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Holiday Heir

Page 184

by Maggie Cole

"Who'd you make it for?"

"Me, technically." She steals Charlie from between my legs and pulls the comforter halfway over her face.

I press play.

Pregnant Lainey appears on the screen. She's lying in bed. Her hair is piled on top of her head. Her face is flushed. She looks exhausted. She whispers into the camera, "This is stupid."

I smile.

Current Lainey groans. "I can't watch."

"Shh," I order, get back into bed, and slide my arm under her, pulling her closer.

On the video, she adjusts the phone. "I can't sleep because someone has decided to shove her foot into my rib cage." She rubs the side of it. Then laughs softly. "Apparently she's nocturnal."

My chest squeezes. My Charlie, moving inside her.

Video Lainey goes quiet. "I don't know why I'm recording this."

She looks tired and I can tell she's been crying.

She says, "Okay. I do."

Current Lainey disappears farther beneath the blanket. "Ugh. This is embarrassing."

I keep watching.

"I was thinking about you tonight."

My heart kicks.

She takes a breath. "You probably wouldn't even remember me."

"Wrong," I murmur.

Lainey's eyes peek over the comforter.

I don't look away from the screen.

"But I remember you." Pregnant Lainey smiles awkwardly. "And that's really annoying because it's been months and I should probably stop thinking about a man I met once at a bar."

I mutter, "Still wrong."

She kicks my leg beneath the blankets.

I grab them and hold them against me.

The video continues.

"I tried looking for you again today. Apparently there are a lot of Jaggers in Texas, which seems statistically impossible. And I should search Whispering Junction but then I'd probably find you and destroy your fiancée's life."

My pulse creeps up.

Then her expression shifts. "I wish I knew your last name."

My smile dies.

"I wish I knew what ranch you lived on."