by Thorpe, Elle
Riley kissed all three of us before he followed Ethan out the door.
“See you around, Ethan!” Sadie called after them, then flopped onto the end of my bed dramatically once the door had closed.
I stifled a laugh but didn’t comment on her obvious, schoolgirl crush. I remembered what it felt like to be fifteen. You fell in love at the drop of a hat. It was harmless. And we had other, more important things to discuss.
“Sadie, can we talk?
The girl took her arm off her face and turned her head.
“You’re a bit amazing, you know that?” I told her.
She shook her head as she sat up. “You’re the one who had a baby!”
I reached out and took her hand. “You kept your cool and called the ambulance. And you obviously knew about your dad’s accident but you kept it to yourself to protect me while I was in labour. Thank you.”
She shrugged, then stared down at her hands. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a brat.”
It was my turn to shrug. She had been a brat, but Riley and I hadn’t made very good decisions either. “I know your dad has been on you to accept me, but I get it. I really uprooted your life and put you in the spotlight. I know my lifestyle isn’t normal and it’s not easy to get used to. I’m sorry you keep getting caught in the crossfire.”
She nodded, then stood, moving to my side to give me a one-armed hug. She ran a finger down the sleeping baby’s nose. “Thank you for my sister. I always wanted one. I’m glad she’s not a boy.”
I laughed and hugged her back. “Me, too. We’re going to have a ball dressing her up.”
Silence settled over us as we both watched the baby sleep.
Then I said quietly, “You know there are advantages to having me in your life. I can introduce you to Tate. I saw his posters all over your walls.”
“Eh.” Sadie sighed. “I don’t think I’m into him anymore. He’s such a…boy.”
She gazed longingly towards the door Ethan had walked out of earlier, and I stifled a laugh. Sadie wandered off, no doubt to see if Ethan was still lurking around, and I placed our still nameless baby in the bassinet beside my bed. It almost broke my heart to do so. The moment I put her down, I wanted to pick her straight back up again. She was so beautiful she took my breath away, with her tiny button nose and rosebud lips. My heart seemed to have tripled in size in the past twenty-four hours—letting in not just the baby, but Sadie, too. They joined Riley who had held my heart for years.
I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes, the first waves of exhaustion washing over me. I’d been riding high since I’d gone into labour, but I was suddenly aware of aches and pains in muscles I didn’t know I had. And I was tired. So very tired. I reached out a hand, grasping the side of my daughter’s bassinet and pulling her as close to me as I could get her. She didn’t stir, and I let sleep take me.
I awoke sometime later to the sound of the door creaking open and a hushed argument. Riley slept in the chair beside my bed, his hand resting on top of mine, both of us still holding the bassinet where our little miss slept soundly. I turned to the door and saw four heads poking around it.
“Sorry,” Low whispered. “But we couldn’t wait to come meet the newest edition to the gang.”
I laughed and beckoned Elodie, Jamison, Reese, and Low into the room.
The guys held back, standing at the end of the bed. Elodie came to my side and hugged me gently, while Reese went straight for the bassinet.
“Ohhhhhhhh,” she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Then she burst into tears.
“Hey.” I laughed, touching her hand.
She wrapped her fingers around mine and squeezed as she shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I can’t help it. She’s just so beautiful.”
Low went to her side and peered into the bassinet. A slow smile spread across his face. He put his arm around his wife and pulled her to his side, dropping a kiss to her hair. He whispered something in her ear, and the smile she gave him in return was blinding.
Riley finally woke up, and rounds of congratulations and back slapping continued while he grinned like the cat that got the canary. Flowers were thrust into my arms along with gifts, and I opened them all, cooing over how sweet they were. The baby woke up and was passed around like the world’s most precious football, while I grinned from ear to ear. Reese cried again when the baby was placed into her arms.
“What the hell is going on with you? PMS?” I asked, unable to hold back my laughter. She had black mascara tracks running down both cheeks.
She shook her head and gave Low a questioning look.
He shrugged, then said, “Up to you.”
They had the attention of the room now, and Reese turned back to us. “I didn’t want to say anything…” she said to me with pleading eyes. “I didn’t want to steal your thunder…”
I waved my hand around in the air. “No thunder to be stolen. Spill your guts, woman.”
I watched her closely as she nodded, then rummaged through her handbag. She came up triumphant with a blurry black-and-white photo that I immediately recognised as an ultrasound picture. God knew, I’d had enough of those recently. I could spot one a mile away. My eyes bulged.
“We’re having a baby!” she shouted.
And then it was my turn to cry. Emotion caught hold of me so quickly that a sob burst from my chest before I could control it. The guys all looked over at me, startled by my weeping, but I motioned for Reese to come forward and wrapped my arms around her. I knew exactly how much she’d wanted a baby and how worried she’d been that it might not happen for her. In the background, Elodie assured the guys my reaction was completely normal. Hormones and all that. Reese and I were both full of them, and we hugged and sobbed, and then eventually, laughed at exactly how ridiculous we were being.
