Stanton Bliss(51)

I pick up his hand and kiss the back of it. His eyes stay down and guilt fills me. I hurt him today. I grab his hand and cup it around my cheek as I tear up.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“Doesn’t feel like it.”

I hold my head to the side. “I do. You know I do. Please let’s go home and talk about it.”

“No.”

“Why did you walk out on our argument today? You should have stayed and talked it through with me.”

His eyes hold mine. “You don’t want to know.”

What’s that supposed to mean? “Yes I do.”

“I was so angry that I didn’t trust myself to be near you.”

I frown. “Why?”

He puts his head back and drinks his beer as he thinks. “Maybe I’m more like James Brennan than we all realise.”

My heart drops. “Joshua.” I sigh. “You would never hurt me and I know that for a fact. You would never lose control.”

His haunted eyes hold mine.

“You proved that to yourself by leaving. Don’t beat yourself up because you were furious with me. You had a very good reason to be angry.”

He takes another swig of his beer.

“Joshua, I was off the boat in ten minutes, the guards were still awake. There was no way you could remember a thing, nobody expected something to happen when everyone was around.”

He frowns. “He told you that?”

I nod and his face falls. He needs to know he couldn’t have stopped it.

The girl on stage starts to moan into the microphone as she gives it to herself with a vibrator, and I hear Bridget and Adrian laugh in horror. I put my hands over the front of my stomach. “Close your ears, baby Stanton, Daddy has us hanging out in a * parlour listening to fake orgasms.”

Amusement flickers across Joshua’s face.

“Why would you do that?” he whispers.

I shrug. “I don’t know. It seemed like a good plan at the time.”

“He could have upset you. Anything could have happened.”

I kiss his hand. “I won’t do anything like that ever again, I promise.”

A topless blonde with huge boobs walks over and bends over Joshua to take his empty beer bottle on the table. She gives him a dirty smile and he raises a brow at me.

I look at her, my face straight. “Buzz off, Blondie, before I stick this bar stool up your ass,” I warn her.

She pulls a face and moves along.

A trace of a smile crosses his lips. “Stick a bar stool up her ass?” he repeats.

I smirk. “It would probably fit.”

He smiles into his glass and I know I’ve got him.

“Are you taking me home, baby daddy?”

He shakes his head in defeat. “Stop f*cking with my head, Natasha.”

I lean in and kiss him gently. “That’s my job.” I rub my hand over his short dark hair.

He frowns, his lips against my lips.

“Wives f*ck up their husband’s nights at strip clubs all the time,” I whisper. “It’s a common occurrence, Mr. Stanton. Get used to it. I will do it again.”

He smiles and shakes his head to himself. “Once a show stopper, always a show stopper.”

“Baby, your show starts when we get home. I’m going to make it up to you.” I kiss his shoulder.

He grabs my hand as he stands. “Pregnant woman aren’t supposed to be horny all the time.”

I smirk. “Most pregnant women don’t have a Lamborghini parked in the garage.”

Five Months later.

I stand with my hands on my hips as I look around baby Stanton’s nursery. I’m feeling very proud of myself. We are at Willowvale and I am just putting the last of the new furnishings in. The renovations are complete and there is now a doorway between the four adjoining bedrooms so that we can be closer to the incoming crowd.

The nursery is cream with white furnishings, cream carpet and touches of mint, finished off with taupe and mint drapes. A pair of large, cream, wing back chairs and ottomans, all in the same fabric as the drapes, sit in the corner next to the window. The room is big and spacious. Adrian and I designed it and, of course, and it looks better than anything I have ever seen in a magazine. This nursery is to die for. I’m not even going to tell you how much I have spent on this house. Baby brain is making me lose all budget sense. Either that or I am getting accustomed to having nice things. Either way, I’m totally spoilt.

The bathrooms have all been remodelled and a large entertaining pool has been put in. We will be moving back here as soon as the baby is born in approximately four weeks, so we wanted all the work done before we came here permanently. We have been coming here on Thursdays and staying most weekends throughout my pregnancy. It feels like my home now and I hate leaving on Monday mornings. I can’t believe it. In four weeks I’m going to have a baby, and I don’t even know what to do.

The dog barks and I look out the window to see my man come up from the stables from his morning ride. I smile to myself. Those jodhpurs will be the very death of me. I have truly been adored by Joshua throughout this pregnancy. Actually, no. I have been worshiped throughout this pregnancy. Joshua cannot get enough of me and we are so physically in tune with each other, it’s frightening. I’m heavily pregnant – huge – and at a time when I imagined feeling fat and frumpy, Joshua is making me feel like the most beautiful woman on the planet. How did I ever get so lucky to have a man like him love me with everything that he is?