I got up early to walk the stairs ten times and I felt like I was a step away from going into cardiac arrest. But I really mean it now, I gained fifteen pounds and I'm just halfway through my pregnancy, I need to be stopped. Showering is starting to become difficult and I blindly take an electric shaver down there and hope for the best. The reason why I'm actually attempting to shave is because my man turns thirty today and I want things to be special. He told me he wanted nothing extravagant, but little does he know that when he walks into his office this morning they'll be tons of red balloons there just waiting, floating on the ceiling. I'm going to come over for lunch and give him a little present then when he gets home, I'll give him another. Thirty is a very great age and I know he's only been thirty for two hours now, but it looks good on him. I can't wait until he gets gray hairs, that's gonna be so sexy.

"Happy birthday, baby," I crawl on top of him as he wakes up.

"Thank you,"

We kiss several times, good enough for him to get an erection. "Tonight."

"Right now. I'm the birthday boy," he sits up some so he could turn me on my back.

Fine. He is the birthday boy.

"Happy Stefan's birthday," Ann greets me, making me laugh a little.

"Thank you," I sit down. "My lunch schedule is clear, right?"

"As requested," I nod. "I'm curious, what are you getting him as a present?"

"Well, I actually got a couple things. During lunch though I'm giving him a Gucci watch."

"Ooh, fancy,"

I shrug. "I try, I try,"

She chuckles walking out. My phone rings. "Bonnie Bennett,"

"I just got into my office and saw the balloons."

"You know you like them."

"I love them, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You're coming over later, yeah?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise but I'm coming by during lunch."

"Okay. Can you believe this will be our first time publicly celebrating?"

"It's hard to believe. Damn, we were so good at sneaking around."

"If you can do it over, would you still want to sneak around?"

Hm. "Honestly, selfishly, yes."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I think that if we came out, if you will, to everyone, I wouldn't be where I am now. I feel like I got a lot further just being Bonnie Bennett and not Bonnie Bennett; Stefan's girlfriend. Since I'm more respected now than I was all those years ago I have a feeling that things wouldn't be the same."

"Hm,"

I hope I didn't hurt his feelings mainly because it wasn't my intention. But we made a deal about keeping things truthful between us and I don't want to break that. I didn't really want to dive down in the whole gender thing, but maybe it's because I'm a woman that I feel like I would've gotten tossed to the side and wouldn't have as much opportunities. I'm sure Stefan's work life would be the same but for me, things would've been too different for me to not regret sneaking around.

"What about you?" I ask.

"Well for you I don't regret it. Would I would've loved to share my love to you 100 percent publicly, of course, but I wanted you to be happy and I won't ever regret that."

So glad we aren't writing vows. "You're too good for me."

"Only sometimes,"

I smile and I know he's doing the same. "I'll see you later, baby,"

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you more. Bye,"

"Bye,"

I slowly hang up the phone. He always has a way of making me feel so calm it's crazy. My heart is beating so steadily that I feel like I need to take a breath for it to beat a little faster.

When lunch rolls around, I grab my man's gift and decide to walk there. I'm starting to regret this decision about a minute in but I push through… until I decide to get a Lyft. I'm not trying to smell sweaty.

I say my hello to Amber then continue to walk into Stefan's office. I smile still seeing the balloons on his ceiling but the thing that really makes me smile is Stefan sleeping. I quietly close his door and walk up to him. "Babe? Babe?"

"Hm?"

"Wake up, you're still at work,"

"What?" He pops his head up and sighs. "Shit,"

"You've only been thirty for six hours,"

"I know but it's hitting me hard."

I chuckle and he pulls me down on his lap moving his hands to my stomach. "We have a present for you, daddy,"

"Really?" I nod and reach in my purse handing him the box. I move from his lap to sit on his desk some so he has space to open it. I laugh at his face as he looks up at me seeing the label on the box. "You did not." He lifts the top off and I smile as his eyes widen. "This is beautiful." He looks at it closer.

"It's from the G-Timeless series."

"Sexy,"

"Put it on," He does so and checks the time before posing like he's in a GQ Magazine. "Sexy,"

"Thank you, baby," he kisses me then pulls me back on his lap again. "I want my baby to come already,"

"No, you want him to keep on cooking so he's healthy."

"That too," I chuckle. "Speaking of our baby, I mailed my mom the secret envelope with the gender written on it. She was so excited, I had her open it while she was on the phone with me."

"Aw, that's so cute."

"I'm eighty percent sure that she'll want to move closer once he comes,"

"I don't blame her. He's gonna be so cute."

