Daddy Undercover (Crescent Cove 9)

The Ramos men knew they had to stay put, but that didn’t mean they weren’t bored out of their minds with the waiting game. My brother was stuck on a site, but he would be along after work.

Suddenly, Brooks broke off from the crowded corner and went to the window. He took his phone out. I braced for him to tell me he was called back for some emergency. He turned to face the outside, his other hand up to his opposite ear so he could hear his conversation.

Like a magnet, I crossed the room to him and touched his back. Usually, he’d hold a finger up to me to give him a second, but this time, he pulled me under his arm.

“Yes. I can definitely be there. There’s a lab here, actually. I’ll have the report sent to you and to me. Right. I can make it next week. Perfect.” He smiled down at me. “Thanks, Preston.”

Oh, his lawyer.

“Well, looks like the paperwork is a go. The judge agreed to go ahead with the official paperwork to make Sami mine.” He tucked a lock of hair around my ear. “She could be ours. She already is.”

Before I could reply, Jake burst into the room. “It’s a boy!”

The chaos that ensued had everyone jumping up and swarming around him for details.

Brooks hauled me in for a hug, lifting me off my feet. “Well, look at you, Tia Bee.”

I couldn’t even think. I was being passed around from family member to family member, friend to friend. Large firefighters gave me slapping hugs, and in the middle of it all, Jared was standing by the window with a smile on his face and his fists tucked under his arms.

All official-looking in the insanity.

An older nurse appeared. She hadn’t been nearly as flirtatious and amused by the waiting room explosion. “Excuse me, I realize this is amazing news, but we still are a hospital and have other mothers-to-be trying to—ohh.”

Ben and Adam Parish, one of the newer firefighters that had just moved to town, took turns spinning the nurse around in a celebratory twirl. Ben started it and Adam finished it with a huge smile, twinkling ridiculously blue eyes and with a hint of the devil in his dark curls.

He dipped the nurse and laid a kiss on her lips before lifting her back up. “We have a new little boy in our midst. Time to celebrate.”

Jared slipped an arm around my waist and drew me back against him. “Your people sure know how to do it up. Imagine what a wedding would be like?” He kissed my neck. “Are you going in to see your sister?”

My heart was racing. Wedding?

Babies.

His baby—ours?

No, she was his. Technically.

But God, she felt like mine. Maybe she would be the only baby that would ever be mine.

Nothing seemed as important and amazing as the love I had for this man. But would it still be the same when he found out that maybe all of this wouldn’t be part of our future? That we could only share it with others. Could I really take that from him?

He’d flourished so much since Sami had come into his—our—life.

Dios, I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe around all the joy and emotion overflowing in the room.

I nodded, but I took a moment to hold him closer, to press my cheek against his warm, bearded one. The earthy scent of him wrapped around me as surely as the warmth from his arms and chest.

“I need to see Ric. Sisters.”

He kissed my temple. “Understood. I need to do the blood test for my lawyer. I’m going to duck downstairs before the lab closes for the day. See if they can get me in.”

I turned in his arms and hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re getting a little closer to her being yours. Not that she isn’t already.”

He drew back and cupped my face. “She’s as mu

ch yours as she is mine. And not because I expect you to step into the role, but because you were made for it, Bee.”

Oh, how I wished I was. But I would always feel like Sami was mine. Even if there was no future for her father and I, she’d always know how much I loved her.