Текст книги "Stealing Harper"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

“Wasn’t my place to tell you, Chase, it’s your baby. Harper needed to be the one to tell you.”

“No, not that.” I shook my head and took a deep breath, “I—I hated that you had her. I hated that I’d pushed her away in the beginning and told you she was available. And I just acted like a dick to you because of it. I started fights with you just because I wanted a chance to hit you. And you knew . . . for what? Two months? And you never did anything?”

“Three months.”

“What?”

He turned to look at me, his eyes glassy. “I knew for three months. As soon as I came back from Arizona, I knew. You couldn’t go more than a day without trying to start shit, and I come back and you won’t even say a word to me and look like you’re dead . . . and she couldn’t stop looking at that ring you gave her. I didn’t know she was pregnant yet, but I knew I’d already lost her.”

My gut churned with guilt. “And you did nothing?”

“What, Chase? What could I have done to make things different than how they were? She was in love with you, too. You’d already slept with her. She was already pregnant! I couldn’t fucking change anything. I couldn’t change the way she felt for you! So what’s the point of beating the shit out of you when it would change nothing?”

I watched as the tears rolled down his face, and, for the first time since all of this started, I felt sick. All I’d wanted was her, and I never considered how that would hurt my brother. All I cared about was how I felt like I was dying without her. “I’m sorry.”

“You were like a brother to me.” Before I could respond, he turned to glare at me again. “But I’m sure you can understand why I’m saying we’re done.”

Trying to swallow past the lump in my throat, I nodded and took a step back when he turned his Jeep on.

“Chase.” He cleared his throat and shook his head once. “That girl means everything to me. Which means her baby does, too. I will never do to you what you did to Harper and me. But know this. If you do not take care of them, and cherish them . . . I will not hesitate again to beat the living shit out of you. You get me?”

“I got you. I love them, I’ll always take care of them.”

With a hard nod, he threw his Jeep into drive and took off.

Chapter Twelve

“YOU GOT EVERYTHING ready for today?” Brad asked as he jumped up onto the counter and brought Sarah between his legs.

“Pretty sure.” I took the last bite of my apple and threw the core into the trash. “Called the dealership, called the B&B . . . everything should be good to go.”

“Harper’s gonna love today, Chase.” Sarah said with a wide smile on her face. “So sweet of you to do all this for her. But she’s going to think you’re gonna propose with how the day is set up!”

I grinned. “I already know when I’m going to propose, and it’s not today.”

“When?” Her eyes brightened, and she bounced up on her toes a few times.

“You’ll see.” I shrugged and caught the bottle of water she threw at me. “I’m not telling anyone, it’s a surprise.”

“Whatever. So you’re going to find out if it’s a boy or a girl today?”

“Guess so, she’s due October 4, so she’s sixteen weeks today, and her doctor said we should be able to . . . but I already know—” I broke off, and the massive grin I’d been sporting fell as Brandon walked into the kitchen.

“It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on,” he said without looking at anyone as he grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and two bottles of water. “You don’t have to stop talking because of me.”

Brad’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two of us, and Sarah was covering her mouth while she slowly shook her head, her eyes full of pity as she watched Brandon.

After he’d grabbed a couple of protein bars and put everything in his bag, he finally looked back at us, his gaze resting on me. “Or maybe you do.” Without another word, he left the kitchen, and Brad hung his head.

I pushed away from the counter and followed after him. “Brother—”

“I thought we’d already decided we weren’t that, either.”

Grabbing his shoulder, I stopped him before he could reach the door. “Look, I’m sorry! I’m sorry I did this to you.”

He turned to look at me, his brow raised high. “You’re sorry. So, what . . . we go back to being cool again?”

“I don’t know, man. But we can’t do this.”

“And why can’t we? You couldn’t stand to let me have one normal day with her. Have I done anything to you since she and I broke up?” He paused, but I didn’t respond. “No. I haven’t. You dealt with it by being an ass, so let me deal with this my way. And my way doesn’t include acting like you didn’t steal my girl from me.”

“I didn’t steal Harper!”

He opened the door and took a step outside, his shaking hand gripping the outer knob. When he looked back at me, his eyes were flat and lifeless. “You stole my entire world.”

