“Haylee, I never imagined my life turning out the way it did, and that is all because of you. You are my life, my world, my everything. Thank you for never giving up on me and always being by my side. You’re it for me, Haylee Hanks. I love you so much. Marry me?”
She nods. “Yes, baby, my answer is still yes. I love you so much.”
I slide the ring back on her finger and rise up, cupping both of her cheeks and pulling her face to me. She draws in a small breath as my lips press against hers. I explore her mouth with my tongue, and when her tongue seeks mine, I lose all control. I wrap one hand around her waist and lift her closer to the top of the bed. Her hand slides to the back of my neck, and she deepens the kiss. This kiss tells her everything I didn’t say or couldn’t say. I’m not sure there are words that could adequately describe how much I love Haylee Hanks.
Clothes are ripped off in a flash; hands are grabbing, teeth clashing, lips consuming. This is the proper way I had planned to celebrate her saying yes today. I roll over to my back and bring Haylee on top of me.
I hiss out an elongated “Fuck!” as she sinks down on me.
As much as I love being in control in the bedroom, there is nothing sexier than this woman on top of me. My fingers press into her hips before she can begin to move, and I take a breath to commit this moment to memory. Her nails grip my chest, and we lock eyes. For just a moment we stare at each other. This woman has actually agreed to marry me, and I will love her until my last breath and then some.
Just as she goes to open her mouth to say something, I begin to move my hips, and whatever she was going to say is replaced with a moan. I bring my right hand to the back of her neck and pull her down to me as I grind into her.
“I love you so much, baby girl.” I don’t even allow her to respond by claiming her lips again.
1.5 years later…
“Hey, how was your night with Kyler?” I ask Zach as he closes the front door.
I grab the remote and hit Pause on the rerun of How I Met Your Mother I was watching. It still feels weird that Dani and Kyler don’t live here anymore. It’s been four months since they got a place of their own, just down the street. Of course, it has a fantastic kitchen.
Zach leans down and the moment his lips touch mine, I feel electricity shoot through my body, my nipples pressing against the inside of my bra. Don’t even get me started on the butterflies he causes down below. The contact breaks too quickly, and I let out a groan in response.
Zach sits down next to me, smirking, throwing my legs over his and extending his arm along the back of the couch.
“Well…” That Jacobs smirk overtakes his face, and his features light up. Guess he had a good time. “Tonight was interesting.”
“What do you mean? Everything okay?” I begin to worry and sit up straighter.
Zach leans over and steals a sip of my ginger ale, prolonging telling me what happened on boys’ night out.
I gently shove him. “Come on, don’t hold out. What happened?”
“Patience, young grasshopper.”
“You know damn well that patience was not a virtue I was born with. Now spill, Jacobs!”
Zach throws his head back in laughter. “This is very true.”
Enough with changing the subject damnit. I’ll call Ky and ask him. This is getting ridiculous. I throw my hands up in frustration
Zach reaches for my hand and brushes his hand over the ring he gave me a year and a half ago, and his smile widens.
“Ky is going to ask Dani to marry him. He’s already spoken to my dad, and tonight he wanted to make sure I was okay with it too. I can’t believe he asked for my permission. Oh, and he wants you to help him pick out the ring this week—that is, if you’re free. I told him you would call him.”
“What? Oh, my God! That’s amazing!” I jump up off the couch in excitement.
I only get a moment to celebrate before my stomach has other plans. My hand rushes to cover my mouth, and I spin on my heels and race to the bathroom.
“Hails?” Zach calls out from the hallway. “Are you okay? I know my sister had a crazy reaction to us getting engaged, but don’t you think throwing up is a little extreme?”
I turn to look at him, now standing in the bathroom doorway, and narrow my eyes before my stomach turns on me, and I continue to the porcelain throne. When I finish, I sit back and exhale a loud breath, trying to blow the fallen strands of hair out of my face.
The humorous side of Zach leaves, and his face turns serious as he crouches down in front of me, tucking the fallen hairs behind my ear.
He brushes his lips against my forehead before he stands. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and into bed.”
“I’m fine, really, Zach. Dinner must not have settled with me.”
I wash my hands and splash water over my face. I reach for the hand towel and find the ring empty. As I lean down to reach under the sink for a new towel, I see the unopened box of tampons and instantly freeze. No, wait…when was my last period?
The color from my face drains.
“Are you about to get sick again?
“No, I think I’m okay.” But am I?
“Are you sure, because you don’t look it.”
With the tampon box in my hand, I sit down on the closed lid toilet and stare at it. Come on, Haylee, when was the last time you needed one of these? Things have certainly been stressful lately with wedding planning, and there is no shortage of sex in this house.
As if Zach and I were in tune enough and he could read my thoughts, he mutters, “Oh shit.”
My eyes meet his, and he visibly swallows before running his fingers through his hair. I worry that I am going to need to move from where I’m sitting to allow him to lose his dinner with the way he’s looking. Finally, he shoves his hands in his pocket.
“Okay, wow. Talk about a crazy turn of events tonight. Hey, it’s okay.”
