Curling his arms around her shoulders, Knox brushed her nose with his. "All right, I'll ask the lair to cancel the parade." He tilted his head when her brow creased. "Why don't you look happy about it?"
"Because part of me now feels guilty and ungrateful. I don't want to offend the lair."
Knox almost chuckled. In her shoes, he wouldn't have felt guilty at all, but Harper had a marshmallow center that meant she'd never be as selfish as he was. "I'd sooner offend our lair by canceling the parade than ask you to do something that you don't want to do."
"Stop being so nice when I'm being so whiny."
"You're not being whiny. Even if you were, I'd say you had every right to be. You're hormonal and heavily pregnant, which is making you feel edgy. No one who's edgy wants to deal with anything that annoys them. You're also feeling hyper-protective of the baby, so it's perfectly natural that you wouldn't want strangers around you – especially strangers who might try touching your stomach." Neither Knox nor his demon liked the idea either.
"You really don't think I'm being stroppy and unreasonable?"
"No, I don't. I'm guessing your demon's just as restless and close to snapping – from what I've heard, that's pretty normal during pregnancy. I just thought you might like to get out of the house. You've worked so hard on the nursery that, aside from attending the baby shower, you haven't been anywhere. You were adamant that staying in the house all the time would make you crazy."
Harper frowned. "I would have thought you'd be happy that I haven't been anywhere."
"I find that I don't like you doing anything that seems out of character for you – it makes me worry. Meg assured me that you were nesting and there was no need for me to be concerned, but I'll always worry about you."
Harper thought about it for a moment. "It might actually be good for me to leave the house and get some air. And it might be best to let everyone see that I'm pregnant and satisfy their curiosity so they're not all staring at me if I need to go to the Underground for any reason."
"It might be," he agreed, careful not to push her either way.
"It bothers me that people might think I'm hiding – that would give whoever's fucking with us a real kick. It would also make us look weak." Which was exactly why she hadn't wanted to stay in the villa for long, she reminded herself.
"Personally, I don't much care what other people think. But I do care that people might believe I don't trust in my ability to protect you."
Harper sighed, and her shoulders drooped. "When's the parade scheduled for?"
"A week's time."
And that meant her stomach would be even bigger for the event. Great. "I'll go, but I can't promise I'll last long or that anyone who upsets me will walk away unscathed."
"Don't worry; I don't think anyone will really want to tangle with a pregnant she-demon." Hormonal and intolerant, they didn't deal with bullshit well at all. Harper was impatient with bullshit at the best of times.
"I'm gonna need a new dress."
"Most women wouldn't utter those words with irritation."
"I'm not most women. I'm also not in the mood to go to the mall. My back hurts and my joints ache."
He gently rubbed her back. "So have Raini pick something up for you, like you did when you needed a dress for the announcement."
Raini was indeed good at choosing outfits for people. Harper wondered if part of the reason the succubus enjoyed choosing pretty clothes for others was that she very rarely bought any for herself.
"Fine," relented Harper, smoothing her hands up his chest. "But I expect a chocolate reward of some kind."
"I can arrange that." He gave her a quick kiss. "Tomorrow." Another kiss. "Now we shower."
"I'd rather play Naked Twister."
He laughed. "Keeping up with your sex drive might kill me."
"There are worse ways to die."
There were indeed. "You know what I just realized?"
A shiver worked through Harper at the sound of his "sex voice". It was all dark, dominant, and hypnotic. "What?"
He scraped his teeth over her earlobe. "We haven't christened the closet."
Harper swallowed. "That's a bad oversight on our part. Terrible, even. I'm thinking we should rectify it."
"It wouldn't be right if we didn't." Thrusting his hands into her hair, he kissed her. Licked into her mouth. Sucked on her tongue. Bit at her lip. Took and tasted and dominated. All the while, he was backing her into their room and then through to the closet. Stopping near the sofa, he said, "I want what's under these clothes. Take them off."