Page 36 of Single Mom’s Secret Diary (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection)
Avery
I did it. I told them. Fuck, this is going to be the end of everything, isn’t it?
Granted, yes, they just told me they loved me, but a baby makes this a completely different situation. Right? Especially since there’s no way to know, right now, which one of them is the father.
At least I can say that it’s one of them. I brace myself for their reaction.
When I open my eyes, I watch as the shockwave rolls through the three of them. Disbelief followed by… happiness? Awe?
No. They can’t actually be happy about this.
Ryder reaches for me first, pulling me into a firm, chaste kiss and placing his hand over mine, low on my belly where the cluster of cells that will grow into a baby is still a speck. “Really?”
I nod, biting back my smile. “Yes. Really.”
His grin fills my heart up. He brushes my hair back, sharing his joy with me before he turns me to Wyatt.
Those pale eyes are so bright and intense. He cups my face in both hands and lays the sweetest kiss on me. His forehead meets mine, and the breadth of his grin blows away the debris around my heart.
I’ve been shattered and rebuilt in a matter of seconds.
Ryder is still at my back, arm around my middle, before Ezra joins us.
He takes my hand, lifting it to his mouth and meeting my gaze.
Ryder kisses the side of my neck, and I’m surrounded on all sides, smothered in kisses, caresses, and the crushing force of their bodies. It’s hard to know whose hands are whose, which one of them kisses my hair and cheek.
I couldn’t be happier, but the pessimist in the back of my brain won’t shut up until I ask. “Are you guys really happy about this?”
All three of them give me a resounding, “Yes,” in unison.
I laugh, and they laugh with me. We huddle together for another blissful moment before I hear Mai’s voice cutting through us, although I can’t understand what she’s saying.
Ezra buries his face in the side of my neck and murmurs, “How she heard you, I will never understand, but I swear that woman has bat sonar.”
“You don’t disrespect your mother.” Mai slaps and shoos the three of them away from me, and I’m crushed in her grip as soon as there’s enough space for her.
Her arms are tight around me as she rocks me back and forth in a hug.
“New baby is greatest luck. You will move in with us. My son take care of you.”
“Don’t forget that it might not be mine, M? ,” Ezra says from behind me, and Mai swats her hand through the air.
“If she is yours, and baby is hers, baby is yours. Simple as that. We spoil.” She pulls back to look me up and down before patting my cheek softly.
“I think we’re going to need a bigger house.” Ezra’s voice is laced with amusement. How often does his mother take over for him like this? I imagine far more often than he cares for. But he also seems used to it.
Her thumb strokes my cheekbone, and she gives me another one of those brilliant smiles.
It makes me love her a little, even if I’m a little terrified of her, too.
“We must feed you. You have birthing hips, but you need more padding.”
“ Mom .” Ezra blanches with horror, but my head falls back with my laughter.
“You can feed me, M? . I lean a little sweeter during the first trimester.” I squeeze the hand she’s holding. It’s easy to see that her words come from a place of love. If not for me—yet—then for the baby. And that’s all I can ask for.
Besides, my Italian family will react much the same. And they did when I was pregnant with Charlie. The constant baked goods had Dad in his happy place and me fighting morning sickness behind a mountain of pastries.
Mai nods and tuts at the boys, waving them all inside. Ryder slips an arm around my waist and thankfully escorts me to the oversized couch. He lowers us both to a cushion and keeps my side pressed against him.
His mouth teases my ear. “I can’t seem to let go of you now. Is that normal?”
I purse my mouth and side-eye him. “I don’t really know. I haven’t done this with other people before.”
Dad clears his throat behind me, his hands on his hips as he raises a brow at me.
“I had you. I know. That’s not what I meant.”
His eyes narrow, but he bites back his own smile. It crinkles the corners of his eyes before he bends to kiss the top of my head. “I knew it.”
“Too observant for your own good, Dad.” I take his hand, and he squeezes mine.
“I’m glad you don’t have to do it alone this time.” He drops another peck into my hair before he pats Ryder’s shoulder and returns to the kitchen where Mai is banging around his cupboards and pulling things from his fridge.
“Dom. Show me where you keep your pans. They are not in the right place.”
The horror that flashes across my dad’s face has me laughing as Wyatt lowers himself on my other side. His long fingers filter through my hair and graze the side of my neck in such a tender way. His soft side is getting softer.
“How long until we can see it…” Wyatt clears his throat. “Him. Or her?”
“Probably not for another month. I will have to go to the doctor before then.”
Wyatt nods and seems content to be near me, like Ryder.
Ezra props himself on the coffee table across from me, touching my knees. The soft, kneading pressure of his hands lets me relax a little further into Ryder’s side.