"Look like me?"

"Half and half. If we were having a girl I'd say definitely."

"Speaking of, I know what you said about having just one but I want a little girl."

I sigh. "We'll see."

"Pretty please?"

"Don't get greedy, Stefan."

"How is wanting just a sweet little girl greedy?"

I narrow my eyes at him. "You want a girl now, Stefan but wait until she gets older then you won't regret it but you'll regret it."

He shrugs because he knows I'm right. Once our girl turns sixteen he's done for. Maybe even sooner than that.

"What else did you get me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You never just give me one thing for my birthday." I need to stop being so predictable. "Is it you? Right here, right now?"

"I'm too fat for that now."

"No," he kisses me. "You're perfect."

"Thank you. But you're still not gettin' it."

"Damn."

I laugh some. "Not right now at least." I exhale. "Fuck, I'm tired. I need a nap."

"Let's lie down for a few minutes,"

"Okay," I don't even try to suggest otherwise because mama be tired.

I get up so he can retrieve his blow up mattress and take off my heels and blazer. He helps me down onto it and we snuggle. "Babe, you have to set your alarm or else we're gonna be here all night."

"I'm setting it now. We have thirty minutes, okay?"

I nod and close my eyes but then decide to set mine so it can double the alarm effect then close my eyes only to open then what felt like five seconds later due to our alarms. "Five more minutes,"

"Deal."

Snooze.

...

Ann actually has to spray me with a damn water- what is it spritzer- sprayer thing because that's how bad my tiredness has gotten. Maybe it's because this is my first week back from being on bedrest and my body foolishly got used to it. That doesn't explain Stefan's behavior though, maybe he's getting secondhand pregnancy symptoms and for the kind of guy he is, he couldn't have picked up a worse one. My poor baby.

I didn't even eat today, I feel like I didn't eat anything all day. "Ann, my love?"

"Oh no," she stands and walks into my office. "What is it that you need, my queen?"

I sigh. "I said I wasn't ever going to do this, but can you go on a food run for me? I was supposed to eat with Stefan but we ended up taking naps instead."

"Sure, why is it that you want?"

"Japanese?"

"You say it like it's a question."

"No, Chinese. I want shrimp fried rice and lo mein and orange chicken. Make sure to get the uh soy sauce."

"Got it!"

Alright, let's see if I can actually get some work done.

I'm in the middle of stuffing my face when I almost choke seeing that it was Stefan who was knocking on my door and now opened it. I chew and swallow as fast as I could. "What's wrong?"

"I'm heading home, I was wondering if you wanted to join,"

I frown some. "Are you getting sick or something?"

"I don't know," he walks over and sits in one of the chairs in front of me. "For some strange reason, I am out of it. I think we should get away again but for the weekend this time. Just to relax and enjoy ourselves."

"I'll never say no to a vacation. Okay, let me finish up then we can leave. If you want, you can lay down on my couch?" I point to it.

"Since when did you get a couch?" He stands and walks over to it.

"Ann ordered it for me, it just came in, actually."

"That was nice." He lies down exhaling.

I smile watching him get comfortable and when he closes his eyes, I get back to work. I swear it's not even a minute before he's snoring his head off but luckily I'm used to it so I can work around it. I stand to close the door so he won't disturb anyone else though but before I could, James flags me down so I close the door behind me and follow him into his office.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you. Sales for the merger magazine are soaring."

"Are you serious?!"

"If the sales keep up, we will be able to give everyone an extra bonus on their checks at the end of the year."

"Wow, that is amazing. I never thought- I mean I was hopeful but this is beyond what I even hoped for." I smile just because I'm feeling so happy.

"With that being said, how would you like to be my plus one?"

"To where?"

"CEO Hunter Flanagan invited me to one of his balls or parties or whatever you want to call it. I figured since I couldn't do this alone that I extended the invitation to you first."

"Uh, yeah, that sounds amazing."

"Great. I'll email you the invitation and we can figure out the whole transportation details later."

I nod and stand. "Thank you,"

"Thank you,"

Holy fuck, I'm so glad I didn't leave early otherwise this wouldn't have happened. I mean, I'm sure he still would've invited me tomorrow but still! An extra bonus on everyone's check is the best news that I heard all day. And on top of that, I get to pretend I'm someone of high importance and go to a royal ball. Too bad I'm pregnant though or else I would've worn something that left a statement. I can still probably do that but it will be more of a challenge but I think I'm ready. I need to start looking now— "What are you doing?" I pause at my door seeing Stefan on my computer.

