“Are you going to sleep at the cottage tonight?” She asked, but she already knew the answer — he’d rented out his townhouse so the cottage was the only place he could call home. Mama would let her stay here if she wanted (would probably prefer it, actually), but no matter how awkward things were going to be between them, it was better to get used to it now rather than later. They’d done the easy part, getting married and all, so now came all the hard parts of getting to know each other while existing in each other’s spaces.

Zinnia would be lying if she didn’t say it scared her, but his next set of words eased something inside her gut. Rhys was trying his damn hardest to make this an easy transition for her and here she was, resisting every effort he was putting in. She offered him a shy smile, a soft blush painting her cheeks. “Thank you. You look very handsome.” He did clean up nicely, and Zin could appreciate that. She blew out another soft breath, like she was trying to ease some of the nerves inside her belly. Not that it did much of anything.

Stepping forward without saying anything, Zinnia wrapped her arms around his middle, although still kept a safe distance from him. It still felt odd to touch him like this, especially with their family around them, but Rhys was her husband, and if anything, she wanted to at least be friends with him. “I think I’d like to sleep there tonight, if that’s okay with you.” Step one would be spending the night, no matter how weird and uncomfortable it’d feel. She was going to have to get used to it before the baby was born, anyway.

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