by Kaylee Ryan
“Yeah,” I agree, glancing down at my son.
“We did good, brother. We did real good.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” I’ve learned over the years, especially the last year, that life is what you make it. You bring the good, and you work through the bad. I’m well aware of the blessings I’ve been given in my son and my wife. Both of which, I plan to thank God for every day.
Hollis
“You going to tell him?”
I glance up at my sister-in-law. She has one of those cat-that-ate-the-canary smiles. “What?” I ask, faking confusion, but I can tell she sees right through me.
She points down. “At the bun in the oven that no one seems to know about yet.”
All I can do is gape at Gabby, who seems very proud of herself right now. “How did you— I mean, wow.”
Gabby laughs and stretches her legs out in front of her. She’s wearing a super cute tank top and shorts, probably the same ones she wore before she was pregnant. In fact, you can barely tell she recently had a baby. I only hope I have that kind of luck with my little one.
Without even realizing it, I have my hand resting on my belly.
“I could just tell. You’re glowing. I take it you aren’t very far along?”
I shake my head. “I just took the test this morning. The only reason I didn’t tell Colton I was taking it was because he wasn’t home. I kinda had a feeling, since I’ve woken up three days in a row nauseous. Plus, to be honest, I was a little nervous about the results.”
“To be positive?” she asks, any earlier humor gone from her face.
Again, I shake my head. “For it to be negative,” I whisper. “Colt,” I start, glancing toward the cabin where he’s putting his son—our son—down for a nap. It takes me a second to find the right words. “He’s been talking about more kids a lot lately. Hell, ever since we said I do, he’s been hinting that he’s ready for more. Though he’s never pressured me, I guess I was afraid it would be negative. And he’d be disappointed in me.”
“He could never be disappointed in you.”
That didn’t come from Gabby.
My eyes fly back to the doorway, to my husband who’s standing there, apparently having heard what I just said. He’s moving mere seconds later, dropping to his knees on the rough concrete, his vivid blue eyes so full of hope and love. “Are you saying… Are you pregnant?”
Nodding, I feel the first tear slip from my eye. “Yeah. I just found out.”
His hands immediately go to my flat stomach. When his eyes meet mine, I’m shocked to see wetness swimming in his own eyes. “I…” he starts, but seems to choke up a little. Colton closes his eyes for a few minutes, and when he opens them, they’re brimming with joy. “I missed everything with Milo, but I won’t miss a second of this, Holls. I swear I’m going to be right here beside you the whole time. We’re going to do this together. You, me, and Milo. And this little one.”
And then he bends down and kisses my belly. I can hear him whispering, but I don’t hear what he’s saying. Probably for the best though. I’m already a blubbering mess. When I glance over at Gabby, she’s in no better shape. Her hands are covering her mouth as she openly cries.
When Colton is done with whatever conversation he was having, he moves. His arms wrap around my shoulders, and he kisses me. Hard. With so much love and passion, it almost makes me dizzy. “Thank you,” he whispers against my lips.
“For what?”
“For completing my life.”
I can’t help but grin. “I think that’s my line.”
Colton shakes his head. “No way. It’s you, Hollis. You complete the picture. You, Milo, and however many babies I’m fortunate enough for you to give me. I love you.”
“And I love you,” I tell him, my heart soaring.
“Come on, let’s go,” he says, standing up and taking my hand.
I start to stutter. “Wh-What? Where are we going?”
“To wake up Milo. I want to tell him he’s going to be a big brother,” he says, grinning from ear to ear.
I can’t help but laugh. “We can tell him later, silly. Let him sleep, or he’ll be a total monster for the rest of the afternoon.”
He grumbles but finally agrees. “All right. But you know what we could do?”
“What?”
“Ditch these two tagalongs and go celebrate up in the loft,” he states, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
“Gross,” Gabby says, keeping her eyes on the lake.
A bubble of laughter erupts from my chest. “I have an idea.”
“Does it involve getting naked?”
“No, but maybe while Milo’s sleeping, we can sneak away, and you can take me fishing.”
His eyes light up. “Yeah?” Colton has been talking about taking me fishing for weeks, but we just haven’t found the right circumstances, with Gabby and Chase having Ella, but now, I’m hoping we can sneak away for an hour.
“You guys go. I’m going to go inside and steal an hour or two of sleep, while Chase and Ella nap too. We’ll listen for Milo.”
“Thank you,” I tell my sister-in-law as she gives me a hug before slipping inside.
“Ready?” he asks, extending his hand.
I place mine inside his as I agree, “Ready for fishing.”
