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21

Jared

I took my time getting out of bed. The blankets still held Liam’s warmth and delectable scent, but that wasn’t why I lingered. Liam was an early riser and had gotten up for a shower, and I was listening carefully to his off-key singing. I lay there in silence until the first stutter in his voice. Because he didn’t know that I’d set things in motion last night, preparing.

For April Fools’ Day.

I listened to the muffled cursing and allowed myself to laugh. When the bathroom door clicked open, though, I wrestled my face into a stoic calm. “Good morning, love,” I said evenly, turning away to grab my phone from the side table since I couldn’t look him in the eye and keep a straight face.

Liam stepped out, dripping all over the carpet, hair wet and still covered in suds. Because of course he wouldn’t have been able to rinse, seeing as I’d put soap inside the showerhead.

“Jared.” He said my name like a curse, and the corner of my mouth twitched.

“Yes, dear?” I remained a picture of innocence .

He took a long, slow breath, and I chanced a peek at him. The towel didn’t even wrap all the way around his waist at this point, just two weeks from his due date, and he clutched both ends at his hip. Soapy water ran down his body in rivulets, but he seemed determined to ignore it. He glared at me, his eyes flashing. He wasn’t mad, though someone who didn’t know him well might’ve thought so. But he was sure as hell planning to get even.

After we’d ended our little café rivalry, we’d called a truce, and we hadn’t pulled a single prank on each other in all the time since—but by unspoken agreement, this one day, all bets were off.

“Did you have a nice shower?” I asked cheekily, tempting fate as I smirked broadly at him.

Liam’s eyes narrowed. “Just lovely, thanks. The shower’s all yours.” He dropped the towel, giving me a look at how excited our little rivalry got him, before turning toward the closet and giving me a glorious view of his ass.

The first thing I did when I got into the bathroom was clean out the showerhead. Then, I checked the contents of the shampoo bottle, the toothpaste, and the shaving foam to confirm they hadn’t been tampered with. After getting ready for the day, I paused at the door, listening. All was quiet, but my guard was up. I didn’t know what form Liam’s revenge would take, but that was half the fun. The anticipation got my blood running.

I eased the door open carefully, peeking out a narrow crack. No sign of Liam anywhere. I shook out my clothes before I put them on, half expecting itching powder or maybe a cockroach for old times’ sake. Hmm, nothing. That did nothing to calm me.

I found Liam in the kitchen, setting out a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese scones. “Coffee’s fresh,” he said .

“Thanks, babe,” I said as casually as I could while wound up this tight. I kissed him on the cheek. “I could’ve made breakfast.”

“I know, but I wanted to.” He smiled at me, and I wondered, was that a friendly smile? Or a devious one?

Grabbing a mug from the cupboard, I poured myself a cup of coffee from the pot, fresh and warm, but when I went to add a spoonful of sugar from the jar, I paused, staring down at the crystals. I glanced over my shoulder at Liam and swore I saw the corner of his lips twitch as he pretended to read something on his phone. Mm-hm. I wasn’t born yesterday.

I quickly took a pinch of the “sugar” and tasted it, expecting salt, but it was sweet. Huh. Okaaaaay… I went ahead and scooped the sugar into my coffee then took a sip. I sputtered, choking.

“Salt!” I burst out, rounding on Liam.

He cackled, his careful mask splitting in a wide grin. “Sucker! I knew you wouldn’t trust the sugar, so I put the salt straight into the coffee!”

“Oh, you got me, fair and square,” I said, laughing.

Liam laughed hard enough that tears leaked from his eyes, but he sobered suddenly, standing from the table, hand under his belly. “Uh-oh, gotta go.” I knew that face. In fact, I’d gotten quite used to it by now. Laughing paired with a squished bladder had him waddling off to the bathroom as fast as he could go.

This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I held my breath, but it didn’t take long. I heard a sharp shout, and Liam came stomping out, more astonished than anything. “Saran wrap over the toilet? Seriously? That’s just mean!”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” I held both hands up. “Don’t worry, I always intended to clean it up.”

“You’ re just lucky it wasn’t a number two,” he muttered, chuckling as I made my way to the bathroom to clean up the mess. This was the cost of pranks, but it was so worth it to see the way it made him shine.

Since Liam owned his business, he didn’t get a designated paternity leave exactly, but I’d made him promise to take more days off as it got harder for him to stand for long periods of time. Hugh had agreed that I should put in more hours at Grounded than Crave, since that was where I was needed most right now, so that was where we were headed this morning.

I was just brewing a fresh pot of coffee—salt-free this time—as Liam outlined what we needed to get done. “I need to go over the schedules and make sure all the shifts are covered, plus backups in case I…” He got a strange look on his face.

