Back when they'd first been together, he'd used to think of her as the perfect antidote to his fast-paced, pressurized lifestyle. She had been exactly what he was looking for in a lover—calm, beautiful and receptive to his wishes. Like an oasis of serenity amidst the cut and thrust of his life.But Lara had changed. She'd once been his perfect lover—but she was very far from being his perfect wife. She'd gone against his wishes. And she'd stood up to him, calling him a control freak.His life had been so well ordered and organized, with everything under his control and nothing unexpected.That was how he liked it.Did that make him a control freak? Suddenly he wasn't sure.All he knew was that Lara and Helen had exploded into his world and nothing was the same. Nothing was predictable.He was used to demanding immediate obedience from everyone in his life—but Lara wasn't an employee. She was his wife. Did he really want the

Lara’s morning sickness had gotten worse the past few days and she decided to talk with Chris about her pregnancy.Surprise showed clearly on Chris’s face after hearing the good news. He will be a father again.While they were talking, her stomach tightened in a now familiar warning and she shot to her feet, kicking the lap blanket away. When she reached the toilet, she retched. Though, since she had not been hungry earlier, she did nothing but dry heave. It hurt and it scared her. Though she knew that the cramps were in her stomach and not her womb, a tiny part of her brain kept saying it was one and the same.Chris had come into the room with her and she could hear water running, but she couldn’t look up long enough to see what he was doing. Then a cold, damp cloth draped the nape of her neck while another one was pressed gently to her forehead. Chris rubbed her back in a soothing circular motion, crooning to her.The heaving stopped a

Chris dressed while Lara was in the shower, and then he made a couple of business calls while she was getting ready. Anything to keep himself from going into her and ravishing her body.For some reason, Lara feared miscarriage. He refused to add to those fears, no matter how difficult it might be to abstain from intimacy with her luscious body. He had to admit, he had no idea what miscarriage was so prevalent in the first trimester.He did a quick web search on his laptop while he waited for Lara to come out of the bedroom and discovered some interesting facts.When she came out, she was wearing a flowing sundress with peacock blue in a halter style that tied around her neck. The deep vee of the neckline accentuated her burgeoning curves, but the dress looked comfortable, as well. Its empire waistline had no binding around her tummy, he noticed.It would look even more amazing once her stomach started to protrude with the baby. He was not there when she&r

Life with a newborn had been tough for the past couple of weeks. They sleep deprived and Harry was feeding every hour and refusing to sleep. Lara started pumping into bottles so Chris could relieve her every now and again. Especially in the middle of the night so she could get some rest.Chris worked from home the past couple of weeks so he could be there for Lara and the baby. But now it was time for him to get back into the office. He tried to hire a baby nurse to help Lara out while he was gone, but Lara wouldn’t hear of it. He kept the number close by just in case she changed her mind.“I have to go now, sweetheart. I’m sorry.” He kissed her lips as she stood in the kitchen holding Harry.“Don’t be sorry. We’ll be fine.”“I’m going to miss you and our children so much.”“Darling, I know you’re secretly excited about getting out. You can’t fool me.”

As she lay there, she thought about how there was no way she could be pregnant again. No possible way. There was only one way to find out. She ran to the store and picked up a test. It was so silly that she was even doing this. She had a virus. Or maybe something else was going on. Pregnant? No. Impossible.She went into the bathroom, peed on the stick and waited. She laughed at herself for even thinking it. Once the test showed she wasn’t pregnant, she’d call her general doctor and get in for a checkup and some tests. The timer on her phone went off so she picked up the stick and stared at the two pink lines staring back at her. Her heart started racing, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Splashing some cold water on her face, she leaned over the counter and stared at herself in the mirror. How the hell she was going to tell her husband who had a vasectomy that she was pregnant again?“We need to talk,” she said as she grabbed his han