Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Things can change so fast. In the blink of an eye, in a heartbeat, things can go one way or the other. How much time did I waste on mediocre boyfriends? Mom and my dad wasted their whole lives hoping something would happen and they could be together. Alexis wasted the past three years trying to con her way into an inheritance.
I watch the man I love pack my romance books in totes. My very own hero.
I don’t want to wait to have the life I want. I want to live it now … with him.
“Hey,” I say.
He looks up. “Yeah?”
“I’m just letting you know that I want to have your baby.”
He drops a stack of books into the tote. “What are you telling me?”
“That I want to have your baby. I want to point at you across the soccer field and tell the other moms that you’re my baby’s daddy. I want to see you standing in the middle of the night feeding our daughter. And I want to watch you teach our son … not to drive. I’ll do that.”
He bursts out laughing.
“We didn’t have that childhood, but we can have that life together. That’s the life I want … with you. So what are we waiting for?”
He walks toward me, unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m not.”
I laugh as the door opens, and Morgan and Travis walk in. Troy’s face falls, and I laugh harder.
“Did we interrupt something?” Travis asks, looking between us.
Troy and I look at each other and smile.
“We have time,” I say softly.
He glances at the clock. “Fifteen minutes.”
“I meant the rest of our life.”
He turns to his brother and my friend. “You have fourteen minutes. Then we’re gone.”
My house is full of voices, laughter, and people I love. I already know I’ll love Travis. I loved him before I met him.
Troy pulls me into him, kissing the top of my head. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“It’s been probably twenty minutes.”
He chuckles. “I never thought I’d tell another person I love them, and I can’t tell you enough.”
“I love you right back.”
Epilogue
Troy
2 weeks later …
“I’m over here.” Lincoln Landry leans against the doorway of the break room with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Just in case you didn’t see me.”
“Like I ask you every time you’re here. Why?”
“Very funny.” He follows me to my office like a puppy. “I don’t even get a thank you?”
I hold the door open for him like the diva he is, and then close it. He gets entirely too comfortable in the chair across from me.
“I believe I told you thank you for letting us use your house,” I say. “But, thank you again.”
“What about the rest of it?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Linc, today is my first day back. It’s early.” I’d rather be home with my girl. “Very early. I wouldn’t say I like these guessing games in the afternoon. I sure as hell don’t like them before the sun is up.”
“The bed!”
I flinch. “What?”
“Dude, I literally had every bedroom in that house cleared out except one. My guys did it within a two-hour window. Danielle doesn’t know this, so hopefully, I can get it all put back the way she had it before we go down there in a couple of weeks.” He cringes. “But I hooked you up.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“That’s why there was one bed in the house?” I ask.
“Yup. I was helping you make some moves. The two of you have danced around each other for two years. If it didn’t work out, the couch is pretty nice.”
“You know what? I hate to say it, but you might’ve had a hand in this. So all sarcasm aside, thank you.”
“Did you just say thank you to Lincoln?” Ford grimaces, coming in with a cup of coffee. “Also, why are you here, Linc?”
“I said the same thing.”
“Good to have you back, Troy. How’s Dahlia?”
“She’s here, actually. She said she can’t sit at home doing nothing.”
“I told her to take time off. What is it with you two?” Ford asks.
I shrug.
He swipes his phone screen. It rings through the speaker.
“Hi, Ford,” Dahlia says.
I furrow a brow.
“Good morning. I’m in Troy’s office. Could you come by, please?”
“Sure. Be right there.”
It’s not thirty seconds before there’s a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I say.
She enters with a confused look on her face.
I helped her get dressed this morning—black pants and a loose-fitting top. Her arm has been hurting and she didn’t sleep well. So I sat up reading to her, trying to keep her mind off the pain.
“What’s going on?” she asks, looking around the room.
“How do you feel?” Ford asks.
“It hurts. A lot.”
Ford kicks back, resting one ankle on the other knee. “I have a proposition for the two of you.”
Dahlia comes around my desk and stands beside me.