She pulled away, but I didn’t let go of her hand. I called Elodie into the little circle.
“We’ll all have babies the same age,” I practically sang. “We can go to mummy and me classes together and take them to the park, and they’ll grow up to be best friends.”
Tears were threatening my eyes again, but I didn’t want to cry anymore. This was the happiest day of my life. I couldn’t imagine anything topping it.
Epilogue
Riley
Bianca’s blonde hair fell through my fingers like golden strands of silk. I smoothed it back off her face, so beautiful and relaxed with sleep. We’d had a rough few hours after our friends had left the hospital. The baby had been unsettled for most of the evening. Probably protesting the fact she still had no name. Bianca had fed her, multiple times, then handed her to me to burp and settle. It was strange to have this new little person we didn’t yet know, but already loved so much, in our lives. We weren’t sure what made her happy, and neither of us had any experience with babies, so it was all trial and error. We were both exhausted by the time she finally fell into a deep sleep and I was able to crawl into bed with Bianca. She’d immediately curled into my chest and gone to sleep. But, despite my exhaustion, I hadn’t been able to nod off. The private hospital room was dimly lit and quiet. Cosy really. But something tugged at me.
Bianca’s eyelids fluttered open, and then she smiled up at me. But the smile quickly fell from her face, and she sat up a little straighter.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Her gaze sought out our daughter, who still slept soundly, and I shook my head.
“She’s fine,” I whispered, placing a kiss to Bianca’s temple. “I’ve been watching her this whole time.”
Bianca relaxed a little but frowned. “You need to sleep, too.”
“I know, it’s just…” I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask her to marry me. Again. She was already my partner, my lover, and the mother of my child. But I wanted more. I wanted her to be my wife. I wanted to stand up in front of all our friends and family and tell the world that she was mine and I was hers. Because that was how it always should have been. We’d wasted so much time. I didn
’t want to waste a second more. But she’d already turned me down, more than once, and I didn’t want to ruin this amazing day with the memory of another failed marriage proposal. So instead, I changed the subject.
“She still needs a name, B.” I trailed my fingers along her bare arm, just enjoying the feel of her skin. “We haven’t even spoken about one.”
“I know. Got any ideas?”
“Brittany. After your sister.”
Bianca leant in and brushed her lips over mine. “You’re beautiful for even suggesting that. And I would really like for Brittany to be her middle name. But I think she deserves her own first name. Something that’s just hers.”
“Chloe? Amelia? Isabelle?”
She shook her head.
“Lily? Summer? Skye?”
She pulled a face, and I sighed.
“Work with me here, B. Give me some sort of feedback at least so I know if I’m on the right track.”
She looked over at our sleeping bundle for a long moment. Then she turned back and said slowly, “What about Billie?”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Billie?”
She nodded. “You wanted William for a boy. Billie is kind of the feminine version.”
“Billie.” A grin spread across my face. “I love it. But it’s not the pretty, girly name I thought you’d want.”
“Oh, you better believe I’ll still be buying her all the adorable dresses. But I think this little miss is going to have a lot of her daddy in her, too. I can already see her kicking ass on a football field somewhere.”
I laughed. “Damn straight. Billie Brittany Clarke.” Her full name made me smile. “She’ll be BB, just like her mum.”
I pulled Bianca back against me, and when she lifted her face, I couldn’t help but press my mouth against hers. I hadn’t expected more than a brief brush of lips, but Bianca held me to her, opening her mouth, her tongue finding mine. We kissed for a long time. Slow and sweet and so full of feeling I had a lump in my throat by the time we broke away. I pressed my forehead to hers.
“You’re everything, B. You, and our girls. You know that, right?” I whispered.
She nodded, unshed tears shining in her eyes. I knew why. I felt it, too.
“Ask me now,” she whispered.
My heart leapt, and I pulled back to study her face, checking to make sure she was saying what I thought she was saying.
“Go on,” she encouraged with a laugh as she took in my stunned expression.
I found her fingers and threaded mine in between, then brought them to my lips. I kissed each one in turn. “I’ve loved you for longer than I can even remember, Bianca. You’ve given me everything, now I want to do the same for you. I want to spend every day for the rest of my life, making you as happy as I am right this very minute.”
A tear spilled over and ran down her cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb.
“Let me try, B. Let me try to be the man who makes you happy for the rest of your life. Let me be the one to wake up beside you every morning. Let me be the last person you see each night. I want it all. And I want it with you.”
I needed to wrap it up because my words were becoming hoarse and I didn’t want to cry in the middle. “Bianca James, will you please marry me?”
Even though she’d asked for this, my heartbeat still faltered in the momentary silence that followed.
“Yes,” she cried loudly.
Billie let out a startled cry, and we both froze.
Bianca clapped a hand over her mouth and frantically rocked the baby’s bed. “No, no, no. Go back to sleep, baby girl.”
Billie scrunched her tiny features, but her eyes fluttered closed again, and Bianca and I both let out a relieved sigh. She turned back to me.
“Yes,” she said again, in a much quieter voice.
