Angel Falling (Falling #1)(87)



“Angel, don’t. This is the best news of my life.” I pulled her hand and slipped on her engagement ring. She grabbed the box and slipped my ring on my left finger. It fit perfectly. “Shouldn’t we wait for the ceremony for mine? Isn’t that custom?”

“It’s customary to have a ring when you propose. I asked you and you agreed. You going to tell me you won’t wear my ring?” Her eyebrows pinched together and her mouth set into a pout.

“Not a chance. I’ll wear it proudly. I love you so much.” I whispered against her lips and kissed her. Then I dropped down to my knees in the middle of the restaurant and held her stomach to my face. I nuzzled her belly and kissed the entire surface. She swatted my hands away when I tried to lift her shirt to kiss her bare skin. I wanted nothing but my Angel’s flesh between me and connecting with our baby.

“Hank, you’re making a scene.” She was right. The entire restaurant was watching us. I couldn’t sit here and have dinner. Excitement about getting married, about having our baby, was flooding me and filling my thoughts to the brim.

“Let’s go!” I pulled on her and ushered her out and into the street.

We made it home in record time, probably because I was threatening the limo driver every five seconds to hurry up or he was going to get a boot up his ass. He didn’t disappoint.

We went straight into the bedroom. Without a word, I stripped her of all her clothes then laid her bare on our bed. I removed all of my clothing and surveyed her entire body. Now that I was paying close attention, there were very subtle changes.

The fullness of her breasts, the soft glow of her skin, her stomach even looked as if it had rounded out just a hair. Though it was probably wishful thinking. I straddled Aspen and planted my face on top of her belly. I spread my hand out over the entire expanse and looked at her in awe.

“You know, pretty soon you won’t be able to cover that space with your hands,” she said.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see you all round and swollen with my child.” I slid my hands all over her bare skin. “Hell, darlin’, it makes me rock hard just thinking about it.”

“A man who’s turned on by pregnancy.” She laughed but enjoyed my hands on her.

I spent the evening worshiping every inch of my pregnant fiancée. Knowing I was going to do so for the rest of my life only made the world seem that much sweeter.

She slept through the night, and in the wee hours of the mornin’ I stared at our baby’s picture. It didn’t look like a baby yet, but it was still the most beautiful thing I’d seen aside from my girl.

“You still looking at that picture, Stud?” she asked, then stretched out and put her head on my chest.

“I just can’t believe it. Ma is going to go through the roof. You better get ready for a visit, because once she finds out you’re expecting and we’re gettin’ married the whole lot of em’ will be coming to New York.”

She kissed my chest and tilted her head up. “I thought maybe we could get married at the ranch. The landscape is beautiful. Just invite our families and our good friends. Keep it small. I’ll be a pregnant bride unless we want to wait until after the baby is born,” she said.

“Oh, hell no. My baby is not entering the world a bastard. We’re getting married, and fast!” There was no budging on this one. The sooner the better in my opinion. If Ma wasn’t going to be so happy about getting a new grand she’d be lecturing us until the wedding day about getting pregnant before the wedding.

“Okay.”

“So how do you think you got pregnant, anyway?” I asked. She’d been on birth control, which is why we never used condoms.

“The doctor thinks it was the course of antibiotics I took when I had that sinus infection after we visited Coney Island, remember? I was on them for ten days. Apparently they can minimize the effects of the active agents in the birth control pills.” She snuggled back into my side and closed her eyes with a yawn.

It was still early yet and we’d gone to bed really late. My girl needed her rest, more now than ever before.

“Did I tell you how happy you’ve made me?” She nodded and rubbed her cheek against my chest, then her breath evened out and she was sound asleep once more.


Hugging her close, I ran my fingers through her golden hair with one hand and stared at the image of our baby in the other until sleep took me, too. Sweet dreams of flowing white dresses, puffs of pink and blue twinkle lights danced across my subconscious, along with one perfect vision of an Angel falling into my arms and me holding onto her for an eternity.

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