She gave a laugh that sounded a little like a sob. “I love you, too. So much.”
“But you’re worried about something?” Was she still afraid? “I swear you’ll never be hurt again. I’ll keep you safe.”
“You always do.” After an expression of apology, Rissy looked at the form.
Armie didn’t understand, but he picked it back up and turned it over.
He sensed Merissa watching him as he read.
It was just a pregnancy consent form, basically asking if there was any chance... Blood rushed to his head, making his world spin.
Even before his gaze shot back to hers, Armie knew. His entire being went blank, then burst with bright colors. “Rissy?” he whispered around hope and amazement and the utter, blinding joy.
She bit her lip and breathed faster.
Holy shit! Dropping the form, Armie searched her face. As his own eyes grew wet, he used his thumbs to brush away her tears. “Rissy?” His hands trembled. “You’re pregnant?”
She bit her lip, closed her eyes and nodded. “I think so.”
Staggered, Armie sat back on his heels. His attention visually pored over her body. She was so damn slim! But now that he thought about it, her breasts seemed a little fuller...
He reached out to cup one, but she shrank back. “Armie,” she whispered frantically. “Get up!”
Instead he leaned in and put his cheek to her belly. “A baby.” His baby.
With Merissa Colter.
“It’s not confirmed. I mean, I’m pretty sure, but I haven’t taken a test yet.”
“We’ll do that together.” He had a hard time wrapping his mind around it. It was like a dream—except that someone had tried to snatch her right off the road. He wanted to crush her close, to shout with happiness, to hide her away so nothing bad could ever again touch her.
And he wanted to bind her to him, now and forever. The knowledge of a baby sent new fear cutting into him. Overwhelmed, he held her closer and asked quietly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her fingers threaded through his hair. “I would have,” she replied, her tone as soft as his. “The night I realized I’d missed my period was the night before you...”
He groaned, kissed her belly and sat back to see her. “Jesus, honey, I’m sorry. I fucked up so badly.”
“No.” She kept touching him, soothing him when he should be doing that for her. “I wanted to let you get through the fight—”
“Screw the fight.”
“Armie Jacobson, don’t you dare act that way.” She grabbed his ear, and though she was injured, she still had plenty of strength in that one arm. “Do you want me to feel guilty?”
Insane, but even now Rissy could make him smile. “No, never.”
“Then you’re going to put your all into this fight. Do you understand me?”
She’d stopped whispering, which sort of amused him. Since it started to sting, he pried her grip off his ear, kissed her palm and said with complete honesty, “Whatever you want, Stretch.”
Her lips, too, twitched into a smile. “Thank you.”
The technician, who was probably taller than Rissy and built like a linebacker, returned and, without blinking an eye at seeing Armie on the floor, asked, “Are we ready?”
Armie said, “She’s pregnant.”
The tech smiled and picked up the paper. “How far along?”
“I don’t know,” Rissy said. “That is, I haven’t taken a test yet or anything but I’m pretty sure...”
“Just in case, we’ll protect you with a lead apron.” She handed Rissy the form with a pen.
“You’re sure it’s safe?” Armie asked, finally standing so he could meet the woman eye to eye.
“I promise it’ll be fine.” She patted his biceps, then nudged him toward a chair. “You can wait right there. I’ll have her back to you in five minutes, tops.”
Fretting, Armie watched her go. Then he sat. Then he dropped his head into his hands.
A baby!
In a rush, he stood and dug out his cell phone.
“Excuse me?” The older woman pointed to a sign on the wall. “No cell phones.”
Damn. He sat down again.
“Your first child?” she asked. Then with a smile, she explained, “I couldn’t help but overhear.”
Dazed and somewhat dumbfounded, Armie nodded. “Yeah.” Had the woman also heard him cursing? He winced. “Sorry.”
She looked tickled. “I take it you’re happy?”
That word didn’t even begin to cover it. He nodded again. “Very.”
