Текст книги "Taking Chances"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

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Текущая страница: 23 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

Intertwining our fingers, he brought my hand up to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss against it before kissing the inside of my wrist and rubbing a thumb across my newest tattoo. Brandon and I got “his and hers” tattoos, on my left wrist read “i love him”, and on his right read “i love her”. Cheesy? Definitely. But we love them.  We’d gone to Chase’s old workplace, and although I had been nervous to see them, we were welcomed with a lot of hugs from everyone, Trish no longer worked there. Jeff hadn’t been able to stop hugging me, and Brian’s eyes had actually started misting when he pulled back from a hug that rivaled Jeff’s. We showed them pictures of Liam, and they loved his name just as much as our family had. We promised to have them over one night so they could meet him, and Brian had joked that he and Marissa would steal him. They already knew Brandon from parties and when he’d gone there to get some of his work done, and I was surprised when the guys had seemed genuinely happy we had gotten married. I learned guys gossip just as bad as girls do when they told me they’d known all about the drama involving Chase, Brandon and myself; even from way back when Brandon and I first started dating.

“These have been an amazing three days.” I sighed happily. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank you for marrying me.”

I nuzzled into his chest and smiled when his arm tightened around me, “I feel like everything is perfect now. Is that corny?”

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head, “Nope, because I feel the same way. Is it…is it bad that I’m really anxious to get back to Liam?”

“Oh my word me too. A big part of me can’t imagine leaving this bed, but I’m aching to see our baby.”

“Well then, let’s go get him.”

I crawled off the bed and goose bumps covered my body when I saw his eyes heat watching me walk around without any clothes on. I knew what he was thinking, because it couldn’t be any different from what I thought when he did the same. Leaning back over him, I pressed my bare chest firmly to his and whispered suggestively in his ear, “I think I could use a shower first, care to join?” I raised an eyebrow at him before turning toward the bathroom, with my husband right behind me.

19

“You wanna go see Daddy?” I crooned at Liam as he smiled widely at me and whispered Dada. “Come on big boy.” I groaned as I lifted him off the bed and onto my hip. “Oh my word, he is such a chunk!”

Bree laughed and rained kisses over his head, “Don’t listen to your mom, you’re the cutest baby ever, rolls and all.”

“Of course he is,” I scrunched my nose at him and play-gnawed on his fingers when he continued to press them to my lips, rewarding me with a belly laugh from Liam, “just because you have built in bracelets and anklets doesn’t mean you aren’t ridiculously adorable!”

“I got the bags, do you need anything else before we go?” Bree asked as she walked toward the front door.

“Nope! Let’s go see them.” We loaded Liam into his car seat and headed over to Brandon’s gym.

Two months after our wedding, the gym that Brandon had continued his training at when he moved to San Diego, which led to his underground fighting, started going under since the owners went bankrupt. Brandon had been getting restless trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life since he had stopped fighting. Not that we had to worry about money, but he felt like he wasn’t doing his job as a husband and father by not bringing in more money. When he’d heard about McGowan’s Gym going under, he’d rushed home and asked what I thought about it. He wouldn’t put himself in danger of getting another hit like the one from Demon, but he missed fighting so much he thought owning the gym would be perfect. I couldn’t have agreed more and the gym was his within the next month. Brandon was still on good terms with Scarecrow, since he was providing more fighters that he and Konrad helped train, and in the five months since he’d bought out the gym, they’ve more than doubled the amount of members and McGowan's had never been doing this well.

Bree and Konrad were engaged, were getting ready to move into a townhouse in the same complex where we lived and had recently started their Junior year at SDSU. They were getting married at the beginning of November and I couldn’t be more excited for them. It always made me laugh thinking about how they’d both been when we’d started college. Konrad had been much the same as Bree and Chase, and wasn’t looking for any type of relationship outside of a bed. But from the moment they first hung out, it was over for both of them. I could see that even if Bree kept him waiting on actually being his girlfriend. And now? Two years later and they were anxiously counting down the days until their wedding. Konrad worked for Brandon at McGowan’s, and Brandon paid him extremely well. We both knew Breanna would never work, unless she could shop for a living, she didn’t want to do anything that would take too much of her time, so Brandon made sure they were always taken care of. Just another one of the million reasons I loved him.