"I woke up and you weren't here so I decided to see if you're cheating on me with some Russian pen pal." I roll my eyes.

"Please, if I was cheating you'll never know."

I hear a ding signaling that I just got an email and I see Stefan's eyes narrow. The clicking of the mouse gives say that he opened it and I see his eyes moving along the text. "What the hell is this?"

"You tell me, you're at my computer. Which is an invasion of privacy by the wa—"

"You're going to some party with James? Just the two of you?"

"Stefan, it's no big deal, I mean it's a big deal because the CEO of our company invited him and he asked me to be his plus one because we got news that the magazine is doing excellent and he said that he couldn't have done it without me." I wait for him to say something but he's still looking at the screen. "What?" I walk over to view the email myself. 'Here's the invitation, I have a feeling that this would be fun. Just like old times.' Eeeee. "You're friends, Stefan."

"What is he talking about, 'just like old times'?"

"I mean we would always go to things like that. It's no big deal."

"Could you stop saying that?"

"Babe, are you seriously mad? If it upsets you that much then I'll decline."

"Okay."

"Okay, what?"

"Turn him down."

Exsqueeze me? "Seriously?"

"You offered."

"Stefan, this could be a huge opportunity for me. The CEO will be there. It's his house, I have a chance of meeting him and who knows what possibilities could come from that."

"Well, why did you say something when you knew you weren't going to do it?"

"Because I didn't think you'd actually tell me to do it."

"I'm going home."

"Babe, come on," I wrap my arms around him but this belly stops me from fully holding him. "Wait, please," he stops and I force him to look at me. "I love you, okay? Just trust me on this. You can drop me off and pick me up if it'll make you feel better."

"What if I was doing something like that with Amber, huh?"

"I wouldn't like it at all but I would trust you. I would want to spy and sneak but I would fight back those urges because I trust you. You should trust me too. You know that you're the only one I want." I push him back a few times so he's by the couch then one more time to where he actually is sitting and I straddle his lap. I kiss him roughly and he luckily complies and kisses me back. He pushes my blazer down my arms and afterwards, I go to undo the buttons on his shirt. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone knocks on my door but we'll see. I'm kind of hoping for it though because I don't feel sexy at all.

"What's wrong?"

I guess I'm not good at hiding it. Maybe I shouldn't have thought it then I wouldn't feel like covering myself as I do right now. "Nothing,"

"Tell me."

I sigh. "I'm ugly." Fuck, I didn't want to cry but the tears are a'commin.

"Babe, no," he hugs me and I just continue to cry on his shoulder. "You're so beautiful. Seriously, you're so fucking sexy, I want you all the time."

"You're just saying that because you're my fiancé."

"No, I'm not. Why do you think James wants it to still be like old times, huh?" I chuckle some as does he. "You're perfect, I hate it that you are, but you are. Okay?"

"Okay,"

"Let me look at you,"

I sniff in and wipe away my tears before meeting our eyes. He looks at me like I'm actually perfect and moves his hands to sides of my face. I pout. "I'm so fucking fat," here they come again.

"Babe,"

"I eat all the time and I'm hungry all the time and I gained so much weight and you're not even supposed to gain that much because babies are only like six pounds."

"Babe-"

"And I'm barely halfway there and I know that I'll eat more even though I said I'd eat healthy I just had Ann buy me Chinese food and I was demolishing it all before you showed up and I would've asked for more."

"Baby-"

"And—"

"Babe! Chill out. Everything is going to be okay. Just breathe for me." He demonstrates. "Come on," I copy him, breathing deeply, in and out until I feel less panicked. "You're not fat, you have a human growing inside of you and that's a beautiful thing. I love you. Let's go home, okay?"

I nod and stand to walk over to my desk to logout of everything and lock some drawers. I tell Ann we're heading out continuing our walk to the elevator. Stefan stands behind me and moves an arm around my neck while the other rested on my stomach. As the door closes I lock eyes with James and dare I say he was frowning.

...

My man's giving me a foot massage as he rambles off places he wants to go for our weekend vacation. I would listen but I'm going to have him decide so it's no point. I'm just lying back and enjoying his hands on my feet. It feels so good, I want to ask him if he ever fucked a masseuse but I'll let it slide. For now.

"So what do you think, babe?"

"Hm, they all sound really nice, you can choose."

"Really?"

"Yes, why do you sound so surprised?"

"No reason, I just didn't think you'll let me choose."

"Well, I am so don't fuck it up."

He smiles shaking his head. "Fine. Then I'll keep it a surprise."

