She’s My Baby
Page 16
She smiled warmly at him. “Well, I’m about to have a real baby…plus I have you.”
“Backhanded compliment?”
“Just another wonderful service I provide.” Leila wrapped her arms around his neck.
“But what will you do? You’re not going to convince me that you want to spend the rest of your life as a housewife.”
“No,” she agreed. “I will still be working at Atlanta Spice, but no more than twenty hours a week and even that’s flexible. This way I can have the best of both worlds.”
“Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
“The only thing I regret is lying to myself for so long. I learned a lot about myself today and I owe a lot of it to my family…and you. Now, how about we go upstairs and have makeup sex?”
“Can we…?” He glanced down at her belly. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“What’s the point of fighting if we don’t get to have makeup sex?”
“I mean, do you think it will harm the baby?”
“I think the baby will be just fine.” She drew him in for yet another kiss.
Garrick swooped her into his arms and carried her off to bed. Once they reached the bedroom, the lovers raced to tear off their clothes and fuse their bodies together.
Leila laughed, cried, and then laughed some more, while she remained in complete awe of how her man excited her body in ways only he knew how. How had she ever convinced herself that she could go through the rest of her life without this man? How had she convinced herself that a career was more important than family or love?
Sometime before dawn, the sated lovers lay spooned together and discussed their future.
“So…how many do you think we should have?” Garrick asked, nibbling on her earlobe.
“I don’t know.” She thought dreamily. “Maybe we should play it by ear?” She giggled.
“Sounds like a plan to me. Of course, we have to get the wedding out of the way. What are you doing next weekend?”
“Next weekend? You don’t think that’s a little fast?”
“All right. To show how flexible I am—how about in two weeks?”
“Now that’s better. I think we can throw a little somethin’ somethin’ together in two weeks. We could either have it here or across the street?”
He snuggled closer. “Actually…I have a buyer for the house—but I do have this killer bachelor pad in Buckhead.”
Leila jabbed her elbow into his side. “You mean the one you’re about to get rid of?”
Garrick took the blow but then retaliated by tickling her sides. All efforts to leap out of bed failed when he turned her over and pinned her beneath him.
“Do you give up?”
Giggling, she struggled to breathe. “Never.”
He locked her hands above her head and rained kisses along the column of her neck. “How about now?”
“No. No,” she cried and bucked with laughter.
Garrick’s hot mouth abandoned the sweet plains of her neck to travel down the equally tantalizing valley of her breasts. She immediately stilled at the feel of his hardened desire pressed against her thigh. “What about now?” he asked again and then closed his mouth around her nipple.
Leila bucked and then sucked in a breath as he slid into her. He kept her hands pinned above her while their hips rocked in perfect unity. Tears slid from her eyes at the glorious feel of his slow, deliberate moves. She was suddenly overwhelmed when a fire lit within her and scorched her very soul.
“I love you,” repeatedly tumbled from her lips while “Sweet Leila” fell from his. Her head thrashed among the pillows in wanton abandonment while Garrick’s thrusts transformed into hard pounds. Together, they cried out as their bodies erupted and sent violent tremors of release through every inch of them.
Hot and slick with sweat, Garrick fell limp against her. “Never mind. I think I give up.”
Leila chuckled and rolled him onto his side. “Good. Because I was just about to say it.” She propped up on her side. “I know about the bid on the house. Sam and her husband Emmanuel placed it.”
His brows dipped in confusion. “Husband? Sam and Emma are back in town?”
Leila nodded and quickly gave him the Cliff’s Notes version of Samantha and Emmanuel. As she told the story, she was again struck by the similarities between her and Samantha’s lives. Before, she had been convinced they were as different as night and day.
“Hey, where did you go?”
Garrick’s voice bounced her out of her trance and she smiled sleepily up at him. “I was just thinking about Samantha.”
He gently stroked the side of her face. “What about her?”
“I just hope that she’s truly happy this time.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Are you happy?”
“Oh, yes.” She clung to him. “What about you?”
He smiled wickedly. “How about I show you?”
Two weeks later, Garrick Grayson stood before the minister in Leila’s backyard, waiting anxiously for his future. It was his second time at the altar and he was certain this time he’d gotten it right.
The “Wedding March” began and Leila made her grand entrance into the backyard dressed in a stunning strapless, pearl-beaded wedding dress and showcasing a smile that squeezed Garrick’s heart.
Leila inhaled and exhaled slowly in order to calm her racing heart. All eyes were on her, but Leila only noticed Garrick’s smoldering gaze. The ceremony went without a hitch; Leila’s favorite part was their vows to love, honor, and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.
Those words had once sounded so foreign and unrealistic. Now with Garrick, they sounded like an effortless task that she looked forward to doing for the rest of her life.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Garrick Grayson.”
Epilogue
Three months later
Leila nervously held Garrick’s hand while the ultrasound tech squirted cold gel around her belly. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the past week, knowing today they would get to hear and see their baby.
“I can’t wait.” Leila squirmed, her eyes glued to the monitor.
“That makes two of us.” Garrick kissed her temples and also kept his eyes on the monitor.
“Oh, my.” The tech squinted at the small black-and-white screen.
“What is it?” Leila and Garrick asked in mild panic.
“Well, how do you two feel about having more than one baby?”
“Twins?” Garrick jumped to his feet. “We’re going to have twins?”
Leila stared dumbfounded at him.
“Try triplets,” the tech corrected and proceeded to point out her findings.
When she finished, Garrick let out a loud, “Woo-Hoo,” grabbed the tech and spun her around the room. “Three!” He set her down and pivoted toward his wife. “Three, baby. Can you believe it? Baby?”
Leila had fainted.
ISBN: 978-1-474-02688-8
SHE’S MY BABY
© 2006 Adrianne Byrd
Published in Great Britain 2014
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited
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