Pia Does Hollywood (Elder Races, #8.6)(4)

“Okay.” He laughed and squirmed away from her finger. “And hey, maybe by the time you get back, this peanut won’t be hiding anymore.”

“You never know.” She grinned. “Peanuts do tend to have a mind of their own. But you were ‘Peanut’ when you were little. Do you think we need to come up with another nickname to call this one?”

“Nah,” Liam said. “I outgrew that a long time ago, so we can call this one Peanut too.”

She looked sideways away from him, adopting a shifty expression. “Does that mean I get to have your bunny now?”

“No way!” he exclaimed. “Keep your paws off my stuffed animal!”

Laughing, she told him, “I’ll keep my hands off him for now. That’s all I’m going to promise. If you ever feel the need to get rid of him, you know he’s got a home with me.”

“Yeah, I know.” He grinned.

Behind her, Dragos shifted. “Time to get this trip started. The sooner you leave, the sooner we can put this week behind us and move on with our lives.”

Taking his cue, she rolled onto her knees and stood. Liam stood as well.

Pia called out, “Eva!”

After a few moments, Eva appeared in the doorway. “You bellowed?”

“Pia’s ready to leave for the airstrip,” Dragos told her. “Is the Escalade loaded up?”

“It sure is.” Eva bounced on the balls of her feet. “We’re ready to roll as soon as you are.”

He nodded. “Get the car warmed up and wait for us outside, will you? We’ll be out soon.”

“Sure thing.” Eva disappeared down the hall.

Pia turned to Liam. Good gods, he was almost as tall as she was. She said, “Remember …”

He ducked his head with a self-conscious grin. “I know, I know. No unexpected growth spurts while you’re gone.”

She waited a moment when he stopped speaking, then prompted, “And?”

“We’ll Skype every day after school.” He added quickly, “Except for Friday, because there’s the game. And Hugh’s going to tape it, so you can watch it when you get back.”

“That’s what we’re going to do, first thing after school on Monday,” Dragos told him. “We’ll watch it together.”

“Okay!”

Pia watched as Liam hugged Dragos. When he turned to her, she was ready. She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. He whispered to her, “I’m so glad I get to have a Peanut too.”

“Me too, darling.” She kissed him again. “I just know he—or she—is going to look up to you and adore you, and want to play with you all the time.”

“I can’t wait. I’ll even learn how to change diapers!” His brows twitched together, and he added, “As long as they’re not poopy.”

She burst out laughing. “Wow, that is excessively good of you.”

He kissed her cheek quickly and stood back. “Have a good trip!”

“We will,” she told him. Liam threw his thin, lanky body onto the empty couch and turned the movie back on as they walked out of the room.

Then, as Pia followed Dragos to the front of the shadowed house, she said to him, “Unless, of course, we don’t. Because I swear to you, Dragos, I’m beginning to feel like we’re travel cursed. Something always happens when we go away.”

“Like I told you once, we’re lightning rods. We don’t have to go away for things to happen,” he said sardonically. At the front hall closet, he pulled out Pia’s coat. “Things happen when we stay right here at home too.”

She would not look at the thin white scar on his forehead. She had obsessed over that wound more than enough already. A few months ago, when Dragos had been seriously injured, that wound had ruled her life and haunted her nights.

Now, he still suffered partial memory loss, but he had remembered everything that mattered to her, everything that was vital to their lives and happiness. More importantly, he had healed until he was as strong and healthy as he had ever been.

And they were going to have a new, mysterious, fiery little peanut.

So she patted him on the cheek as she told him, “I’m too stinking happy to care. The universe can bring it. We’ll deal with whatever may happen next. We always do.”

He bent his head to kiss her. “Damn straight, and we always will.”

The kiss quickly turned scorching as he slanted his mouth over hers and deepened it, cupping the back of her head and plunging between her lips with his tongue. She stroked his hair, savoring the feeling of the silken strands flowing through her fingers and the sensation of his warm, firm lips caressing hers.

He had been drinking coffee while watching the movie, and the dark, smoky flavor lingered pleasantly on his tongue. Murmuring in pleasure, she kissed him back hungrily.

The mating frenzy between them had flared when they began to try to get pregnant. Now, only a few short weeks later, it had eased back somewhat but it hadn’t gone to sleep entirely.

Pia was beginning to think it never would. She could never get enough of him, never, and now, if they weren’t able to steal away for a few private hours, it was likely they wouldn’t be able to be together for a whole damn week, which was another reason to hold a grudge against that unnamed idiot in Washington.