“There’s no such thing---” She stopped giggling at Staffan’s smirk. “No, really, there’s isn’t such a thing…right?”
“Just remember, baby, when you give birth, there will be a time you’d be too tired to stay awake and then I’ll make my move and have the baby’s name changed on its birth certificate.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“I will if you don’t stop with all the Swedish names!”
“But I’m just being very nationalistic---”
Her all-innocent look had Staffan groaning. “You do that so f**king well.”
Saffi went for broke, channeling her inner Legally Blonde and Clueless blonde goddesses as she gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”
With a growl, Staffan sank his fingers into her hair and pulled Saffi towards him for a kiss. Her lips opened under his eagerly, welcoming the possessive sweep of his tongue. Her arms rose to curl around his neck at the same time he pulled her closer by the hips, his aroused dick knocking against her sex. The hot contact of his dick against her belly was enough to have Saffi gasp and accidentally squeeze the cushy attachment hanging from the mobile toy she was still holding.
It released a loud growling sound that had them breaking apart in shock.
Staffan was white-faced. “What the f**k was that?” He looked like he had seen a ghost.
Saffi lifted the toy in her hands. “This?”
He grabbed the toy and practically threw it back on the shelf before hurriedly urging her out, his arm wrapped around her waist, his hand protectively settled against her tummy. It made her look down, and her heart ached at the sight of his still-bare finger.
It did not mean he did not feel married. She told herself that over and over. It could be a rock star thing, or maybe it could even be a way of deflecting the fury of other fangirls from her.
Right now, she needed to concentrate on being happy and thankful that she and Staffan were doing so well. As long as she kept doing what she was doing and shutting up about anything that had to do with the past – they were good.
“How about Lace?” Staffan murmured as they walked out of the boutique.
When she looked up at him in askance, he was smiling but his voice was gruff when he explained, “It’s somewhat similar to how you and your mother – Pearl – are named. But I think our baby’s going to be extra soft and sweet because she has you as a mother.”
Bittersweet tears pricked her eyes. At least…at least he was thinking about the baby as theirs. It was a step in the right direction, and she had to be thankful for that. Swallowing, she whispered, “I think it’s just perfect.”
Back at their hotel room, she and Staffan immediately went their separate ways, having accepted the invitation to join her father and the rest of her family for a fundraising dinner held by one of his wealthiest supporters. His friends, Rathe, Constantijin, and Yanna were coming too, and she felt incredibly nervous about meeting them. She didn’t know how she would take it if they also believed the lies about her.
Staffan knocked on her dressing room, so she asked him to come in. “What is it?”
He was holding two boxes, one immensely larger than the other. The first one contained a beautiful gold collar-styled necklace with a beautiful star-shaped sapphire pendant. She blinked back tears at its exquisiteness. “Oh my God, it’s gorgeous.” She tried to think of something better to say – something that would be befitting of someone who graduated years too early from high school. But nothing came to mind. All she could do was shake her head and gaze at it.
“W-where did you find it?”
Staffan was already lifting her hair up. “I had it customized,” he told her absently as he grabbed one of her elastic bands and used it to twist her hair up. He did it expertly now, after a few hours of practice when she had her nails freshly painted and she wanted to take a bath without getting her newly curled hair wet.
The memory made her smile, and when her gaze met his reflection on the mirror, Staffan had a look of exasperation on his face. “I’m beginning to think all of this is an elaborate plan to turn me into the adult version of Justin Bieber.”
She grinned, but her eyes started to water again when, after her hair was secured on top of her head, Staffan was slowly putting the collared-necklace around her neck. She touched it gingerly, unable to take her gaze off it.
Snap.
Saffi gasped. “Staffan!”
“It’s my turn to tweet like f**king crazy about my wife.”
Her phone buzzed the moment he finished typing on his screen. Staffan had taken a side-view photo of her, with a caption that made her sigh.
My one-week anniversary gift for MY fangirl
“Hormones,” was all she could say before bawling like crazy.
Used to her mood swings by now, Staffan only chuckled and lifted her up so he could take the seat and place her on his lap. She immediately snuggled up to him. Both their phones buzzed, indicating messages and responses to the tweet. Staffan and Saffi ignored it. Both of them had also decided without ever speaking about it not to listen, see, or even know what the rest of the world had to say about them.
Listening to Staffan’s heartbeat, she dimly heard the continuous buzzing of her phone. A glass bubble, Saffi thought and her fingers curled around his chest reflexively. Fear kicked in even though she did her best not to show it, her other hand moving down to act as a shield for her baby.
Their life would remain perfectly blissful as long as they stayed within their glass bubble. But she knew from experience that glass bubbles couldn’t last forever…and that they were never meant to.
“I have another gift I need you to wear,” Staffan murmured against Saffi’s hair.
She stirred, raising herself up to look at him with a mixture of curiosity and childish excitement. “What is it?”
“I’ll show you later, when you’re fully dressed.”
She frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Those are my rules, baby.” He lifted her from his lap and gently lowered Saffi to her feet. “Now, go.”
He laughed when Saffi got dressed in record time. He was in the process of buttoning his silk shirt when Saffi appeared at the doorway, dressed in a tight-fitting white dress that made a wonderful contrast with his necklace.
He studied her slowly, looking at her from head to toe.
She was breathless by the time his gaze returned to her face, the look in his eyes too hot to handle. “Well? What’s my other gift?”