Page 6 of Beneath His Vow (Knocked Up and Locked Down #1)

SIX

LEXI

“What in the hell is that monstrosity?”

My head snaps up at Nitro’s disgust, my spoon lifted halfway to my mouth. I clutch the bowl tighter, worried he may take it from me for my own safety.

“The baby wants it,” I say.

His nose wrinkles. “The baby wants yogurt, pickles, ketchup and whatever the fuck that is on top?”

I don’t answer. There is no defense to give. It is gross, but this morning it was all I could think about eating this.

I’m nine weeks, comfortably into the first trimester, and this little bean growing inside me is making its presence known.

I’ve been walking around like a corpse from the moment I found out I’m pregnant. My boobs feel like they have rocks in them. Not to mention the fact I can’t keep my eyes open for longer than a few hours.

Casey finds it adorable.

I feel like I’m fighting for my life, especially at work. Getting through an eight-hour day is killing me, which means James is up my ass more than ever. Getting pregnant handed him the keys to my fucking job.

But our baby grows every day and the nausea, projectile vomiting, soreness, even the exhaustion, is all worth it for the little life we’re building.

“I’m not sure you should judge my eating habits, considering I’ve seen some of the things you’ve put in your mouth.” I smirk at him. “And I’m not talking about food.”

He laughs, of course he does. I don’t think these guys have any embarrassment about the women they fuck.

He leans against the counter behind him, taking in the mess I’ve made of the kitchen. He studies me, like he’s dissecting every thought in my brain. Then he says, “You doing okay, Mama?”

I freeze. I don’t mean to, but if Nitro has noticed I’m drowning, then Casey definitely knows.

“I’m good.” Lie. “I mean if you could distract my husband for an hour so I could breathe without him freaking out every time I breathe, I’d appreciate it.”

Casey has been… intense since I told him I’m pregnant.

“Have you ever tried to tell Preacher to do anything?”

I snort. He’s not wrong. My husband can be stubborn. And that’s putting it mildly. “He wouldn’t let me put my socks on this morning. Bending over made him worry about the baby getting squashed. Our kid is the size of a strawberry.”

His eyes soften just a fraction when I say that. “He cares.”

“He hovers,” I correct. “Like an overbearing maniac.”

“Who’s an overbearing maniac?” His deep rumble has my head snapping toward him.

Casey is standing in the doorway, his cut tight over his shoulders, his shirt rolled up to the sleeves revealing thick muscular arms. I may feel like I’ve been wrung out, but I’m not dead, not yet. And my husband is fucking attractive.

I’m pretty sure I drool.

I give him a sweet smile. “The man I’m running off with if you don’t calm down.”

His eyes narrow as he steps up to me, his hands spanning my waist before resting over my stomach. There’s nothing there yet, not really. The slight hint of a little extra padding, nothing obvious, but Casey touches my belly like I’m nine months pregnant and he can feel the baby moving inside me.

“He’s already a dead man,” he says, his mouth taking mine.

“That’s my cue to get the fuck out,” Nitro mutters.

I don’t see him go, don’t care either, because Casey is devouring me like he’s stamping out any thought of other men with his mouth.

When he pulls back, he grabs my chin, tilting my head toward him and studying every inch of my face. “Are you still nauseous?”

“Only when I breathe.”

My flippant response ticks him off. “You been sick?”

I shake my head, my hands slipping under his shirt. “I’m okay, Casey. Don’t worry so much.”

“I don’t worry enough,” he mutters. “You’re out here, carrying my kid inside you. I hate that I can’t do more to protect you.”

Okay, that melts my heart just a little. “You’re doing plenty. I don’t need you to burn yourself to keep me warm.”

He wraps his arms around me, crushing me to his chest, his lips in my hair, his heart pounding against my cheek. “I’d burn the entire world to keep you warm, Lex.”

“Romantic,” I tease.

But my chest tightens in the best way. I’ve never doubted the way he loves me, and now that I’m pregnant, that love seems to have multiplied.

He stares at my bowl on the counter. “Cravings?”

“I think I made Nitro sick.”

He brushes my hair back from my face. “He’s seen worse.”

I have doubts about that.