I paused, mid-pour. “In case you what?” I asked.

Liam gasped, round eyes darting up to mine. “The baby’s coming.”

“Nice try,” I said, walking over to the couch and plopping down, putting my feet up. “How gullible do you think I am? As if you’re in labor. Pfft!”

Liam gawked at me. “I’m serious! I just felt a contraction.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” I sat back, sipping my coffee as I tried to ignore the niggling unease in my gut. It went against every one of my instincts not to react. Especially when he started rubbing his stomach like that, rocking back and forth.

“What if I told you I’ll crown you the king of pranks? How about emperor? Would you believe me then?” His voice was starting to hit a very convincing pitch, and my confidence wavered.

I took in the sweat dotted along his hairline, the tightening around his eyes. “You’re really serious? ”

“Yes!” he shouted. And then, just to prove his point, he gasped and looked down, his pants darkening as his water broke and soaked into the material.

I was off that couch so fast, darting across the room to his side in an instant. “If this is a prank, you’re taking it a bit too far,” I joked, laughing shakily, my heart racing in my chest. This was it, the moment we’d been waiting for.

“What do we do now?” he asked, his breath a near pant.

“Now we take a breath,” I told him gently, pulling him into my arms. “In and out, nice and slow. There’s no rush, we have time.”

Liam’s breath caught, and he leaned into me hard, grunting. After he caught his breath, he looked up at me. “Can we maybe rush just a little?”

Dr. Zappek had told us once contractions started, we could take our time at home where we would be most comfortable until they got closer together, but if his water broke, we would need to go to the hospital. “I’m sure we have time to put on some dry pants at least,” I suggested, and he nodded.

It should’ve only taken us a few minutes to get ready, since our bag was already packed, but we had to stop twice for contractions. That worried me a little, but I kept calm. That was what Liam needed me to be right now, even if my blood pressure was rising.

“Okay, time to go,” I said, leading him toward the door. “You call Dr. Zappek’s office while I drive, okay?”

But when I went to put my shoes on, I found the laces tied together in knots. Another prank! I held them up to show Liam. “Really?”

He laughed through his pain and worry. “I’m sorry! How was I supposed to know the baby was going to come early?”

“Well, I guess the joke’s on both of us then. ”

Luckily, the drive to the hospital was clear of traffic, and we got there before the doctor did. The clinic was closed today, but that just meant he was on call at the hospital. Liam was already dressed in a gown with his legs up in stirrups for the nurse to check his progress by the time Dr. Zappek walked in. He looked a bit rumpled as he struggled to pull on his gloves, his scrubs askew.

“Morning, daddies. What a beautiful day to give birth.” He was incredibly young, having recently taken over his grandfather’s practice straight out of university, but Charlie swore the man knew what he was doing. The doctor’s wide smile disappeared between Liam’s legs as he sat down on a stool to take a peek. He popped back up quite quickly, smile strained. “Yes! Great progress… Have you felt the urge to push, by any chance?”

Liam glared at him, his hand crushing mine with the force of his contractions. “You could say that,” he panted.

“Right, well… then let’s do that, shall we? You’re good to go!” He gave us the thumbs-up, the rubber glove flopping where he hadn’t quite managed to get it on properly.

I exchanged a look with Liam. It was too late to change doctors now.

We didn’t need to worry, though. Labor went on without a hitch, and when it came down to it, Dr. Zappek did a great job. He came across as a bit goofy, but it actually helped lighten the mood in what was naturally a tense environment. It didn’t help that Liam was too far into labor for any real painkillers.

After about 20 minutes of pushing, Liam brought our daughter into the world with an almighty roar, bearing down hard. Liam flopped back on the raised bed, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. A nurse helped set the baby across his chest as I cut the cord. Then they took her over to a warmed area to get her cleaned up and check her over.

Her reedy cry was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard.

“Our daughter,” Liam whispered, opening his arms to accept the swaddled bundle as they brought her back to him.

I perched on the edge of the mattress and leaned over to get as close to cuddling as I could in the narrow bed. “She’s so beautiful,” I said, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. “I’m so proud of you, Liam.”

“I’m kinda proud of me too,” he admitted with a sleepy smile, his blinks slow with exhaustion.

Stroking a finger over her cheek, I said, “I was thinking about her name.” We’d decided not to know if we were having a boy or a girl, and although we’d discussed a few names we liked, mostly our favorite cast members from Lonely Alpha , but there was one clear winner in my mind that had never even made it to the list. “Maybe we could name her Pepper.”

Liam’s whole face turned golden as he beamed up at me. “Our very own secret ingredient. I love it.”