“With every single fiber of my being,” he says, pushing my chin up with his finger to look at him. “I love you.” He kisses my lips. “I think the earth shifted the night I met you for the first time, and then when I found you again, it’s as if my life had a purpose. It’s so strange how you can love someone so much yet be afraid at the same time.” I put my hand up to his face. “Thank you, Jillian, for giving me the world.”
I shake my head. “See,” I say, getting on my tippy-toes. “That’s smooth.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “I’m really going to have to bring the big guns out when I propose.”
“Can we calm down and do one thing at a time?” I say to him, but if he asked me, there is only one answer I would give him, and that would be a yes.
“Yes, one thing at a time.” He agrees with me. “First, we call my aunt and make an offer on the house.” I nod, and he picks up his finger. “Then maybe I can persuade you to have sex with me in the middle of our new kitchen.”
I shake my head. “I’m not having sex with you in the middle of a house that we don’t actually live in.”
“What if they accept the offer?” he asks, and I glare at him.
“Fine.” He puts up his hands. “Have it your way. We’ll just have sex in the SUV.” He turns, picking up his phone. I walk back to look at the backyard, and I have to admit having a pool will be kick-ass.
The phone in my pocket beeps, and I take it out. Seeing it’s a text from Julia.
Julia: This house is insane.
Julia: They literally just bought a house on the phone.
I laugh, turning to look at Michael.
Julia: Congrats on making it Instagram official.
Me: What do you mean?
Julia: Go check out your man’s Instagram.
I quickly open Instagram, and there it is at the top of my newsfeed. A picture of the ultrasound with Baby Horton written under it.
MichaelHorton: Baby Horton coming off-season. Jillian and I couldn’t be happier to welcome our little one. He or she is already loved more than we can say. Thank you to my girl for giving me the world.
I wipe the tear away from my cheek as I finish reading it, and he gets off the phone. “It’s ours,” he says, and I just shake my head and hold up my phone.
“You announced our baby.” My voice comes out a bit shaky, and the smile fills my face. “And you called me your girl?”
“Well, you are my girl,” he says, putting the phone in his back pocket.
I walk to him. “How official is this our house?” I ask, and he just smirks.
“Official enough,” he says. “The owners don’t even live here, and all this furniture is staged.” I look around the house.
“So no one would care if we had sex on the table?” I point over to the table. “Or the couch.”
“Or the beds.” He comes to me, picking me up. “Or the showers,” he says, walking back up the stairs. “We can stay here all night and do every single surface.”
“Challenge accepted,” I respond, and we do spend all night here. Well, almost all night, we do fall asleep in my bed many hours later.
Chapter 37
Michael
“What time is everyone going to be here?” Jillian sticks her head out of the walk-in closet, and all I can do is smile at her. She’s fucking beautiful. “Don’t you look at me like that, Michael Horton.” She is also very feisty these days, and I don’t know if I blame her. She is due in six weeks. “Do you not see what state I’m in?” She points at her belly. “There is no more room for this child to grow into, but according to Alex, you had a big fat head, so I’m going to be giving birth to a turkey.”
I get off the bed and walk over to where she is standing in her bra and panties. “You look beautiful.” She glares at me. “And both Julia and Alex said you don’t even look pregnant from the back.” Her look goes from a glare to a death stare.
“Speaking of them…” She looks around when she hears voices. “Are they here?” She grabs a robe and heads out of our bedroom. It took a month for us to close on the house, and by the time we closed, the pool was already installed and working. In that month, we would sit down and go through pictures on Pinterest. Little did she know that I would send everything to my mother. When we got the keys to the house, and we came over, she was shocked but not surprised that I made it happen.