by A. K. Evans
“You can’t really blame me,” I told him. “She is cute.”
Nash blinded me with a beautiful smile before he agreed, “Yeah, she is.”
Then, he dropped his mouth to mine and initiated round two.
It was glorious.
Four Months Later
It was the night before the Rocky Mountain Madness race, the biggest event of the season. And even though our team had been working tirelessly all season putting in long days to get our cars ready for such a grand event, I had been having a hard time getting excited about it.
Because something wasn’t right.
For the last several days, I’d noticed a change in Parker. She’d been preoccupied and slightly distant. I’d asked her several times if she was okay or if something was bothering her. She insisted everything was fine.
But I knew that wasn’t the truth.
I knew my woman, and seeing her the way she’d been over the last couple of days made me grow concerned.
So, tonight I was going to do something about it. I needed to know that everything was okay between us. The mere thought of losing Parker again made me sick to my stomach, so if there was something I could do to fix whatever was going on with her, I would.
To top it off, Parker texted me this afternoon and said that she would be a little bit late coming home tonight. She didn’t elaborate. And as much as I wanted to know why she’d be late, I figured it was best to let her do whatever she needed to do and talk to her about it tonight.
The evening’s plan was for Parker to come to my place after she was done at work. She’d arrived about thirty minutes ago and had gone upstairs to take a shower. Though she greeted me with a hug and a kiss when she walked through the door, I could see the worry on her face.
As much as I wanted to talk to her right away, I decided it would be better to make sure she was comfortable first.
But too much time had passed now. I was beginning to worry that something had happened to her.
After turning off the oven but leaving the food inside so it would stay warm, I climbed the stairs and moved to the bedroom. When I walked in, I nearly fell to my knees as panic gripped me.
Parker had showered and put on a nightie, but she was sitting in the middle of the bed, holding Claudia.
Over the last few months, Parker had made a valiant effort to improve her relationship with Claudia. When she said she was going to do it, she did it. And I couldn’t have loved her more for it.
Parker had fallen in love with Claudia. So, while it wasn’t uncommon for me to see the two of them cuddled up together, what was worrying me was seeing tears rolling down Parker’s cheeks.
Frozen to the spot, I cautiously called, “Sunshine?”
Parker lifted her gaze from her lap, where Claudia was settled, and brought her attention to me. She said nothing but her face was filled with fear.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, finally managing to move away from the doorjamb and into the room toward her.
When I sat down on the bed, it became clear that my instincts all week long had been correct. Something was very, very wrong.
With just one look at her tear-stained cheeks up close, there was no doubt that Parker had gotten out of the shower a while ago and had been sitting here crying ever since.
“Parker, talk to me,” I urged.
My stomach was a ball of nerves, and I was terrified that she would tell me this wasn’t working for her anymore.
God, I didn’t think I could survive that. I loved her way too much to let her go.
“I’m pregnant,” she rasped.
My eyes widened. I didn’t know what I had been expecting her to say, but it certainly wasn’t that.
“What?” I responded.
Putting Claudia down on the mattress, Parker crawled toward the opposite edge of the bed, reached out to the nightstand, and grabbed a square of paper. Moving back to her spot at the center of the bed, she flipped the paper over and held it out to me.
That’s when I noticed it wasn’t just a piece of paper Parker had. It was an ultrasound.
I took it from her and stared down at it. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I knew it was something incredible.
And that was when it hit me. Parker had been crying.
My head snapped up, and I pinned my eyes on her.
“Is everything okay with the baby? Are you okay?” I worried.
Parker dipped her chin and confirmed they were both okay.
Confused, my brows furrowed, and I stated, “I don’t understand why you are crying then.”
A bit of surprise washed over her as her lips parted in shock. Following a brief pause, she asked, “You’re not upset?”
“I am. I’m upset that you’re up here crying,” I answered.
“But you’re not upset that I’m pregnant?” she pressed.
“I’m surprised by it, but I’m not upset,” I assured her. “Why would it upset me?”
Parker shrugged. “We’ve only been together for seven months, Nash,” she began. “And that includes a two-week break at the beginning.”
“Yeah, and those were the two worst weeks of my life,” I reminded her. “Are you upset about the pregnancy?”
She shook her head. “No. Well, I was worried you’d be angry or troubled by it. We hadn’t really talked about having kids. We’re not married. Hell, we’re not even engaged. I just—”
Parker stopped speaking because I got up off the bed and walked out of the room. When I came back a minute later, I could see the worried look on her face.
“Nash?” she called as I made my way back toward her.