Zach sits on the edge of the tub, removes the box from my hands, and places it on the floor. He laces his fingers with mine. “Hey, come here.”
I hesitate at first, but then I rise from where I sit and settle into his lap. His hand rubs circles on my back.
“Okay, here’s the plan. Tonight, we go back into the living room and curl up on the couch and watch some more How I Met Your Mother, I tell you about Ky’s plans, and we worry about this tomorrow. Deal?”
I nod in between sniffles.
“Plus, I’m pretty sure there are some cookies and cream ice cream still in the freezer.”
My eyes perk up at the mention of ice cream. Nothing a little time with my favorite five can’t fix.
Zach leans in to kiss me, but I press my hand to his chest and push him back.
“What’s wrong?” He tilts his head in confusion.
“I have vomit mouth. It’s gross.”
Zach cringes and suppresses a laugh. “Well, I kiss you after you have my dick in your mouth, so I don’t think it really matters to me.”
“Jesus! You are insane.”
He goes in for another attempt, and I wiggle out of his arms and stand. I turn around and press my hands against the counter, knowing that he could quickly hoist me up on to the counter and wrap my legs around his waist.
I kick the fantasy out of my thoughts. “You go change and meet me back on the couch—with the ice cream, or no snuggles for you.”
Zach settles for a kiss to the top of my head and exits the bedroom.
Slowly turning around, I bring my hands to my stomach. Could I be pregnant? I can hear the sound of my heartbeat pounding through my ears. I close my eyes and take three deep breaths. One. Two. Three.
Whatever the outcome, we’re in this together. I try to push those thoughts aside, but that’s like telling someone afraid of heights not to look down when they are high up. I put the box of tampons back under the sink and say a silent prayer that it’s just the stress of wedding planning that stopped the visits from Aunt Flo and not something that will be solved in nine months.
Pregnant.
Holy shit. I walk out of the bathroom and join Zach on the bed. The bedroom is so quiet. I’m not used to the house being so quiet after four adults living here—then again, I guess the silence won’t last long with a little one on the way. Holy crap! I’m pregnant.
“Well, what did it say?”
I hand Zach the pregnancy test and watch his reaction as he sees the results. Zach hops up from where he was sitting and paces the floor back and forth.
“You’re… We’re gonna… I’m gonna be…” He stutters his words.
I honestly can’t tell from his expression if he’s happy or mad. I mean, he can’t be mad, right?
I place my head in my hands and begin to cry. This isn’t part of our plan. We’re supposed to get married first.
Zach places his hands on mine as he crouches down to his knees. He pulls my hands away from my face and reveals my watery eyes. I don’t even try to fight the tears from falling.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“This! It’s all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We’re supposed to get married first and then have a baby. We’re not ready for this.”
He takes my hands in his and sits back next to me on the bed, pulling me into his lap. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. Yeah, we didn’t expect it to happen so soon, but what can I say? The Jacobs sperm is strong, especially with this weapon of mass destruction.”
I shake my head and laugh through my tears as he points to his dick. “You really need to stop calling it that.”
He brushes off my comment and continues. “It may not have been part of our current plan, but if you haven’t noticed, our families and plans don’t usually work out. All I know is I want to have kids one day, and I want them with you. If it happens a lot sooner than we thought, then so be it. Either way, you are going to be an amazing mom, whether it be now or down the road.”
I can’t believe him right now. I thought he would have been freaking out.
“Why aren’t you freaking out right now? You’re scaring me.”
He places a kiss to the top of my head before resting his against mine. “To be honest, I have no fucking idea. When you first mentioned that this was a possibility last night, I was freaking the fuck out internally, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it all night. After all the bad we’ve endured over the years, now look at all the positive things happening in our lives. First my sister is going to get engaged, and now we’re going to be bringing a baby into this world. You and me.” He places his palm over my stomach. “We did that. We made a baby; how freaking cool is that? Like seriously.”
Ha! Leave it to Zach to bring humor to a serious moment; it’s one of the many reasons I love this man. He is right though—having a baby would come eventually, but who cares about a timeline.
“We’re really doing this, huh?”
“You bet we are.” Zach looks down and bites his lip. “Damn, your tits are going to get so big. It’s going to be fucking awesome. I need to go call Ky and tell him the news.”
“About my tits?” I raise an eyebrow in question.
“No—you know those are all mine.” He winks and looks down at my chest before bringing his eyes back to me. “I want to tell him about the baby.”
“No, don’t do that. He has enough on his plate right now. I can’t believe that he is going to ask her, or even more that he is such a romantic that he asked you to for permission too. That’s just so sweet.”
“Like I would have even thought about saying no to him.”
“So let’s let them have the spotlight for now, and then we’ll give it some time before we make any announcements, okay?”
Zach thinks it over but finally agrees. First thing’s first: help Ky pick out a ring, while I soak in the idea that I’m going to be a mom.
Sitting at a table close to the front of the stage seems weird. For all the years we’ve been coming to Lucky’s, we have always sat at the same place, except tonight, per Kyler’s request. Tonight is the night: he plans to ask my sister to marry him. The difference between him and I is that he hasn’t waited for months and months to ask her.
