Cass breathed a sigh of relief that perfectly matched Reed’s. On the couch adjacent to them, Margaret Harper cried perfectly appropriate and socially acceptable tears while Phillip Harper simply sat there stunned. Jackson disappeared again and another hour passed before they were allowed into Evie’s room. She was sitting up in bed, holding the tightly swaddled bundle and looking like something from a renaissance painting. It was a beautiful moment and sparked a longing in Cass that she hadn’t even known she was capable of.
Peering over her friend’s shoulder at the perfect little face, with chubby cheeks and sweetly bowed lips, Cass fell immediately, head over heels in love. “Oh, I cannot wait to dress you! Ruffles and ruffles on top of ruffles,” she said, pitching her voice soft and sweet.
Evie giggled. “You might be a little late. Reed’s already been stocking her closet.”
“My mother sent you those, Evie. I was not picking out baby dresses... but I will happily teach her how to bat later on when she plays little league. Jackson was a shit baseball player,” he said, stroking one finger over a tiny, pink fist.
It didn’t take long for the nurses to come in and shoo them out. Cass was a little disappointed that she hadn’t got to hold the baby, but she consoled herself with the idea that she would come back the next day. Teasing Reed, she elbowed him, “You are such a sucker. I don’t believe for a minute that your mother picked out those dresses.”
He laughed, “I might have bought one or two... I like babies.”
“I didn’t know that. I just assume most men don’t... that they freak out at the sight of anything that helpless.”
“Hardly helpless. One tiny little squeak and everyone for miles is rushing to do their bidding whatever it may be.”
She paused as they reached the car, “I hadn’t thought about it quite that way, but you’re right.”
Reed didn’t immediately open the door for her. Instead, he leaned against the car, pulling her close and kissing her softly. It was a gentle brush of his lips on hers. It was more about romance than heat, and it created a totally different kind of fluttering inside her. “What was that for?” she managed to ask.
“Because I can... It isn’t all about the sex, Cass, though God knows it’s amazing. There’s so much more between us than that. You know how much I love you.”
He’d told her. Months earlier while they’d been lying in bed together in the aftermath. It had taken her a full minute to be able to say it back, not because she didn’t want to, or because she wasn’t sure, but because it had simply taken her breath away. “I love you, too. More every day.” It was the truth, and it was getting easier and easier to let it slip past the remnants of her defenses.
Reed reached into his pocket and pulled out the little velvet box. Flipping the top, he showed her the ring. It wasn’t big and flashy. It was a simple gold band with a single, square cut diamond and a smaller stone on each side. “Marry me, Cass. Let’s make it official, and then have pretty, red headed babies.”
“Tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll marry you tomorrow. I’d marry you tonight if I could make it happen.”
He chuckled, “I do know a couple of judges pretty well.”
“Let’s go home and work on that baby part first,” she said.
He kissed her again, hotter this time, with an intensity that stole right through her. “Anything you want.”
She tugged at the neck tie that hung loosely from his collar, sliding the silk free and wrapping it around her hand, “I think that’s my line.”
Bad Boy Secrets Page 10