“Chase”—I turned to see Brad leaning against the wall—“you need to give him space. He’s right, you were the biggest dick to him while he was dating her. Now that you have her, you can’t act like the two of you can just go back to being the way you were. He needs time to get over what you guys did to him. You know he told Derek he planned to marry her?”

“No”—my eyes narrowed—“what’s your point, Brad?”

“His best friend and the girl he wanted to marry, stabbed him in the back. He has every right to try to ruin this for you, or at the very least to beat you into next week. And he’s stepped back . . . so let him step back. What you’re doing is just twisting the knife.”

I nodded and sighed heavily. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. Well, you’re about to find out if your son is actually going to be a son. And you planned a weekend I know Sarah is seriously jealous of.” I snorted, and he clapped my shoulder. “So cheer the fuck up. Because if Harper sees there’s something wrong, she’s going to want to know what it is. And you can’t tell her about this shit; she hates herself enough as it is.”

“I know.” No need to remind me that the woman carrying my child still loved someone else.

It didn’t take much for my mood to change again. Seeing Harper and being able to pull her into my arms always made everything right again. And knowing I was about to see our baby for the first time had everything else just slipping away. I met her doctor and talked with her about everything I’d missed so far and what to be expecting, and about took off running for the ultrasound room when it was time for that part of the appointment. Princess had just laughed and gripped my hand to keep me by her side, and I’d continued to cling to her when the doctor turned off the lights, and the ultrasound started.

And all I could think was holy shit.

The air had left my body in a rush when our baby appeared on the screen and a lump formed in my throat. My mouth opened, but nothing came out, and when the heartbeat filled the room, it took everything in me to not break down right there. This baby is ours. I turned to look at Harper and saw her eyes glistening through the dark in the room as we listened to our baby’s racing heart.

“I can’t even believe how perfect a position your baby is in right now! That is unreal.” The doctor laughed. “Now, did you want to find out the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”

“I already know.” My princess glanced back at the screen and smiled softly when I squeezed her hand and laughed.

“I told you, baby,” I whispered. “I told you it would be a boy.”

We both looked at Dr. Lowdry. “It is a boy, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he is definitely a boy.” She laughed again, and I watched as our baby boy moved around on the screen.

I looked back over at my beautiful girl and kissed her softly, keeping my lips brushing against hers as I told her, “I love you and our son so much, Harper.”

When I pulled back, I saw that her eyes were glistening, and a few tears had fallen down her face. Using my thumbs, I brushed the trail of wetness off her cheeks and was rewarded with a heart-stopping smile.

After the doctor handed us the ultrasound pictures, I continued to stare at our son as Harper and I left the building. I’d known for months that I was in love with the girl walking next to me, and I’d known that I would give anything to make her mine, forever. But I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with her all over again, or to have this instant love for our baby.

When we got to my truck, I grabbed around her waist and hauled her back to me, my mouth crashing down on hers. Harper laughed softly, and her arms went around my neck as I walked her slowly backwards ’til she was against my truck. Our kiss was slow and heated as I tried to show her how happy she was making me.

I broke the kiss on a huff and looked into her smiling gray eyes, “That was . . . that was absolutely amazing!” I laughed and kissed her hard once more.

Her hands found their way into my hair as she pulled back. “Having you there made it so special, all I could think about the last two times was how I wished you were there to experience it with me.” Harper’s eyes filled with pain when she whispered, “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.”

“No sorrys today. I love you, and we’re having a son.” Holy shit, we’re really having a son. I smiled and pushed some hair away from her face. “Today is only allowed to be an I love you day.” When she nodded, I opened the door and helped her into the truck before running around to the driver’s side and getting in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as my Princess looked over the pictures with a wide smile. I only hoped the rest of today kept her smiling just as big.

We stopped for Mexican food, but thank God Harper was too distracted by the appointment to notice I could barely touch my lunch. My palms were sweating, and I was praying that the rest of the day wasn’t too much too soon for her. I hadn’t been lying to Sarah and Brad. I already had an idea in mind for a proposal to the only girl in the world that would ever matter; and it wasn’t going to happen that day. But everything I had planned for that day could definitely scare her just as bad as a proposal this soon would.

I was so stressed, I couldn’t even hold Harper’s hand as I drove us to the Ford dealership I’d had her dream car sent to. So I kept the music up loud enough that there wouldn’t be much room for talking and kept my right hand on the steering wheel, so I wouldn’t go to grab her hand. There was no way she could miss my shaking if I did.