"And once our vacation is over we really need to kick up the wedding planning. I was fine with us doing it ourselves but since we have a baby now I think we should hire someone so we won't be stressed."

"Alright, I'll ask my cousin, Caroline who she used. You liked her wedding, right?"

"Yeah, it was beautiful."

He nodded and I enjoyed the rest of my massage in peace.

Gift numero dos. I just got the alert that it arrived so I cover Stefan's eyes with a bandana and hold his hand as we go down the stairs I try not to laugh because he's squeezing my hand pretty tightly letting me know that he's scared. "Last step," I warn and then we're heading out the door.

"We're going outside, what, did you buy me a new car?"

"Not exactly," I step behind him and untie the knot.

I wait for his eyes to adjust. "Baby," He looks back at me with shock. "Baby, you— baby," I laugh some. "But I thought—"

"I know what I said and I still mean it, but I thought that since you're getting old," I tease, "you would want something to remind you of your youth."

"I have you for that," he kisses me several times.

"Go sit on it,"

He chuckles but goes over and circles it, checking out the details. "It's a Bonnie, I figured I'd buy the one with my name." He smiled up at me.

"When baby's out, I'll fuck you right on this seat,"

I walk up to him. "Can't wait," I kiss him. "You can take it for a ride if you want,"

"Really?"

I nod. He kisses me again then picks up the helmet that was rested on the seat. I take a step back as he straddles it and shiver some at the sound of the engine. My man sure does look so sexy on a motorcycle but they're so dangerous to me which is why I kindly asked him to stop riding and made up a lie about how I lost someone due to a motorcycle accident which caused him to fully make up his mind. I always felt bad about it so I hope this will mask the guilt I feel.

Once he's out of site, I head back inside because they're no need for me waiting around when I have a feeling that he's going to be out for the rest of the day due to him saying that he "lost track of time". I don't mind. His license plate says "I *heart* me wifey".

...

Man, I need more friends. I'm so bored and Ann is out with Lexington so that sucks. As predicted, Stefan isn't back yet so that sucks. It's just me and my baby which would be completely fine if he was actually here. Maybe I'll call my future mother-in-law and ask about the gender reveal party.

I hear a familiar laugh, "Hello?"

"Stef?"

"Hey, babe,"

"You're in MF?"

"Yeah, I decided to take the ride. See my mom on my birthday and show off my amazing present."

I smile. "Let me talk to your mom."

"Hold on a sec," I hear him explain to his mom that I'm on the phone.

"Hello, Bonnie,"

"Hey, I was just calling to snoop on the gender reveal party…"

"I just got finished making the invitations."

"You made them?"

"Of course, who else?" I smile. "Stefan's actually helping me package them now."

"I love you. I can't wait to see it." I pause for a second. "Alright, well, I'll let you go, I don't want to be a distraction,"

"You're no distraction, Bonnie. I'll see you soon."

"Yes, ma'am, bye,"

I shortly hang up and sigh. I guess I could call Allen but I'm not sure what to say. I hate those conversations over the phone where the person calls you and you ask what's up and they're like "nothing…" and you're just on the other side being like "..." and force yourself to come up with something to say which is hard because your life really isn't all that exciting. I've had my fair share. Next!

I go upstairs and do the wrong thing by opening Stefan's laptop to do some snooping. I was going to do some shopping but this is better, right? No cards have to be run. I really want to know more about the whole Amber situation but I highly doubt I'll find anything because of what Stefan said about their relationship but there's no need to not try, right? Right. I go to Stefan's friends list and type in her first name. Amber O'Neal I find out her full name. Not sure if I said it yet but Amber is a beautiful woman. Chocolate hair, olive skin without a blemish— or at least she covers them well. Her nails are always manicured whenever I see her. She always looks so natural, never overdoes it with the makeup so much so that you even question if she wears any but every now and then her cheekbones sparkle a little too much to not be highlighter.

She one of those who updates every day so I just skip ahead to look through her various, labeled photo albums. "Girls Night" "Vacations" "Family" "Friends" "Lovelies". Etc. etc. I'll take 'Lovelies' for 200, please. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Oh. My. God. Boom! There it is! They're not alone but she's seated on his lap with her arm around him and their heads together.

Look at my man. So cute with his cute little smile. I love him.

