Read Complete Bliss (a Her Billionaires novella #3) for Free Online

wearing jeans and some old Coldplay t-shirt Laura hated, Dylan had cleared his nose and was eyeing the wine with suspicion.
    They dug into their steaks, and within minutes had wolfed down the lovely dinner, which was fine with Laura. The sooner she told them, the better, and it was so much nicer to face a full, sated set of guys when she had a minor bomb to drop.
    “So…” she began. 
    Both came to an abrupt halt in their movements.
    “Yes?” Mike asked slowly. She saw his eyes flick toward Dylan and then return, the micro-movement so rehearsed she might never have noticed it if she weren’t so intimately familiar with the two of them. 
    “What the hell do you think I’m about to say?” she demanded, the air charged suddenly, leaving her imbalanced and agitated. Like a switch had been flipped, she went from lightness to dark. Why would they look at each other that way?
    Neither of them answered her, instead looking at her with such intensity her heart turned into a cyclone.
    “Guys?” she pleaded. This felt so far out of the range of normal.
    “Are you…” Mike began. He stopped and looked at Dylan.
    “What?” Laura practically screamed. What the hell did he think she was about to say?  
    “Are you pregnant?” Dylan asked.
    A huge stream of air poured out of her lungs, the relief evident in the way her shoulders relaxed, her body poured the worry out through her sigh. “God, no. No!”
    Dylan’s face relaxed with relief.
    Mike’s collapsed with disappointment.
    “Oh!” she said, looking at Mike. “That’s not the reaction I expected.” When had this turned into a conversation about having another baby? She thought she was going to spend the next half-hour convincing them to come to Jeddy’s and talk with Darla’s boyfriends.
    He shrugged but said nothing. Dylan turned and gave him an arched eyebrow.
    “You want another one? Already? Thirteen months of interrupted sleep, colic, teething, and no time alone with Laura isn’t enough for you? You masochist.”
    Laura felt the hair on her arms and neck begin to prickle. The nasty undertone in Dylan’s voice made Mike’s hackles go right up, and she hated when both of them argued. It was rare—most of their sarcastic comments were tossed back and forth in jest—but this one had so many layers to it that Laura felt a dangerous sense of calm pour over her, one of those moments when everything you know can turn on a dime.
    “And what about the pure joy of watching our daughter come into the world, of cutting the umbilical cord and watching her settle on Laura’s chest, of smelling her little baby head and being the only one who knows how to rock her the exact right way to get her to sleep? And the sleepy milk burps that always came with a happy smile afterward? Watching her grin at you, her eyes lighting up when you held her? What about snuggling with her on the couch and knowing that you’d helped to make an entire human being, a new life that will go out into the world and make it a better place if you raise her right?” Mike’s words flowed over Laura like a waterfall. He’d never— ever —spoken for so long or with such emotion.
    Dylan’s jaw hung quite low.
    Mike went on. “When she crawled, we all cheered. When she took her first bites of solid food, we were there. When she started saying ‘Mama,’ we were jealous.”
    “You were?” Laura interrupted.
    Both men looked a bit embarrassed. “We’d read in the baby books that ‘Dada’ was more commonly the first word, so…” Mike explained. 
    “I half expected her first word to be ‘Jeddy’s’ or ‘Madge,’ because we took her there so much,” Dylan added. 
    Laura squashed a laugh because Mike’s eyes were blazing. He wasn’t done yet.
    “And now Jillian is babbling and happy and wandering around on those fat little legs, arms in the air, so curious about the world and open and eager. She’s the best teacher and the most wonderful embodiment of pure love I have ever