As soon as I pulled in, Harper’s head stopped moving in time with the music, and she instantly stopped singing, “Uh . . . ?”

I had to clear my throat before I could talk to her as I turned to grin at her. “So I’ve been thinking, you’re going to need your own car soon, and I happen to know that you want a blacked-out Expedition.”

“Chase . . .”

“I may have had one brought to this dealership.”

“No you didn’t.” Her already wide eyes got even bigger, and her jaw dropped as she looked around at all the cars.

“I said I may have. Never said I did.”

She backhanded my arm before opening her door and hopping out of the truck. I blew out one last shaky breath as I rounded the front of my truck and pulled her into my arms. She was chewing on her bottom lip and looking around me before finally meeting my eyes. “Are you being serious?”

I smiled and pressed my lips to her neck. “I am. But we can look around and see if there’s something else you want.”

“Babe! I can’t buy a car.”

Shit, here goes nothing. “Maybe not, but we can.”

“You want to split it?”

A short, hard laugh escaped my lips at her adorably confused expression. “Not exactly. Okay, you can tell me if this is moving too fast, but since I plan on marrying you soon, I wanted to put you on my bank account so you have access to my money.”

“Chase”—her face had fallen, and I felt like I was holding my breath—“I don’t need you to do that, and I don’t need you to buy me a car.”

“I know, Princess, but I want you to have access to it. I make decent money at the shop, but Bree and I were also left a lot when Dad’s parents died. So I have more than enough in savings to take care of the three of us and to buy you a car. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know you want to, and to be honest, it kind of excites me that you want to share all that with me. But I’m saying . . . I really don’t need you to. If we’re going to share your bank account, then we should share mine, too.”

“Harper, that isn’t necessary.” Exhaling in relief, I pulled her into my arms again and thought I’d heard her wrong when she told me how much she had saved up. Uh . . . come again? It wasn’t as much as I still had for us, but I’d inherited the money I had in savings. Almost all bills, except for the house, came from what I made from the shop, so I rarely pulled any money out of savings. She’d made that from working on base? “Are you serious? Just from working on the base?” When she confirmed with one stiff nod, I whistled low. “Well damn, babe. That’s great, and if you want to add it to our accounts, that’s fine. But I’d rather not touch that money; we can save it for emergencies, and just let me take care of you.”

I’d been expecting some sort of argument, or at least hesitancy. But she just shrugged with an, “Okay,” and kissed me softly as she melted into my arms.

“You ready to look for a car?”

“Nope! No need to look. I already know I want the Expedition!”

She jumped out of my arms and grabbed my hand as she started walking off in the direction of the cars in the lot. I laughed and pulled her toward the showroom instead. Harper test-drove the completely blacked-out SUV and fell in love with it, just as I was hoping she would. We went through the process of buying it, and I swear the guy helping us scoffed when I said we would pay for the car right then. Ass. Once we were done with his stubborn ass, we drove separately to the bank and started the much-shorter process of adding Harper to my accounts and putting her savings into what was now our savings account. She was smiling brightly and bouncing along, and I wondered why I’d ever been worried about the day.

My family already knew what I had planned for it, but you could see the relief in Mom’s and Dad’s eyes as Harper excitedly showed them her new car and told them all about joining our bank accounts. When we were sitting at the table for dinner, we told everyone we were having a boy, and Mom had immediately ran to the kitchen to get the baby-name book, and we started through it right then. We must have highlighted three dozen different names before shutting the book for the night, and I watched as Harper lovingly ran her hands over her small stomach and talked to our “Gummy Bear,” as she’d come to call him. God, I was so in love with her.

After dinner, I packed my bag and threw it in my truck before giving Brian a call at the shop.

“Hey, man! Shit, took you long enough to call, Riss is freaking out texting me every ten minutes wanting to know how everything went.”

I snorted a laugh. “Tell her to calm her ass down. Everything went great, we’re—” inhaling deeply, I shook my head at the ridiculous smile I had on my face—“we’re having a boy.”

“Yeah?” He laughed loudly and shouted the news to whoever was in the shop before coming back. “Hate to break it to ya, Chase. But I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided you’re seriously confused and just think that this is your baby.”

My heart stopped, and my smile quickly fell. “The fu—”

“I mean,” he cut me off with a snort, “everyone knows it’s my baby. You’re just in denial.”