I click through some more photos and come across a video. It's from the same night as the photo so I watch and listen. He's not the star of the video but I hear his laugh in the background as she downs shots and I'm starting to wonder if he's the one filming. I frown at this because he loved this bitch. I can hear it in his laugh and she had the nerve to break his heart. I have no idea why I'm so upset because if it wasn't for her dating whatever his name was, we probably wouldn't be together right now. I sigh then go on my phone and go to Facebook to send her a friend request. A part of me really wants to talk to her and possibly befriend her (?) so this will give me access. I get a notification seeing that she accepted it. That was quick but I'm grateful nonetheless. I feel like I should message her.

||: Is this about Stefan?

I gasp. How does she even know I—

||: Frank told me about the party.

Oh.

|: Halfly, yes. Did you know he loved you?

||: Yes.

|: Then I don't get it, why date Frank?

||: Because I didn't love him. It's not all about Stefan.

True.

|: I guess you're right, I'm only looking at it as his fiancé and not through you.

||: I don't blame you, a part of me regrets doing that to him because he really is a sweet guy but I couldn't have him asking me out and having to reject him so I did what I had to do.

|: Do you want to hang out sometime?

||: Uhh…

|: I know it's weird with me being pregnant and all but I think we can really connect.

||: You being pregnant isn't the only thing that will make us hanging out weird. I'm sure Stefan would hate that.

|: I don't care, he's BFFs with my ex— well maybe not so much anymore but they were friends.

||: What happened?

|: I'll let you know over dinner.

||: You just don't give up, do you?

|: That's typically how I get what I want.

||: Fine. When?

|: Are you free tomorrow?

||: I can push some things around.

|: Great, I'll message you the details later. Xx

I hear an engine and I get off the bed to look out the window and see Stefan taking off his helmet. There's no way an hour had passed. I quickly exit Facebook and erase it off his history but as I'm doing so something catches my eye. My babe watches porn. Naughty teachers to be exact. And babysitters. Damn you PornHub! I guess it's not bad but still why didn't he just ask me? Maybe because of this belly.

"Hey," I jump silly at his startling voice. "What are you doing wrong?" He asks walking up to me.

"Nothing," I blindly exit out of the browser.

His eyes narrow. "Okay," he's skeptical but I'm not going to tell him about the porn, I'll tell him about the Amber thing after we have our dinner. I need to see if this can actually go anywhere first.

"How was the invitation packaging?" I ask setting the laptop to the side.

He chuckled. "Pretty good. I almost got her to tell me what we're having so she kicked me out."

I laugh some. "You're dumb."

"Seriously, what's going on?"

"I'm not going to tell you yet, but you will know very soon."

"Is it about my other present?"

"No, and the bike was your last present."

"But I always get three,"

"The Bonnie is two-in-one, you got a new helmet."

"Fine." He sits next to me and bends his neck to look into my eyes.

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"Trying to read me, it's not fair, I told you I'll tell you later."

"Okay, okay," He scoots away some. "Do I at least get a cake?"

"You always get a cake."

"Can it be chocolate with lots of whipped cream?" He gives me a look and chuckles when I roll my eyes.

"Feel!" I quickly grab his hand and move it to my stomach.

So far my baby has been really quiet and I just thought he was like me and don't really fucks with anyone but I felt him move more than usual. I wonder what sparked it.

"Hey Earon, my little man."

I smile as his hands move around my belly. "He likes your touch, he's doing summersaults." Stefan smiled up at me. "You watch porn?" Shit. I narrow my eyes as he tries to hold in his laugh. "What?"

"Nothing,"

"No, tell me,"

"Is that why you were so jumpy? You looked through my history?"

"Yeah,"

"I don't watch porn, I mean I do sometimes, but those times, it wasn't me."

"I don't get it, what do you mean?"

He reaches over to grab his laptop and starts typing then turns the screen so I can look at it too. "Frank sent me the link, it was one of those shortened ones so I couldn't see what site it was from. I clicked it and this showed up." He clicked on it and it was the babysitter one. He closes the tab, "Then I respond and call him a fucker and he says that he was just kidding and sent me another link to what he wanted to show me, I clicked it and this showed up,"

"You don't have to click it."

"It was just his way of tying things over since the party. I didn't watch it, I swear."

"It's OK if you did, I just didn't realize that you liked that type of stuff."

"I won't say I like it, I watch it if I'm bored sometimes or if you're really, really tired and I'm really, really horny." He says to make a joke.

"OK,"

He looks at me more. "What else is wrong?"

"Nothing,"

He leans in and kisses me. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He kisses me twice then meets his forehead with mine. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, I promise, I'm just a little tired."

"How about cake tomorrow?"

"No, I'll take a quick nap and then start on your cake because you need cake on your birthday, everyone knows that."

"Okay, it's just, no pressure."

"Can you nap with me?"

