Lucky Baby (Crescent Cove 11)

“Of course I do.” The corner of my mouth lifted. “Ruby.”

“Jackass.” But she grinned.

Inside me, it was as if the sun beamed down after the storm, although the thunder still raged in my chest. I had a feeling it would for a while.

I lifted her hand. She was so cold. I kissed the tips of her fingers, my gaze roaming her face. Soaking in every detail from her freckles to the little divot in her upper lip as if I’d never seen her before. In a way, I hadn?

?t. This moment was unlike any that had come before or would come after.

“Let’s go take a test and find out.”

Immediately, she shook her head.

“Ruby, we have to know.”

“I know.”

“So, let’s just make sure.”

“No need.” She set her chin. “I know.”

Laughing was the only option I had left. “Fine, you know. What harm does it do to check the boxes?”

“I can’t deal with this now. I have to go be the maid of honor to a woman who checked out my tits and thinks we look like perfect bookends.”

“You haven’t seen your tits in that dress. Anyone who didn’t check them out is missing a pulse.”

“Somehow this isn’t sinking in. Do you get the gravity of this situation, Thor? This isn’t just a chaotic winter and back to normal. This is late night feedings and mopping up drool and changing diapers. I don’t do those things. I have no idea how. And how the hell am I supposed to raise a kid and do my job and make sure my brother is okay—”

“First, try taking a deep breath.”

She glared daggers at me, and my heart rejoiced.

She would be just fine. We would be fine.

“I don’t appreciate you being calm while I lose my mind. But hey, you don’t have to carry the kid. You just did your part and walked away whistling.”

“Any man who whistles and walks away from you is asking for a kick in the ass.”

Something crossed through her expression that had nothing to do with the specter of a baby. And I hated that even now in this moment that should belong only to us, he intruded. There was no place he couldn’t enter.

She’d engraved an all-access pass for him, and it was valid even after death.

She started to slide across the seat, but I gripped her arm, softly yet firmly. “I had no one to rely on growing up. No one. The only person I could count on was me. If you think that I’ll make my kid feel that way for even one second—even when he’s in your belly—you tangled with the wrong man, Ruby.”

Her eyes closed and when she spoke again, her voice wobbled. “I’m sorry. I’m doing this all wrong. But I only realized like half an hour ago. I should’ve figured it out when my damn tits exploded out of the shaper, but I was too busy appreciating them to think it through.”

“Me too.”

“Your tits are exploding? Here I didn’t even know you wore shapers.”

I wound a handful of her hair around my fist. “Smart ass.”

“Better than a dumb one. How the hell am I going to get through this wedding?”

“With me by your side. He’s important to me, Ruby,” I added quietly as her gaze swung to mine. “He’s my family, and by extension, so is Blondie. I have to do this for them. I want to. I would appreciate if you’d be by my side through it too.”

Her lower lip quivered so she bit it to make it stop. “So not fair.”