Zhubin took away the tray and set it near the door on the dresser. He turned off the overhead lights before returning to the bed. Climbing back up next to her he leaned back and kissed her shoulder. "How are you feeling, love?"
"Full and well loved. I'm feeling happy. Very happy," she told him with a smile. "Knowing that we have a child growing inside of me, it makes me happy. Yes, I'm feeling still a little out of it but that's perfectly fine. I will get back to my normal self before you know it and you will be wishing that I was at the office and you were on vacation or something," she teased them.
"Highly doubtful," Ansell told her. He moved so he could rest his head in her lap, his arms wrapping around her leg loosely. "We just want you happy and healthy, Lacey. What you do or don't do matters little once you are back to yourself."
Lacey began to run her fingers through Ansell's hair and smiled. "And I am happy. I'm getting healthier thanks to you guys acting so fast. If not for the two of you I think that I would have been far too stubborn to go in and get checked. I don't want to think of what might have happened to me."
Zhubin wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hold her close to him. "We wouldn't ever let anything bad happen to you. You are our world, Lace. Without you we are nothing. Plus, we are a team, and when one goes down the others pick him or her up and keep this team going."
"I know that you wouldn't. It makes me happy to know that you wouldn't ever let anything happen to me as well. I happen to really, really love the fact that you boys take care of me as well as you do." She whispered with a smile. "I am the luckiest woman on the face of the planet. Just sayin' is all," she teased him with a grin.
"Yes you are." He grinned at her. Pressing a kiss to her lips he hugged her close. "You have amazing men who love you more than anything on any world. You really should be worshipping the very ground we walk on you know."
Ansell snorted out a laugh but didn't make a comment.
She snorted as well. "Well it's kinda hard when your heads are so big that you float above the ground, you know," she teased. God, she loved being able to tease with them. "But it's okay. I will worship you with my body instead, ok?"
Zhubin laughed and nodded. "If our heads are big it's only because we have the most amazing and lovely mate there is and we know it. You may begin the worshipping any time, but we really should wait for medical clearance from Briar. So we'll just have to postpone that for another day. For tonight, sleeping is on the schedule and nothing more."
"Awww, you boys are just too sweet. God I love you," Lacey said with a grin. "You boys are awesome and I utterly adore you." She did, too. She loved these men so very, very much. They were her world, literally she wouldn't know what to do without them. Ever.
"We know." He grinned. Chuckling softly, he pulled the blankets up and over her before he and Ansel both settled down at her sides. "Try and get some sleep, Lacey. You need your rest," he said, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.
"Yes. Sleep does sound very good. Thank you." She moved in closer to him and yawned again. "Thank you for taking such good care of me." She loved that these men took such great care of her, they seemed to know what she needed before she needed it.
"Any time," he said, hugging her close. Ansell pressed closer to her back, wrapping her in their heat. "But I'd prefer there were no more times like this, Lace. Just for the record, you scared the shit out of us and that's going to take a hell of a long time to forget."
"I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry, honey. I honestly didn't mean to. I have to say that it was all this monster's fault that laced that letter. Yep. His fault. So when you find him you can take it out on his happy ass. Deal?"
"I fully intend to and I didn't mean for you to take any blame on yourself, Lacey. I would never place the blame for this heinous act on you, the fault lies with who did this and who will pay severely for it." Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Zhubin hugged her closer. "I don't do well when you are injured or unwell I've found."
"I've found that I don't do well in that situation either," she whispered. "I really, really hate feeling all icky, okay. I really and truly want to be well. Hell, I want to be well so that I can push you into a closet at my will." She teased him with a smile. "We both know that."
Ansell snorted out a chuckle that she more felt along her spine than heard. "Have you even managed to push him anywhere?" he asked, his tone relaxed and sleepy. "'Cause I know I can do it but we're built the same, but you." He clicked his tongue. "I dunno, I think you'd have to trick him so you could manage it, half pint."
"Nope but I have managed to be able to talk you boys into pulling and pushing me into places," she teased. "All I have to do is say hey, I want to have you inside of me and you are both there and ready. We both know it." She knew it. She loved it too.
He grunted at that. "Okay, you may have a point there. And on that note, goodnight, Lace. Sleep well, sweetheart." Pressing a kiss between her shoulders, Ansell wiggled around until he was in his favorite position, his arms wrapped around her and holding her close.
Sighing happily, Lacey closed her eyes and was simply smiling. "Nice." She whispered and with another yawn was soon sound asleep in between the two men she loved the most.
Chapter Seventeen
Over the last month Zhubin and Ansell, along with a host of others, had been laying the groundwork to pull in Lacey's stalker. For the most part it had been tedious and more than a little stressful on her guys, but they seemed confident that it would work. Which was a good thing. Especially since she was going back to work the next day.
She'd helped, as much as she could, from home. Listening to them discuss what they'd done that day and helping them figure out the tasks for the days to come as well as playing the devil's advocate on some of their ideas. But it all boiled down to one thing, would her stalker actually buy the ruse and fall into the trap? That was the big, billion-dollar question that was hanging over them all.
"Here," Ansell handed her a glass as he settled at her side. Slipping his arm around her shoulders he drew her in closer. "What's going through your head, sweetheart?"
"I'm worried about going back to work. I'm worried I will puke on someone. And I'm worried this won't work." She was sick as could be right now with this pregnancy. According to Briar and even Zhubin's mother, she was perfectly healthy and it was sometimes natural for the women to be icky for a while, and she sure enough was just that. She felt like hell, no two ways about it. Until the sick passed, and then she was just plain horny. She was weird and knew it.
"You're pregnant, you're allowed to puke. Though I would try and avoid at least the captain, he's all twitchy since he's pretty sure we're all up to something untoward." He stared at her with big eyes and then grinned. "Can't imagine why."
That had her laughing. "It's only because of when he came by two days ago and I puked all over his suit. The one that looked custom made. Oh I'm very sure that he will avoid me like the proverbial plague even though I am only pregnant." She couldn't help but laugh, it was really, really funny, the look on the man's face, to be honest.
"Yeah, we got the tab for the cleaning of that suit," he said before sipping his juice. Shaking his head, Ansell slouched down in his seat, his arm sliding down to her waist to pull her closer. "I think he's being overcharged for his cleaning."
"Oh, I'm sure that he's not. It was silk." She laughed. "I'm sure that the red Kool-Aid that I had just finished drinking didn't help things either." She admitted. "So yeah. Always a good time, right?" She smiled as she spoke.
Chuckling, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder before resting his head against her arm. "It's definitely entertaining around you, my dear. Nothing like a bit of excitement to keep our lives from becoming dull and bland. Though I have to say, I much prefer the excitement of you and your puking than this asshole that's stalking you."
"Well I'm glad that I'm able to entertain you darling." There was a small pause and a heavy sigh before she said, "Yeah, I am rather pukey joe right now, aren't I? I really hope that this whole pregnancy isn't me being sicker and sicker with each passing day. I rather love that we are going to have a baby but I honest to goodness don't know if I will be able to handle being ill all nine months."