  &quot;Speaking of dirty chat up lines,&quot; drawled Ray as he turned to Danica, wearing that all too familiar wicked grin. When she shook her head, warning him to keep it to himself, he sighed. &quot;I can&quot;t help it. I love your hair, your eyes, and your smile. Hell, I love every bone in your body. Want to add one more?&quot; As usual, Gio hit him.
  &quot;Don&quot;t worry about James, Danica.&quot; Donny patted her stomach gently.
  &quot;I&quot;ll teach the little guy in there the art of flirting so that he never has to use those lines.&quot;
  &quot;I&quot;ll teach him how to throw a ball,&quot; declared Duda. &quot;And how to drive.&quot;
  &quot;That&quot;s nice and all,&quot; said Hudson, &quot;but you know I&quot;m going to be his favorite uncle, right?&quot;
  &quot;Um, hello,&quot; said Danica. &quot;The baby could be a &lsquo;her&quot;, you know.&quot; They all gave her

     Finally they arrived at the diner and, much like last time, Gio received many wary looks. To her surprise, so did Danica. Clearly the Elsa incident
  was still fresh in everybody&quot;s minds. She picked up Carrick&quot;s scent almost immediately. Sitting at a long table surrounded by ten of his powerful alliances, he looked exactly like the big man he wanted to look. Scattered around the diner were enforcers and bodyguards ready to protect their
  Alpha&quot;s at the slightest hint of danger. Gio subtly directed his own enforcers to do the same, other than Chris who came along with him, Danica and Duda to the table. All the Alpha&quot;s stood, and all looked pretty insulted that Gio was keeping his Beta and Head Enforcer so close &ndash; it was considered a sign that he distrusted them. But then their eyes went to Danica and she guessed that they had scented her condition and, thus

      In a few months he had gone from wanting jack shit in terms of relationships to being partially bonded &ndash; that was a lot for someone like him. He might not feel ready yet. Hell, given Gio&quot;s nature, there was a chance he hadn&quot;t pictured ever having any kids. Not that Danica would have agreed to
  never have any, but she would have agreed to give him time. It would hurt to find out he didn&quot;t want this baby, but that could very well be the case and she knew she had to prepare herself for that &ndash; mostly so that she could refrain from clawing his eyes out. It was amazing just how protective she was of this unborn life already.
  She wasn&quot;t sure how long she had sat there planning what she would say and panicking as the right words wouldn&quot;t come when she heard Gio call out her name. Shit. &quot;I&quot;ll be out in a sec.&quot; Apparently that wasn&quot;

&quot;Speaking of dirty chat up lines,&quot; drawled Ray as he turned to Danica, wearing that all too familiar wicked grin. When she shook her head, warning him to keep it to himself, he sighed. &quot;I can&quot;t help it. I love your hair, your eyes, and your smile. Hell, I love every bone in your body. Want to add one more?&quot; As usual, Gio hit him.
  &quot;Don&quot;t worry about James, Danica.&quot; Donny patted her stomach gently.
  &quot;I&quot;ll teach the little guy in there the art of flirting so that he never has to use those lines.&quot;
  &quot;I&quot;ll teach him how to throw a ball,&quot; declared Duda. &quot;And how to drive.&quot;
  &quot;That&quot;s nice and all,&quot; said Hudson, &quot;but you know I&quot;m going to be his favorite uncle, right?&quot;
  &quot;Um, hello,&quot; said Danica. &quot;The baby could be a &lsquo;her&quot;, you know.&quot; They all gave her sympathetic looks as if they pitied her for even thinking something they perceived to be dumb. S

CHAPTER 68