Page 83 of Temporarily in Love

“How about you get off my dick?” I snarled.

He kept his eyebrow raised and sighed. “Okay, you remember when I wasn’t seeing things clearly with Avery, and you told me I was suffering from stupid man syndrome?”

I wanted to laugh. He had been suffering stupid man syndrome then. He was so convinced Avery didn’t feel the same way, but if anyone looked at either of them, they would have seen how hopelessly in love they were with each other. Nolan hadn’t been listening to reason back then. Maybe I should have listened to Nolan when he told me to be careful around Lila. It pissed me off because I knew she was about to leave, and my heart was on the verge of breaking again.

“Dude!” Gemma exclaimed. “Tell her how you feel.”

“What?”

“Tell her you love her, dummy,” Nolan agreed.

“Maybe it will make her stay,” Gemma urged.

“I am staying!” came Lila’s voice from the doorway.

I jerked my head up at her entrance. She stood there with a look of determination on her face. Gemma and Nolan shared a confused look, and they quickly darted out of the office to give Lila and me some privacy.

“You what?” I asked, furrowing my brow as I processed her words.

She walked over to me and stood in front of my desk. “I have to go home.” She held up her hand before I could get a word in edgewise. “Let me finish. I have to go back to California to sell my house because I’m buying the bar and moving home.”

I stared at her unblinking as her words washed over me. She was staying. She was buying her parents’ bar and moving here. The gears were turning in my brain because none of this computed to me. She had been so clear that we could only be temporary.

“Declan!” her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Why?” I blurted out.

She frowned and looked taken aback. “Why? Because I took a freaking pregnancy test today.”

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Okay, okay, this is fine. We’ll be okay,” I started rambling. My brain was already calculating the cost to raise a baby and everything we’d need. “We’ll need stuff for the baby, and to read the books, but Nolan and Avery will help with that. I’ll move out of my apartment, and we can start looking for a house in town. We’ll be fine. I know we didn’t plan this, but we’ll figure it out together.”

“Oh my god, will you let me speak?” she asked with an annoyed huff.

“Huh?”

“Dec, I took a pregnancy test, and it was negative. I took a second one to be sure, and then I realized I was upset it was negative. Because from the moment I kissed you on the zipper, I knew I was in trouble, and I was never going back to California.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Please say something, Dec. I’m trying to tell you that you’re the only man I’ve ever loved, and I should’ve moved back a long time ago. I shouldn’t have let you go when I went to Stanford. Maybe we could have survived the long distance, but—”

She jolted when I leaped from my chair and rushed over to her. I didn’t let her continue talking. Instead, I pulled her flush against my chest and slanted my mouth on hers. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I cupped her face as I deepened the kiss. I kissed her like it was the first time, like if I didn’t devour her mouth, she would slip away. I kissed her like I was trying to brand her lips with mine.

When we finally came up for air, she smiled up at me. I slid a hand down and rested it against her stomach. “You were really upset you’re not pregnant?”

She nodded sheepishly. “I know, it’s ridiculous, but while waiting for the results, I was thinking about us having a baby. Picturing us having a family together, of our child growing inside me. And I want that. I know what I want out of my life—you.”

I framed her face with my hands. “My love, that’s all I’ve ever wanted since we were fourteen years old.”

She laughed. “You did not! We didn’t even start dating until we were sixteen.”

I kissed the back of her wrist. “Yeah, but I knew then what I wanted most. Nolan makes fun of me for how I’ve pined for you for so long, but I’m glad no one else was good enough for me. I’m glad I waited for you.”

She cringed. “I don’t deserve you, Declan MacGregor. Not one bit, but I love you with all of my heart.”