Lark draws her knees up, pointedly staying on her side, facing away from me. And when I touch her hip, she tenses up.
“Lark.”
She doesn’t move.
“Lark Miller, love of my fucking life, stop being so stupid.”
That makes her move. Rolling over, she glares at me. Good. I want her angry. It’s better than her thinking I could possibly be anything other than thrilled right now.
“Let me make one thing crystal clear,” I say, my voice firm as I stare down at her. “This baby is growing inside your body. That means, ultimately, it’s your choice what happens. And I would respect your decision, no matter what it was, no matter how much it might hurt. But make no mistake. I want this baby. I wantourbaby. And I want to have it with you. This is a fucking miracle, and there’s not a chance I’m ever gonna see it as anything but.”
If you were to ask me four months ago how I felt about the idea of having a kid right now, I would have been horrified. A baby changes everything. But that was before. Before I knew Lark loved me. Before I knew I could have the future I never let myself even dream of. A future with her in it.
Now? Yeah, sure, it’s going to change things. I’m not naive enough to think a baby won’t fundamentally alter my entire life.
But none of that matters anymore. Because the second she uttered those two words, something locked into place inside of me. A part of myself I didn’t even know existed. As if every priority, every goal, every dream rearranged themselves in my brain, making room for a new number one.
“You’re really okay with this?” Lark whispers, and I can see hope starting to clear away the anguish that was there before.
It kills me to think she spent any time at all worrying about my reaction instead of being filled with joy and excitement.
“Yeah, I am. I’m more than okay. I’m so fuckingexcited, I honestly don’t know how to express it.” I leap up to stand on the bed, pumping my fists in the air and hitting the goddamn ceiling, but who the hell cares? “I’m having a baby!” I shout at the top of my lungs before following it up with a loudwhoop.
“Oh my God, stop!” Lark says, but she’s laughing again as she pulls at my hand, dragging me back down beside her. I go willingly and push her onto her back so I can cover her with my body.
“Lark, I’ve never been this happy. Not even on the day I got my first major league contract or the day you kissed me. This beats out everything else for best moment of my entire life.”
I lean down and kiss her, and finally, everything feels right. She melts underneath me, her hands raking through my hair before settling into place, looped around my neck. I move to the side, and she rolls to me as I lift one of her legs up to drape it over my hip.
“You realize one thing, I hope,” I murmur against her lips.
“What?”
“You’re stuck with me for life now.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Fuck. I want to ask her to marry me. Right here, right now. But we haven’t ever talked about that. Hell, we talked about kids but not marriage. Backward, I know, but hey, maybe some weird, cosmic part of us knew what was coming.
I guess it doesn’t matter whether my ring’s on her finger or not. Lark Miller is mine, now and always.
Chapter thirty-six
Monty
“Dan,” Lark whispers in between kisses. “Dan, stop. Hold on.”
I can’t help pouting a little when she pushes me away, but I let her, rolling onto my back and running a hand through my hair as I turn my head to look at her. “What’s wrong?”
She doesn’t answer. Instead, she moves off the bed and slowly starts to peel off her clothes. I lick my lips, not daring to look away as she strips until she’s completely naked.
“I didn’t have time to shower before dinner. Want to wash my back? Help me get all clean?”
The wicked smile she gives me says everything and I leap off the bed, shucking my clothes in record time. “Last one in has to have the first orgasm.”
Her shriek of laughter makes me smile, but there’s no chance of her beating me as I dart past her and into the bathroom. I fling the shower on and step in before yelping at the cold water. Lark stands outside, her tits shaking with laughter.
“I think you got that wrong,” she says, testing the water before stepping in with me. “Shouldn’t the lastone in have togivethe first orgasm?”