She nodded in approval. “Our granddaughter is due in a few weeks. It’s a wonderful thing. Congratulations.”
His first congrats—not from his buddies or their very adorable wives, not from Rissy’s brother, but from a total stranger. Some of the shock faded and he stood to approach the woman, his hand out. “Thank you.”
Smiling, she stood, too, then opened her arms.
And damn, Armie hugged the old girl right off her feet.
* * *
LUCKILY HER ARM wasn’t broken. The doc declared it “badly bruised”—duh—and told her to ice it often and to take it easy until it felt better.
She had scrapes on her knees, her palm and one elbow. The worst was the discoloration around her cheek from where she’d needed the stitches. Everyone assumed she’d hit something sharp on the car, like the edge of the broken bumper or maybe the license plate.
Merissa remembered how the man had backhanded her, and she assumed that had caused the worst of the bruising. Thinking about it made her shiver with dread, so she pushed it from her mind.
Armie loved her.
She had plenty to think about without dwelling on the awful thugs. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to make another grab for her because she didn’t plan to give them the opportunity.
She didn’t want to be a wimp, but she’d had enough, so until they were caught she wouldn’t be alone again. She’d already arranged some upcoming time off so she could attend Armie’s fight. Well, now she’d just extend it, and her current injuries would be as good an excuse as any.
By the time the hospital finished stitching and x-raying and giving instructions, she’d been there for a little over three and a half hours. She knew all her friends were gathered in the larger waiting area at the front of the hospital, along with Lea Baley.
But she only wanted to go home, shower and crash.
With Armie.
So far, he’d barely let her out of his sight. After he’d helped her to dress, she started to zip up her jeans but he put his big hand over her bare belly and pressed his mouth to her temple.
“We’re okay,” she told him again, putting her hand over his. “I promise.”
Armie stayed silent a moment. She heard him swallow, then felt the near-reverent kiss he teased over her neck. “When will you tell him?”
She knew he meant Cannon. Armie hadn’t yet said anything to her brother, and she was glad. She didn’t want to make an announcement in a hospital. “Maybe after your fight, we can get together with him and Yvette for dinner and I’ll tell him then.”
“The guys at the gym will want to know, too.”
A thought occurred to her and, fighting a smile, she looked at Armie. “Did you want to tell them?”
He finished zipping her jeans for her, then lightly kissed her mouth. “I want to shout it to the whole world.”
So he wasn’t just accepting. He was happy? She licked dry lips. “Armie...” He watched her so intently that she stalled and had to try again. “I don’t want to pressure you.”
“Pressure me?” Far too serious, he gathered her close. “Do you know it kills me that, for even a second, you’d think that way?” He lifted her hand and pressed it to his heart. “You own me, Stretch. For better or worse. Today and forever.”
That sounded so close to a proposal, Rissy lost her breath. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t blink. Beneath her palm, Armie’s heartbeat grew heavy.
“Forget all my misguided intentions to let you find a better life with a better man.”
“Armie!” That’s what he’d thought? “I want you, and damn it, you are—”
“No one,” he said, interrupting her, “could ever love you as much as I do. I swear it.”
Her heart melted. That was the absolute sweetest, most wonderful thing anyone had ever said to her.
She was working up the nerve to ask him about the future when they were finally free to leave.
She and Armie reached the main waiting room to find it mostly filled with her visitors. It made her blush when everyone started greeting her at once. Sticking close beside her, Armie smiled as if proud.
Unlike the ambulance that had brought her in, her friends hadn’t parked in back at the emergency entrance. There were so many of them that she was glad they hadn’t remained in the small waiting area and instead had moved to the front of the hospital.
“Logan wants to talk to you more tonight,” Cannon told her. “But he got a call and had to take off for an hour or so.”
Biting back her groan, Merissa said, “That’s fine.”
“She’ll be at her house,” Armie told him. “With me.”
“Better late than never.” Cannon looked at each of them in turn, then smiled. “As long as it’s never again.”