Page 125 of Arranged Control

We stand together in our living room and don’t say a word.

I’ve never had a house before. I went from my father’s place to my condo and now to here. Our own home right on the edge between Morozov and Whelan territory. It took a while to find the perfect place, but since cost was no object, we finally settled here.

It’s older. It’ll need updating and work. But it’s livable straight away, and by the time we’re done with it, this house will be our own.

“You know, my brother said I can hold on to my old place for a while. Just in case I need it again.”

Seamus glances at me darkly. “You think that’s a possibility?”

“Who knows?” I grin at him and lean against his shoulder. “My mother sure thought this was doomed.”

“Your mother was a maniac.”

“Very true.” I nudge him with my hip. “But a wise maniac.”

He sighs, shaking his head, and hugs me tight against him. “You know what I keep thinking?”

“How beautiful I am and how much you love my organizational skills?”

He ignores that. “I keep thinking that for once in my life, I want to stay in one place. This is the house we’re going to grow old in, right?”

“Absolutely.” I get on my toes and kiss him. I love the way he’s changed since we got married. He’s still himself—still the same chaotic, cocky, joking, smirking asshole I first met—but there’s a steadiness to him now. He talks about the future. He’s got plans.

“And seriously, I don’t ever want to move again.” He rubs a knuckle into his lower back. “Ihatemoving.”

“Nobody really likes it.”

“You had the most fun I’ve ever seen putting together all those boxes.”

“Okay, good point.”

“This is it for me though.” He turns and stares into my eyes. “I really mean it, Alina. This is our place.”

“It’s our place,” I agree, kissing him lightly. “And maybe now I should probably tell you something.”

“What’s that? You have a color-coded chart of what tasks need to be completed before we can go to sleep tonight?”

“Don’t tempt me. No, this is even better.” I kiss him one more time. “Remember all that unprotected sex we’ve been having? And how I went off the pill?”

“I’m dimly aware of something like that.”

“Well, I’m pregnant.”

He stares at me. For a brief moment, I’m afraid his old self is still in there and he’ll freak out.

But instead, he wraps his arms around me, grinning like crazy, and lifts me up. “Fuck, yes, you are!” He hugs me tight and I’m laughing and squirming in his arms, letting him pepper me with more kisses. “Took long enough!”

“Wait, you’ve been trying?”

“I haven’t been holding back.”

“I noticed!” I manage to extract myself, cheeks bright red. “You’re really happy?”

“I’m more than happy. We want to build a family together, right? This is just the first step.”

I take a deep breath and pull out the folded piece of paper I’ve been hiding in my pocket. “Wonderful. Okay. Here’s a list of all the baby items we’ll need in order of when we should buy them, plus a chart roughly detailing the order in which we’ll put together the nursery, and a list of books we both need to read?—”

He pulls me into his arms again. “Tell you what. If you promise to put that monstrosity away for tonight, I’ll actually read it tomorrow.”