Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Vance bent to drop Boo to his feet, scattered about fifteen treats across the floor, Boo purred a “Mrreow!” in excitement and chased after them, just as Jules cried an irate, “Crowe!”
But Vance was across the room, in her space, in her face, framing her head in his hands.
His eyes roamed her face.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. More beautiful than anyone on a movie screen. More beautiful than any in the pages of a magazine.
And she was his.
His.
And she was having his baby.
His.
“I take it you’re happy,” she whispered.
He crashed his mouth down on hers and answered that question with his tongue.
When he lifted his head, she breathed, “You’re happy.”
“Yeah, I’m fuckin’ happy,” he replied.
Her violet eyes lit with joy as she returned, “Good. We’re naming her Rebecca Ann.”
“We’re naming him Max.”
“It’s not a him, Crowe.”
“It’s a him, Princess.”
“How can you know? I’m only six weeks. She’s a mass of cells now.”
“I just know.”
“Whatever,” she mumbled.
He took his hands from her head and slid them around her body, drawing it up against his. “Who have you told?”
“You, and only you. That’s all either of us are going to tell. Even Nick and May need to stay in the dark until I reach the three-month zone.”
He could be down with that.
Still, he was telling the men. Doing the cigar shit, the whole damned thing.
She watched him a beat, then her face screwed up. “You can’t tell the guys.”
“They won’t say anything.”
“They’re sleeping with half the girls!” she shot back. “And they have big mouths.”
“Not when it’s important.”
She couldn’t argue that, so she didn’t try.
Instead, she said, “If it’s a boy, we’re naming him Harry.”
“No. Max. Then our next one is Sam. The one after that will be Rex.”
“You have it all figured out.”
“Yup.”
She rolled her eyes, let that go, then asked, “Did you eat dinner?”
“Yup.”
“Wanna celebrate me getting knocked up?”
He grinned at her and answered.
“Yup.”
They lay in her bed loft, both of them naked, Jules on top of him, the moonlight filtering through the window at the head of the bed.
She had her face in the side of his neck, her finger drawing on his shoulder.
“You can tell the guys,” she whispered. “But really, I want it on the down low with everyone else. Life has a tendency to—”
He cut her off by using his arms already around her to squeeze her tight. “Nothing’s going to happen.”
“I don’t want everyone to get excited for us and then put them through something else after they went through all that business with what Shard did.”
He tucked his chin in his neck in an attempt to see her.
“What’s this?” he asked.
She lifted her head and looked down at him. “Thanksgiving in a hospital room isn’t a lot of fun, Crowe.”
“Maybe you were still thinking you were an angel, because if you paid attention like I paid attention, you’d have seen a bunch of people who didn’t give two shits that they were celebrating Thanksgiving in a hospital room. They were just happy you were alive.”
“Yeah, normally you don’t make your friends have to feel happy you’re alive. They just take that for granted.”
“Do you think Roxie should feel guilt for being beat to shit and abducted?”
“No.”
“Do you think Jet should feel shit because her dad’s loan sharks focused on her to get him to pay, and some asshole was incapable of a blow to his manhood, so he wanted to make her pay?”
“No, of course not, Vance, but—”
“Listen, Princess, I’m down with you not wanting anyone to know for a few weeks. But you’re fit. You’re healed. Roam’s fit. Him and Sniff are in a good home, being looked after by a good woman. They’re even in school. Our shit times are over.” He rolled her to her back and spread his hand over her belly. “Now it’s about making babies, getting married, and raising our family.”
She stared up at him through the moonlight. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“Kid’s gonna have my name when he comes out every way that can be, Jules. Legally. Whatever god you pray to. All that shit. And if I’m your husband, they’ll probably give me the birth certificate to fill out, so I can put in the right name.”
She narrowed his eyes at him. “So you want to marry me so you’ll win on the name?”
He knew she was bickering because that was what they did. It was playful and it was loving, and it was them.
But when he answered, he was dead serious.
“No. I’m gonna marry you because I love you. I’m gonna marry you because you’re not only the best woman I’ve ever met, you’re the best person. I’m gonna marry you because my heart doesn’t beat right when I’m not with you. I’m gonna marry you because we’re going to make beautiful babies. You’re gonna be an amazing mother. And you’re going to teach me how to be a good dad. I’m going to marry you because I want to spend every Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthday with you until I die. I’m going to marry you because you’re mine. I want that legal. I want that binding. In the eyes of the law and whatever gods there are out there to pray to. So tomorrow, I’m going to get you a ring you won’t ever want to take off. And as soon as we can manage it, I’m going to add a band to it. And for the rest of our days, you’re at my side and in my life, Jules, as my woman, the mother of my children, and my wife.”