"Of course,"

I smile at him then scoot my booty down so I can lay on my side. Stefan spoons me and I close my eyes.

...

Cake making can always be so sexual. The whole process tastes delicious so you're always licking something. Stefan points his pointer finger at me and I take it in my mouth, swirling my tongue around it, watching him watch my mouth. He moans and I slowly move my head back to release.

"Damn."

I look down seeing him hard and crack a smile. "Want mommy to get on her knees?"

His eyes close exhaling. It's so fun teasing him. I do it anyway because I know it was gonna be a yes or his version of saying it. Which would've more than likely be "Please" because he's such the gentleman.

"Oh fuck,"

I love that he can never stay silent, it makes me very confident. The men I dated did stay quiet then afterward give me praise but I was always so nervous because I didn't know what I was doing so I was just doing it and hoping that I was doing it right. With Stefan, I never need to question myself. If he's not cursing with pleasure, he's stroking my hair or grabbing it and tightens that grab every few seconds. He jerks when I cup his balls and I hear him release a long breath.

"I'm about to come." He warns me.

I squeeze his ass and choke deep-throating him and he soon fills my mouth.

"Fuck,"

He softens and I move him out of me.

"You're amazing." He tells me halfway breathless and helps me to my feet. My knees kind of hurt. We kiss but I pull away when the preheating timer goes off so I can put the cakes in.

"Let me return the favor,"

"No, this is your day."

"You said nothing of the sorts when I was rubbing your feet."

"And to compensate for that, I'm not letting this happen."

"But you're my favorite flavor."

Damn. I swallow.

"Are you wet for me?" His hands move over my body.

"Always."

He moves us over to the table, my poor table and lifts me on it. Kisses start at my thighs then I feel a little drift as he slides my panties down my legs.

No one ever has to worry if I like things of not because unless it's a goal to be quiet like we're in public or something, I'm a little loud. Stefan loves it, he always growls sending vibrations into me causing me to say his name louder and I come just as loud.

"What?" I hear him laugh a little.

"Nothing, I just," he breathes, "I love you so fucking much. You're better than any porn."

I smile and he licks the side of my thigh. He kisses up my body and our lips eventually meet. "I love you too." We kiss again but keep it simple.

He pulls my panties back up my legs and I thank him before hopping off the table to pull them up the rest of the way. Our heads turn hearing the doorbell ring and Stefan volunteered to get it so I check on the cake.

"Babe, Girl Scouts,"

"Chocolate chip cookies, please." I holler back then listen in to him talking to the little girl.

Shortly I hear the door close and I decide to walk out of the kitchen to go into the living room to watch some TV. Stefan joins me and wraps his arm around me, pulling me in.

When the cake had set and was frosted, we share a slice like always before getting our own pieces.

"This is delicious."

"Are you ready for your third gift?"

He smiles widely. "I really have a third gift?"

"You always get three gifts." I kiss him then head to the hallway closet to retrieve a box. Stefan rubs his hands together and I roll my eyes at his stupid self.

He opens it pretty quickly then looks at me.

"It's a Polaroid camera. So you can take pictures of me all the time."

"This is exactly what I will use this for." He kisses me quickly. "Thank you," he says loading the film.

I pose as he snaps a photo. "Man I love this already."

I chuckle then go put our plates away then hear another snap of the camera. I turn my head giving him a snarl.

"Had to get that ass, babe."

If my eyes don't roll out of their sockets tonight I will be one surprised bitch.

I told myself and Stefan that we can't talk or see each other while we're at work today. I feel like it's too much, every day I feel like I'm going over there or he's coming over here and I love it but I feel like it's becoming too much of a routine. A routine that I don't want to get used to because you don't see anyone else bringing their significant others into their office every day for hours on end. If I was on the other side of it, I'd be judging and bragging about how much Stefan and I aren't that type of couple that needs to check up on each other all the time so things need to switch up. I can tell I may have hurt his feelings just a smidge but it had to be said and done.

"You ready?"

I'm confused… "Ready for…?"

"Bonnie," Ann said like she was disappointed in me. "The meeting with Men's Attiré."

I gasp and stand up. "What is this meeting about?"

"Just reviewing numbers. James is meeting us there."

Shit. "Okay,"

I start to follow Ann and order our Lyft as we wait for the elevator. I would've suffered through it, but I am not wearing the right shoes for a ten minute walk. When we arrive it's then that I remember that I forced Amber into having dinner with me tonight. I'll talk to her after the meeting but I make sure to wave at her and give her a look to signal that I'll talk to her later. I walk in and frown some when Stefan avoids eye contact. I sure did pick the wrong morning to insist on us stopping communication during work hours.