As soon as his words registered, I laughed out loud. “Seriously, I was about to go kick someone’s ass.”

“Just sayin’, I even told Riss. That baby is mine.”

“All right, I’ll let Princess know, too.”

“Damn straight you will! As long as we’re all on the same page, we’ll be good.”

“You’re such a dumb-ass.” I laughed again. “Tell Marissa that the rest of the day went well. Harper’s really happy, and we’re about to leave for the last part of tonight, er, this weekend.”

“You lucky bastard. All right, have fun but make sure my baby mama doesn’t overdo it.”

I shook my head. “See you Monday.”

We hung up, and I jogged back into the house and into the living room, where I wrapped my arms around Princess from behind the couch.

My lips skimmed that sensitive spot behind her ear before I whispered, “Can you do me a favor?”

Her head had rolled to the side, and her arms were covered in goose bumps. “Anything.”

“Go pack a bag for a few nights and meet me down here in ten minutes.” Lightly nipping on her ear, I lowered my voice even further. “You won’t need many clothes.”

Her eyes flew open, and she turned to look at me, an odd expression passing over her face. “Are we going to your house?”

I wanted to ask what had freaked her out so much but decided I might not want to know since Brandon was at my house. Whether it had to do with him or not, I’d been making sure he and Harper didn’t see each other anymore and really didn’t want to discuss him with her. “Nope, but it’s a surprise, so I can’t tell you.”

Her face relaxed, and she rolled her eyes with a light laugh. “You and your surprises. Okay, ten minutes, and I’ll be ready.”

While she was packing, I called Brad and told him about the appointment, the sex of the baby, and made sure everything was all right at the house. By the time I was hanging up, Princess was coming down the stairs with a very small bag, and I couldn’t help but smile. Apparently, she’d taken my words seriously.

Since we’d gotten together, Harper and I hadn’t slept together . . . in any way. We would curl up on her bed in my parents’ house and talk until she fell asleep, and I’d quietly make my way back to my room. I knew my parents didn’t care—after all, she was already pregnant. But even though she’d taken time between breaking up with Brandon and telling me about the baby, I was terrified of pushing her away like I’d done so often during the school year. And she hadn’t asked if I would stay with her, so I’d continued to let her sleep alone.

But this weekend, I had other plans. I know I’d told her not to bring many clothes, but that’d been a joke. All I wanted was to fall asleep with her and wake up the same. If she was still uncomfortable, I’d gladly sleep on the floor if that’s what she needed. But I figured it might be uncomfortable for her either at my house with her ex, or at my parents’ with them there. So I was taking us for a weekend of just us. And hoping I didn’t screw it up.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, and slowly scrambled out of my truck once I was parked, unable to take her eyes off the restored Victorian house in front of us. The sign out front showed it was a bed-and-breakfast. “Chase, I don’t know how you’re ever going to be able to top today. Finding out we’re having a boy, buying me a car, joining our bank accounts, and this?”

“I promise I’ll always try to top this, but I did want today to be perfect.” Kissing her forehead softly, I grabbed our bags and went inside to check us in. As soon as we were in our room, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, waiting until her eyes met and locked with mine. “I know what I said earlier, but don’t think we have to do anything this weekend. All I wanted was to have three nights of just you and me; I don’t expect anything.”

“I know you don’t”—her voice was breathy as she grabbed for the bottom of my shirt and lifted it until I had to take over for her—“but I want this, too, Chase.”

I sucked in air though my teeth when the tips of her fingers ran gently down my bared chest and stomach until they came to rest on the top of my jeans. Her eyes clouded over when she ran her fingers just inside my waistband, only to remove them and reach for the button. I would do anything to have her this way, but I needed to know she wouldn’t regret this later. Grabbing her hands, I stilled them and bent slightly to look at her. “You’re sure, Harper?”

She huffed softly, and her head tilted to the side as she pointed to her rounding stomach. “Um?”

“Just because we’re having a baby doesn’t mean we have to do anything.”

“Chase. I didn’t mean it like that. But yes, I am sure. Now stop trying to stop me and let me love you.”

