Calendar Boy
Page 9
“Yeah. I emailed you back, and when you didn’t respond, I came here looking for you. I’m so sorry about all this, Stace.”
“This? This isn’t your fault.”
“I know. But if I’d had half a brain, we would have been together long before now, and maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
“There’s no way to know that for sure. I’m going to be all right. I got really lucky.”
“Thank God. If something had happened to you…” Michael swallowed. “I can’t lose you, baby. I…I love you.”
“Oh, Michael!” She reached for him but grimaced in pain.
Michael’s heart broke to see her like this. “Don’t try to move, sweetheart.” He leaned toward her. “I’ll come to you.” He touched his mouth softly to hers. Her full red lips were parched and dry.
“Michael, do you really?”
“Yes, baby. I love you. I’m so sorry about everything. I thought I wanted a woman to take care of me. I thought I could live without love. But I can’t, not now that I’ve found you.”
“I should have listened to you at the conference.”
“No, Stace. No. You bear no blame here. It’s all on me.” He meant it. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m just so glad you’re here now.” She closed her open eye, and a tear squeezed out. “Michael, I know about Beth.”
“I know. Dino told Ronnie.”
“Ronnie didn’t tell me. I haven’t talked to her since the conference. I found an old article online. I’m so sorry that you lost her and your child.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“But it still hurts.”
“Yes, it still hurts. But I found another woman I love more than life itself. If she’ll have me?”
His heart skittered as he awaited her answer.
“I will have you, Michael. I love you too.”
Joy filled him. She loved him!
“Michael, I have to tell you something.”
“What, baby?”
“It’s a miracle. We…we’re going to have a baby.”
“So it is mine?”
“You know?”
“Kevin told me. I don’t think he thought it was a secret, so don’t get mad at him.”
“I’m not mad at him, and yes, of course it’s yours. I had no idea. I thought I was infertile, and you used condoms. But I haven’t been with anyone else. It has to be yours.”
A primal desire to run to the top of a mountain and roar surged through Michael. The woman he loved carried his child.
“Listen, baby,” he said, pushing her hair off her moist brow. “You need to take care of yourself. I’m not leaving your side. We need to get you healed up good as new, okay?”
“Yes, I can do it, now that you’re here. I can do it for you and our baby.”
“I know you can. God, I love you so much. As soon as you’re all better, will you do something for me?”
“Anything, Michael.”’
He smiled. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, and the look on her face made his heart melt. “Yes, Michael, I will marry you.”
* * *
Seven months later
“Had enough?” Michael eased the baby from Stacy’s arms and set him in the bassinet next to Stacy’s hospital bed.
Stacy smiled. “That baby sure knows how to eat for only being a little over twenty-four hours old.”
“I can certainly understand that.” Michael leaned down and kissed Stacy’s cheek. “I can’t resist those breasts of yours either. They were the first thing I noticed about you, remember?”
Warmth crept up Stacy’s neck as the memory emerged. Michael, dressed in jeans and a white shirt, looking like the male model he was, ogling her chest and saying “that’s a nice shirt.” How far they’d come since then, but Stacy wouldn’t change a minute of their time together. They’d been married six months and still her husband could make her blush. She hoped that never changed.
“Hey. Can you hand me the laptop? There’s something I need to do.”
“No working, baby. I thought we agreed you’re taking some time off. Now that I’m managing the Chicago Playboys, you can ease up on the writing.”
Michael was proving to be great at his new job, a real asset to the male revue. “See? With your talent and intelligence, you never needed a sugar mama.”
“I still got the woman I wanted though.” He reached for the laptop. “What do you want this for? I’m serious about you not working. You just gave birth, for God’s sake.”
“I’m not going to work.” Exhaustion overwhelmed her, but it paled in comparison to her deep happiness and contentment. “But there are some people who are waiting to hear the good news.”
Michael set the laptop on her lap. Stacy fired it up and logged into the Cougar Club.
StacyStarr: It’s a boy!
Message from Helen Hardt
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Calendar Boy. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHardt and join my mailing list: http://helenhardt.com/signup/. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardtandsoul/. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.
If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.
I wish you all the best, and keep reading!
Helen
Also by Helen Hardt
The Sex and the Season Series:
Lily and the Duke
Rose in Bloom
Lady Alexandra’s Lover
Sophie’s Voice
The Perils of Patricia (coming soon)
* * *
The Temptation Saga:
Tempting Dusty
Teasing Annie
Taking Catie
Taming Angelina
Treasuring Amber
Trusting Sydney
Tantalizing Maria (October 25, 2016)
* * *
Daughters of the Prairie:
The Outlaw’s Angel
Lessons of the Heart
Song of the Raven
* * *
The Steel Brothers Saga:
Craving
Obsession
Possession (September 27th, 2016)
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my good friend Lizzie T. Leaf for first convincing me to write a cougar story. It was fun and challenging! Thank you to Celina Summers for your skillful editing. Your red pen is one of the toughest I’ve encountered. It’s always an honor to work with you.
Thanks to everyone at Waterhouse Press—Meredith, David, Jon, Shayla, Kurt, Yvonne—for bringing the cougars and their cubs back to life.
And of course to my street team members, family and friends, and readers—thank you for your unending support. It means more than you know.
About the Author
Helen Hardt’s passion for the written word began with the books her mother read to her at bedtime. She wrote her first story at age six and hasn’t stopped since. In addition to being an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance and erotica, she’s a mother, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an appreciator of fine red wine, and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. She writes from her home in Colorado, where she lives with her family. Helen loves to hear from readers.
http://www.helenhardt.com
http://www.helenhardt.blogspot.com
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