Make Me Bad - R.S. Grey Page 0,99
rush. This entire trip has been about slowing down, taking it easy, forgetting to check our phones. Our lives have been a little hectic lately. Ben’s firm is growing, growing, growing. At a time when most people would buckle down, he’s decided to take on less clients and shave off a little bit of the excess. “It’s not what life should be about,” he told me the other night during dinner. I nodded and tried to hide my smile, glad he’d come to that conclusion all on his own.
In the last year, my programs at the library have grown too, and I’ve had to hire someone to assist me full-time, which means no more Intern Katy! HOORAY!
Our friends keep us busy as well. Arianna and Andy had a baby boy right around the time Kevin and Eli adopted twin girls. When we told the gang we were expecting, they screamed with excitement, Andy most of all.
This vacation away from everyone is good for us, though. We need time to wrap our heads around how much our lives will change in the next few months once our little girl arrives. I can’t wait, but I’m appreciating every moment like this, just the two of us.
Ben’s splayed out on the lounge chair beside me with his baseball hat covering his eyes. It’s midafternoon and we just had a big lunch: fish caught just off shore, freshly baked bread, and vegetables grown right on the hillsides. By the end, I couldn’t have eaten another bite if I’d tried, but then they brought out gelato and, well, somehow I managed to down that too. We’re content right here, lounging and being as lazy as possible as the waves lap against the shore.
Ben’s hand is running back and forth across my stomach slowly, lovingly. My bump is hardly showing, a fact I’m a tiny bit sad about. I’d wear my bikini proudly even if I was huge. As it is, it almost feels like a secret. No one else on the beach knows I’m pregnant, and there’s something special about that.
“Think we should name her something Italian in honor of our trip? What was our waitress’s name at lunch? Giada?”
Ben hums in amusement but keeps his eyes closed.
“No? What about Mopsie? Isn’t that the cat’s name at the bed and breakfast? The one that follows us everywhere?”
“Don’t even think about it.”
“Madison and Mopsie—you have to admit that’s adorable.”
“Adorable,” he repeats sarcastically.
I turn back to the ocean and smile.
In truth, I have a list of names a mile long. Each day I wake up with a new favorite and I’m fully convinced that by the time this baby arrives, she’ll have one of those long, rambling names like she’s a British aristocrat. Katherine Marguerite Nicolette Rosenberg.
Ben shifts and sits up, dropping his hat on the lounge chair. It’s the one he gave me after the frisbee incident, the one I let him borrow from time to time. We both know it rightfully belongs to me.
He stretches his arms overhead and his abs pull taut. I lower my sunglasses just a smidge to get a better view.
He spots me and smirks. “I’m going to get back in the water. You want to come?”
I shake my head. “You go. I’m comfy here.”
“All right. Take care of our girl while I’m gone,” he says before he turns, walking over the pebbled beach toward the waves. It’s not so crowded that I lose sight of him as he dives forward and swims out toward the horizon. He’s so beautiful, bronzed, and muscular. His brown hair has sun streaks. Even after years together, the butterflies in my stomach are alive and well.
I think part of that has to do with the fact that I haven’t fully come to terms with reality. Ben Rosenberg is my husband. This giant rock on my finger is a real diamond, not a piece of costume jewelry. He tells me I’m beautiful and he laughs at my jokes. My wildest dreams have come true, and that’s just it—all of this still sort of feels like a dream. I’m scared my dad will shake me awake and tell me I’m running late for work. I’ll throw off my covers and slide right back into my old life, each day the same, each night spent wondering if there’s something more waiting for me.
Then I press my hand to my stomach, and I know our child is growing there, our little girl who will be here before we know