Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
I guess, thinking about it… I never had seen anything in the tabloids about Janus dating anyone. Not seriously, anyway. He’d be pictured with women occasionally, but never the same one twice.
And he’d essentially just proposed in front of a live crowd.
“What were you thinking?” I hissed in his ear the second I could pull him away from the crowd.
Janus’s eyes were intense and serious as he looked down at me. Flashes popped and I knew we couldn’t talk long because reporters were watching, capturing every moment of our whispered conversation. “I’m just cutting to the chase.”
He leaned his head down so no one could read his lips. “That’s our baby. This is forever. I’m making it official.”
I pulled back and could only blink up wide-eyed at him. “But we’ve only— I mean, and he—” I looked around for Leander, only to see him glance our direction, look away, and disappear through a doorway.
“Screw him,” Janus said fervently, grabbing my attention back. “Do you love me?”
I blinked, my heart beating as fast as a rabbit’s. A gorgeous man stood in front of me, one I loved, and he reached out to clutch my hand. I nodded.
He leaned his head down so our foreheads touched, and it was like no one else was in the room. “Then say it out loud, honey.”
“I l-l-love you,” I whispered, my breath hitching.
A smile like sunshine breaking after a storm broke on his face. “Then we have everything I ever dreamed of. Will you marry me?”
Shakily, I nodded. And whispered. “Yes.”
He leaned down and kissed me. I sank against him as flashbulbs exploded all around us.
THREE
HOPE
We didn’t see Leander the rest of the night, and frankly at this point, good riddance. I rested my head against Janus’s chest on the ride home as he plucked pins out of my hair and Milo massaged my feet.
I was in heaven. As much as a bloated, achy, tired, jet-lagged pregnant woman could be.
The ride was too short, and then I had to put my devil heels back on for the walk back up to our suite.
But as soon as we there, Janus made an executive order. “Bath time. Now.”
I wanted to whine that I just wanted to go to bed. But Janus wasn’t having it.
“Baby, we just announced to the world that we’re going to be man and wife,” Janus said as they sat me down on the bed. Milo immediately dropped to the ground and undid my shoes again, massaging as he pulled them off my feet.
I could only blink up at him. In spite of all he’d said at the gala… “Wasn’t that just some publicity stunt? Or to get back at Leander?”
Janus looked offended. He got in my space, pushing me back on the bed, his weight on top of me. “I don’t do those kinds of stunts, babe. I mean what I say. Always. Were you stuntin’ when you said you loved me?”
I swallowed, his face inches from mine, his body heavy and so amazingly solid on top of mine. He wasn’t squashing me; he just made me feel so wonderfully female. And seen. He made me feel seen and loved and important. I’d felt like a wallflower forever, just blending in invisibly to the background.
“You want to marry me?” I breathed out in shock.
“I want to marry you, and for you to have this baby, and then a passel more. I want to plant my seed deep in you every night.”
I blinked, confused. “But what about…” My eyes went over Janus’s shoulder to where Milo stood watching.
“Milo’s always welcome. Leander’s welcome too if he ever gets his head outta his ass.” He leaned down, pressing his body further into mine, his groin mashing against mine. “But it’ll be my name on the marriage license. Because I recognized your value and worth first.”
My heart, body, and soul melted for him.
I was liquid as he slid back off the bed and pulled me with him. I groaned. I’d been perfectly happy where we were.
But considering he got me to my feet only so Milo could unzip my dress and peel it from my body, well…
After my dress was a maroon pool at my feet along with my underclothes, they led me to the bathroom. Our suite had both a shower and a huge, multi-jet jacuzzi bath. I had to admit, I love the ways these guys traveled. And how they manhandled me, helping me from both sides to climb up the steps and down into the water that Milo had started as soon as we’d come in, apparently.
“Oh God, that feels good,” I breathed out.
“That’s right, honey,” Janus said, “let it all go.”
Damn, those were the magic words. I felt my muscles unclenching from tension I hadn’t even realized I was holding.
Milo came near with makeup wipes and gently swiped my face clean. I laid back while he and Janus washed my body and hair.