Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“You could never quit,” Jasmine challenged. “You love your job too much.”
“True,” I admitted. “Maybe I’ll just cut down hours, so I have more time to spend with you.”
She smiled, but I didn’t miss the worry that seeped in over her features. “What if I don’t finish my book at all?”
“You will.”
“What if no one reads it?”
“They will.”
She sighed. “How are you so sure?”
“Because I know my girl, and she doesn’t know how to quit. And if by some miracle the book did flop, it wouldn’t matter. It would just fuel your fire to try harder the next time.”
Her smile came back, and she ran her fingers through the damp hair at my neck. “Okay. What else is in our future?”
“A dog. And five kids.”
“Five?” she asked on a laugh.
“At least.”
“And when do we start having these children?”
“Mmm…” I said, looking up toward the blue sky peppered with clouds. “Maybe in a few years, give us some time to travel the world together, and figure out our parenting style with our dog, of course.”
Jasmine chuckled, but then she pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, frowning. “What if we didn’t have time to practice on a dog first?”
“You don’t want a dog?”
“I do, but… I’m just saying… what if it wasn’t a few years from now…” She swallowed. “What if we didn’t even have one full year?”
She froze in my arms, her blue eyes the same color as the water as they locked on mine. She watched me carefully through her lashes as her questions sank in, and I felt my heart beating faster in my chest, pounding out a hard, steady rhythm.
“What are you saying, Jasmine?” I asked. “Are you saying you want to get pregnant?”
“I’m saying… I already am.”
“You…” I shook my head, speechless, and then my hands traveled from where they held her waist to wrap around her stomach. It was still smooth and toned and impossibly flat.
And yet, it wouldn’t be soon.
Everything caught up to me in one crash of emotions, my eyes welling with tears as I pulled her into my chest, hugging her tight, kissing her hair over and over again.
“You’re pregnant,” I whispered, shaking my head. “We’re having a baby.”
“We are,” she said, and her own eyes were blurred with tears when she pulled back and searched my gaze. “Are you okay?”
“Are you fucking kidding? I’m ecstatic.” I reared back, yelling as loud as I could. “We’re having a baby!”
My voice boomed and echoed off the water, and I thought I heard distant claps from the bungalows around us. Jasmine just laughed and shook her head, burying her face in my chest before she peered up at me through wet eyelashes.
“Wait,” I said, pointing to her drink at the pool’s edge.
“Virgin,” she assured me.
“Thank God. I was about to go full dad mode before I’m even a dad.”
Jasmine watched me in a curious way, shaking her head, her brows meeting in the middle of her perfect forehead. “I was so scared to tell you.”
“How long have you known?”
“Just a couple of weeks. But I… I mean, we weren’t even married yet. I know it’s not the timing we planned…”
I laughed, arching a brow. “Has anything in our lives gone according to timing or what we’ve planned so far?”
“Not even close.”
“See?” I kissed her nose. “This fits perfectly.”
A tear spilled over her cheek, and I thumbed it away, watching her with my heart swelling in my chest.
I shook my head. “Just wait until Mom finds out. She’s going to freak.”
Jasmine laughed at that, and then worried her bottom lip. “I was thinking… I want to tell my mom, too.”
I froze. “You do?”
She nodded, a thick swallow straining her throat. “I know I haven’t talked to her since the day she left, but… now that I have you, now that we have…” She touched her stomach, but didn’t finish the sentence. “I just don’t want to hold onto the resentment I’ve carried all this time anymore. Maybe she won’t want to see me, maybe she won’t care at all that I’m pregnant, but… I want to try.”
I framed her face, shaking my head in awe before I lowered my forehead to hers. Her eyes fluttered closed first, and then mine, and I smiled.
“You are spectacular, Jasmine Wagner.”
She answered me with a kiss, one that was slow and deep and rocked me to the very foundation of who I was. I pulled her into me, and with her still wrapped around me under water, I made my way out of the pool, carrying her with me until we were back in our messy bed. I didn’t even care that we were both still soaking wet. I’d call for fresh sheets later if I needed to. Right now, all I could think about was laying that perfect woman down and making her feel loved in every possible way that I could.