That makes her laugh, a soft, broken thing that turns into a sob, before she sniffs again and wipes her eyes with the heels of her hand. "No, Cannon, it's..." She shakes her head, clamping her mouth shut, apparently unable to even speak about it, it's that bad.
Then she hands it to me, and my eyes widen.
Suddenly, all at once, I understand.
Suddenly, I'm almost as overcome with emotion as she is, my eyes stinging as I pull her against me again, my jaw dropping in shock. "Is this...?"
"Yes." She finally smiles, and it's a sight for sore eyes, the way she beams, watery and shaky, through her tears. Because those weren't tears of sorrow, not at all. She's been weeping with joy.
I turn the pregnancy test over in my hand, and hear myself shout aloud at the sight of the telltale little pink plus sign at the base of the stick. "Oh my God, Rina."
"It's finally happening," she whispers into my chest, before she tilts her head back to let me kiss her, deep and slow. "Cannon." She meets my eyes with a bleary smile that makes me kiss the corners of her lips, unable to stop touching her. "Cannon. We're having a baby."
And in that moment, hearing those words, for the first time in my life, I feel invincible. Like the two of us, together, can accomplish anything in the world. I grip her to my chest, hoist her off her feet, and whirl her in a circle as she laughs, unable to stop myself.
Then, realizing, I drop her back to her feet with a worried frown and loosen my grip on her shoulders, peering down at her. "Oh, God, did I hurt you? Did I hurt the baby?"
She laughs and rolls her eyes, shaking her head as she leans in to kiss my cheek. "The baby is fine, Cannon. Perfect. We all will be."
My eyes light up as they meet hers, and I can't conceal the stupid grin on my face. "Rina. We're going to have a family."
"We are." She grins, and I bend down to kiss her again. "So much for NSA," she murmurs against my mouth, and we both laugh, hard.
"Fuck NSA," I reply. Then I kiss her again, for real this time, my hands running through her hair, and we're distracted all over again by the familiar, reassuring, fire-igniting feel of one another.
"You're going to make a great father," she whispers to me, and those words send a thrill through my body.
"Only because you're already the perfect mother," I tell her. Then, grinning, she slips her hand into mine, and checks over my shoulder at the clock on the wall between the distant elevators.
"What do you think, baby daddy?" Her eyebrows rise, suggestive. "Do we have time to sneak home for lunch break today?"
My gaze drops over her, roaming across her perfect body. Her perfect body, which is now carrying our child. "What do you know?" I reply. "An urgent meeting has suddenly come up. For both of us. In the bedroom."
With a giggle that turns into a squeal, she lets me lift her again, gentler this time, and with her cradled in my arms, I stride toward the elevator, all too eager to get back to ravishing the gorgeous, soon-to-be mother of my child.
Epilogue
Rina
Eight Months Later
God, I'm getting huge. That's the thought that runs through my mind as I size myself up in the mirror, turning this way and that to see how well the new maternity dress I'm wearing fits.
To be honest, I hate the way almost everything looks on me these days. But Cannon keeps insisting that he loves it. "You look sexier than ever," he tells me every chance he gets, and what's more, I can tell by the hungry look in his eyes as he sizes me up each morning that he means it.
"It's sexy to know that you're carrying my child," he always explains, whenever I ask how on earth he can find me sexy on days like these.
As for me, I'm thrilled that our baby is healthy and growing big and strong. But frankly, at this point in the pregnancy, I just can't wait to have the baby—sooner than later, if possible. My due date isn't for another two weeks, but already I'm eager to pop this kid out.
We don't know yet whether it is a boy or a girl, so we prepared for both. As it turned out, Cannon and I wound up moving out of our fancy penthouse loft after all—though not exactly in the circumstances that I imagined when I first decided to try for a baby all on my own. Instead, we bought a house a little bit outside of town—only a fifteen-minute commute, so we don't have to drive too far in the mornings. But it's worth the drive for the adorable house itself. It has five bedrooms, because we've already decided that, after this little rascal comes out, we want to have at least two more, as quickly as possible.
Yes, it will be crazy to raise three kids who are all young and close in age, but we think it will be fun, too. We want our kids to have siblings to goof off with, siblings close enough in age to sympathize with their growing pains.
And, we're already thinking ahead to our retirement. By the time we're retired, if we have our kids now, they'll all be grown and successfully living off in the world... Leaving me and Cannon free to do some serious chilling, if that's what we have in mind.
Everything about our lives is falling perfectly into place. Exactly the way we wanted things to pan out. It's like all of my goals suddenly decided they'd come true at once, even the goals I never even knew I had—like settling down with someone. I didn't know I wanted that. I never dreamed about having a wedding—even now, I don't really plan on it. Cannon and I figure we'll get legally married later down the road, to make things easier for our kids, but I don't like the idea of spending hours and hours of my life planning an elaborate celebration with an overpriced dress. I just want to celebrate with my friends and family, have a big backyard cookout and get a justice of the peace to stop by. Something easy, simple. Just like me and Cannon.
