“This okay?” he asked before he fastened the ornament in place, his eyes meeting hers over his shoulder.
“Mmm, just like that. Stretch a little higher, sweet cakes. Let me stare at your fine ass for a moment.”
He snorted and hung the ornament, then dropped his arm and turned. “You came three times in the shower. You trying to get me to make it a fourth?”
Kat smiled. Her body still tingled with sexual satisfaction. She’d have never thought that sex while this pregnant would be a pleasant thing, but she was wrong. Of course they had to get creative to make it happen, but the orgasms were spectacular.
“Would that be a bad thing?”
“Sex is never a bad thing, Kat.”
“I didn’t think so. Here, sit with me and drink your cocoa.”
He picked up his mug and sat down beside her, lifting an arm so she could snuggle into his side. The tree blinked with lights that switched between multi-colored and white. Johnny reached up and turned off the lamp so that the tree was the only thing providing light in the room.
“I love it,” she said, her throat suddenly tight. “I haven’t had a tree in years.”
He hugged her a little tighter. “Me neither.”
She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. She knew about his past with his mother. He’d kept nothing from her, and her heart ached for the child he’d been. A child who’d grown into a man who still didn’t do much in terms of celebrating the holiday. “I’m glad we’re doing it together.”
“So am I. Even if you’re a little picky about where the ornaments go.”
She laughed. “But look how pretty it is. If you randomly threw ornaments everywhere, it wouldn’t be so nice.”
“I know.”
She laid her cheek against his chest and sipped her drink. “It’s been a great few months. I never thought I could be this happy again.”
She felt his lips against her hair. “Same for me.”
Beyond the tree, snow fell outside the window, coming down heavier than it had been earlier. It was nothing like the snows she’d grown up with in Russia, but it was still pretty. Not that she wanted snow like she’d had then. This snow was quite enough.
“I’m happy, but I’m sad too,” she confessed softly, staring at the twinkling lights.
“I know, honey.”
“I wish you’d gotten to meet him, Johnny. He was a great kid.”
His hand slid up and down her arm. She hated talking about Roman when they were so happy, but she couldn’t help it. And Johnny understood her need, no matter how much it had to hurt him. He’d never made her feel like she couldn’t talk about Roman when she needed to.
“I wish I had as well.”
Kat sniffled. “I’m not going to cry. We’re having a baby and we’ll give her all the love we couldn’t give Roman.”
A sharp pain rolled through her, making her catch her breath. Johnny stiffened as he shifted away so he could see her face. “What’s wrong?”
“A contraction.”
His face went pale. “Shit, do we need to go—?”
“No. I’ve been having Braxton-Hicks for days. It’s not labor.”
He didn’t look convinced. “How do you know?”
“Because Braxton-Hicks don’t follow a pattern, and they typically don’t cause much pain. This one was a little stronger, but unless I start having them regularly, then it’s nothing.”
“Okay, but you’d better tell me if they get regular.”
Kat ran her palm over his cheek. “Relax, General Mendez. It’s still nearly two weeks until my due date. I wasn’t even dilated at my last check up and Roman was two and a half weeks late. Dr. Butler says she has every reason to believe I will go full term.”
“But what if the baby wants to come early?”
“She could, I guess, but she’s not coming right now. I promise you. Now finish your drink and get back to work. I see an empty spot on the tree.”
“You’re a task master, Mrs. Mendez.”
She grinned. “I know. I do it perfectly, or I don’t do it at all.”
“Got it, babe.”
He sipped his drink. It was kind of funny to think that her badass warrior husband was sitting here in his Christmas pajamas, sipping cocoa, and yet he could order a task force into battle at any moment. It was also sexy as hell.
“Kat,” he began.
She turned her head to look up at him. “Yes, Johnny?”
“Do you miss it?”
It took her a second. “You mean work? The spy game?”
“Yeah.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes. When you’re off saving the world and I don’t get to be involved anymore, then yes, I do. But I won’t put our child in danger, so that’s that. No work for me.”
She’d been worried about old enemies with grudges coming after her, but with Dmitri Leonov dead and Sergei Turov in prison, the enemies’ list had lost its two most dangerous members. There was no one else with that strong a motive to look for her.
“And you’re okay with it?”
She stared at the twinkling lights of the tree. “I have to be, don’t I? And I am. I hated leaving Roman while I did Sergei and Dmitri’s bidding. If I’d been with him in Novosibirsk, maybe he’d still be alive. Maybe Peter and Ludmilla would too.”
Johnny squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t think like that, baby. You don’t know what would have happened. You might have been killed along with them.”
“I know,” she said, her throat tight.
“Damn, honey. I shouldn’t have asked.”
He was frowning hard. She hated seeing that look on his face, so she kissed him. “You love me. Of course you want to know how I feel about being at home while you go to work. We were in the same profession. Mostly,” she added since she’d also worked for the Russian mafia. Not willingly, but she had. “You know what it feels like to be involved in operations, the electric charge it gives you sometimes.”
“Yeah, but I don’t go on missions anymore. My last mission was the one I did with you.”
Kat laughed. “That’s right. You can’t top that mission, so why try?”
He took the cocoa from her and pulled her into his lap. She snuggled up to him, content. “Best damned mission of my life. Even if I wanted to kill you for some of it.”
“Ha. You weren’t exactly a prince yourself, you know.”
“No. When I think of that moment we drew down on each other…” He shivered.
Kat felt that shiver deep inside. She caressed his cheek. She could still see him standing before her with a pistol aimed at her heart. She’d been aiming one at his, too. “You wouldn’t have shot me, nor I you.”
“I wanted to.”
“I know, Johnny. But you didn’t.”
“I’d throw myself in front of a bullet before I’d hurt you.”
She nuzzled his neck. “I already beat you to that one, sexy man.” She’d thrown herself in front of Dmitri’s bullet to save him back in Moscow. It’d worked. She’d do it a million times over for that result.
“You did, baby. But you’d better not ever do it again.”