“Hey babe!” He called from the wall of punching bags. After a quick word and instruction to the guy punching and kicking it, he jogged over to us and grabbed Liam out of my arms, swinging him up above his head and pulling him back down for a loud kiss. Liam squealed and chuckled. “How’s my little man doing today?” Liam was still giggling as Brandon wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in for a long, slow kiss.

My body instantly warmed and it took Bree’s high-pitched laugh to bring me back to the gym.

“And how’s my wife?” His husky voice made my insides tighten and wish for our bed.

“I’m great.” I smiled softly, my cheeks flushed. “How’s it going today?”

Brandon’s hazel eyes hardened for a quick moment, and lost all expression as he forced a smile, “Pretty good, we got a group of guys that came in and signed up for memberships together.”

I frowned at his expression, “How many?”

“Eleven.”

“Eleven? That’s great Brandon! Why do you not seem happy about that?” There were days at a time that no new members came at all, eleven in one morning was unheard of.

“I am happy, so what brings you here?” He kissed my forehead and blew a raspberry on Liam’s belly, Liam slapped down on Brandon’s head and dissolved into a fit of giggles. We definitely had a happy baby.

“Well Bree and I have to go do some wedding stuff, but we were wondering if there’s any way we could talk you guys into lunch?”

His rugged face softened and his hand dropped to my hip, giving it a small squeeze, “I can’t leave Harper, Aaron called in this morning, so it’s just me and Konrad until a little later. He can go with you though.”

“I can go pick up some sandwiches from down the street and bring them back?” Bree volunteered.

Brandon’s gaze flickered to something behind us, then to Konrad, and his face tightened again, “I’ll go grab my card, Harper can you come wi–”

“Blaze.”

The familiar voice had my body tensing and Brandon exhaled a curse. Turning slowly, I kept my eyes on Brandon’s piercing hazel ones until I knew I needed to look ahead. Carter. My heart clenched and tears pricked my eyes. Why was I crying? Oh wait, that’s right.

“Oh Blaze, no. Don’t cry.” He stepped forward and brought his hands up, probably to wipe the tears, but I slapped his hands away.

“Don’t touch me.”

A flash of hurt crossed his face before it slipped into his signature stone face. “Can we talk?”

“Why are you here Jason?”

“He’s one of the eleven from this morning.” Brandon’s deep voice made its way through my body and helped calm me.

I leaned my back against Brandon’s stomach, and he wrapped the arm that wasn’t holding Liam around me again. “Why? Why would you drive all the way over here to come to this gym? I know for a fact you have all this on the base.”

“I’ve been out for a month Blaze, my time there ended and I decided not to re-up.”

“Then why are you still here?” I knew I was being rude, but seeing him again brought back the ache from losing his friendship, and the reason why it was lost.

“A good chunk of us were all getting out within a few months of each other. We’re renting out a few houses in San Diego.”

“What about your wife?”

He snorted and shook his head, “She drained my bank account when I was in Afghanistan, when I got back she was gone and there were papers for me to sign for the divorce on the table.”

“I could have told you something like that would’ve happened. You really thought you could marry a base whore and she’d stay with you?”

“Harper.” Brandon warned.

I looked up at his face and felt like a scolded child, “I’m sorry Cart– Jason, that was rude. And I’m sorry that’s what you had to come back to, she didn’t deserve you anyway.”

Brandon flexed his grip on my hip to let me know that was better. He couldn’t stand Jason Carter for obvious reasons, but of course he was still as polite as could be to him, just as he’d been with Chase.

“Carter,” I sighed when a grin crossed his face from me using his last name, “why are you here though?” I made a loose circle with my finger, indicating the gym. There were tons of fighting gyms around San Diego, it was too much of a coincidence for him to choose this one.

“I uh – one of the guys that got out before us was already a member here before I moved, he told me the owner’s name and I figured I could come here and talk to Brandon, see if he knew how you were. I didn’t know if you guys were still together, or if you even spoke anymore. But you’re my best friend Blaze, I needed to see you and this was my best shot. I was waiting for him to be done training that guy,” he nodded his head toward the wall of punching bags, “and then you were here.”

“That right there, what you just said, is a perfect example of how little of friends we actually are. We haven’t spoken in over a year and a half, and even though you kind of lost the right to know anything about my life, if we were friends at all, you would have known that if you found Brandon, I wouldn’t be far behind. You don’t know anything about me anymore, and I don’t know anything about you. So much has happened in the last year and a half with me, and you’re clueless to all of it. That’s saying something.”

