Jigsaw (Hell's Handlers MC 3)

She didn’t have to tell him like that.

JIG BLINKED.

Then blinked again.

What? First off, Izzy was crying. Izzy didn’t cry. Ever.

And did she say…?

Holy shit. Izzy was pregnant.

It took a few more seconds before his brain kicked in enough to realize he was being a bag of dicks and letting his pregnant ol’ lady cry in his office while he stood there gaping.

“Holy shit, Izzy,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him.

As he rubbed her back and let her hormones go apeshit, he waited for the feeling. The chest-constricting panic. The mental block that hadn’t let him so much as be in the same room as Beth for so long. The repetitive what-ifs tapping at his brain like a woodpecker.

None of it came.

Instead, he saw a little girl with ink-black hair, bright blue eyes, and a kick-ass attitude running around, giving him and Izzy hell.

He saw Izzy, panting through contractions and cursing up a blue streak, calling him every name in the book and threatening to withhold her pussy for the rest of their lives.

He saw a boy, kneeling beside him, watching him work on his bike with rapt attention.

He saw his woman, waddling around with a rounded belly, wearing leather maternity pants and attempting to stuff her swollen feet into those damn heels she loved so much.

He saw them. As a family.

With children.

“Izzy,” he crooned, rubbing circles on her back. “Baby, it’s okay.”

She sniffed and lifted her head. Black tracks ran down her face, and he tried to wipe them away, but just made them worse, giving her a true raccoon look.

Still the most beautiful woman around.

“You didn’t want this. You told me straight out you couldn’t, wouldn’t, ever have another child.”

He had, and that was a shame he’d feel for a long time. “Well, then I shouldn’t have fucked you all those times without a condom.”

Izzy tried to laugh, but it mostly came out as a hiccup. “That’s what Shell said.”

“She’s pretty wise. She’s a mother, too, you know.”

“I didn’t think you’d react like this. I thought—” She shook her head and rested her cheek on the soaked T-shirt covering his chest.

“You thought I’d freak the fuck out and ditch you. Really, Iz? After everything? You still think I’m gonna cut and run the second shit gets dicey?”

She swallowed and shook her head. “No. I know you won’t. I just had a momentary lapse and panicked.”

It was rare, but every once in a while, her eyes shone with a vulnerability that broke his heart. Izzy’s childhood was shit and had shaped her into the distrustful woman she was. They’d made so much progress over the past few months, but he couldn’t begrudge her a few demons sneaking in every now and again.

“I love you, Isabella, and I will love this child just as much.”

She swallowed, tears filling her eyes once again. “God, Jig, I love you, too. So much. I can’t even remember what my life was like before you, and I never want to think about it without you.”

“You’ll never have to, baby. You’re stuck with me for good. Guess this means you’re going to have to marry me.”

“What?” She gasped. “Jig, no, you don’t have to do that. I know you never want—”

He covered her mouth with his palm. “I didn’t want. But then I met you. And I want you. I want you every day of my life. And I want every motherfucker out there to know it. So, Isabella Monroe, will you and our baby have me and my crazy MC family for the rest of your lives?” He’d planned to ask her sometime down the road. But why should he wait? He wasn’t going anywhere and never planned to let her get away from him. It was time to lock it down.

“God, Jig. Yes, yes I’ll marry you.” The tears spilled out, and she rubbed them away with angry strokes. “Fucking hormones.”

Jig chuckled. “Guess I’m going to have to get used to a weepy Izzy for the next few months, huh?”

Izzy snorted. “That might be enough to make any man run away.” Then she smiled. “But you know…” Snaking her arms around his neck, she rose on her tiptoes and spoke against his lips. “There are a few perks to these hormones.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah.” Izzy pressed her mouth to his and Jig’s heart soared.

He’d been given a second chance with this warrior-queen, and there was no woman he’d rather have kicking ass right by his side.