Page 50 of Solitary Man

I glanced at the house again. Riley wasn’t back outside yet, and lately having her out of my sight for any length of time made me uneasy.

I headed for the house. She’d had bad morning sickness at the start of her pregnancy, and she’d scared the hell out of me when she’d fainted, not once but three goddamn times. We only had a couple of months to go, but I was constantly worried about her. Terrified she’d faint again or fall.

I walked inside and worked my way through the house. The extension was finished, and right now all the rooms, including Riley’s office, were being used for guests.

I found her where I should have looked in the first place. The nursery. She turned when I walked in, a soft smile on her beautiful face. I ate up the sight of her. She was wearing a cute little sundress that hugged her round belly, and her blond hair was down and wavy. She stole the breath right out of me.

She always did.

“Hey,” she said.

“What you doing in here, darlin’?” I asked, pulling her into my arms.

“I came in to pee and ended up back in here when I was done.” She rested her hands on my chest. “It’s just so beautiful.”

I’d finished it two days ago, and Riley loved it. This pleased me more than I was capable of expressing. “Glad you love it.”

“More than love it.” Her smile grew even wider. “How’s the birthday boy feeling?”

Before Riley, I’d spent a lot of years not doing anything for my birthday. I’d been alone, and there hadn’t been anything to celebrate. My Riley had gone through the same.

But she had insisted on having a party and used the fact that it would be her last chance to get together with everyone for a while as a way of bending me to her will. I would have said yes, anyway. I’d give her anything she wanted if it made her happy.

“What did Tucker bring you? Moonshine?”

“Yep.” I tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Is he still having his…um…guest come to stay next month?”

Tuck was having a woman flown in, and I could tell Riley wasn’t too happy about it.

“It seems wrong to me.”

“Why?”

She frowned. “Why? Because he’s paying her to…you know.”

“He’s not hurting anyone, darlin’. He’s been using the same place for years and is careful about who he chooses. He has a good reputation there, and the women volunteer to come out here, which means he always has several to choose from. They make good money; he makes sure they have a good time. And honestly, I don’t know what he does to them, but every woman I’ve ever flown out of there has ended up half in love with him.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

I chuckled. “Yep.”

“Why not do what we did? What Beau and Freya did?”

“Because he’s not looking for a wife, just some company for a little while.”

“Hmm.”

I took her hand. “Come and eat.”

“Okay, I could do with some cake.”

It was late and I walked through the dark house. Everything was quiet.

A giggle came from the room most of the kids were bunking in down the hall. Someone else joined in. Then they were all cracking up. Yep, their parents could deal with that.

A grin curled my lips, and I headed to my and Riley’s room. One day it would be our kids laughing and goofing around. I couldn’t wait.