Who knew I could want all of this? I thought I only wanted a child of my own. I had no idea that having a child with someone, someone I consider to be the love of my life no less, would feel even more incredible.
Better than incredible. It feels like a living dream.
Well, aside from how I feel right now, as I rest a hand on the small of my back and wince a little, trying to bend down to slip on my shoes.
"Here," Cannon insists, bursting out of the closet, his tie half askew. "Let me help." He kneels in front of me to lace up my shoes, one after the other. I groan and roll my eyes skyward.
"Thank you," I say. "I could have done it though."
He laughs at my stubborn insistence to remain as independent as possible, the way he always does. "I know, Rina. But it's easier if I help."
I concede that point, and hold his hand as he climbs back to his feet beside me, stopping halfway to plant a fat kiss on my stomach as he does. "Tell me again why we need to dress up for this?" I ask.
"Because Chris wants to surprise Lacy," Cannon explains. "She thinks they're just meeting at the movie theater. She doesn't know he's surprising her with a big fancy dinner nearby."
"With all her work friends?" I say, tilting my head to crack it as I follow him out of our bedroom. "That doesn't sound like Lacy's kind of thing." Personally, I love huge parties, especially now that everyone in both our lives knows that we're together, so we don't need to hide anything from our friends. But Lacy is more of an introvert, quiet evenings in with a few friends type.
"Don't worry." Cannon squeezes my hand. "You're always so worried about details! Lacy will love it. Chris knows her, after all."
That he does, surprisingly. I wasn't sure about them at first—I worried that my friend was getting in a little too fast with the office playboy. But then again, I suppose I'm not one to talk. And ever since he finally confessed to her how he feels, Chris has been completely devoted to Lacy, in a way I've never seen him do before.
Who knows? Maybe they put something in the water at work. I grin to myself at the private joke as I follow Cannon outside, and let him help me into the passenger side of his car. We're going to have to upgrade to a much bigger vehicle once the baby is born—this one is cute and sporty, but it won't fit a car seat easily, much less the three car seats we plan on needing eventually.
But far from feeling overwhelming, that thought—the thought of all the things we'll have to accomplish together in the future—actually makes me relax. Because I have Cannon by my side, and together, we make the world's best team. I know that whatever we set our minds to, just like making this baby in the first place, we'll be able to accomplish. We make each other better in that way—we make each other stronger.
I'm thinking about that—happy thoughts—when Cannon steers us onto the highway. Only then does something register in my mind. Something off.
"Hey wait a minute," I say. "The movie theater is the other direction."
"It's a different theater," he explains with an easy smile. "A few townships over. Close to the restaurant we're using to surprise Lacy."
"Oh." I sit back in my seat, frowning. "I didn't realize there was a theater in this direction..." We've lived here for the same amount of time, after all.
But Cannon just shrugs a shoulder. "It just opened last year I think."
Hmm. Well. It's not the movie theater we hooked up in, that's for sure. But then again, in retrospect, I haven't been to the movies much since that night—been too busy with everything at home, getting our house and our lives ready for this baby. "Didn't realize," I say as I lean back in my seat with a sigh. "I just hope this dinner doesn't drag on long. I'm tired."
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll wake up once we're hanging out with your friends," he promises.
That again. "Listen, are you sure Chris thinks Lacy will like this?" I add, frowning.
Cannon laughs. "Relax, Rina." He reaches across the driving panel to squeeze my knee, reassuring. "Don't go all worried Mama Bear on me yet."
"Okay, okay," I reply, though I'm grinning, too. "Even though I'm telling you, this is a terrible idea. Lacy isn't me."
"I know. And you're the one who loves huge events, right?"
I snort and roll my eyes, shifting in my seat. "What can I say? I like being able to share my life with everybody."
"Which is why your baby shower had... how many guests again?" He chuckles under his breath.
I roll my eyes. "Having a two hundred person baby shower is totally normal in my family," I protest. "I have a lot of aunts, okay?"
"And cousins, and second cousins, and friends from home..."
I groan and punch his arm. "Oh stop whining. You had fun hanging out with the uncles and boy cousins, didn't you?"
"A great time. But I can still make fun of you for putting on such a big ordeal."
I shake my head with a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you, Cannon."
"For the hot sex," he replies immediately.
I laugh and shift in my seat with a little hum. "Ah, yes. True. That does make a lot of your incessant teasing worthwhile."
He reaches a hand across to squeeze my knee, and then slowly slides his hand up my inner thigh, higher and higher, until he cups my pussy through my panties. I squirm and glance down at his hand, no longer visible beneath the broad swell of my stomach.
"Mm, especially this type of teasing."
"I know it's your favorite," he says as he cups his fingers, curling them along the lips of my pussy.
He has me on the edge of coming when he parks the car. I gasp in protest, wriggling against his hand, but he withdraws it with a smirk and eyes me, his gaze dark and steady. "We're here."
"You bastard," I protest, though only halfheartedly. I know he'll give me as good as I want later tonight, anyway.
