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Domino looked horrified by the prospect of babies. The man had come a long way since he met his fiancée. Julia had helped him learn to face his emotions rather than run from them. Given the fact that Domino had been raised by the head of the Russian Bratva, it was no wonder the idea of kids scared him. “For now, I think I just want to focus on Julia healing from her injuries. Then maybe once we’re married we can talk about kids.”
“Piper and I talked about it,” Arrow admitted. “We want to get married as soon as this mess is cleared up, then both of us would like to start a family. You guys are getting us all broody.”
“Lila turning up pregnant when we used protection is a shock, but not a bad one. I can’t believe that in seven months I’m going to be a father.” It hadn’t sunk in yet, but as it did, he found he was getting more excited. There was a lot to do, a lot to prepare for, but for the moment he wanted to keep his focus on regaining Lila’s trust.
“If you need any practice with babies, you can babysit Mikey any time you want,” Bear offered with a desperation that said their team leader was a little anxious for some alone time with his wife.
“I think Lila would like that. And I can get used to changing diapers,” he said, making a face. Those things were perhaps the most disgusting thing God had ever created.
Brick laughed and slapped him on the back. “Good luck with that, brother.”
Of all of them, Brick was the only one now not involved. Surf didn’t even have to think about things to know that Lila was it for him.
To be honest, he had known it from the second he laid eyes on her.
Not love at first sight per se, more a deep cosmic understanding that this woman was the other half of him.
There was no other way to explain it. It was why he had been willing to risk losing her to protect her from the threat hanging over him. But now she was back and pregnant, and he would never let either of them go again.
“I don’t need luck, dude. I already had the best luck in the world when that woman ran into me that day.” There was understanding in the eyes of the other guys, even Brick’s which surprised him. That man was like a vault, getting anything out of him was next to impossible. But if Brick had known love and it had slipped through his fingers, Surf had nothing but empathy for him.
He’d come so close to having the same thing happen to him, and he wasn’t letting anything mess up this second chance.
“I’m going to go get her settled into our apartment, she looks exhausted,” he announced as he pushed away from the table where he and his team had been doing another fruitless search for the elusive Dark Beauty.
“We’ll get them, Surf,” Domino vowed. As personal as this was for all of them since Domino’s brother had set the whole plot in motion, Surf knew no one wanted this finished more than Domino. He had been the one to end Kristoff’s life and so technically the reason why they were all now in danger from Kristoff’s girlfriend, partner, lover, whoever Dark Beauty was. If any of them got hurt, he knew his friend would take it hard.
“Yeah, we will,” he agreed. Crossing over to the couches where the women were talking, he rested a hand on Lila’s shoulder. “You ready to go get settled in?”
“Sure. It has been so nice getting to know you all,” Lila said to Mackenzie, Phoebe, Piper, and Julia.
“You’re going to get to spend a lot more time with us over the next few weeks,” Phoebe said with a grin.
“I’m kind of glad to have another pregnant woman here, it’s scary. Exciting though,” Lila said, glancing up at him. More of the wariness had faded from her eyes, and he felt the old Lila starting to come back to him. It might take a little time, but he was sure they could get back to what they’d had before.
After saying their goodnights, he led her out of Mouse and Phoebe’s apartment and up a floor to the one he had been staying in. Prey had a total of ten apartments over five floors. Mostly they were used as safehouses, although from time to time they were also used for visitors or clients of Prey.
To give them all some privacy, each team member had taken an apartment on a different floor, with him and Brick sharing the same floor since neither of them was involved.
Now, not only did he have a girlfriend but a baby on the way.
“Eagle had someone go to your place and pack up some things. He said let him know what else you want or need and he’ll have it brought here,” he told her as he led her inside the apartment. She’d met Eagle and the rest of the Oswald siblings earlier. Hawk and his wife Maddy had been particularly excited to meet her because Maddy had also shown up at Prey out of the blue and dropped the bomb of a pregnancy on Hawk. Now the two were happily married with two-year-old Louie and were expecting their second child around Christmas.
Actually, a few Oswald babies were due over the next couple of months. Eagle and his wife Olivia were six months pregnant with their second child. Sparrow and her husband Ethan were also expecting their second, Irish twins because their son Ryder would be eleven months old when the baby arrived next month. Youngest Oswald sibling Dove and her husband Isaac were also due in a few months, the couple was expecting triplets.
“That was nice of him,” Lila said. Things felt a little awkward between them. It was the first time they had been alone together since he introduced her to his team, and while he knew it would take time for things to go back to the way they’d been before he missed their closeness.
“I’m sorry, Lila. I hate that I hurt you.” When he reached out to smooth a lock of silky blonde hair behind her ear, she didn’t flinch away from him.
“I know that, Christian.” She lifted her hand and covered his. “I understand why you did it, it sucked, but I can’t fault you for trying to protect me. I just need to know you won’t do it again. I can’t let myself continue to fall for you if I’m constantly afraid that something will happen and you’ll push me away again.”
“Oh, baby. No. I would never do that again. I couldn’t. It about killed me last time. I don’t want to be away from you again. Ever. I think you feel the same way.”
“I do,” she whispered.
“Life with me won’t be easy. My job means I can get called away with no notice, what we do is dangerous, and there’s no set timeframe. I could be gone a couple of days, or I could be gone weeks, or sometimes even months. I won’t be able to talk about a lot of what I do, and I won’t always be able to be here for special moments. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, recitals, or football games, I’ll miss a lot of it. You’ll be a single mom a lot of the time.”
Lila gave him a one-sided smile. “You trying to convince me to walk away from this?”