Carter glanced down to Brandon’s hand on my hip and sighed, “Well it’s obvious you are still together. And you’re right, I don’t know anything about your life now. But that doesn’t change anything, you’ll always be my best friend.” He said softly.

Liam started getting fussy, so I turned and took him from Brandon. When I turned back around, Carter’s eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped. He hadn’t even realized Liam was there until then.

“You have a baby?”

The corners of my mouth curved up slightly, “Yes, and Brandon and I are married.”

He looked at me quickly, then to Brandon and Liam and back to me. “Holy shit.”

I rolled my eyes at him and hitched Liam higher up on my hip, “It was nice to see you Carter, but I have to go feed him.” Bree handed me the diaper bag and I turned to go to Brandon’s office.

“Blaze wait, can we talk sometime? I – I’ve missed you. We need to catch up. I know you’re mad at me for what I did, but I hate not having you in my life somehow.”

“Is your number still the same?”

“Yes.” There was so much hope in that one word it was almost sad, but at the same time, I understood. If he had never crossed the line at that party, I would have craved our friendship too.

“I’ll think about it Carter, and I’ll let you know.” Without another glance in his direction, I grabbed Brandon’s hand and walked to his office.

“Are you okay Harper?” Brandon asked as soon as his door was shut.

“Yes, I just don’t understand why he’d do this, and after not talking for so long. He could have just tried to call.”

Brandon took Liam and sat down in his chair, sitting Liam on his lap so he was facing me while I got the food out of the bag. “But he knows you would have ignored the call. You’ve got to hand it to him, the guy has balls for coming to my gym to ask about you.”

I laughed and kissed his cheek before pulling up another chair in front of them. “So I’m guessing that’s why you looked pissed off when I came in?”

“Yeah, I knew he was still in there, but I didn’t know where and I didn’t want him to see you. I’m sorry, I know that’s immature, but he’s not my favorite person in the world.”

“Babe, I’m surprised you let him even become a member. I would have escorted him out as soon as I’d seen him.” I smiled at Liam as he took another bite of baby food.

“The thought crossed my mind.” He laughed softly, “Are you going to talk to him?”

I leaned back into the chair as I got another scoop of pureed carrots, “I don’t know. If that night at the party wouldn’t have happened, I would in a heartbeat. But he changed things, I don’t think we can go back to being friends you know?” I shook my head, “God I still feel so stupid for not seeing it sooner.”

He smirked at me, “You were the only person who didn’t get it. Even with Bree constantly saying something to you, you were so sure she was wrong.”

“He was my best friend! He treated me like every other guy in Sir’s unit.”

“Oh okay,” he scoffed, “‘my Blaze, my girl, I couldn’t just let you go to California without me’.”

“Brandon Taylor…were you jealous of Carter?”

“Me? Jealous? Of my girl running away from me to throw herself in some random guy’s arms? Not even close.”

“Hmm,” I fed Liam another scoop of nastiness, “I seem to remember yelling at him and telling him to leave before running into your arms and kissing you.”

He smiled wide, “I don’t remember that at all, you may need to remind me how that went.”

His eyes had a wicked gleam in them as I leaned over Liam and stopped less than an inch away from his lips, “Brandon.” I whispered low and sultry.

“Yeah?” He moved closer and I backed up a fraction of an inch.

I smiled when he growled and lightly brushed my mouth over his lips before sitting down, “Well if you don’t remember it, I guess it never happened.” I said cheerfully and went back to feeding our son.

“Tease.”

“Oh yes, that’s me…the tease.” I winked and sat up for a chaste kiss.

“And to answer your question,” he began after a few silent minutes, “I was never jealous of Carter. I knew if you were that clueless about his feelings that you didn’t share them.”

My stomach dropped knowing what he must be thinking about. I’d never shared Carter’s feelings, but he’d known all along that there was something between me and Chase. I remembered listening to him telling Liam the morning of our wedding that Brandon knew it was a matter of when, not if. I took a deep breath in, held it for three seconds and then exhaled slowly.

“If you want your friend back Harper, I would never stop you. But if he tries anything again, I won’t stop myself from hitting him this time.”