“How are you feeling?” His voice is soft and comforting, and emotion clogs my throat at what my pregnancy with Charlie could have been like if I hadn’t run away from Ezra in the middle of the night. If I hadn’t expected it to be just a Spring Break fling.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Hormonal.”
All three of them laugh a little as I try to get control of myself again. I suppose my overreaction this morning makes much more sense to me now. I’ve always had such tight reins on my emotions—or as much as my Italian heritage would allow.
“But really, I’m good. A little queasy, but good.” I look into his brown eyes and decipher the question lingering there. “I only found out this afternoon. Literally two minutes before your mom showed up.”
Ezra’s head falls forward, half hiding his grin as he shakes his head. “That woman has uncanny timing.”
I peer back at her and my dad in the kitchen. She’s wagging a finger at him as if lecturing him about how to properly organize a kitchen. But Dad doesn’t seem put out by it. If anything, he’s as entertained by her as I am.
“So…” I start. There’s so much to figure out, and it feels urgent to get as much done as I can before I’m waddling around and miserable.
Not that the next few weeks won’t be miserable.
Morning sickness is a beast. “They can do tests to determine paternity around when they do the first sonogram. In case you guys want to know?—”
Ryder leans closer and hushes me with a soft, “ Shh .”
Well, I know how he feels. Ezra shakes his head, and I peer up at Wyatt’s soft green eyes.
“It won’t change anything so long as you don’t want it to.”
I let out a long sigh and finally relax fully. “Good.”
“I do think we’ll need a bigger house, though,” Ezra says again. “Do you think you’d be up for a little house hunting?”
“You mean before I’m the size of a beached whale and am no longer mobile? I think I can manage. But you guys really?—”
“Stop it.” Ryder squeezes my middle. “You’re not getting rid of us, so stop trying.”
“I’m not?—”
“No. You’re giving us every opportunity to turn tail and run, though. Quit.” His voice is a sweet, honeyed rumble along the shell of my ear.
My insides quiver with the anticipation I’d felt this morning on the way to work—the one that I can barely contain when I know I’m going to be the center of their attention, wholly and completely.
“About quitting…”
“I want you back in my lab,” Wyatt says before I can finish my thought. “Without restraints this time. But then again…”
His eyes grow dark, and I know he’s thinking of restraining me in more explicit ways. That sends heat coursing through me, surprisingly batting away the lingering nausea. Which has me thinking… would morning sex combat morning sickness? It’s something we’ll certainly have to try.
The tension between the four of us changes. Their thoughts have turned down the same path mine have. Too bad we’re not at my place where we can lock ourselves in my room for a little play time.
Ezra’s hands slide up the insides of my thighs in inches, squeezing and testing my flesh under my slacks.
Ryder’s hand slides up my ribs, under my breast, his breath so hot against the side of my neck.
Wyatt traces my bottom lip with his thumb, pulling it down as if he can slip inside me right here.
A door opens and closes behind us, and little footsteps head our way. The way each of them straightens in a jolt has me giggling and grinning at Charlie as he stands at the end of the couch looking at us.
His brows draw downward as he takes the four of us in. I can see the pieces clicking into place behind his brown eyes—so much like his father’s. Charlie holds up his iPad. “Can I show you this cool trick I just figured out?”
“Of course. Come here.” I hold my arms out to him, but he hesitates.
Ezra waves him closer, offering him an opening between us. Charlie takes it, settling against his father instead of in my lap. It brings me more happiness than it does pain. I’ll always want my baby in my arms, but they look so perfect together. Even when Ezra places an awkward hand on his back.
With the iPad between us, Charlie shows us a new trick jump on one of his racing games, and we all preen over how smart he is. Well, mostly me, but what can I say? I’m a proud momma.
When he’s done, he doesn’t run away, settling in Ezra’s lap more fully.
“We’ve got some news for you,” I say, hoping Charlie won’t be upset about a new baby.
His brow lifts, so much like the look my dad just gave me. He looks between the four of us and offers a simple, “Uh-huh.”
Meeting Ezra’s gaze, I’m silently telling him that his son gets this from him .
“You’re going to be a big brother.” Ezra delivers the news softly in a voice I’m far too familiar with. Like he’s prepared for a battle.
Charlie seems unimpressed over this news. “That’s why you were puking in the bathroom. I should have known. You’re never sick.”
Uncontrollable laughter hits me before I’m wiping away happy tears. “Yes. You’re absolutely right. Nothing gets past my baby.”
He grunts. “Since you’re having another one, you’re going to call them baby from now on instead of me, right?”
I lean forward and smoosh his cheeks in the way he hates. “Not a chance.”