Colton wiggles his eyebrows once more. “Naked fishing.”
Colton
We’re having a baby. My face hurts from smiling. My incredible, sexy as hell, kind and loving wife is pregnant. I don’t know if anything will ever top the emotions coursing through me at this moment.
Love. I’m so in love with her. I’m not sure where she ends and I begin.
Happy. I’m not even sure happy says it. Elated is more like it. We’re growing and building our family, and nothing is more important to me.
Content. I’ve never felt this feeling of calm that surrounds me. I know that adding a baby to our trio will change up our routine, and life will be busier and a little more hectic, but the sense of contentment that we’re in this together, doing life together, nothing can take that away.
“Are we going to fish, or are you just going to stand there holding your pole wearing a goofy grin?” my wife teases me.
“Actually, I was hoping you could hold my pole,” I say, wagging my eyebrows.
“And that is how this little one got here,” she says, rubbing her still flat belly.
Dropping my pole to the ground, I place one arm around her waist and one hand on her belly. “We made that,” I whisper.
“We did,” she says with a happy sigh.
“Do you feel okay?”
“Yeah, a little nauseated in the mornings, which is what prompted me to take a test.”
“Milo and I are going to take good care of you. Both of you.” I lean down and place a kiss over her belly.
“You and Milo, huh?” she asks, smiling.
“Of course, we are the men of the house.”
“Lord, help me if we have another boy.” She chuckles.
“I want a little girl. One who looks just like her momma.” I take her lips with mine, needing to taste her.
“I don’t care what we have,” she says when I finally pull away for air. “As long as she or he is healthy, that’s more than I could ask for.”
“Well, if it’s a boy, we have to try again.”
“Oh, really? How many little Callahans do you plan on having?” she inquires.
“As many as you’ll give me.” It’s true. I know I’m new at this dad gig, but so far, there is nothing in my life that has ever been better, other than loving Hollis.
“How about we get this little one brought into the world, and we can talk about it.”
I nod. “You know, we’re going to need a bigger house.”
“Why? We have three bedrooms now.”
“I know, and it will work for a while, but when baby number three comes along, we’re going to need to upgrade,” I say, already thinking about a house with a huge
backyard for the kids to run and play.
“I thought we just agreed to get this little one here, and we would go from there.”
“I’m an optimist.” I shrug, making her laugh. My lips trail down her neck, and she tilts her head to the side, giving me full access to her.
“F-Fishing,” she murmurs.
“Yeah, I love fishing with you,” I say, my lips pressed against her ear.
“I do want to learn one day. I’d like to be able to take Milo and have an idea of what I’m doing.”
“Does that have to be today? He’s still a little young to know that Mommy doesn’t know how to fish. Besides, we need more time, and we should head back soon.”
“Yeah,” she breathes as my hand slides from her waist to her ass. “Colt,” she mumbles. “Not here. Anyone could see us.”
“It’s just us, baby,” I assure her. “We need to celebrate.”
“Tonight.” She manages to pull away from my lips and step out of my hold. “Once we get Milo in bed, we can celebrate tonight.” She nods toward my hard cock that was just rubbing up against her.
“Deal.” I concede. Even though there is no one out here right now, that doesn’t mean that someone might not walk up on us. The idea of someone seeing her, watching her come undone, it makes me twitchy. That’s for my eyes only. The diamond and gold bands on her left hand say it’s so.
“I love you, Mr. Callahan,” she says, giving me a sexy little smile.
“I love you too, Mrs. Callahan.” Quickly, I pack up our two poles and the tackle box in one hand and entwine the other with hers. We make the trek back to the cabin, talking about baby names. I missed all of this with Milo, so it’s all new to me. I can’t wait to be on every step of this journey with her.
Hollis
“He’s out,” I whisper, glancing over at the playpen. It’s against the far wall of the downstairs bedroom, where Colton and I are bunking. Chase, Gabby, and Ella took the upstairs loft.
“Finally,” my husband whispers, beckoning me over to the chair where he sits. He’s been sitting there, watching me give our son his bottle and then pat his little back as he drifted off to sleep.
When I approach, he slumps down a little more, and I can already see the hardness of his cock in his pants. I grab the hem of his shirt and pull it up and over his head. His chest, oh his glorious chest, has my heart beating and my panties already wet. I crawl onto his lap, my knees barely fitting between his body and the chair, but he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, his eyes are burning with that unbridled desire I always see.
His hands slide up my outer thighs and around to my ass, his fingers curling up into my cutoffs. The strap of my tank top falls over my shoulder, but instead of replacing it, Colton’s lips brush the sensitive skin. They blaze a trail across my collarbone and down to my cleavage.
