I crept past the living room and into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I passed the photo of our wedding day on the wall and laughed at our crazy crew. Zeke had Finn, Chet, and Tiny on his side, of course, and I had Sydney, Megan, and Hope. The picture was of all of us posing with funny faces.

I loved looking through our wedding photos. It was one of the first times that everyone I loved was in a room together. Even Zeke’s dad made an appearance. Apparently, he’d been sober since Zeke left and had been going to therapy for his anger issues. Zeke still had his issues with him, but whenever we visited South Carolina, we were sure to take the girls by to see him. I could hardly believe how different he was with the girls.

I was rinsing my glass and sticking it in the dish drainer when Zeke came up behind me and put his arms around my not-so-tiny waist.

“How are you feeling, beautiful?” He kissed the back of my neck.

“Better. You should’ve woke me up. I slept all day.”

“Good. I’m home now, baby. You relax and let me take care of the girls.”

I turned and put my arms around his neck. My belly poked out so much that I couldn’t get as close to him as I’d like. He looked down between us and then back at me with a sweet smile.

“You know I can’t just lie around in bed all day.”

He leaned down and kissed me sweetly on the lips.

“How about I keep you up all night tonight, exhausting you until all you want to do is lie in bed all day tomorrow?” He ran his tongue along the seam of my lips.

“That sounds delicious.” I flirted back.

“You’re delicious.”

That night, once the boys went home and the girls were all tucked in. Zeke took me in our room and proceeded to undress me.

“I’ve waited all day to be alone with you.” He kissed my shoulder and ran his fingers down my sides.

“You were alone with me today.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t feeling good and you needed sleep.” He planted tiny kisses from my shoulder up the side of my neck.

“I’m so lucky to have you. Most men wouldn’t care about how their wives felt after going without sex for weeks.” I lifted my arms so he could take off my top.

He leaned down and kissed my stomach, and then he untied my drawstring pants and pulled them down. He worked his hands down my thighs, and then massaged my sore calf muscles until my legs tingled. When he got to my ankles, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I sat down on our bed.

He took his time planting soft kisses on the insides of my legs as he massaged my feet. It felt amazing. It wasn’t long until I was lying in bed completely naked and he was kissing every part of me.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered over and over again.

“I feel huge.” I sucked in a breath when he ran his tongue across my nipple.

Everything was so sensitive and I was aching for him. I pulled on his hips to press him against me.

“I promise you’re not huge. You’re perfect.”

I chuckled a little to myself. “Oh, am I?”

He was sucking my earlobe now and slowly working himself between my legs. I could hardly wait to feel him inside me.

“Absolutely. You’re more than perfect and you’re hot. As a matter of fact, if you get any hotter, you might melt.” He smiled down at me with those words.

I could remember when he used to say that to me all the time, and I smiled to myself when I thought about everything we’d been through to be together.

I leaned up and kissed him while I ran my fingers over the three tiny snowflakes on his forearm. Zeke kissed me back and then he spent the rest of the night making good on his promise to exhaust me.