The Tyrant's Wife

Chapter 361: Surprise (1)

Meanwhile.

Natalie stared at the test kit in her hands and bit her lip nervously. Devonte was waiting in her room.

"Just pee on the stick." She gave herself a pep talk. If she was this nervous taking an ovulation test, how the hell would she ever handle taking a pregnancy test?

She waited for the result with bated breath and right before her eyes, one line formed on the stick, and another appeared, forming a plus sign. She smiled the entire way back to her bedroom where Devonte was waiting.

"I’m ovulating."

She had never seen a man move so fast before. The words were barely out of her mouth when he carried her off the ground and threw her onto the bed.

"So impatient," she giggled.

"You have no idea, my love." He sealed his mouth over hers in a heated kiss. He palmed her breasts through her dress, making her moan as she ground her hips so she was gyrating her core against his hardness.

It was already hard to keep his hands off her. Now that they were trying to make a baby, she had become impossibly irresistible. He could fuck her all day every day that were possible, and from the way she was gasping his name as he caressed her, the feeling was mutual.

Alas, she chose that moment to tease him. "Wait."

He stopped, hovering over her but not touching. She sat up and got off the bed and he was still confused when she said,

"You could get me pregnant tonight. But first, you have to catch me."

"Oh, trust me I will." He sprinted after her, catching her before she could even open the door. She yelped when he turned her around so her back was pressed against the wall. She had lost this little game of hers before it started, and when his mouth came down on hers, losing wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Their clothes were off in record speed and he couldn’t wait one more second to be inside her.

He grabbed her by her butt and pinned her against the wall as her legs crossed behind his back and thrust into her wetness.

Sex had never been so intense and he had never come so hard—he was convinced he lost some of his soul while at it. They slumped onto the bed beside each other. He grabbed a pillow and propped it under her waist so her lower body was slightly elevated.

"What’s that about?" She chuckled. It didn’t take long to understand what he was trying to do, and she shook her head.

In actual fact, the ovulation test was superficial. They were already pretty active to begin with, there was no way they could miss the window. Not that she was complaining.

_____

Humville.

It had been two weeks since Ximena met up with her father and she was no longer so worried about meeting her mother. After thinking about Liam’s words, she decided to let fate decide.

If she ever happened to bump into her or if her biological mother reached out, that would be great. But she was not going to actively look for her. At least not for now. The point of coming to Humville was to get away from the distress they kept having in Imperium, not to start driving themselves crazy all over again.

They both worked from home and had been looking into the best location to build their forever home. Morel Beauty was back on track and her business partner was going out of his way to make sure she didn’t need to show herself for things to stay on track. She held conference calls for matters that couldn’t be discussed via email and if she didn’t have to, she wouldn’t meet up with anyone.

She had just finished arranging for an order to be delivered when the reminder on her phone went off. She got off her desk excitedly and ran outside to find Liam.

He was playing with their neighbor’s kids and the three of them ran to her when she approached.

"Hey kids, may I steal Liam away for a while?"

Their faces fell in disappointment but they kicked their ball away to continue playing without Liam.

He spanked her ass, making her cheeks redden. "Liam!"

"They didn’t see. I wouldn’t let them." He said. "Miss me already?"

"You wish. I need your help with something. It’s urgent." She dragged him into the house, only to grab her purse and urge him to get changed. "Just throw something clean on. Anything."

He did as he was told and followed her out of the house.

"What’s the hurry?"

"Something urgent." She didn’t immediately explain, then she realized she was worrying him. "Don’t worry. It’s just that someone swapped my order for a counterfeit and delivered the fake product to a customer, that’s all. I need some muscle with me."

"I see." That made sense. Ximena’s shipping address was in the city neighboring Humville, which wasn’t far from them. But the former was a highly populated city and if anyone tried to follow her, they would be on a wild goose chase.

They took a cab and got to the place in half an hour, but that was not where Ximena left him. "He was last seen here." She led him into a restaurant, but as soon as he walked in, he heard a chorus of "surprise!"

"Sneaky minx." He shook his head. "What’s this all about?"

"Happy birthday, my love." She tiptoed and kissed him.

"Thank you, but my birthday is a month away." He looked around at the restaurant. Everyone he knew was here, including his parents, Desmond, Evan and Natalie.

He walked over to his mother with a grin. "You too? I thought you of all people would know my birthday."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Why would I remember that? I’m not the one who was busy trying to show off my lung capacity and deafening the nurses with my screams."

Ximena disappeared into the restaurant’s kitchen and carried out a two-tier cake. "We knew you would catch on if we planned the party too close to your actual birthday. We wanted it to be a surprise so shut up and blow the candles, old man."

He lowered his voice so his parents wouldn’t hear. "Did you just call me old? Looks like I have a point to prove tonight."

"Liam," she shook her head. "You’re a deviant, you know that?"

"Yes. And you still love me." He winked.

While he would have loved nothing more than to stay with his girlfriend the whole time, he was also excited to talk to his friends who had made time to come all the way to Humville just to put together a birthday surprise for him.

He raised a brow to Evan’s companion. Was that the ballerina?

He’d been obsessed with Rosaly’s ballet teacher, Clarion, and she became all he ever talked about. He’d seen them dance at Desmond’s wedding and was it just in his head or did his friend fall in love?

Well, maybe it was too soon to call it love. This was Evan they were talking about, after all. His exes were enough to fill a cruise ship.

"It’s nice to see you again, Clarion." He greeted her, casting a teasing glance at his friend.

Knowing exactly what his friend would say if he had the chance, Evan grumbled. "Fuck off."

He went to Desmond’s table and gave his friend a one-shoulder hug. He couldn’t hug, Zaria, however, because she was way too sensitive to smells these days.

First, it was spices she usually loved like cinnamon, then it was the smell of eggs no matter what style of cooking was used, and now she hated any male cologne that was not her husband’s.

Desmond grinned when he realized why he was not hugging Zaria. "My baby must be as possessive as me, helping me keep away any men from its mother."

Zaria rolled her eyes. "Desmond, this is Liam’s birthday party." She admonished him.

Liam smiled. "So? You’re welcome to talk about my godchild on any goddamn occasion. Not that I’m not counting the days until I finally become an actual godfather."

"Sorry I’m late!" A woman walked into the restaurant and all heads turned toward her.

"Shit." Liam cursed. What the fuck was Abby Watson doing here?