“You’re going to have to be quiet, love,” he whispers against my neck.
I mumble a sound that’s not really a word, but more of an acknowledgment.
A thump sounds from somewhere in the house, making us both still. “What was that?” I ask, listening intently.
Colton tries to pull my attention back to his task at hand. “That was my little brother,” he reassures me without giving it much thought.
“Chase? How do you know?”
His blue eyes stare straight at me, a smile crosses his face. “Because I’m pretty sure that was the sound of either him or Gabby hitting the wall in the shower.”
The words register, and a little giggle slips from my lips. “Really?”
“Definitely,” he confirms, continuing to slide his lips across my collarbone and up my neck.
“How do you know?”
His eyes hold a hint of laughter. “I was a teenager once with an active imagination. Let’s just say I’m well aware of what it sounds like to hit an elbow on the side of that old shower stall while your hands are busy.” And just then, like a gunshot in the dead of night, a groan filters down the stairs and slips under the closed door to our bedroom. It’s quickly followed by a harsh shush. “See?”
I start to laugh, which only seems to fuel his desire, his need. For me.
For us.
When his warm hand rests on my stomach once more, he gazes into my eyes and smiles. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For this. Our life. I never expected it. Not Milo or you. The last few months have been the best of my life, and I only want more. More of you. More kids. More love and laughter filling our space.”
A smile breaks out across my face. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good,” he says, carefully holding me against his chest as he stands up and moves me to the bed. He presses me into the bed, his body covering me from head to toe. “Now, let me show you what my favorite sound in the world is.”
And then he does.
Twice.
There’s no way I can fight it.
Thank you
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More from Lacey
More from Lacey Black
Bound Together Series:
Submerged | Profited | Entwined
Rivers Edge Series:
Trust Me | Fight Me | Expect Me | Promise Me: Novella
Protect Me | Boss Me | Trust Us
With Me (Christmas Novella)
Summer Sisters Series:
My Kinda Kisses | My Kinda Night |My Kinda Song
My Kinda Mess | My Kinda Player | My Kinda Forever
My Kinda Wedding
Rockland Falls Series:
Love and Pancakes |Love and Lingerie
Love and Landscape | Love and Neckties
Standalone Titles:
Music Notes | Ex’s and Ho, Ho, Ho’s
A Place To Call Home | Pants on Fire
Co-written with Kaylee Ryan:
It’s Not Over | Just Getting Started
Can’t Fight It
More from Kaylee
More from Kaylee Ryan
With You Series:
Anywhere with You | More with You | Everything with You
Soul Serenade Series:
Emphatic | Assured
Definite | Insistent
Southern Heart Series:
Southern Pleasure | Southern Desire
Southern Attraction | Southern Devotion
Unexpected Arrivals Series
Unexpected Reality |Unexpected Fight
Unexpected Fall | Unexpected Bond
Unexpected Odds
Standalone Titles:
Tempting Tatum | Unwrapping Tatum | Levitate
Just Say When | I Just Want You | Reminding Avery
Hey, Whiskey | When Sparks Collide
Pull You Through | Beyond the Bases
Remedy | The Difference
Trust the Push
Cocky Hero Club:
Lucky Bastard
Entangled Hearts Duet:
Agony | Bliss
Co-written with Lacey Black:
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Can’t Fight It
Acknowledgements
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To our Beta readers: Sandra Shipman, Joanne Thompson, Stacy Hahn, Lauren Fields, and Jam
ie Bourgeois. You ladies are the glue that helps hold us together. Thank you for taking the time from your lives, your families to read our words. Your time and input are invaluable to us. We will be forever grateful.
To our team: There are so many people to thank. We apologize if we’ve missed anyone. Here goes: Hot Tree Editing (Becky Johnson), Perfect Pear Creative Covers (Sommer Stein), Sara Eirew, Kimberly Anne, Kara Hildebrand, Tempting Illustrations (Gel Yatz), Deaton Author Services (Julie Deaton), and the entire crew at Give Me Books. It truly takes a team and we’re glad that you’re a part of ours.
Bloggers: Thank you for doing what you do. We know that you take time from your lives and your families to promote our work and we appreciate that more than you will ever know. Thank you for taking a part in the release of Just Getting Started.
Readers: Thank you for taking a chance on us. We are truly thankful to each of you.
To our reader groups: Lacey’s Ladies and Kaylee’s Kick Ass Crew. You are our tribe! Thank you for your never-ending support.