Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
I’m carrying the hot mountain man’s baby. It still seems crazy to me that I went from being a virgin to being pregnant in less than two months.
Reaching out, I cup his face in my hand, feeling his thick beard tickle my palm. “Our baby is lucky to have you.”
Hope flickers across his expression. “Do we know yet if we’re having a son or a daughter?”
“We won’t know for a few more weeks,” I explain. After almost a week of keeping this news to myself, it’s kind of nice to talk to someone else about it. “I think around thirteen weeks the ultrasound will be able to tell us for sure. Why? Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?”
He makes a soft humming sound, leaning into my hand. “I think I’d like six of each.”
I chuckle, surprised by his unexpected answer. “Then you’d better find yourself a good broodmare.”
He reaches for a strand of my hair, tucking it gently behind my ear. “I hope our baby looks like you.”
I think that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me, and I blink back tears. I can’t do this right now. I can’t lie here and fall in love with Jasper. No, I need to get on the road and put some distance between the two of us. It’s the only way that he won’t completely shatter my heart.
I pull away from him and sit up. Frowning, I glance around. I don’t remember changing my clothes. The last thing I remember was feeling his strong hands gently massaging my feet as I drifted to sleep with a full belly. I hadn’t felt that safe or warm since the last time I was here.
Maybe I’ll keep this shirt too. I wonder how often I’d have to visit before I’d have a closet full of his clothes. Would he notice if I kept taking his things until my entire apartment smelled like his earthy, pine scent?
Jasper stands. “I’ll go make some breakfast…if your stomach is feeling up to it.”
I nod my agreement and when he leaves, I pad into the bathroom to take care of business. After I’m done, I go back to his bedroom to find my clothes.
Something dings, and I reach for the phone on the nightstand before I realize it’s Jasper’s. The device is unlocked, so I look around as if he could see me snooping. I tap through his text messages to find that the only person he really texts is Zac. Their text exchanges are quick check-ins with each other.
I flick through his photos and find that mainly, he takes pictures of the forest outside his cabin. Sometimes, there are occasional pictures of sketches he’s working on.
“It looks like you live a quiet, cozy life here,” I whisper to myself before tapping his calendar. It’s blank with endless white space stretched on for days. I wonder what it would be like not to have days filled with meeting big executives who want to fight me on every decision.
A small icon catches my eye on Valentine’s Day, and I open it, wondering if he has a hot date for tomorrow night. The thought makes my stomach hurt. But there’s no date listed on Valentine’s. Instead, it’s a birthday icon. His birthday.
“Huh, you were born on Valentine’s,” I murmur before closing the device and putting it down so he can’t see that I was messing with it.
Still in his shirt but with my dress tucked under my arm, I head toward the kitchen. I fully intend to tell Jasper I need to take a rain check on breakfast so I can get on the road. It seems like the safest option. But I’m stopped in my tracks when I enter the living room.
Where there used to be a beautiful view of acres of untamed forest, there’s now a wall of white. It has to be at least three feet deep out there and even more snowflakes are swirling in the air.
The drive up the mountain yesterday was nerve-wracking enough without being able to follow Jasper’s truck around every hairpin turn. I can’t possibly navigate those roads now even if my car rental had come with snow tires.
I drop my dress on the floor, scowling at the weather. I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry at this turn of events. Part of me wants desperately to go back to Nashville right now because the longer I stay around Jasper, the more I want to reconsider that ring he offered me.
But another part—the bigger part of my heart—is thrilled to have a few more stolen hours with the big, burly mountain man.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jasper chirps behind me.
I didn’t even hear him come close. I sigh and turn to see he’s holding a saucer with two big blueberry muffins. “It delays my plans.”