Page 111 of Tempted To Be Mine

Her eyes welled up with tears. I closed the distance between us and pulled her into my arms.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my chest. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you. I should have trusted you. I should have talked to you instead of running.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I get it. I understand why you were scared. But from here on out, you need to promise me something.”

She pulled back to look at me. “What?”

“Promise me you’ll talk to me before you run off again. No more notes. No more disappearing. If something’s wrong, if you’re scared or worried or confused, you come to me. We figure it out together. Okay?”

“I promise.” She reached up and touched my face, her fingers tracing along my scruffy jaw. “No more running. I promise.”

I kissed her again. I couldn’t get enough of her. She was mine to kiss. Mine to hold. Mine. The kiss was only meant to be gentle. A way of showing her I could be every version she needed. But the kiss didn’t stay gentle for long. The relief of having her back and the sheer overwhelming love I felt for this woman all came pouring out.

She kissed me back like she was afraid I might disappear. I understood. We’d both had a hell of a couple of days. We needed to be together to cement this new step in our relationship.

I pulled back, took her hand, and led her back down the hall to my bedroom. Our bedroom. I pulled her shirt off and then had a thought.

“I’m clean,” I said.

“Okay.”

“I mean, I’ve been tested.”

“Oh. Me too.”

“Can’t get you pregnant twice,” I teased.

“Speaking of… how old was that condom in your wallet?” she asked. “I did the math and you knocked me up in that cabin.”

I thought about it. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

She scowled at me before bursting into laughter. We stripped and fell into bed together.

“I can’t wait to watch your body change,” I murmured against her breast.

And then I proceeded to show her how much I loved her body.

A week later, I pulled up to my parents’ house with Lucy in the passenger seat. She looked nervous, fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

“They already love you,” I reminded her. “You were here for Thanksgiving, remember? They adored you.”

“That was different. I was just your manager then. Now I’m…” She trailed off, her hand drifting to her still-flat stomach.

“Now you’re the mother of their grandchild.” I reached over and took her hand. “They’re going to be thrilled. Trust me.”

“What if they think I did this on purpose?”

“The sex was definitely on purpose.”

“Will you be serious?” she scolded. “I’m pregnant. We weren’t even together. We hooked up in the middle of nowhere.”

I took her hand and waited until she looked at me. “Baby, you’ve seen how big my family is, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think all of us were conceived at the exact right time? We’re breeders. Pregnancy happens.” I shrugged. “No one is going to ask the details. That’d be weird.”

“Right.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”