Not My Romeo (The Game Changers 1)

She glows at him. “Perfect!”

“What’s going on?” Cynthia says, her head cocked.

Elena smiles sheepishly as I wrap my arms around her.

“We have a surprise for you,” I murmur.

“Well, don’t drag it out,” Clara calls. “What are the balloons for?”

I lace my hands with Elena’s and stare into her eyes. “We’re pregnant,” I say, but I can’t stop looking at her. Always her.

“Oh my God, again?” comes from Giselle, who’d frozen as she tried to steal another fried okra someone put on the table.

“We planned it,” Elena says quietly, eyes on me. “All the babies. All the things we want.”

“Hmm,” I murmur and manage to kiss her again.

“The balloon is one of those gender-reveal things. Jack put me in charge so no one in the family would know until today,” Scotty says.

“You never said a word!” comes from Clara, who is glowering at him.

Cynthia’s eyes shine. “Well, I hope you aren’t going to torture us by waiting until after lunch! Pop that thing.”

I laugh, taking the balloon from Scotty. We thought about telling them as soon as Elena and I knew she was pregnant, but she wanted to do it like this, sharing the gender and the pregnancy all at once at Sunday lunch. We don’t even know, having given the sealed envelope from the doctor to Scotty a week ago.

“Thanks, man.” I glance at Elena, who gives me a shrug. Go ahead, her eyes suggest as she takes Eleanor from me.

“Nah, we’ll eat first,” I say.

“Stop that right now, Jack Hawke!” Cynthia exclaims.

Devon laughs. “Poor man. He’s probably terrified. Two freaking babies.”

“Chicken,” Aiden adds.

Laughing, I pop it with a fork, and pink confetti flies up in the air and floats gently down to the floor.

A lump builds in my throat, and my chest tightens. Overwhelmed. I want my whole life to be like this: me and her and what’s ours, sitting on our back porch, thanking the stars above for bringing her to Milano’s and straight to my arms.

She smiles up at me. Wipes my face with gentle hands. Shit. “Oh, Jack . . .”

“Happy, baby, just happy.”

Clara does a fist pump. “Girl! Daisy Lady Gang! DLG! The legacy grows!”

I just laugh, pull Elena closer, and kiss her.