“Thanks babe, but I’m really not sure if I even want him back in my life. You saw how he was after those few weeks of hanging out, and all those drunken voicemails he left me of the women he was with and stuff like that. That wasn’t my friend, he completely changed when he got to California, and I don’t know if that was a temporary thing or if that’s who he really is now.”

“Well I guess you won’t know if you don’t talk to him.” Brandon offered.

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

He gently grabbed my chin and tilted it up, “I want you to do whatever you want to, I just didn’t want you to think that I would be mad if you were friends again, and I know you miss the way you guys were before you moved.”

I nodded, “Well I can see if he’s still here? We can all talk?”

“If you want me there when you talk, that’s fine.”

“Brandon,” I sighed and took off Liam’s bib, “you’re my husband, of course I want you there. If he has a problem with that, then that tells me all I need to know.”

A flash of relief crossed his face and he smiled warmly at me, “Well then, we’ll be right back.” He stood up and kept Liam facing forward as he strode out the door with him.

I put everything away in the diaper bag, texted Bree back what sandwiches we wanted and sat in my chair just as the guys came back in.

Carter looked at me, then back to Brandon, “Uh, what’s going on?”

“You said you wanted to talk,” I gestured toward another chair, “so let’s talk.”

“I kind of hoped we could talk alone?”

“Anything you say to me, I will tell him, so you might as well just say it in front of both of us.”

He looked uncomfortable, but sat down and wiped the sweat off his face with the bottom of his shirt, “I don’t, um, really know where to start.”

Well I do, “What happened to you? The Carter I knew didn’t go to strip clubs and screw a bunch of girls, he didn’t go and get wasted all the time, and he certainly didn’t marry a base tramp that he had just met.” I turned to look at Brandon, “I’m sorry, but there’s really no other way to describe them.” Looking back at Carter, I continued, “You were the first guy to make fun of those kinds of girls, and then you married one? Even without that though, you turned into such a douche Carter.”

“I know, trust me I know. It wasn’t the best few months of my life.”

“And yet you continued to keep doing all of that, and for whatever reason you felt the need to always tell me what you were doing. I just don’t understand.”

He opened his mouth, eyed Brandon warily and quickly shut it again.

“Just say it.”

“It’s just,” He exhaled loudly and sunk further into his chair, “I had to pull a lot of strings to move here with you, you have no idea how hard it was to do that. I get here, and you’re with someone and my hopes of being with you were completely thrown out the window. I mean, I obviously was wrong, but I’d always thought you knew how I felt about you and thought you felt the same. So you can imagine how pissed off I was when I found out how wrong I was.”

“We were just friends though, I don’t know how many times you and I both said that.”

“No, to you we were just friends. Yes, you were my best friend, but that wasn’t it for me. You don’t realize how much time I spent with your dad talking about you. He knew exactly how I felt, he knew why I wanted to follow you to California, he was the one who helped get my transfer pushed through.”

“Sir did?” I deadpanned, “The same guy who wouldn’t let me wear women’s clothes?”

“Yep.”

“I thought you said he wouldn’t let you date Harper when you were in his unit, so why would he help you follow her here?” Brandon asked calmly.

“Uh yeah he did, but he was also the one to suggest the transfer.”

“What?” Who was this guy Carter was talking about, and what did he do with my dad?

“I know, shocked me too. I’d already been thinking of a way to move out here when he called me into his office that Monday after you got your acceptance letter. He said something like, ‘You know, Harper’s leaving for California soon, she’ll be near Pendleton. If you were there, you wouldn’t be in my unit anymore.’ And then he gave me that look, you know the one where he expects you to know what he’s thinking? Then he said he’d start the paperwork if I was serious about being with you, and that was that.”

“That just seems…” I trailed off not knowing what word to use.

“So unlike Sir?”

“Yeah.”

“Shocked me too when it happened. So maybe you can understand why I was so miserable, and I guess I wanted you to know how miserable I was. I know how stupid that was, but I just couldn’t stop. And Ashley, well, that was a mistake.”

I shook my head slightly, “I still can’t believe you did that, what were you thinking? Did you not learn how bad of an idea that was from any of the other guys in the unit? Like Ramos? You were there when he found out about his girl! You could have your pick of girls that would love you and would be faithful to you while you’re deployed, instead you went for one of those skanks? They sit around waiting in the parking lots on base for a guy to come hit on them, when their guys go off on a deployment, you know they’re waiting on base the very next weekend for another guy.”