Shaking my head, I let out a short laugh and rested my forehead against hers before straightening and letting go of her hands. Her fingers and knuckles brushed against my growing erection as she undid each button and slid my jeans down before doing the same with my boxer briefs. I swear I groaned at one point. How was something as simple as her taking my pants off already having me breathing roughly? As soon as I kicked my pants away, I was grabbing for her shirt and giving her the same torture she’d just given to me. My knuckles skimmed across her small baby bump, and when the tips of my fingers caressed up the side of her breasts, I was rewarded with hearing her breath catch and her body instantly become covered in goose bumps. It took everything in me not to touch her where my body was craving, but I was happy to see I wasn’t the only one struggling with keeping still as I pulled her shorts and underwear off her body. Her hands were clenched into fists, and if I hadn’t looked up to see her gray eyes turn to liquid silver and her teeth sink into her soft bottom lip, I would have been afraid I’d been rushing things again.

Stepping away from her, I shamelessly ran my eyes over her beautiful body, and once again my chest filled with love when they caught sight of my work on her hip, and her little Gummy Bear bump. She finished her visual exploration of me seconds after I’d finished mine of her, and I bent down to press my lips to her growing belly and tattoo before standing to take her lips in mine. She moaned, and her hands came up to my neck as she deepened our kiss. Lifting her gently, I carried her over to the bed and deposited her in the middle before crawling on top of her.

Minutes that felt like hours—and still not nearly long enough—were spent touching every inch of each other with hot kisses and memorizing hands. As I made a trail of openmouthed kisses up her body, she grabbed my cheeks and begged me not to make her wait any longer. She grabbed my length and guided it to where she wanted it most, whimpering softly when I pushed inside her. Her eyes had fluttered shut momentarily, and opened on a gasp when I slid out and back in. I made love to her slowly, letting my lips graze hers softly before making their way back down to worship her neck and breasts, and when her head dropped back, and her body tightened as she came, I rolled us over so she was on top and lowered her body to kiss her again as she continued to move on me. Her breathing picked up again, and she intertwined our fingers, holding our hands down firmly on the bed as she sat up slightly and rolled her hips against mine over and over. I gritted my teeth and removed one of my hands from hers to grip her hip and help in her movement as she cried out her next orgasm, and I followed her into it.

“CHASE, WHERE’S MY baby mama?”

I turned to look at Brian and laughed. “Probably out with my mom and sister.”

“Well, get her ass in here! I miss my baby boy.”

“Bri, she was just here a couple days ago.”

He looked at me like I was missing something. “Yeah . . . and?”

“And apparently nothing,” I snorted, and looked back down to the rib cage of the girl I was working on. “You doin’ all right?”

“Uh-huh!” she said tightly, and blew out quickly.

“If you need me to take another break, just let me know.” She’d already taken one, and all I was doing was a name. I could easily have this done in ten minutes, fifteen tops. But not even halfway in she said she was going to pass out, and she needed ten minutes just to calm down. I’d advised her not to get her first tattoo on her ribs, but people will do what they want.

“N-no. I’m—I’m okay.”

Hell no, she wasn’t. I lowered my voice as I continued on, trying to calm her. “We’re almost done. Promise.”

The bells above the door sounded and I glanced up to see a Kat Von D look-alike walk into the shop.

“You lookin’ to get work done?”

“No,” her husky voice said confidently as she walked right up to my station. “I’m Trish, and I start today.”

I nodded but kept working. “Chase, good to meet you. Brian just stepped into the back for a second. He can show you around.” Other than Brian, Jeff, and me, we’d had one other artist, Frankie, but the guy was usually so stoned out of his mind he couldn’t work even if he did show up. Jeff had finally gotten rid of him a few weeks ago, but we’d been struggling with just the three of us, and he’d hired someone new while Harper and I had been in Dana Point. He hadn’t said anything about its being a girl, though.

“Hey, homie!” Brian called out to her as he walked back in. “You bring your stuff with you today?”

“It’s on the way, I left it in my girl’s car, and she had to run an errand. She’ll be here in a minute.”

“All right, well I see you met Chase. Chase, this is the new chick.” No shit. “Let me show you around the shop and get you in your station.”

Thank God I’d pulled the needle away from the girl I was working on, because Trish touched my shoulder, and I jerked away from her hand. “Good to meet you, buddy.”

“Yeah.” Fuck. Hot chick working here? I honestly didn’t care if she was a model; it wouldn’t change the fact that the only person I wanted was Princess. But I knew from our conversations she still didn’t really believe that I’d wanted only her since I met her. And I just hoped this didn’t make her insecurities with our relationship grow.

