Revealing Silver (22 page)

Her arms tightened around him. The pain of her squeeze around her ribs was welcome. “I’ve seen it, but I didn’t know it had a name. I’m sorry I scared you like that. I know it’s all my fault.”

Nathan’s instinct was to assure her it wasn’t all her fault, that she had nothing to apologize for. Maybe that was true. But before he said it, he needed to understand. “Why did you do it?”

“I wasn’t trying to go anywhere on purpose. But Stacy…”

She fell silent again, but the quiet carried no weight, not like the booming echoes that had plagued him in her absence. The difference was the feel of her, her body so familiar beneath his hands. So necessary.

“All the girls. It’s like…I felt them. I knew them. They’d had these lives that, okay, maybe they weren’t perfect, but they were theirs, and then somebody else decided to take them away. They didn’t have choices anymore. That night we met Stacy, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. About them. Especially down in Argentina. And when I saw what Gabriel was doing, I just reacted. I couldn’t let him do it to her again. I couldn’t.” Lifting her head, she rested her chin against his chest. “The Silver Maiden said I got picked for the job because I was the first one to touch the coin, but I wonder if it’s more than that. I think I’m the only one who really understood what the girls were losing.”

“I’ve seen Stacy’s home. She’s happy, recovering. When we went to speak to her, it was hard to be resentful that she was there and you weren’t. What happens now? Are you still on the job?”

She smiled, soft and slightly dazed. “She sent them all home, so I’m guessing no. She let Olivia off the hook too.”

“So you’re saying we can have something that passes for a normal life? No more time travel, kidnapping, assaults or attempted murders?”

“Nope, none of that.” She paused. “I’m not so sure it’ll be like before, though. Not if everything she said is right.”

“Why? What else did she say?”

“She could be completely cracked. Remember that.” Her gaze ducked for a moment before meeting his again. “She said I’m pregnant.”

How did that happen? What about her birth control? What were they going to do with a baby? What did they know about raising a baby? He’d have to get a respectable job. Could he go back to the LAPD? He would have to, wouldn’t he? Bounty hunters didn’t have health insurance, retirement benefits, life insurance, or steady pay. They’d have to get a proper house, too, because he was not raising a child of his in that shithole. Isaac would be pleased. He’d even let Isaac help decorate and furnish it, as a sort of peace offering.

“That’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”

“Are you sure?” she was quick to say. “Because I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it. Things won’t be the same.”

Nathan smiled. “No, they won’t be the same. But that’s what’s so great about it. Things will be better. You’re going to be a great mother and I cannot wait to have a little girl with your eyes.”

“It could be a boy. With big blue eyes, and I’ll be an awful mom because I’ll see you in him and spoil him rotten.”

“I’m taking you to the doctor as soon as we get back to L.A. Well, I planned to do that anyway, but now we’ll get a pregnancy test too.”

“Two. I want to be sure. Because I don’t feel pregnant.”

Nathan laughed. “One will probably be enough. Besides, how do you know you don’t feel pregnant?”

“I haven’t been sick once. I don’t even feel sick. And don’t pregnant women glow or something?” She returned his grin. “Forget about that one. I’m home. Of course I’m glowing.”

“You’re always glowing.” He wrapped a tendril of hair around his finger. “Keeping the red?”

“No, it’s not me. I only picked it because I didn’t want to be blond when I met you.” Burrowing back against his body, she trailed her hand up and down his arm. “I should’ve guessed Isaac had a thing for redheads.”

“I think it’s more of a thing for pretty faces. I hope Olivia is okay. Gabriel was…well, if Isaac knew about what he did, I don’t think Gabriel would make it all the way back to L.A. He’d be dumped in the desert somewhere.”

“Well, as much as I’d love to see Gabriel burn, I hope he doesn’t find out. He doesn’t need that shit on top of everything else.”

“I guess that’ll depend on what Olivia wants to do.” He’d debated over telling Isaac what he witnessed, but decided that was best left to Olivia. Especially since he didn’t have all the facts, and Isaac would have many questions.

He rolled Remy to the mattress, tucking her beneath his body while his hand roamed down her chest to settle on her stomach. A fierce protectiveness clutched him, rising up from every instinct he had to safeguard what was his.

“I think I’m going to marry you, Remy Capra.”

Her eyes went wide, wide enough to drown in, before a brilliant smile lit her up. “Oh, you think, do you? And what if I decide I don’t want to be married?”

“I guess I’ll have to woo you until you’re so overwhelmed with love that you agree. Or until you’re so annoyed you’ll say anything to shut me up.”

“Oh, there are better ways to shut you up.” She leaned up and dragged her tongue along his jaw, stopping to nip at his ear. “I’ve spent the past week thinking about each and every one.”

“Is that a yes?”

Remy guided her mouth to his. “Ask me again in an hour.”

An hour later, Nathan’s mouth was too busy to form words. But an hour after that, sated and sleepy, Remy curled into his side and whispered her answer. Nathan smiled, pulling her closer and drifting into dreams of a home and a family. His family.

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