“Baz?”
“Hmm?” His gaze skimmed the room, but he didn’t process much of what he saw.
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
He turned to face her. “We’re havin’ a baby.”
JJ laughed. “I know. You’ve only mentioned it at least two dozen times since we left the apartment.”
His smile split his face, and he repeated it.
“So I take it this would make a good baby room?”
“You’re serious?”
She nodded. “I agree with Bristol, it needs work, but I think it’s perfect.”
He stepped up to her, put his hand on her hip. “I thinkyou’reperfect.”
She laughed again, that sexy husky sound that went right through him. “Detective, I don’t think you’re payin’ attention.”
Baz wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to pay attention again. He was going to be useless for the foreseeable future because nothing in this world could make a dent in the euphoria he felt.
“So we should make an offer,” JJ said.
“We should.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to renovate this place?”
He shrugged. “How long do we have?”
She giggled. “We won’t know until we go to the doctor next week.”
“We?” His heart swelled with hope.
JJ’s eyebrow arched. “I ain’t doin’ this by myself, Detective.”
He smiled, and he realized he was wrong. He was already happier than he’d been two minutes ago.
Looked as though it was possible after all.
Chapter Twenty-Six
RENEEMARCH SAT SILENTLY IN THE CHAIR, her attention divided between the television screen, the front door, and the man stomping through the house. The TV was of little interest to her, but she was hoping the front door would open and Ava would come strolling in. She’d been gone too long now, and Renee was starting to worry.
Well, that and she was growing increasingly more uncomfortable being left alone with Harrison. She didn’t like the man. At first, he’d snowed her with his promises to take care of Ava, to treat her like the princess that she was. But he’d evidently forgotten he’d made that promise if his actions were anything to go by. He’d long since started treating Ava like she was a child and not his wife.
The one and only time Renee had intervened, Harrison had threatened to have her put away in an asylum. He told her in no uncertain terms that she would never see her precious daughter again if she didn’t learn how to toe the line.
So she had.
Since then, she’d done her best to back his requests when prompted and to ignore him any time she could.
It was hard to ignore him now. For some reason, Harrison had been on a rampage the past few days, cursing a blue streak as he hissed and growled at anyone and everyone who dared cross his path.
Renee knew better than to speak directly to him when he was in one of these moods. Instead, she sat quietly, pretending to be doped up on whatever meds he fed her on a daily basis. She’d stopped taking them two weeks ago, shortly after she’d gotten the feeling something was wrong with Ava. Her daughter had been spending a lot of time crying these past few months, and the arguments between her and Harrison had begun to escalate daily. Renee hated that she couldn’t console her daughter, hated that the darkness had such a firm grip on her, which was why she’d stopped taking the meds, searching for that glimmer of lucidity she’d had prior to them.
“That fucking bitch,” Harrison belted out as he stormed through the room, snatching the remote.