When I came to a stop at the side of the bed, I reached my hand out to hers. She took my hand and shifted toward the edge of the bed. The moment she was standing beside it, I dropped to my knee and held out a ring.
“Parker Banks, the love of my life and the future mother of my child, will you marry me?” I asked with a smile on my face.
The tears fell from her eyes as she nodded and rasped, “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you, Nash.”
I slipped the ring on her finger, stood, and wrapped my arms around her. Parker burst into tears.
“Baby, don’t cry,” I urged.
She didn’t stop. At least not immediately.
But after I held her for a few minutes, she began to settle and pulled her face away. “I think it’s the hormones,” she reasoned.
“It’s okay,” I assured her as I swiped at the tears with the pads of my thumbs. “Are you sure you feel okay?”
She nodded.
“And the baby is okay, too?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “That’s why I was late today. I went to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy.”
Smiling at her, feeling nothing but warmth spread through my body, I asked, “How long have you known?”
“I realized a few days ago that I hadn’t had my period in a while. I ended up stopping for a test on the way to work Tuesday. I took the test when I got there, and it was positive. Today was the soonest I could get in to see the doctor.”
“You should have told me,” I advised. “I would have gone with you.”
“I was worried.”
“About what?”
“I thought you’d be upset.”
I hated that she thought I would ever be upset that we managed to make a baby. Obviously, we hadn’t planned to have one now, but I was not the least bit upset about it.
“I couldn’t be happier,” I replied. “Do you know when the baby is due?”
“June twenty-fifth,” she shared.
“So there’s only one question left to answer then,” I told her.
Parker tipped her head to the side. “What’s that?” she wondered.
“Do you want to get married before or after the baby arrives?” I asked.
“Would you seriously consider doing it beforehand?”
“If it weren’t for the commitment I have to everyone at the shop who will be expecting me to be
at the track for this event, I’d do it this weekend,” I remarked.
Parker smiled at me. Then she threw her arms over my shoulders and hugged me as she said, “I’d like to get married before the baby arrives.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
I held her like that for a few minutes before I asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
Loosening my hold on her, I stepped back and took her by the hand. “Come on,” I urged. “I made pizza.”
With that, I escorted my fiancée downstairs for pizza. We stayed cuddled up on the couch, watching television while we ate. That night, I made love to her.
The next morning, Parker called her sister and gave her the good news. Kaia was thrilled for her and promised she and her boyfriend, Nolan, would come out at Thanksgiving to visit and plan the wedding. By the end of the race weekend, where the LT Motorsports team took home the win in three different classes—Avery, Logan, and one of our customers—Parker and I finally shared the engagement and pregnancy news with our friends. We knew it was early in the pregnancy, but we didn’t care. If something had happened, we knew we’d need to lean on our friends to get through it anyway.
Thankfully, it never came to that.
Parker and I had a winter wedding surrounded by those same friends and our family.
And just before the first day of summer, we welcomed our daughter, Wren Kaia Stevens, to the world.
Another series is complete. I’m so blown away by all the love and support from everyone in my corner. I could say a million different things to each person involved, but then this book would be substantially longer.
So, I’ll just list everyone who has helped make this book and this series such a huge success:
To my husband, Jeff
To my boys, J&J
My ARC Team
Sarah, my cover designer
Stacey, my formatter
Ellie & Rose, my editor & proofer
My readers
The bloggers
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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The Everything Series
Everything I Need
Everything I Have
Everything I Want
Everything I Love
Everything I Give
The Cunningham Security Series
Obsessed
Overcome
Desperate
Solitude
Burned
Unworthy
Surrender
Betrayed
Revived
Road Trip Romance
Tip the Scales
Play the Part
One Wrong Turn
Just a Fling
Meant to Be
Take the Plunge
Miss the Shot
In the Cards
Hearts & Horsepower
Control the Burn
Behind the Wheel
Far Beyond Repair
How to Rebuild
Out of Alignment
A.K. Evans is a contemporary romance author of over twenty published novels. While she enjoys writing a good romantic suspense novel, Andrea’s favorite books to write have been her extreme sports romances. That might have something to do with the fact that she, along with her husband and two sons, can’t get enough of extreme sports.
Before becoming a writer, Andrea did a brief stint in the insurance and financial services industry and managed her husband’s performance automotive business. That love of extreme sports? She used to drive race cars!
When Andrea isn’t writing, she can be found homeschooling her two sons, doing yoga, snowboarding, reading, or traveling with her family. She and her husband are currently taking road trips throughout the country to visit all 50 states with their boys.