as we lay in our honeymoon suite after the best sex of our lives. I was only two month’s pregnant at the time, with all the sizzling need still coursing through me…
But that’s not saying much.
My need has never waned, no matter how large Bjorn grew inside of me.
It was my man’s lust I’d been worried about, but it turned out I was dead wrong.
No matter how much weight I put on, no matter how much food I gorged on or showers I missed, my man – my husband – always looked at me in that hungry way of his.
“You only ever let yourself shed a single tear.” I giggled in our honeymoon bed, dragging my hands over his firm chest. “I guess you’re too big and tough to just break down and weep, huh?”
He laughed, knowing it was all a warm joke, knowing I’d never actually make fun of him or mean it. The same way he’d never make fun of me. I love our banter, another facet of our bright and starry relationship.
But he proved me wrong when our little Bjorn-Bear was born, which is what we’ve started calling him even if it doesn’t make sense. Bjorn means Bear, so really we’re calling him Bear-Bear, but I think that sounds cute anyway.
When my husband held Bjorn for the first time, he couldn’t contain his emotions anymore. He cried as he hugged him close, leaning down to kiss his forehead, and smiled up at me.
“I love him already,” he whispered. “I’m going to protect us, provide for us, always. Forever.”
Now Bjorn makes a cute sound in his sleep, causing me to look up into Braden’s eyes. He’s staring down at our son, just like I knew he’d be, and then he moves his gaze to me.
Our eyes always meet whenever Bjorn does anything, both of us endlessly fascinated by his every tiny development. I don’t think that will ever go away, no matter how much time passes.
The TV makes a soft noise as the studio’s logo appears on the screen. We’ve turned down the volume so we don’t disturb Bjorn’s sleep, but there was no freaking way we weren’t going to watch the movie which helped us fall in love.
“I get scared sometimes,” I whispered to him just the other night, as we huddled close in bed.
“Scared?” he murmured in reply.
“That I will wake up and this will all have been a dream. That I didn’t get the internship. I never meet you and never gave birth to Bjorn.”
He smiled in the semidarkness, hovering his lips over my face, painting me with his warm breath. “That’s never going to happen. I’m not going anywhere. You and Bjorn are stuck with me—”
“Forever,” I finished for him.
“Forever,” he snarled firmly.
“I still can’t believe Maximillia let me pick the freaking costumes,” I say now, as the first scene starts to play.
“She saw something in you,” Braden says, his voice husky. “She knew you had potential, and, in typical Maximillia fashion, she threw you in at the deep end. She knew you’d swim.”
I cuddle closer to him as he squeezes me tightly, Bjorn making another endearing moaning noise in his sleep.
“Braden, I just want you to know… I’m grateful. For this house. For our family. For the amazing wedding. For everything. I need you to know that.”
“Not as grateful as I am,” he growls softly, lips close to my ear. “You’re worth the world, my beautiful, adorable, sassy shy wife.”
I smile and let my cheek rest against his chest, watching as my husband’s face fills the screen – the man who I crushed on for so long, who I never thought I’d even meet, let alone marry.
Extended Epilogue
Ten Years Later
Braden
“You have to growl like a bear,” Lily says, sitting on the largest chair in the living room as she waves her wand over at Bjorn.
I catch my son’s eyes, the light and joy blazing across his face. People tell me he looks exactly like I did at his age, with his black hair and a smirk constantly playing at his lips.