The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,186

we are about to do will be a hell of a lot easier than what we just did.”

“And what you guys just did was very loud and seemed very active.” A voice came from the doorway—the open doorway. I turned, finding Tink standing there. “I definitely think Brighton is physically ready…for just about anything.”

Oh my God.

“Dixon got scared,” he continued. “He’s hiding out under the coffee table right now. Traumatized by all the sexing going on.”

I had no words.

“By the way, you guys left the door open,” Tink explained.

My lips parted as I shot Caden a quick glance. He didn’t seem at all perturbed by that fact. Meanwhile, I wanted to bury myself under the bed. How could we have been that distracted?

Well, I knew exactly how we were that distracted.

“I was kind of worried at first. The sounds were interesting.” Tink grinned as my eyes widened. “Shouting. Crying. Moaning. A totally different kind of crying—”

“Oh my God, Tink. You can stop now,” I exclaimed. “Seriously.”

“What?” He lifted his hands. “I’m just happy you finally got some—”

Tink shouted as I picked up my flip-flop and winged it at his head. Caden chuckled, and I had half a mind to throw the other shoe at his face. He ended that thought with one smoldering, fond look.

“Come on,” he said, his gaze light despite what had happened. “You need to find better shoes if you’re coming with me.”

Relieved that he wasn’t going to try to keep me wrapped in a bubble, I nodded and started for the closet.

“How about these?” Caden asked.

I looked over my shoulder. He held one of the knee-high boots, all helpful like.

He winked at me. “I have such fond memories of these.”

“I’m going to throw that boot at your head,” I warned.

Caden grinned. “It would be worth it.”

* * * *

Sitting in the front seat of Caden’s SUV, with him behind the steering wheel, and Tink in the back seat, I still found it weirdly funny that Caden, the King of the Summer fae, drove. Shouldn’t he have a driver or something?

Tracing the outline of the iron cuffs on my wrists that hid the daggers, I wondered if at some point, as the baby grew, I would have difficultly handling iron. I didn’t think so since contact with my skin didn’t mean contact with the baby, but I supposed that was something I needed to keep an eye on. Wishing there was a guide for expecting fae mothers who were also members of the Order, I wiggled my toes inside my black combat boots. Obviously, I hadn’t put on the other boots.

They did, however, end up back in my closet instead of in the bag to donate. “For later,” Caden had said, which had caused Tink to launch into a discussion about how dressing up kept his sex life lively—something Caden didn’t want to hear since it involved his brother.

Tink kept catching my gaze in the rearview mirror, and each time, he raised his brows. I knew he had a lot of questions. I couldn’t blame him for that, considering I’d tried to convince him to take me to Florida just hours before. There wasn’t time for that at the moment.

There also hadn’t been time for me to tell Caden I was pregnant. I had been okay with keeping the truth from him when I had a good reason to do so, but now that there was none, it was pecking away at me. Each passing minute was one more minute where he didn’t know he was going to be a father.

How would he take it? I didn’t know. He loved me, I knew that beyond a doubt. But even if I’d known from the moment I woke up that I could be his Queen and all would be as well as it was, everything was still new. There’d be no time for just him and me. It would always be him, me, and our child. Though I didn’t think we needed the time to get to know each other or to become comfortable. The latter was already there, and it was…it was truly like we were two halves coming together. We may not know every little thing about one another, but we knew each other.

Wait.

I would be his Queen.

My stomach dipped as I stared out the window, the rows of homes and wrought iron fences nothing but a blur.

He hadn’t made it super official, but no way in hell would I say no. We would marry, and