“I know Blaze,” He snapped, “you think I don’t fucking know that?!”

“I would strongly suggest you don’t talk to my wife that way.” Brandon said through clenched teeth.

Carter took a deep breath in to try to calm himself, “Sorry,” he said to both of us, “Harper I know it was stupid, I knew what would most likely happen when I left, but she looked like you and I couldn’t help myself.”

Oh that’s creepy.

Brandon’s face hardened even more and he quickly turned his attention to our son. Thank God he was holding him. From the way the muscles in his arms were flexing, I knew Brandon was itching to hit something and Liam was the perfect thing to calm him down. I flashed a small smile at them before looking back at Carter.

“And now? After all that, what have you been doing this last year since you got back from Afghanistan? You still drinking all the time?”

“No, other than a beer or two with the guys every now and then, I don’t do much of anything. I knew if I wanted any chance of getting you, I had to stop what I was doing. And then of course, I find you again, and you’re married and have a baby.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and dropping his head in his hands, “I can’t believe you have a freakin’ baby.” He whispered.

“I am sorry that you spent all this time, and moved to California, thinking that we would be together. I don’t want to hurt you, but Carter I never saw you as anything more than my friend, and I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear enough back in North Carolina. But I’m not going to be sorry for being with Brandon and having Liam, I can honestly tell you I’ve never been happier than I am now.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to understand that. Congratulations, by the way.” He said grimly, “How old is he anyway?”

“He’ll be a year in two weeks.” Brandon smiled down at him and bounced him up and down on his knee.

“Wow.” Carter looked at him for a long time before looking back at me, “Really cute kid.”

“We think so.” I beamed. It got silent for a few awkward moments so I looked back at my old friend and sighed, “Well Carter, I don’t know what you think about anything now that we’ve talked, but if you think we could go back to being friends, or I guess…what I thought was friends anyway, then I want that. But if that’s not enough for you, then this is the last time I’m going to see you.”

He furrowed his brow and leaned away slightly, “Blaze, I can’t – I hate not having you there. I get that we’re never going to happen. I know it took me probably too long for your liking to understand that, but I know now. I still want you around, or for me to be around I guess. Brandon, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want that though. I know I acted pretty shitty before, but I would never try anything now that you’re married. I’m not that much of a douche.”

Bree and Konrad walked in with wide eyes when they saw Carter with us. “Uh, we have the food?” Bree said it like a question and mouthed What the hell? from behind Carter’s back

I shook my head at her and looked back at Brandon as he spoke again, “If you want, we’re having some friends over for a barbecue next Saturday, you and your friends are more than welcome. Harper can text you our address.”

My eyes widened.

Um, what?

Carter took that as his cue to leave and stood from the chair, “That’d be great, thanks man.” He shook Brandon’s hand and brushed his knuckles against Liam’s arm. “Thanks for this Blaze.” He hugged me tightly for a second and backed away, probably trying not to push his luck further. “Guess I’ll see you next weekend?”

“Yeah, see you then.”

With another awkward glance at everyone in the room, and a nod in the direction of Konrad, he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

“Um, what just happened?” Bree asked as she handed out the sandwiches.

“We talked it out.” I put my sandwich on the desk and grabbed Liam so Brandon could eat, “Brandon, why’d you invite them over? You really didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged and took a big bite, speaking around his food, “People mess up and make mistakes all the time. Everyone deserves a second chance, right?”

It felt like someone punched me in the stomach. How was I any better than Carter? I’d slept with my boyfriend’s friend and gotten pregnant. I’m practically the queen of getting second chances, especially from Brandon.

“Hey,” he leaned over to whisper in my ear, “I didn’t mean anything by that. I love you.”

I nodded, “Love you too.” I smiled when he pressed his full lips to my neck.

“So you guys are just back to being okay again?” Bree started searching for an explanation.

“Not at all, we’re going to try though. He said he’d stop pursuing me or whatever now that he knows Brandon and I are married. So maybe eventually we will. I guess we’ll see how everything goes next weekend.”

“That’s weird, do you not re–”

“So what wedding stuff are you girls doing today?” Konrad cut her off with a wink in my direction.

Bree’s face lit up and she went into a detailed checklist of all we were going to get done. Or rather, what we’d already gotten done.

“Harper, if you don’t want him to come over, he doesn’t have to. I was just trying to help.” Brandon said softly so we wouldn’t interrupt Bree.

