Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Yes,” she snapped. “I needed those samples to be delivered last week, not this weekend. The fall launch is just around the corner, and I have yet to approve one piece of the designs you were responsible for.” She paused. “No! I don’t care about your excuses. If I don’t get samples by tomorrow, you’re fucking fired.” She hung up as I walked toward her.
“Rough day?”
She jumped, turning with her hand over her heart. “You just scared the shit out of me!”
“Have I told you how sexy you are when you’re being the boss?”
She scoffed. “I hate not meeting deadlines. And the worst part is she knows that.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“No but thank you for asking. That helps.”
Without thinking twice about it, I pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry you’re having a bad day.”
At first, she froze but quickly eased into my embrace.
“I fucking missed you.”
She giggled in that cute-as-shit sort of way when I started to rub my facial hair all over her neck.
“Why don’t you make your man a drink?”
“Okay.” She nodded, sidestepping me. “I’ll go find him.”
I chuckled, gripping and tugging her against my chest before wrapping my arms around her from behind. “You mad because I didn’t say please? But look at you, all barefoot and pregnant, just how I want you.”
“You’re such an asshole!” She laughed, swatting me away. Her weak efforts to get free were no match for me.
I spanked her ass, letting her go. “And that’s why you love me.”
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she walked over to the bar in the corner of the room. I watched the way she perfectly swayed her ass—fully aware she was doing it for my benefit.
“I’m going to take a quick rinse. I’ll be right back.”
After I finished, I threw on a pair of gym shorts and found her sitting in the living room with my drink on the coffee table. Her tits were getting bigger by the day, showing through the thin white fabric of her tank top.
“No bra today? Are you doing that for me too?”
“Hardly. I need to go buy new ones. Mine don’t fit anymore.”
“You think maybe it’s time to buy some maternity clothes?”
She snickered. “Not until I come out with my own next summer.”
I smiled. “Am I getting you pregnant next summer too?”
She scoffed out a nervous chuckle, realizing what she just said.
“I meant… I mean… I…”
It was my turn to chuckle, sipping on my whiskey. “Don’t worry, sugar. I have no problem with knocking you up again.”
She kept my sincere expression for a moment before sitting in the farthest seat away from me.
“Why so far away?”
Ignoring my question, she grabbed the stack of mail on the end table that Adele left for us every day.
“What’s this?” she asked, trying to hide her amusement with this conversation.
“Exactly what it looks like.”
She beamed. “These are baby magazines.”
“I thought we could look through them together.”
“You subscribed to these?”
I nodded. “Since the baby will be here soon, I thought we could figure out what to do with her bedroom.”
“What?” Her eyebrows pinched together.
“You heard me.”
Her stare wandered from one magazine to the next, biting on her bottom lip to suppress her excitement. For the next hour, we found what we liked and didn’t until, out of nowhere, she loudly gasped, placing her hand on her belly.
My heart dropped to the ground, thinking something was wrong, but when I set my hand on her stomach as well, I felt baby girl kick. It was the first time we did, and the rush of emotions that followed for us both was evident on our faces.
“Hallie,” she murmured to her belly, catching me off guard.
“Hallie?” I repeated my mother’s name.
“Yeah.” She beamed, glancing my way. “I don’t know why I just said that—it just came out, Ledger.”
As if baby girl understood, she kicked again.
I was at a loss for words. “You want to name her after my mom?”
“I think she wants us to name her after your mom.”
With wide eyes, I expressed, “I’d love nothing more than to name our baby girl after my mom.”
She nodded. “I can’t think of a better woman to name her after, Ledger.”
I crouched down on the floor to kiss her stomach.
“Hallie,” I whispered, rubbing my lips against Hazel’s silky soft skin. She smelled of cocoa butter and sunscreen. My favorite scents.
“I love you so much.”
There was no chance this wasn’t my mom’s doing. I asked her for a sign…
And I couldn’t think of a better one than this.
Twenty-One
Hazel
I wasn’t sure if I could handle all these new emotions Ledger opened up inside me. Each day brought on more guarded feelings in ways I never thought possible. I was officially in my third trimester, and Hallie had made her presence known. I was getting to the point of not being able to get out of bed or off the couch by myself, needing more help from Ledger or his family.