by Julia Swift
She flicks on the light, blinding me for a second, and when my vision clears, the first thing I see is the huge, excited, almost borderline nervous smile plastered on her face. But her eyes aren’t on me. They’re on the counter beside us. On the thing I glimpsed before, with the lights off.
I blink a few times, my eyes still adjusting to the light. It’s a slim white stick, like a popsicle stick, only all white, and thicker.
Oh god.
I pick it up with trembling fingers, and read the tiny, barely legible screen. It’s just a little window with a hot pink plus sign running through the center.
I can hardly breathe, but I make myself force words out. “Sloan, is this . . . is this what I think it is?”
She’s nodding, but almost shyly, her eyes downcast, like she’s nervous. Like she’s afraid how I’ll react to this, almost. “I’m pregnant, Hunter,” she whispers, and my heart jumps about a thousand percent in my chest.
I leap off the stool and fold her into my arms, squeezing her so tight I’m surprised she can still breathe, but I can’t help it. I kiss her cheeks, her forehead, her nose, her mouth. She pulls back a little, her lips turned into a frown, hesitant.
“Are you okay? Is this okay, are you mad, or?” Her breath hitches, her shoulders tensing.
I knead my fingers into them to work out the knots, then run my hands through her long, dark hair. “Sloan. Babe. I could not be happier.”
She looks up at me then, hope in her eyes. “Really?”
I have to laugh. “Yes, really. Why wouldn’t I be? You are everything, Sloan.” I let my hand drift down her body to rest over her stomach, cupping her gently, feeling the warmth of her skin burn into mine. “And now, this baby is too.” I know I must be grinning like a goddamn idiot right now, but I can’t help it.
A father. I’m going to be a father.
With Sloan. With the woman of my dreams. The woman I knew I had to make mine from the moment I laid my eyes on her. “Part of me is in you.” I press another kiss to her lips. “And part of you is in me. And together, we’re going to make a damn awesome kid, you know that?”
She laughs and tightens her grip around me, melting into my embrace. “I can’t argue there,” she murmurs. Then she leans back and tilts her lips up to find mine, our tongues tangling together for a moment as we savor the news together, the future that we’re now facing, the fresh new life we’ve created, which I will do everything in the world to keep safe.
“Hunter.” Her eyes are on mine, and I gaze into hers, unable to look away. I could watch her every minute of every day, and I would never be able to drink in enough of her. “I love you.”
“And I love you, Sloan.” I kiss her lips again, those perfect lips, pressing every inch of them against my mouth. “Forever.”
We break apart wearing matching mischievous grins, and before she says a word, I already know what she’s thinking. I tug her toward the bedroom, and we fall into step together, as in sync as any two humans could ever be.
This. This is all I’ve ever needed in the world.
Chapter Forty-Three
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