“No, I think it’ll be good. Like I said, we’ll see how it goes. If it doesn’t seem like he’s changed at all, then we don’t have to see him again.”

“Right. And if he pisses me off again, I now have his address from the membership card.” He smiled wickedly, “What time will you be home today?”

I caught Bree smiling at me from the corner of my eye, “I’m not sure, late this afternoon, you’ll probably make it home before I do, do you need me to pick something up or do something for you?”

“My mom offered to watch Liam for the night, she said she has enough things at her place that you wouldn’t need to get a bag for him. You can drop him off on your way home.”

“Hmm…date night? We haven’t had one of those in a few weeks.”

He leaned in close enough that his lips brushed against my ear, causing goose bumps to cover my body, “And it’s long overdue.”

Oh I definitely agree. “Well then, I’ll get home as soon as I can.”

“That’s my girl.” He picked Liam up and handed me my sandwich.

Bree and I winked at each other, oh if Brandon only knew. Carrie, Bree and I had already planned out this day, including the date night. Only Bree knew what was really going on, but Carrie had been the one to suggest acting like it was her idea. The only reason Carrie had enough things at her house was because we had Liam’s bag already packed and ready for the night. We finished our food, and hung out with the guys for another few minutes before finally taking off. I’m not sure who was more anxious to leave, me or Breanna. But thankfully the guys picked up on our bouncing legs and shifting eyes towards the clock and practically pushed us out of the gym after hugs, kisses and a couple quick introductions to some of the regulars.

***

“Harper, are you already home?”

My stomach erupted into a million butterflies when I heard his husky voice down the hall. I couldn’t believe I was so nervous right now. Well not nervous, just really giddy. Okay, maybe a little nervous. I checked my outfit, or lack thereof, to make sure I looked okay. I was wearing black lace underwear and a blue silk spaghetti strap that I knew he loved. Fluffing my long hair that I’d loosely curled the bottoms of, I stood up straight at the end of the bed and waited. My palms started sweating and I was biting the crap out of my bottom lip when he walked in the bedroom door.

“God you’re gorgeous.” He took two large steps toward me and picked me up in his arms, since me standing on my tiptoes wasn’t enough for him. “I didn’t think you’d be here yet.” He nuzzled against my neck.

“I could always leave and come back later…?”

“Hell. No. I’ve been thinking about tonight all day, I’m not putting it off any longer than it takes for me to shower.”

I smiled, this was exactly what I’d been planning on. “Well then hurry up,” I pressed my body closer to his, “like you said earlier, this is long overdue.”

He trailed his fingers lightly over my chest and down my waist before setting me down, “Three minutes.” Capturing my bottom lip with his teeth, he tugged softly, then ran his tongue over it as he pushed me down onto the bed and headed for the bathroom.

I scooted up the bed until I was sitting against the headboard, legs crossed Indian style, and tried not to bounce up and down while I waited. Every second that passed felt like an hour and I held my breath, trying to listen to what he was doing. The water turned on and my heart sunk. Had he not noticed? I put it right next to the basket of towels, and he always grabbed a towel to bring it closer to the shower before he got in. I wrung my hands together and forced my bottom lip out from my teeth, which in turn made me start biting on the inside of my cheek. A few minutes passed, and then he was there, a towel wrapped around his hips, water still falling down his toned body, with wide eyes, a dropped jaw and clutching something in his hand.

“Harper, what is this?”

I shakily forced a smile onto my face. I didn’t know how he would react, and unfortunately, I couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking right now.

“Is this – Is this?” He ran a hand over his buzzed head and huffed a short laugh, “Is this what I think it is? Are you – sweetheart are we having a baby?”

I nodded and he practically flew at me with the biggest smile on his face. Capturing my face in his hands, he kissed me over and over, laughing in between each one.

“When did you find out?” He asked breathlessly and kissed me again.

I scrunched my nose and looked at him warily, “Two weeks ago?”

Thankfully he couldn’t stop smiling, I had been worried he would be upset about that part, “And you’re just now telling me?” He growled playfully and buried his face in my neck.

My breathing was getting ragged and I had to force myself to answer him, “Well I had my first appointment today, and I wanted to wait until I had that to tell you.”

“Wait, today?” He sat back to look at me, “I thought you and Bree were doing wedding stuff.”