I lean over and brush Haylee’s hair behind her ear. “You know, with our family all here tonight, it would be a great opportunity to tell them about the b-a-b-y.”
Haylee turns to me, and her eyes darken. “Don’t even think about making this about us. Tonight is about your sister and Ky. We can tell them all later.”
I lean back into my chair and grumble, “Yeah, well, payback would be sweet since she made a scene with our engagement.”
She whips her head around. “Are you serious right now?”
I shrug jokingly. “I’m just saying. I know this is about them. I can’t even believe he’s doing it.”
“Right?” Haylee takes a sip of her drink.
We wanted to get here early to order a nonalcoholic beverage for her so that people wouldn’t question anything.
“Do you think she’ll say no?” It’s an honest question.
“Nah, she loves him. He’s hers forever.” Haylee turns to me with so much love in her eyes.
Kyler is currently near the stage hiding out and waiting for Dani to arrive. I look up to see her headed in our direction. I glance over to where our families are seated, hoping she doesn’t notice them.
Dani shakes her coat off and places it on the back of the chair. Luckily the chair she picks has her back to our families.
“How come we aren’t at our regular table tonight and stuck up front by the stage?”
I look at Haylee and bring my drink to my mouth to hide my face. Yep, I’m a total coward, choosing to hide behind my glass as I lie right to my sister’s face.
“Oh, well, we were running late, and the table was already occupied.”
Well, your boyfriend is about to make some big romantic gesture and wanted you to be close to the stage, was what I wanted to say.
“Oh,” she responds, taking a seat. She glances around but never fully turns around, thank God. “Where’s Kyler? I thought he was meeting us here?” She looks down at her phone.
Just then, the spotlight on the stage appears, and Scott takes the microphone. I settle back into my chair, wrapping my arm behind Haylee. Here we go.
He waves his hands in the air to quiet the crowd down. “All right, all right, everyone. Tonight we are doing something a little different—our favorite dynamic duo is flying solo. Let’s everyone give Kyler a warm welcome and see if he is actually any good without his partner in crime. Thank God this is just one night and one night only.”
He steps aside and claps his hands together. Kyler appears on the stage.
“Tonight, I’d like to dedicate this song to my girl, Dani. I love you. Here it goes.”
Hmm, this sounds familiar—singing in front of the crowd to the girl you love. You’re welcome.
Kyler begins singing “Danny’s Song” by Loggins and Messina. That’s cute, but wait… I furrow my brows as he continues singing and listen to the lyrics. Is he singing a song about becoming a dad? Shit, does he know?
I glance over at my sister and see her taking large swigs of her margarita, and I can’t help but laugh as I see Haylee staring at her too. I’m sure she is jealous, but at least we got here early enough to order her a nonalcoholic drink so that no one would figure it out.
The song finally ends, and we all applause, including Haylee giving one of those crazy whistles. Pretty sure I might be deaf in the ear closest to her. Kyler takes the microphone off the stand and heads toward our table, stopping right in front of Dani. He takes both of her hands in his, and both are smiling stupidly.
I pull Haylee into me, and she looks up at me, her eyes so full of love and unshed tears. I love that he has included all of us in this big moment.
“Dani, I have possibly been in love with you from the moment I met you—or at least since the firs
t time I tasted your cupcakes. When you walked into my life, I didn’t realize that something was actually missing. Even though you claim that I saved you and put you back together, I know that it was really you. You saved me by showing me what it meant to really love someone and to be loved by someone. Maybe, in a way, we saved each other. You bring out the best in me and I in you. You are the light in my darkness. Life is never going to be easy as we both know that from the journeys that brought us here, but with you, I feel as though I can face anything and everything that is thrown at me. I love you so much. I know you hate my jokes and my apparent bad taste in movies, but I want to spend the rest of my life proving to you that Office Space is, in fact, a funny movie.”
Dani laughs through her tears, and I can’t help but wonder what the hell she has against Office Space—it’s a great movie.
Kyler gets down on one knee and pulls out a small velvet box with the ring. Damn, Haylee did good helping to pick that out.
“Danielle Kathryn Jacobs, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?”
Dani looks around, and her eyes go wide as she must finally notice our families sitting in the back. When she turns to face Kyler again, she nods.
“Yes, baby, a million times yes!”
Wow, I don’t think I have even seen Kyler move as fast as he does then when he stands, sweeping my sister into his arms, and kisses the shit out of her. Our family has gotten up from their seats and moved toward us.
“You do realize that that song is about having a baby and we—” Dani turns to our family, throwing her hands up innocently. “—are not expecting, just to clear that up.”
Everyone laughs, but I see this as a sign to make out the announcement. I look at Haylee with raised eyebrows; she can’t deny this moment either.
She speaks first, shouting, “No, but we are!”
So much for the waiting part.
I wave my hands in the air. “Surprise!”
Well, so much for not stealing the thunder from the newly engaged couple. Oopsie.
Everyone stares at us as if they are trying to process what we just said before bursting out in celebration again.
I Never Expected You Page 22