Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Her eyes drifted closed, her lips curled up, and she turned her own head to fit it back into her husband’s throat before she did as told.
Jamie looked at Judge, who had not woken through this.
He felt a hand on his back.
He turned to see Tom standing close.
“Come with me,” Tom said quietly.
Jamie followed Tom out of the room and further down the hall.
To the nursery.
The nurse there hurried to get them gowns and masks, they washed their hands, and then Tom led him to a clear-sided hospital bassinet that was on rollers.
Resting in it, wrapped in a plush blue blanket with a deep satin border, his eyes closed, his cheeks chubby (regardless of his size), was the new most precious being on the planet.
Tom put his tanned hand on the baby’s blanket, bringing into stark relief how tiny he was.
“Five pounds, twelve ounces, allow me the privilege of introducing you to Jameson Thomas Oakley,” Tom announced.
Jamie felt his body buck as the bolt of happiness seared through him, and his gaze shot to Tom.
“I know,” Tom said on a smile. “Hale and Elsa already gave me the honor, but this one feels just as fucking amazing as the last one.”
Jamie was not one of those men so desperate to deny the fact his existence in the grand scheme of things would one day melt clean away, so in an attempt to lengthen the stamp he put on history, he named his offspring after himself.
Hence, his son’s name was Judge.
But fuck, it felt good that Judge and Chloe honored him this way.
“They say they’re going to call him JT,” Tom continued. Jamie’s friend’s eyes warmed and he took his hand from JT’s belly. “You can touch him.”
Jamie immediately moved in, bent over the bassinet, and touched a gentle finger, sliding it from between his grandson’s closed eyes along his little forehead, and he whispered, “Hey there, JT.”
JT’s diminutive, pink, bow mouth made sucking motions, and then he settled.
It was the sweetest greeting Jamie had experienced in his life.
Jamie opened his eyes to dark cut through with light that was not the muted glow of the city, or the stark moonlight hitting the sea, but moonlight sifting through trees.
He felt silk on his hands, because tucked tight to his front was a warm body.
And in his nostrils was Nora’s tangy, flowery scent.
He felt her round ass snug in his groin, but that pleasant sensation wasn’t what made him curl his arms stronger around her to pull her even closer.
No, he did it because his mind was filled with recent memories.
Of the crew on the yacht racing around to get them packed, Nora doing it with them.
Of Nora screeching over the whirring helicopter blades “Just leave them!” when they were using the ten seconds it added before their takeoff for the crew to shove her bags into the bird. She did this even though they already knew they’d be waiting at the airstrip for twenty minutes before Hale and Elsa arrived in their jet.
Of Nora’s wide eyes, open surprise, and expressive hope after they left the hospital and went to Duncan and Genny’s sprawling mountain house to have a glass of champagne to celebrate before they crashed, and Genny said, “I’ll run and make up a couple of rooms for you two.”
Whereupon Jamie replied, “We only need one.”
Nora had not said a word. Nor had she made it a thing.
After gifting him with a wondrous expression, she’d simply followed Genny to help her, and Mika went along with them. And when Jamie finally made it to the room, she was in the bathroom, unpacking his dop kit so he didn’t have to go rummaging for his toothpaste.
She’d then futzed around with her own things, her indication she wanted him to get ready for bed first.
The only hesitation she’d shown was when she walked out of the bathroom wearing a stunning nightgown of shimmering, pale pink silk edged in exquisite cream lace that fell to her calves.
“Which side is yours?” she asked.
He was standing in his pajama bottoms at one side of the bed, staring at how gorgeous she was, though he thought his position shared the answer to her question.
Since it hadn’t, his answer was to move to her, herd her to that very side, then hook her at the waist and pull them both into bed.
He’d turned out both lights then situated them as they were now.
With her scent, and her feel, and her nearness, and his son whole, and his son’s wife healthy, and his grandson breathing, Jamie had passed out within seconds.
Now, Jamie was awake.
And he had to make a decision.
That wasn’t quite true. It was mostly made.
But when they woke the next morning, he’d have to make it official, because after the morning, he couldn’t walk it back.
But first, he had to make an admission.