"Hey, Bonnie,"

"Hey, Philip." I smile and take a seat across from Stefan.

I can feel the eyes on us and soon a few whispers as he still avoids me. I kick him lightly under the table and that gains me his attention but only for a second before he stands and reaches his hand out to shake James'.

"Hey, man, how are you."

"Great, you?"

"Perfect."

I sigh as the men sit and I'm still being ignored. I don't like it. I want my attention. If it wasn't inappropriate I would call him out but I'll wait. He literally only talks to James even if I say something so instead of embarrassing myself further I just shut up. The awkwardness is choking me. Luckily this meeting doesn't last long at all and I think it's because I wasn't the only one suffocating.

"Thanks for dropping by, James, Ann."

"Babe," I couldn't stop myself. Before I could blink we were the only ones in the room. "I—"

"Are you sure you want to be seen with me anymore?"

"Stefan-"

"I mean considering how you banned me from speaking to you or looking at you, I'm just following orders."

"Stefan, I didn't mean it in a mean way. I love you but I think that we should go back to keeping things professional in the workplace. With us visiting each other every day it's like—"

"Like we're getting married? Like we're in love?"

"Yes, exactly. And I'm no way is that a horrible thing but sometimes we need to keep things separate. We're professionals, Stefan and we work for rival companies and we're heads of those companies. When have you ever seen your boss bring his wife in? And not only him, everyone else in the office? They don't because they know that things at home should stay at home. Am I saying that I'll never visit you ever, hell no, but I can't keep coming here three/ four times a week. I will miss you terribly, babe, but this will be good for us."

He sighs. "Fine. Whatever," he walks out.

I sigh but I know it's best that I leave and give him space to cool off. I hate that we had a fight in his place of work of all places but it is what it is, I guess. I exhale and walk over to Amber's desk.

"That looked heated."

"Shit, I forgot that room is all glass." I meet my head with the desk.

"At least it's soundproof."

I chuckle. "Anyway, about dinner,"

"Don't sweat it, I know you guys need to work-"

"You're not backing down, are you?"

"I thought you would be."

"Please, we've had bigger fights, we'll be fine. Have you ever had Rodgers?"

"Yeah, I'm a vegetarian."

Great. "Fine. You pick the place it just has to be at eight so I can be home by ten."

"Okay. Stefan's coming,"

"Act dumb,"

"What's going on here?"

"I'm worn out, Stef. I need a little break."

"There's a couch literally two feet away."

"If I sit down, it would be too hard to get up." He sighed. "Can you please get me a Lyft?"

"Okay,"

See. Back to normal. Shit, I'm actually pretty tired. I wonder if it's Stefan. Talking to Amber I wasn't tired at all but now that Stefan's joined the party, I feel faint. Maybe it's because it's stressful between us now.

"Are you okay, babe?"

"I'm fine. I just need to eat something, I think. I'll just have the driver stop at McDonalds or something." I head for the elevator. I know if he's really over it if he rides with me to the first floor.

I don't look back, just press the button and exhale placing my hand on my stomach. I really hope our argument didn't do any damage. I really need to just relax. Take a pregnant mom yoga class- that actually sounds fun.

"Let me take you, okay?

I nod, inwardly smiling widely. The doors open and we step inside and I hug him. My head turned to the side rested on his chest and my arms around his back. His hand runs up and down my back. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He kisses my shoulder and I lift my head to meet our lips. He kisses me again. "What's up with you and Amber?"

"Nothing much to tell, really. We're having dinner together tonight."

"Uhh,"

"I'll be home by ten."

It's our stop so I take his hand and walk us out of the elevator. I have no idea where he parked so I just head right until he tugs in my arm lightly taking us left. "Dinner? Why?"

"I need new friends and I think that we can be friends."

"Does this have anything to do with our past?"

"It started that way but now it's not." He sighed. "Will you be turned on if you see us casually sipping tea together?"

He laughed. "I uh can't say. Probably not."

"Rude." He opens the door for me then closes it once I'm seated right. I watch him through the mirrors as he makes his way to the driver's side and gets in.

"If I said I would be turned on, you would've called me a creep."

"And?"

He chuckled and shook his head. He takes my hand. "I'm sorry for acting like a dick back there."

"Stef-"

"I promised you a stress-free pregnancy and it's not going that way at all."

"It's my fault, I should have explained my reasoning to you better instead of just bossing you around."

"You really should've."