I finished the small tattoo, covered it, and got her out the door before I went to where Brian and Trish were hanging out. As soon as I sat on Brian’s counter, the door opened again, and Trish smiled wide as she ran over to it. Following her path, I saw a butch-looking girl standing there only to catch Trish as she crashed into her and kissed her hard. I blew out a relieved breath and smiled to myself. She’s gay. Thank. God.

“That’s hot,” Brian said next to me, and I looked at him like he was insane.

“Bri, the other chick looks more like a guy than you do.”

“Don’t be jealous of my hair, bro. You just wish you could pull this off.”

“You look like Troy Polamalu. Trust me when I say I’m not jealous.”

He kicked at my leg and nodded when the girls walked up to us.

“Brian, Chase . . . this is my girlfriend, Erin. Erin, these are some of the guys.”

Erin set a box I’m guessing had Trish’s needle in it on the counter and roughly shook our hands. “You guys take care of my girl for me.”

“Will do.” The door opened again with a girl and a guy walking in holding hands. I stood and began to make my way toward them, turning toward Erin and Trish as I passed. “Good to meet you.”

After I handed a couple books of our work to the newlyweds wanting matching tattoos, Brian came up beside me, and whispered, “Dude, she looks like Kat Von D. Shit, that’s hot.”

“I’m gonna tell Riss you’re hard for our new girl.”

“Dude . . . Riss would think she’s hot, too. She’d appreciate my taste in women.”

I snorted. “Yeah, all right.” Marissa was cool, but Brian had cheated on her right after they got married, and while I can’t imagine why she’d stay with his lying ass after that, she was always getting on Bri whenever he checked out girls. He was terrified of losing her, we all knew that, so I knew he wouldn’t touch another girl again. But he had that look-but-don’t-touch philosophy, and I knew one day it was gonna set Riss off all over again.

We shut up when Erin and Trish walked past us with their arms around each other, and as they got to the door, shared a long kiss good-bye.

“Still hot,” Brian whispered, and I just shook my head.

“BRO.” TRISH LOOKED at me and laughed through her smile. “That’s it! I gotta meet her.”

“I don’t know.” I raised an eyebrow and sucked in air through my teeth. “You might try to take her from me. Lord knows Brian’s already claimed the baby as his.”

“The baby is mine!” he said loudly and caught the wrapped-up burrito Jeff tossed over to him.

We’d just barely opened the shop, and I had clients coming in a little over an hour, but other than that, we were dead. As was common in the early afternoons. Trish had been working for a few days, and after Brian and Jeff had told her about their wives, they’d turned it around to me and Princess and basically told her everything about our relationship up ’til now. And I mean everything. But with how much the other guys loved her, too, Trish was dying to meet the girl who changed me.

“Get my baby mama here!”

Jeff swallowed the bite of taco he’d just taken, before adding, “If Brian gets this baby, can your next baby be mine?”

“So dumb. I don’t know how your wives or Princess put up with you guys.” But I still pulled out my phone and gave her a call, and when she answered, I couldn’t stop the wide smile that crossed my face at hearing her voice, and Trish started razzing me with Brian about it. “Hey, Princess, can you come by the shop?”

“I’m going to dinner with Bree in a little over an hour, but I can swing by really quick. Did you need me to bring you anything?”

“Just yourself. Brian’s mad because you haven’t been around.” I didn’t mention he was currently giving me puppy eyes. I rolled my eyes at him and shoved him away as he tried to take the phone from me. “And we have a new artist, she wants to meet you after hearing all our stories about you.”

She laughed softly and sighed. “I was just there last week! I’m leaving right now; see you in a minute.”

I mouthed to the guys and Trish that she was coming. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, Chase.”

I would never get enough of hearing her say that.

Trish and I were in my station, and I was telling her about how I’d come to give Harper her nickname, when my girl walked in. God she was gorgeous. Her stomach was getting bigger, and I loved it. Ever since the bed-and-breakfast, we spent every night in each other’s arms, and I would always pull her shirt up so I could trace random patterns across her growing belly. To be honest, it was the best part of my day. She’d already be asleep since I worked late most nights, but she’d wake up so we could talk an hour or so about everything and nothing and just enjoy each other without anyone else around.