Later that night, Casey takes me home. I’m lying in our bed, curled on my side when he comes out of the bathroom. Steam curls around him, a towel slung so low around his hips it’s almost indecent. I take a moment—okay, I take several moments—to just admire him.

Hard muscles, that V dip that disappears beneath the material, and the tattoo over his heart that he got for me. He’s fucking beautiful. Like he was carved from stone and fire.

“You done ogling me?” He sounds amused.

“We’re married,” I say. “I bought and paid for the goods. Let me look. Besides, you’re the only one of us that looks pretty right now.”

He freezes. “What?”

“I look like a walking corpse. I have that close to death pallor and the bags under my eyes could be checked in at the airport.”

He stands at the edge of the bed, his jaw tight. “On your back.”

Oh no. I know that look in his eyes. It’s the one where he is determined to prove me wrong. “Casey.”

“Now, Lexi. Back .”

I do as he asks, and he peels the covers away from my body. I stole one of his T-shirts to sleep in, mostly because it’s comfortable, but the way he’s looking at me now, like I’ve pulled on his brand, makes me want to live in his clothes.

He slides the hem of the shirt up until it’s bunched beneath my breasts.

Then his hand spans over my stomach. “You have no idea how fucking beautiful you are, baby. Knowing you’re growing something that’s ours in this body unravels me.

” His hand moves to the slight swell that could be our baby, but could also be dinner.

It’s as if he’s touching something sacred.

“I want you fat and round, and unmistakably mine.”

My lips part, my thoughts dazed and wild, but he’s not done.

“I want every man to know what I did to you. I want this baby to grow big and heavy inside you, so that every time you move you remember who put it there.”

I’m not sure I’m breathing anymore. Casey has always had a filthy mouth, but this… This is another level. It should scare me, but it doesn’t. It anchors me. He’s in this with me, building a future for us brick by brick, and I’m the foundation.

His fingers slide under the waistband of my panties and into the wetness between my legs. I let out a needy whimper, not even trying to hide it. My body is ready for him, as it always is.

“Fuck, you have no idea what you do to me, do you?” He pushes two fingers inside me, and my thighs fall open automatically.

“This pretty little cunt was made to carry my seed. And if you weren’t pregnant now, I’d fill you up until you were dripping with me.

I still might do that, just so you remember not to talk shit about my beautiful, pregnant wife.

” With each of those last words, he presses a kiss to me.

One to the inside of my thigh, one to the bottom of my belly, and the last over my clit.

My breath hitches, my hips lifting in invitation. I dig my fingers into the sheets, as if they can stop me from catapulting off the mattress.

“It’s cute now,” I say between whimpers and gasps as his fingers lazily stroke in and out of me.

There’s two of Casey for just a second before he merges back into one.

Death by my husband’s fingers… What a way to go.

“But it’s not going to be cute in a few months’ time when my belly is huge and I have stretch marks and heartburn and I can’t see my feet or my vagina.

When you’re shaving my legs because I can’t bend over, you’ll trade me in for a younger model. ”

I’m joking. Kind of. I know Casey loves me. He shows that every day in every single fucking way imaginable, but he is also a red-blooded man, and I’m about to go through some metamorphic changes.

“I’m not trading anything. I want your body to change, Lex.

I can’t get the image of your round belly out of my head.

That waddle as you carry the weight of this baby inside you.

” His fingers skim over my stomach again, as if he’s imagining that.

“You pregnant is fucking wrecking me, Lex. I want to see you grow, see what I did to you every single fucking day, and if you think this baby is going to be one and done, you’re wrong.

I want you pregnant all the fucking time. ”

I blink. Then I blink again. “Maybe let’s survive this pregnancy first before we talk about more.”

The words come out in a rasp, because I don’t hate the idea.

I never gave much thought to family, or what it would mean.

Now that I’m pregnant, and we’re building that future together, I want the sound of little feet racing around, tiny socks and onesies in the closets, football practices and dance classes—I want it all with him.

My breath catches in my throat, heat blazing through me as he rubs my clit and I shatter around him. I’m seeing stars as he drops his towel and presses against my entrance.

When he surges into my body, burying himself so deep, my gasp catches in my throat.

I submit. Because this right here, this is home, and I never want to leave.