“Damn it, Ronnie. I bared my soul to twenty million Americans tonight, and you can’t even be honest with me, one man? I don’t get it. Why?”
Tears prick the backs of my eyes, and my throat tightens as it tries to strangle me. A shuddering breath escapes my aching chest. I clamp my jaw shut. I won’t cry. No crying for him. If he doesn’t want our baby, he doesn’t deserve my tears.
He pulls on my forearms until I let loose. His grip moves to my hands. “Peaches, I know about the baby. It’s mine. I know it is. You can’t deny it.”
Hot moisture spills over my lashes onto my cheeks, blurring my vision. I try to swallow the tears, but now that they’ve escaped, there’s no calling them back. My nostrils flare as I suck in a much needed breath, even if it does hitch as I try to draw it into my lungs.
He lets go of my hands and catches my tears with the back of his finger. “Why are you crying, Babe? I told you, if something happened—”
I close my eyes. “I don’t ne—need you. I can raise it on m—my own. Just walk away, Jack.”
His jaw drops as he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “I can’t just walk away. I’m not that guy. I told you—”
I press my finger to his lips and shake my head. “Don’t say it again. It’s all right. No one will know it’s yours, so no one will judge you. And don’t worry. No one will come knocking asking for money.”
He pulls my hand away from his mouth. “Money? What the fuck are you talking about, Ronnie? You don’t want me to be part of my—our baby’s life? Don’t say that.”
Wait. What? I touch freezing fingers to my suddenly hot forehead. “Say that again—I don’t think—”
Jack moves to sit beside me. He slides his arm around my waist. “I think you’re working under a false assumption of some kind. I said, I want to be part of our baby’s life. I want you, Ronnie. I want both of you. Why would you think anything different?”
I search his face for some sort of signal that he’s lying to me. Something to tell me that I heard him wrong. That everything I’ve ever wanted isn’t really being handed to me like I deserve happiness or something.
“But you—you said if something happened we’d take care of it.”
He nods. “I did say that. I remember saying that. I meant it. I’ll always take care of you. I’ll take care of our baby—and any other babies we have. I won’t be absent the way my father was. I want to be there for everything.”
I grab my head. “Oh, thank God. I didn’t—I thought you meant—I misunderstood.”
His eyes go wide, and then he pulls back. “You thought I meant take care of it as in—”
“I’m so sorry. I love you too. I do. I have for the longest time.” I throw my arms around Jackson, my heart swelling so big that my poor lungs still can’t take in air. I gasp for breath anyway.
His mouth collides with mine. He pulls me into his lap, kissing me until we’re both more than breathless.
When we come up for air, his hand covers the place where our baby nestles safe and warm. “I would never suggest that, Ronnie. As soon as I found out you were pregnant, I wanted this baby to be mine. But even before that, I wanted you to be mine.”
EPILOGUE
I close the door and flip the safety bar into position. “Alone at last.”
Ronnie shakes her head, and birdseed flies across the room, some of it bouncing off the hotel room carpet. “It’s going to take a week to pick all of this out of my hair.”
I pull her to me, nudging my face into her curls. She smells delicious—a combination of cocoa butter and peaches. “C’mon. I’ll wash your hair for you.”
She pulls back. “Nope. I just had my hair done. I’m not messing it up already.”
I shrug and drag her closer, pressing my hardened dick against her belly. “That’s fine. That just means we get to the pussy eatin’ quicker.”
She licks her lips. “Or the cock sucking. Let’s not forget the really good stuff.”
I spin her around, and her wedding gown flies out around her.
I give her a light push further into the honeymoon suite. “Well, come on. My cock’s ready and I bet if I tuck my finger between those lips down there, your pussy’s ready for me to slurp it up.”
Ronnie rolls her eyes. “My, you must be the most romantic man on this planet.”
I shed my tux jacket. “I was never very romantic, Babe. You know that. But I promise to love and cherish you for eternity.”
She turns her back to me, pointing over her shoulder. “Please.”