I laughed as I wrapped her in my arms, finding her lips once more. My chest swelled with pride. I had everything I’d always wanted.
And this was only the beginning.
THE END
Want to see what Riley and Bianca were like the first time they dated? Pick up Only the Positive, the first book in the Only You series today. Or keep reading for a sneak peek!
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Sneak Peek! Only the Positive
Chapter One - Reese
The low, barely audible rolling of an approaching storm reached me first. Then the thunder came as the horses rounded the bend, their hooves churning up the track, chunks of dirt and grass flying in their wake.
I stood frozen, mesmerised. Their bodies were sleek with sweat. The flash of the jockeys’ silks, the crack of their whips, the shouts of the surrounding crowd—it all added to the roar. That noise alone, so like the booming of thunder when a storm is right upon you, sent shivers through my body. Goosebumps rose on my arms, and my adrenaline kicked in as my heart raced.
My smile morphed into a grin as I waited for it. That magical moment. The pack of thoroughbreds thundered into the final straight and it happened, just like I knew it would. The sound became muffled. The crowd disappeared. Everything around me ceased to exist and it was me and the horses in my happy place. That one place where my problems and what I’d done didn’t matter.
They flashed by the winner’s post in a blur of colours, and the spell broke as quickly as it had begun. I had no idea who’d won. It made no difference. I didn’t have money on the race. Unlike the rest of the crowd, that wasn’t the appeal for me. My connection went bone-deep and dragged me back to a different time, one before everything had gone to shit.
Hand hovering over the phone in my pocket, heart still thumping from the rush of the race, an idea pounded through my head. It had started small but grown in intensity with every passing moment until it was as loud as a siren. I pulled the phone out before I could overthink it and brought up the call function. With trembling fingers, I typed the number my parents had made me memorise when I was five years old.
Hang up. Hang up right now. This will only end in tears.
My brain knew it, but being here, in this spot, so like our spot hundreds of kilometres away, I wanted to hear his voice.
My stomach swirled as the ringtone sounded in my ear. My breath came in gasps, but something stopped me from hanging up.
Even if it’s like the last time? Even if he yells every obscenity he knows at you again? My brain wouldn’t stop, but I stubbornly refused to listen.
“Hello?”
I froze. My breath stuck in my throat, turning into a huge lump.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
The crowd around me had settled in the aftermath of the race, but they were still loud enough to be distracting. I pressed the phone closer to my ear, savouring every word.
He paused on the other end of the line and tears pricked at my eyes. I wanted him to say something else. I wanted his familiar voice to soothe my pain.
“Reese? Is that you?”
My fingers loosened in surprise and the phone tumbled to the ground. I crouched, grabbing the phone and pressed the red cancel button over and over until I was sure the call had ended.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I yelped as I spun around.
“Whoa, sorry.”
I tried to calm my breathing as I straightened and took in the owner of the hand and voice. My mouth dried. Holy hotness batman. He looked a little older than me, maybe twenty-four or twenty-five. He was tall, but not too tall. Around six feet, I guessed. His dark hair was just long enough to look messy. Images of messing it up further when I ran my hands through it taunted me.
He stood with his hands in mock surrender, as if I were a wild animal he might need to back away from, and for the first time I noticed he was wearing a Lavender Fields Racecourse uniform.
“Are you Reese Lawson?”
I nodded,
still trying to get my bearings. Between the race, the phone call, and now him, orienting myself was proving difficult. He dropped his hands, apparently satisfied I wasn’t about to attack him.
“Thought you might be. I’m Low. I’m the bar manager here.”
Shit. Of course he was. His blue eyes sparkled and the corners of his mouth turned up, revealing straight, white teeth, set off by the layer of dark stubble that covered his jaw. His gaze dropped and travelled over my body for a moment, before returning to my face. My blood heated under his amused scrutiny.
“Your uniform gave you away.”
Right. My uniform. I was supposed to be starting work here today.
“Listen, I’m on a break, and you don’t start work for another seven minutes, so you can finish your call to your boyfriend or whoever—”
“It wasn’t my boyfriend,” I cut in.
He raised an eyebrow as he leant on the fence. “Good to know.”
I laughed. Oh boy. He was smooth. But I respected confidence. Taking a deep breath, I let the cool spring air fill my lungs and calm me. I just needed a moment to recollect myself and I’d be better equipped to deal with him.
Letting my eyes roam over his body, as he’d done a moment earlier, I allowed my expression to convey I liked what I saw. His lavender shirt was hideous on a man that beautiful, but the way it pulled across his shoulders left no question as to the muscled chest that lay underneath. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing tanned forearms. My gaze wandered up his chest to his face and I noted the smirk there. He knew I was checking him out, but I didn’t care. It was obvious he was no stranger to admiration. His eyes and the hint of mischief there held my interest longer than they should have. He was hot. And he knew it.
A flicker of excitement lit within me. This was what I needed. A new job. A new beginning. A new guy to lose myself in. The past year had been one mess after another. I’d barely kept my head above water, but it was time for a turning point.