Million Dollar Cowboy (Cupid, Texas #5)(112)

"Touché." Aria swiped a celery stick.

Ember batted Aria away from the food. "Get out of that."

"So much for getting you out of that swimsuit," Ridge muttered.

"Later," Kaia whispered. "Anticipation is the most underrated form of foreplay."

"Oh," Tara said. "Are we interrupting Ridge's welcome home?"

"No, no," Kaia said, at the same time Ridge said, "Yes, yes."

"Should we go?" Aria pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the back door.

"I told you we shouldn't have shown up so early," Ember grumbled, and elbowed Aria.

"You're already here," Ridge said good-naturedly.

"The pool is amazing, by the way," Ember said, turning to peer out the door at the water.

"Why is that bottle of wine unopened?" Aria asked reaching for the merlot and a corkscrew. "It's almost five. Let's get this party started."



       
         
       
        

"None for me, thank you," Kaia said.

"Aww, c'mon," Tara said. "I know you're not much of a drinker, but just one glass. We're celebrating."

"I can't." Kaia smiled shyly and ducked her head.

"Omigod!" Ember squealed. "You're preggers?"

"Kaia?" The joy in Ridge's voice was unmistakable.

She turned to her husband, nodded. "I took three pregnancy tests while you were gone, just to make sure, but it looks like you're going to be a daddy."

His color paled and he swayed on his feet.

"Quick," Aria said. "Get him sitting before he passes out."

Tara was already on it, guiding Ridge down into a kitchen chair.

"This is so wonderful," Ember said. "You and Casey both expecting at the same time."

"A baby?" Ridge said. "You and me?"

"Well"-Kaia smiled-"I'm certainly not having a baby with anyone else."

"That is . . . I'm . . . you are . . ." Ridge couldn't seem to find the words. But that was okay. Kaia knew what was in his heart. Happiness radiated off him in waves.

"Spit it out, man." Aria danced around the room. "Tell her what you're feeling."

Ridge's eyes drilled into Kaia's. He patted his knee. "Come here."

Heart pounding, she went to him.

He pulled her into his lap. Smothered her with kisses. "I love you," he said with each kiss. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

The old familiar humming started the second his lips touched her, rising with each kiss, growing, surging until every cell in her body throbbed to the beat of their love.

Then he dipped his head and kissed her belly through her swimsuit, sending vibrations swirling through the very core of her.

"Dear, sweet Kaia," he breathed. "You've made me the happiest man on the face of the earth."

"You're not afraid?" she whispered.

"I'm freaking terrified." He laughed. "But I'm in this with you one hundred percent."

Tears pressed against the back of her eyes at the look of absolute joy on Ridge's face. He wasn't going to run and hide behind work.

The back door opened, and Kaia's parents came in with Archer, Casey, and Granny Blue.

"We're having a baby!" Aria announced.

"What?" Mom exclaimed. "Who?"

"Ridge and Kaia."

"When?"

"In about seven and a half months," Kaia confirmed. 

Ridge pressed his forehead to hers, stared deeply into her eyes. "This kid is going to be the luckiest baby on the face of the earth."

As she sat in the shelter of her man's arms surrounded by her family, the seams of her heart swelled to bursting. And she knew with absolute certainty they were going to live happily-ever-after.





Acknowledgments




I must acknowledge the amazing team at . From the editors to sales and marketing, to the art department and the fabulous publicity team. They are the best in the business. I wouldn't have the career that I do without them.





An Excerpt from Cowboy, It's Cold Outside




Here is a sneak peek at

New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde's



COWBOY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

Arriving Christmas 2017 only from Avon Books.





Chapter 1




Backstage at the one-hundred-forty-year-old Twilight Playhouse, Paige MacGregor wriggled into her skimpy Santa Baby costume, finger-pinching red Lyrca leggings up around her waist, flashing her doughy-white belly to the full-length mirror, and quite possibly the ghost of John Wilkes Booth, and swore off Christmas cookies forever.

"Sorry, John," she apologized. "But if you don't want to see the sad evidence of my total lack of self-control, you shouldn't haunt theatres."