Surrender To Me

EPILOGUE

WREN

One Year Later… I PRESSED my hand to my stomach, then looked back at the plastic applicator wand on the bathroom counter. I never thought two pink lines could mean so much to me, but apparently, they do.

“Wren, are you ready, babe?” Darcy called out from the other side of the bathroom door. We were in a hotel suite getting ready for my wedding to Bane, a day that was already amazing, but with this news too, it was starting to become more than I could’ve imagined.

I pulled open the door, my eyes darting to Darcy’s pregnant belly first before returning to her face.

“Urgh, don’t tell me. I look awful. I know. I’m the size of a house, and I’m not even halfway through yet.”

“You’re gorgeous, Darcy.” I sniffled, and that one sound put my best friend on high alert.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Pulling the pregnancy test from the pocket of my dressing gown, I held it up in front of me and shrugged. “Looks like we might have kids who’ll be best friends, too.”

Her eyes widened before a giant smile formed on her mouth. “Yes!” she shouted, pumping the air with her first. “Yes, fucking yes!”

I began to laugh, her enthusiasm was infectious. “I’ve just done the test, so you’re the first to know.”

“What do you think Bane will say?” she asked, sobering a little. She led me to the dining room table in the suite, and we sat down.

“He’s going to be ecstatic. He’s been threatening to knock me up since we got engaged.”

“Ah, so Bane was the clucky one, then.”

Fuck, she had no idea. Bane had been relentless in his need to put a baby in me. I did nothing to discourage him, enjoying how much sex we were having. I touched my flat stomach and blinked the tears from my eyes.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Darcy started to shake her head. “Ah, no. Nope. No tears right now.” Snapping some tissues from the box on the table, she dabbed them under my eyes. “You’ve just finished getting your hair and makeup done, so this…” she gestured to my face, “… isn’t going to work. No tears. Please.”

Fuck, she was so right. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” I internally pulled myself together, then said,

“Better?”

“Yeah.” Taking my hand, she squeezed. “I’m so fucking happy right now. When will you tell

Bane?”

“I don’t know. I kind of want to get a blood test to confirm it first.”

“How long since you’ve had a period?”

“Two months, maybe?”

“Tender breasts? Sensitive to smells? Sense of taste gone whacky?”

I recalled last night when Bane had given a little too much attention to my breasts. They’d been sore then and had been for a little while too. I chalked that up to Bane being relentless in his attention to my body, but maybe it was because of the baby instead. Then I thought a little harder. I had become a lot more sensitive to smells. Bane’s cologne, which I loved, now made my stomach turn, and I’d also gone off coffee.

“Shit. All of the above.”

Darcy nodded like she was the smartest woman in the room. “Yep, a classic case of being knocked up.”

Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, but I carefully brushed them away.

“Are they good tears or bad tears, Wren?” my best friend asked. She knew I didn’t ever plan to have children-it was something we constantly debated-so I understood her question.

“They’re good, babe. I just…” I let my gaze drift down to the positive pregnancy test between us. “I just wasn’t expecting it, I guess. I kind of thought it wouldn’t ever happen naturally like you and Baron experienced.”

“Oh, Wren, we’re a fucking anomaly. It’s my polycystic ovaries that fucked us up.” She placed a hand on her swelling stomach. “I’m just glad the second round of IVF took, you know? I don’t think I could’ve gone through the stress of waiting and watching for a month only to find out it hadn’t taken again.”

My phone beeped with a message from Bane. I read it once, then read it again, this time unable to fight the tears.

Darcy shoved more tissues at me. “What did he say?”

“He said he can’t wait to marry me.” I left off the bit where he said he’d make my ass pink tonight before he fucked me in the sex swing.

“Aww.” Darcy’s smile was whimsical. “I remember when Baron and I got married. He used to send me messages like that. Then life got in the way.”

“You could always sext him during the day?”

She stared at me for a beat before a huge grin appeared. “Yes. I’m going to do that right now. Is that eggplant emoji still a thing?” She waved her hand in my face. “Forget it. I’ll just talk dirty to him.

Lord knows these pregnancy hormones make me want to fuck him six times a day.”

I got up from the table, taking the pregnancy test with me, and went into the bedroom. A sense of grief washed over me then. My brother wasn’t going to be here to see this-the wedding, his niece or nephew being born. Although a year had passed, and I’d mourned the loss of him, there were moments when Hawk’s memory slammed into me with all the finesse of a semi-trailer, and I was left floundering with that aching loss once more.

“Pull it together, Wren,” I muttered to myself. This was a happy day, and I knew my brother would be watching from wherever he was. I looked up at the ceiling like he would be floating up there or something. But he wasn’t. He’d never magically poofed into existence when I thought of him over this last year.

Turning, I looked at my dress hanging on a hook behind the door, the white garment bag swollen with layers of tulle. Bianca had helped me pick it out, coming to fittings with me when Darcy had had to go to an OBGYN appointment. We’d grown a lot closer over the year, to the point where she felt like a sister to me.

“Are you ready to get dressed?” Darcy asked, breezing into my room.

“I think so, yeah.”

“Good. Oh, wait, that was a knock on the door.”

She came back in with Bianca, who looked amazing in an emerald green gown that hugged her perfect figure. Her dark hair was up in a soft twist with soft tendrils framing her face. Her makeup was done tastefully, enhancing her natural beauty.

“Are you ready?” she asked, clapping her hands excitedly.

I smiled. Ready to spend the rest of my life with her brother? “Yes.”

Together, my best friend and future sister-in-law helped me into the Pnina Tornai gown. The top half was a corset with a sweetheart neckline and a few see-through panels along my ribs. The bottom half was a princess skirt with layers of tulle and lace. It was stunning, and I felt beautiful in it. As Bianca moved behind me to lace up the back, I stared at the floor, wondering what I’d look like. Seeing it and trying it on in a shop was one thing, but to see it on with full hair and makeup, was som something.

I sucked in a breath with the final pull of the corset, placing my hand on my stomach.

“You look amazing, babe,” Darcy said, looking at me.

“Yeah?” I ran my hands down the skirt. “You don’t think it’s too much?”

“Please,” Bianca adds. “My brother will love it because it’s you in there. He was more difficult to deal with planning the wedding.”

I laughed at that because I could see how Bane’s controlling side would’ve come out. He’d told me he wanted the start of our lives together to be perfect to make up for the shitty starts we’d both had. I told him I simply wanted to be his wife, which, of course, had led to some of the hottest sex we’ve had so far.

The girls helped me slip on my shoes and then handed me my bouquet. It was almost go-time. We were meeting the photographer downstairs to take some shots before getting in the car and going to La Venta Inn, where we’d get married overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The ceremony was going to be small-Bianca and James, and, of course, little Valentine, Darcy and Baron, and Bane’s colleagues, Dagger and Andy, would be on hand for security.

I didn’t mind that it was such an intimate wedding. It was going to be nice to be surrounded by my favorite people, but the only thing that mattered at the end of the day was that I was going to be Wren Rivera.