“We’re going to make this work,” I whisper.
He rubs his hand over my belly. “One way or another.”
I lift my head to look at him, and I lose my breath.
Has anyoneevergazed back at me with that much adoration?
If they have, it hasn’t registered.
But when Holt looks at me, I feel like I’m not just the center of his world, but like Iamhis world.
And it’s scary and beautiful and nerve-racking and soothing all at the same time. “What did I do? What did I do to make you like me?”
He cradles my head with one hand while he continues gently rubbing my belly with his other. “You stayed.”
“Anyone would’ve stayed.”
He shakes his head. “Not the way you did.”
He’s wrong.
Other people would’ve stayed with him.
Wouldn’t they?
“All my life, I’ve been the guy who takes care of everyone else. But you—when you made me breakfast that first day I was back—when you didn’t have to and shouldn’t have, when you stayed—that wasn’t a little thing. That was aneverything.”
“It was a spite breakfast,” I whisper.
He grins. “Everything I didn’t know I needed. But exactly what I needed. Besides, I was already long gone after watching you with that chicken.”
I laugh. “Stop.”
“It’s true. I watched you with that bird, and I wanted to know how I could get you to want to keep reaching for meeven when I was filthy and on the ground and better left for the crows the same way you kept trying to get to that chicken. That’s dedication. That’s commitment. It’s admirable as hell.”
He’s not mocking me.
He’s serious.
The baby flutters again, and I squeal and put my hand over his.
“Again?” he asks.
“Again,” I whisper. “I felt it again.”
He leans in and kisses my neck. “I love watching you be happy.”
Happy.
I am.
I’m happy.
And it’s such a stark difference from when I wasn’t happy just a few hours ago.
When I wasn’t happy after I discovered my best friend wasn’t so best after all.
When I’ve been scared at how fast my life has changed, even knowing I actively chose to keep the baby when I could’ve instead decided now wasn’t the right time to be pregnant, and stayed on the ship, and kept living the same life I’d mostly enjoyed for years.
