Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I narrowed my eyes.
Consulting.
When would he…
“Lynn?” I guessed.
Brad winked. “Maybe.”
“I’m going home to my wife,” Phillipe said. “Sorry, folks. But the bayous of Louisiana have my heart. Oh, and my wife. Her, too.”
We all started laughing.
In fact, I was laughing as I led Carolina into the parking garage, too.
That laughter slid off my face, though, when Carolina said, “You’re not mad, are you?”
I didn’t say anything until I opened the truck door for her and she climbed in.
Only when she was buckled did I lean in and press a kiss to her face.
“No, I’m not,” I answered. “I probably should’ve realized that it was going to happen. I mean, we’re both healthy adults. Shit like that happens when you do what we did. We knew, yet we did it anyway.” I paused. “When did you find out?”
She lifted her hand to my face and pulled me in to kiss me.
When she was through, she said, “Last night. I called my doctor the day before. I told her that I needed to get on birth control. Then she asked if there was a chance I could be pregnant, and I was all…I don’t know. And in between picking up your present that I never gave you and then, I ran into her office to have my blood drawn really quick. She called back a couple of hours later and told me not to start the birth control that she’d given me. It normally doesn’t work that fast, but the doctor is actually one of my mother’s sisters. She, uh, said that I was just barely pregnant. Like, there’s probably not even a heartbeat yet early.”
Heartbeat.
Holy shit.
She was really pregnant.
“I don’t have very good parents to base parenting on,” I admitted, pressing my forehead against her temple. “I hope I don’t fuck this up.”
She snickered. “Don’t think that I haven’t seen you with Asa. I heard you were climbing the ropes with him at the training facility last week. You even taught him how to climb that rope faster.”
I had.
Asa was Booth’s son. Booth had to bring him to training days sometimes, and when he was there, I made sure to teach him shit that would be useful for a kid to know.
I like kids.
I just wasn’t sure how they would like me.
Or how I would raise one, seeing as I didn’t have my mother and father to teach me.
“You had Brad,” she said. “You had Phillipe. You had Daniel. They may not be your actual parents, but they were your family. They taught you things that you never would’ve learned otherwise.”
She was right.
Still, I was freaking out.
I didn’t want to fuck up a kid like my parents did.
“We’ll get through this,” she said. “One day at a time. And you may not have great parents, but I did. You can just let me make every important decision.”
At that, I burst out laughing.
“Yeah, I’ll just do that.”
She kissed me on the nose.
“Now, drive us to get some donuts,” she ordered.
“It’s eleven in the morning,” I pointed out.
“Then drive us somewhere that has a bakery that I can get something donut-like,” she amended.
I rolled my eyes but ultimately did what she asked.
And in the end, it was totally worth it seeing as she got a powdered donut and dripped it all over her breasts.
Then I made out with her in the truck and made sure to clean off each speck of powder with my tongue before driving home.
By the time we finally arrived home, I was more than ready to finish what we started.
CHAPTER 23
Just so we’re clear, the Grinch never really hated Christmas. He hated people.
-True Fact
CAROLINA
Two months later
“I’m going to have to come in for adjustments,” I told my seamstress. “I’m expanding by the day. If I can’t get in today, just go ahead and put an extra couple of inches into the bodice and waist. But can you make it fall in a way that you can’t tell that I’m pregnant?”
She started to laugh. “Get real, Carolina. You’re like a tiny little doll with a cute little belly. And you chose a mermaid style dress. There’s no way in hell you’re hiding that. Have you told your mother yet?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You’re supposed to be a miracle worker,” I told my aunt. “And yes, for your information, I told her today. You can feel free to talk to her about it all you want now.”
“I’m not capable of that kind of miracle,” she said. “The real miracle would be you Pena kids keeping your legs closed!”
I gasped in outrage. “I am only on my first!”
“Yeah,” Aunt Noel said. “But what about Booth? And Bourne? Hell, don’t even get me started on my kids.”
“Your kids are fifteen and thirteen,” I said. “We’re all in our twenties. I think they have time.”
“True,” she said. “But Cameo is like this randy little bastard exactly like his father…”