The Brightest Stars ✨

Chapter 24

"Shall I call 999?" Gabe could hear Natalia ask his mother as he laid the petite Black woman in his arms on the couch.

"Let me check her out first, I used to be a nurse," his mother said. He had forgotten that little tidbit about his mother. She had met his father barely a year out of nursing school, not that she had even needed to go. His grandparents had come from old Louisiana money, she had gone to school to amuse herself instead of being a society girl like her peers.

The look that she gave him was withering and would have made lesser men cry, but he was standing but by the grace of the million dollar survival training the Marine Corps had invested in him.

He left her to it as she examined her patient carefully. Natalia was in the kitchen gulping down a steaming mug of liquid. Gabe raised an eyebrow at her clandestine drink. "It's either that or I down an entire bottle of wine. Pick your offspring's poison carefully," she said sardonically, but she was also turning her body sideways so her mug was out of his reach. She was so damn protective over her tea. As if he was going to remove it from her grip. He rather liked living.

"Who is that woman?" she asked finally after observing him for a long, silent beat.

"I don't know her," Gabe shrugged.

"Well she knows you," Natalia returned bitingly.

"So it would seem," he said carefully.

"You really don't know why a pregnant woman is looking for you?" Natalia questioned sceptically.

"What are you asking, Nat? I'd prefer it if you just said what you mean," Gabe ground out. He was tired and hungry and all he wanted to do was have a relaxing evening at home with his small and growing family.

She was running a hand over her bump. Was she comforting herself or the baby? She was silent as she looked down into her cup, as if she was divining the tea leaves for an answer. She sighed and put the cup in the sink after pouring the hot liquid out slowly and deliberately.

"I've never known you to lie to me. I trust you," she said turning around to face him across the kitchen island. It wasn't meant to comfort him, it was just a simple statement. A fact. Gabe was a lot things but he seldom lied and he wasn't a cheat.

She crossed her arms across her chest, her dress strained with the motion. Everything, all the physical things he loved about her were just so amplified with her pregnancy. It had him wanting to father tens of children with her before the first one was even out.

He crossed the room, and folded her into his arms. It had been far too long since he had held her. She looked surprised but settled into his embrace. He rubbed her lower back in slow circles with the heel of his palm, just like he knew she liked. She made small noises of satisfaction that did wholly inappropriate things to his body for the company they currently had.

"I love you, Nat. I would never risk our relationship. I can't and won't live without you."

She went still at his words, her gaze locked on his with an intensity that sent a jolt through him. She didn't know the extent of the power she had over him. She could kill him with a look had she wanted to. Dismember him with a gesture. Bury him with a sentence.

He was vibrating in anticipation of her touch, and it came in the form of her clasping her arms around her neck and drawing him down to her height so her full — fuller since her pregnancy — lips could plant themselves, repeatedly on his cheek and the corner of his mouth.

"I love you too. So much."

And when that wasn't enough he leaned forward, his mouth finding hers. She opened for him, letting him taste her and he kissed her for long, luxurious minutes; this woman that owned the sum of him, his tenderness and violence and everything in between. He pledged himself to her with his mouth and lips.