Only then do I look out our car window again and frown in confusion. Because we aren't where I expected we'd be. I was so distracted by his caresses, his touches as he stroked my pussy for half the ride, that I didn't notice where we were driving. Now, though, I stare in confusion around the empty parking lot, which is definitely not beside a movie theater. In fact, I can't even tell what we're next to—all I see is a little cobblestone pathway leading off through some trees at the far end of the lot.
"Where are we?" I ask as Cannon comes around to my side of the car to open the passenger door for me. He offers me a hand, and I grab on as I climb out of the car, wishing for about the millionth time that I could do that somewhat gracefully in this state. No such luck.
"You don't recognize it?" he says, taking my hand.
I frown at my surroundings as he begins to lead me toward the cobblestone path. "Vaguely..." We pass a sign, and I startle with realization. "Hey, wait a minute. Is this... campus?" My eyebrows shoot up.
It's been four years since I set foot on the law school where Cannon and I both studied. A lot has apparently changed in those four years—they planted a ton of trees around the lot, not to mention added this cute little cobblestone pathway.
"What's going on?" I ask, my voice dropping lower now with suspicion.
"A lot has changed since we've been back here," Cannon says. "I figured we should take a stop to look. Don't worry. It won't take long, I promise. We'll still make our date tonight."
I frown, the suspicion growing in the pit of my stomach as I trail after him. We duck through the trees, and my eyes widen even farther. Up ahead, the beautiful stone buildings of our campus, modeled after Oxford College, and styled in the same British old-world way, with gorgeous stone towers and sweeping archways in between them, come into view.
But there are a ton of new features—trees lining the walkway up to campus, some of them flowering. Most are in bloom now, and I stare overhead in wonder as we step through falling petals.
"We should probably go," I whisper, when I catch sight of a tent up ahead, one of those big white event tents, erected between the buildings for parties and the like. "It looks like something is happening here."
"You're right," Cannon whispers back. But he keeps walking closer, keeps drawing me toward that tent. From here, I can see lights strung along the outside of it, and inside too, twinkling in the distance. There are a ton of tables all around, and chairs beside them, plus a big dinner buffet in the middle. It almost looks like the way you'd set up for something formal, like a wedding.
We reach the edge of the tent, and Cannon turns to me. "But that's only because something is happening here," he adds.
"Then we should go," I start to say, but he stops me with a look.
"Rina," he murmurs.
Then my jaw drops.
Because Cannon sinks to one knee.
"What..." I manage.
He whips a tiny box from his back pocket in one smooth motion. Is that...?
"I hope you might be able to help me with a problem I'm having, Rina," he says, a twinkle in his eye. "See, I have this elaborate event planned... But it will only be able to work if I get your help. And I know, based on our past arrangements, that we work really well together, as business partners. There's just one problem this time..." He winks up at me, and opens the box.
Nestled in the box is the most perfect sapphire-and-diamond ring that I've ever seen, glinting up at me. It's delicate, just the perfect size for my finger, and my hand shoots to my mouth in shock.
"See, I'm going to have to ask you to agree to something that is very much not NSA. In fact, it has all the strings attached." His dark eyes glitter as they fix on mine. "Rina Smith... Will you marry me?"
I laugh, breathless, still surprised by him doing this—we talked about this, about not wanting to have a big wedding, or make a big deal of it. But, still, the romantic touch is endearing. "Of course, Cannon," I murmur.
He slides the ring onto my finger and stands, all in one smooth motion. "Thank God," he says, and I laugh as he crushes his mouth to mine. "For a moment I was worried you were going to leave me hanging in front of everyone."
I chuckle again and roll my eyes. "What do you mean in front of everyone?"
"I mean in front of all the guests I've invited to our wedding." He turns, then, and now I can't help it. My jaw drops, and I gasp aloud.
Behind Cannon, my friends and family—yes, all of my family, all the distant aunts and uncles and cousins included—flood into the big tent, dr
essed up for the occasion. And as I watch them file into place, into two rows, along with Cannon's friends and his family, I realize what's going on.
"Is this...?" My eyes widen.
Ahead of us, our friends and relatives line up to form... an aisle. And at the head of the aisle, Cannon's brother—who I remember with a start is an ordained minister—shoots us both a wink, and opens up a prayer book.
"You said you didn't want to have to plan a whole wedding, especially with the baby on the way," he's saying. "But I know how much you love big events, and that you wanted to celebrate with your family. So I thought I'd plan it for you..."
"Cannon," I breathe, finally finding my voice.
"I hope this is okay," he adds, glancing down at me, his eyes suddenly going worried. "I thought here would be nice, in the place where we met, all those years ago."
"Nice?" My voice shoots up an octave, and I laugh, shaking my head. "Cannon, this is... perfect. Thank you so much."
"No." He leans down to kiss me once more. "Thank you, Rina. For making my life complete." He squeezes my hands, and I smile up at him, feeling all our friends watching. Over his shoulder, Lacy shoots me a wink and a wave. I grin at the spectators, then lean up to kiss Cannon softly on the lips.
"All the strings attached," I tell him. "That starts now."
"Let's go start the rest of our life," he agrees. With that, he tucks my hand underneath his arm, and together we walk up the aisle toward our future.
Together.
THE END