Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to know where you just went in your head or why your cheeks are red and flushed,” Asher muttered. “Can we make a decision? Who’s coming to Greenwich?”
Jade made the mistake of looking at Knox, who grinned, then winked at her.
Asher groaned.
And Jade’s face flamed redder. “Fine! Let’s all go!” She raised her arms and gestured to the waiting car, eager to end the embarrassment.
She walked toward the limousine, head high, knowing she’d rather face the guillotine than announce to her entire family that she was pregnant… and Knox was the father.
* * *
Jade had set her jaw and didn’t speak on the ride to her parents’ house, so Asher and Knox picked up the slack. Ignoring the elephant in the back of the car—Knox’s relationship with Jade—they talked about the upcoming training camp in August and the Warriors’ prospects for making it to the postseason, despite it being so early in the football year.
Jade stared out the tinted window, and Knox put a hand on her leg, above her knee, and kept it there as he and Asher spoke. Other than an eyebrow lift and a partial glare, Asher didn’t mention it. He might as well set the stage for what was to come, Knox thought.
After a traffic-filled ride, they wound their way around tree-lined streets with the houses too far back from the road to be visible. The driver turned and the car pulled into a long driveway. A variety of expensive vehicles were parked, backing up what Asher had said. The entire family was waiting for them.
Knox knew he ought to be nervous, but the only people whose opinions mattered to him were Jade’s parents, and that was where he kept his focus. Approaching them after getting their daughter pregnant showed a lack of respect, and though he wasn’t sorry he and Jade were having a baby, he wished things hadn’t played out this way. Still, if it bound Jade to him and gave him a better shot at convincing her to be his, he’d work with it.
As the car shut off, Jade stiffened beside him. “Relax,” he whispered to her.
She treated him to an unladylike snort. “I didn’t plan on the whole family being here when I told my parents the news.”
Asher raised an eyebrow. “What news?”
“Let’s just go,” she muttered and leaned forward so the driver could help her out. Knox and Asher followed.
Michael and Serenity Dare were waiting at the front door for them. Jade hugged Serenity, then her dad, apologizing for disappearing on them.
“I understand Asher knew where you were and that you wanted to be by yourself, but next time, can you just let us hear your voice so we don’t worry?” Serenity, an attractive woman with raven-colored hair that hung to her shoulders, said.
“I will,” Jade promised.
“There won’t be a next time,” Knox said.
At his pronouncement, three sets of eyes turned his way. Thank God the rest of the family was somewhere else in the house, he thought, realizing he’d opened up the conversation Jade wasn’t ready for.
Sure enough, she glared at him.
“What does that mean?” Michael asked.
Since Knox and Asher had gone to business school together and had been friends for years, Knox knew Michael. He even called him by his first name.
“Knox means I promised I wouldn’t run again if something upsets me. I’ll stay and talk things out,” Jade said, jumping in to explain.
“What’s going on? I feel like you all know something that we don’t.” Michael put an arm around his wife’s shoulder and pulled her closer.
“Not everyone is clued in,” Asher said, still giving Knox a death stare.
Michael’s expression grew darker and his eyes narrowed. “Someone better explain.”
From being calm and certain he could handle telling Jade’s father he’d knocked up his daughter—though not in those words—Knox took another look at the man and broke into a sweat.
“I’d like your permission to marry Jade,” he blurted out, the words true but not the ones he’d planned on saying.
“What?” All four people, Michael, Serenity, Asher and Jade, spoke at once. But it was only Jade who Knox was concerned about, and she was not happy.
Arms folded across her chest, her eyes all but shooting daggers at him, she shook her head. “No, that’s not what he meant to say. Mom, Dad, Asher…” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m pregnant and Knox is the father.”
“What?” Her father stepped forward, and she held up a hand because she obviously wasn’t finished.
“We haven’t decided how to handle things, but we are not getting married just because I’m having his baby. However, I am keeping him. Or her.” Her hands came to rest on her belly, something he enjoyed watching her do.
“Holy shit,” Layla said, walking ahead of the rest of the family, who had chosen that moment to join them from the other side of the house.