Her body molded against mine, and she whispered one word. “Yes.”
We spent the rest of the afternoon in bed wrapped up in one another. If I didn’t think Linnzi needed to eat at some point, I would have kept her in bed well into the night and most likely into the morning.
“Are you hungry?” I asked as I let my finger trail lightly up and down her arm.
“Starved.”
“Do you want to eat at home or go out?”
She let out a breath and replied, “I’m craving chicken fried steak.”
I laughed and held her tighter against me. “Mashed potatoes?”
“God, yes! With extra gravy. And peach cobbler. With ice cream.”
“Well, there’s only one place in town that I know makes the best chicken fried steak and serves the best peach cobbler.”
Linnzi lifted off of me and flashed me a brilliant smile. “Creekside!”
“I’m game if you are.”
I’d never seen her move so fast in my life. She practically jumped out of the bed and raced to get dressed. “Nolan, move! Now that I thought about it, I need it in my belly!”
Laughing once more, I slipped out of bed and quickly got dressed. Once we were in the car, I reached over and took Linnzi’s hand in mine. “When do you want to tell your folks about the baby?”
She drew in a slow, deep breath and exhaled while she turned and looked out the passenger window. “I want to keep it between us for a few more weeks. At least let me get out of the first trimester, and then I figured we would tell my folks.”
I gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “That sounds good to me.”
I felt her gaze on me and gave her a quick glance.
“What about names?” she asked, a hint of excitement laced in her voice.
“Names.” I groaned at the thought of going through that process again.
Giggling, she said, “I have a couple I like.”
“Let’s hear them.”
“Okay, well, if we have a boy, I was thinking Jackson.”
I felt my heart drop. “After my father?”
“Yes. Is that okay?”
My throat bobbed as I attempted to swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. The only thing I could do was nod. After a moment or two, I found my voice. “And if it’s a girl?”
“I haven’t come up with one yet. Do you have any you like?”
I thought for a few moments and remembered my mother saying that if she’d had a girl she would have named her Raney. “What about Raney?”
“The name your mother liked?”
“You remembered that?” I asked, stealing a quick look at her.
“Yes. If you’d been a girl, your name would have been Raney. I like it. A lot.”
I nodded. “Then we have our names. If it’s a boy, Jackson. A girl, Raney.”
Linnzi brought my hand up to her lips and kissed it. “What do you think about getting the peach cobbler to go and eating it in the back of your truck?”
I pulled my truck into the parking lot of Creekside, parked, and then faced Linnzi. She was giving me a sexy little smile as she waited for my answer. “Have I mentioned how much I love you?”
A sweet, yet sexy grin appeared on her face. “It’s been awhile. At least thirty minutes.”
“My bad,” I whispered as I ran my thumb over her bottom lip. “I love you to the moon and back, Linz.”
“I love you more, Nolan.”Nolan
Two years laterDUKE AND BELLE ran around the side of the house as if they were being chased by the big bad wolf. Or worse yet, our one-and-a-half-year-old son, Jackson.
As he ran by, I reached down and scooped him up. “What are you doing, little man?”
He giggled and placed his hand on the side of my face. “Dada! Goggies!”
“That’s right, Daddy is home, and he’s wondering why you’re trying to get the dogs?”
“Jackson!”
Jackson and I both looked over to see his mother, my beautiful wife, appear around the corner of the house.
“Oh, good. You caught him! You little stinker. I told you not to chase after the dogs. You know Mommy can’t run.”
I placed Jackson on top of my shoulders as I made my way over to Linnzi.
“You look beautiful today.”
She blushed and slowly shook her head. “You say that every day.”
“Because it’s true. You do look beautiful. Doesn’t your mommy look pretty, Jack?” I asked as I looked up at my son.
“Mama pwetty!”
Linnzi gave Jackson a sweet smile. “My sweet boy. You are only being so nice because you know you’re in trouble.”
“Oh no!” I said as I squeezed his legs, and Jackson let out the most adorable laugh, then motioned with his arms out to signal he wanted to play planes.
Linnzi reached up on her toes and kissed me. “You’re home early.”
“I told Paul I was taking the next few days off.”
With a tilt of her head, Linnzi asked. “Why?”