I rolled my eyes but pulled on his shirt, "Come here," he smiled and kissed me a few times. "Feed me."

"As you wish," he talked against my lips then kissed me again.

He knows him talking against my lips is a weakness but we can't because I'm hungry but I want to. I watch his profile as he drives and he does that thing where he runs his hand down his stubble beard. I love his stubble beard. I love it.

"What do you want, babe?" He looks over at me quickly as he turns into the drive-thru.

"A number one with a Sprite. And you."

He gives me his eyes until they drop some to my lips. I bite my lower one. He looks back up at me again and opens his mouth

"Welcome to McDonald's, would you like to try our two for three meals today?"

He watches me a little longer before turning. "No thank you, I'll just have a number one with a Sprite, please."

"Alright, that'll be six forty-nine."

Stefan takes my hand and kisses it before pulling up behind the car in front. "Daddy,"

"Come."

"When you're inside me I will."

"Damn,"

A car horn breaks us out of it and Stefan quickly accelerates and pays the woman before going to the second window and my food is already waiting for me. We say our thanks and he pulls off.

"You really want me or are you ditching me for Mr. Mac?"

"Why can't I have both at the same time?"

"That's a first."

"I don't know if I can actually do it, I think I'll laugh too much." He chuckled turning into the parking deck. "Do you want to fuck me or should I fuck you?"

"It's easiest if you fuck me,"

"Why 'cause my belly?"

"No, because our baby."

"Same thing." I take a bite of my burger and a pinch full of fries before climbing to the back seat.

...

I kiss my man then I'm out on my dinner date with Amber. I feel so mature and grown that I'm for one befriending one of my fiancé's exes and two even though she's an ex, I don't care about that. I genuinely want to be her friend.

I get to this vegetarian place, one of which I've never heard of or seen and step in to see Amber holding down a table for us. I smile and walk over to her. "Hey,"

She looks up, "Hey," I take a seat. "So how did Stefan react or did you tell him?"

"I told him when we were in the elevator. I'm surprised that he reacted calmly about it."

"I would have to say that I'm surprised as well. I'm not sure if he's changed or anything but Stefan was just so...firm. It's like things were wrong in his eyes or they weren't. No middle area."

"Yeah, he can definitely be like that sometimes so I have to explain to him the gray areas so he can see things in a different perspective."

"There's no way that you two have only been dating for six months."

"Why do you say that?"

"You two know each other too well. Moving a little fast, I mean I don't judge but a whole new house in one of the richest areas? You skipped the moving into each other's apartment and jumped to the house. You're pregnant and I know things happen but I'm sure you're careful enough to not let things happen in a short amount of time. You two just seem like you've been together for years but you were just hiding it because of who you guys are."

I exhale. "Fine. You caught us. We've been together for four years. Stefan moved into my apartment a year in and we kept sneaking around until one day my boss tells me that he wants to go into business with you guys. I figured it was the perfect opportunity so we took it and luckily nothing bad happened. Me getting pregnant was not in the plans, but this soon at least, but I'm happy he or she is here."

She smiled. "How did you two actually meet then?"

"At a party. It's s long story if I'm honest but, to cut it short we saw each other at my previous boss' retirement party and didn't talk to each other but we admired from afar. Next day turns out I had a meeting with him and we've been together since." She smiled. "So what about you and Frank?"

"Nothing much to tell."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that things are steady. No ones in any rush."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm just saying after a nice Facebook stalk, you don't seem like the girl to go steady at anything. I mean you had an FWB situation with Stefan then it's nice and steady with Frank?"

"My social media life makes mine seem more glammed up than what it actually is. I'm that type of girl but at least I can admit it, I guess. The thing with Stefan was very new to me. I had just gotten dumped and I needed a distraction and Stefan seemed like he was the perfect distraction. We were on the same page, or so I thought, but it was fun. He was fun but this steadiness is where I'm most comfortable."

I nod. "I guess I get that. Just make sure you're happy, you know,"

"You're very strange, Bonnie."

"What do you mean?"

"After my past with Stefan, you want to be friends and make sure that I'm happy with my love life. I'm sure this is a very rare situation between two individuals."

"You didn't do anything wrong to me. I don't have grudges against people who never harmed me." She nodded her head from side to side slightly. "Besides, I need more friends so I better not hold any grudges."

I hear her laugh for the first time and it's pretty contagious so I can't help but smile.

I rest my head on Stefan's chest after I got dressed in my PJs after my shower. His arms stretched over to move around me. "How was dinner?"

"Delicious."

"That's good,"

He holds me a little tighter before he's back to dreamland.