Reaper blew past the part where he was willing to talk about him, focusing his attention on her. “When are you planning to tell me you’re pregnant?”
“What makes you think I’m pregnant?”
“I know you are.”
“Really? How sure are you?” She narrowed her eyes on him, raising her chin just as stubbornly as his was. “As sure am I about you having a part of you locked away?”
The light cast from the lantern flickered across his face.
“There isn’t,” he snarled.
“Then I’m not pregnant.” Laying back down, Ginny shoved another pillow under her head.
“That’s not how being pregnant works.”
Ginny gave him a determined stare. “I don’t need you to ‘mansplain’ anything to me, thank you very much. It’s my body, and if I say I’m not pregnant, I’m not pregnant.”
“Woman …”
Seeing the telltale sign that she was getting to Reaper when he raked a hand through his hair, she gave him a smug grin. “I’ll admit to being pregnant when you’re ready to tell me you’ve got a part of yourself locked away. And …” she drawled out, “while you’re at it, get Pastor Dean’s permission for us to get married. If my father was still alive, he would have already put a load of buckshots in your britches for messing with his baby girl.”
Ginny stared up at the sky trying not to burst into laughter at his poleaxed expression. She knew she was being ridiculous in her demands, but she didn’t care. She was fighting for her man, and she would use any weapon available to her, even if it was the child they had created.
She was a great believer in learning from observation. If Trudy could use being pregnant to get what she wanted out of Dalton, Ginny wasn’t above using the same method.
“It doesn’t work that way.” Reaper snorted in frustration. “We’ll see who lasts.”
“Yes, we will.”
“Aren’t you going to take a shower with me?”
Looking up from the magazine that she was reading as she lay on the bed, Ginny nearly changed her mind. Naked, Gavin was a work of art. Damn.
“No, I took a shower before we went out. I’m good.” Her lips pressed together to keep from smiling at his irritation when he went into the shower alone.
Big jerk.
She got up to undress, sliding on a nightgown, then went to the dresser and opened the top drawer that held his shirts. Taking out a leather jewelry case, she placed the rings that he had given her inside before closing the drawer.
Returning to the bed, she slid under the covers, curling her hand over her small bump.
“Don’t worry, sweet one; we got this.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Swatting a glittery balloon out of the way, Reaper closed the door after working a back-breaking shift at the factory. Being greeted by a floating baby foot balloon wasn’t totally unexpected, as Ginny had been telling him nonstop about all the decorations she purchased for T.A.’s baby shower tonight. Still, it was kind of sad to see the club house room decked out in baby blue with swirly ribbons hanging down from the ceiling.
“I could cry,” Nickel moaned, coming into the room with the rest of the brothers.
“The brothers in Ohio would have cardiac arrest,” Jesus groaned in aggrievement.
Puck stepped in rainbow-colored shit. “Better not let Wizard hear about this. He’ll never let Viper live it down.”
Suki gave a low whine, sensing the pain from the brothers who were complaining about their club room being taken over by the women who were stacking baby shower presents on the two pool tables.
Reaper gave the brothers a killing glare when Ginny sighted him and made a beeline toward him.
“The first one who says something to her will be working an extra shift.”
The brothers took off down the hall for the kitchen instead of going farther into the main room. From the loud grumblings coming from that direction, Reaper had no doubt that Ginny decked that room in girly shit, too.
“You’re here!” Ginny enthused as she grabbed his arm. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
He couldn’t flat-out lie to her with a clear conscience. “It’s exactly like you said it would be.”
“I know, right?” Ginny pridefully surveyed her handiwork. “Sex Piston and Killyama think Trudy’s going to love it. Is it bad of me I wanted more balloons than when Lily had her baby shower?”
“Nothing’s wrong with a little healthy competition.” Congratulating himself on being able to keep a straight face, Reaper took a long look at what Ginny was wearing. Did the woman think he was stupid? She was wearing a dark brown animal dress that came to her knees, with a chunky black sweater that was meant to be loose but was unable to hide the burgeoning belly she was developing.
“How long is it going to take you to get dressed?” She nudged him toward the steps.
Reaper wasn’t fooled by her attempt to distract him. He had been living with her dodging and distracting him every time he tried to talk about her being pregnant for the last two and half months.
“Why do I need to change? I was going to grab something to eat and stay in our room.”
“I have literally told you a thousand times that you have to keep Dalton company. He’s not any happier than you. The least you could do is make it more bearable for him.” Ginny voice went an octave lower. “I don’t think he cares for Sex Piston.”
“No shit? I can’t imagine why.”
Ginny gave him a glare that put his death glare to shame.
“Give me ten minutes, and I’ll be back. That good enough?”
He guessed it was when Ginny gave him an air kiss on his cheek as she moved away after hearing Sex Piston yell from across the room. “Hurry up, little bitch. Trudy will be here any minute.”
Grumbling to himself with no one to hear, he went up to his room with Suki to lay out clean clothes before getting in the shower. Turning the water to hot, he luxuriating in the warmth of the spray. Every fucking bone in his body hurt. He had helped load two delivery trucks with a massive order, after working on the house that he and Ginny were building. This morning they put the wooden flooring in the bedrooms upstairs.
Washing his hair, he felt the length of stubble on the side of his skull was getting longer. He needed to shave it, but he didn’t have the energy. Determined for Ginny and him to be settled into the home before the baby was born was being waylaid by the wet weather and a series of mid-steps that caused multiple delays.
He’d been so distracted with his new life at home, he was surprised to see an email this afternoon regarding the investigation on the islanders’ disappearances. He’d already discovered from meteorological reports that no hurricane had hit Clindale with the force Allerton had described. The discovery had him hiring two ex-military investigators to find out what happened to the islanders. So far, little had been found, and the men were now methodically going through many of Allerton’s patrons to see if they played a part as well.
One of the emails had both good and bad news. What little was left Ginny’s father had been found, and he’d been the only body located in the ocean. He would tell Ginny tomorrow. He wasn’t about to let her party be ruined after she had worked to make it special for T.A.