Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
“I’m happy to be home. I missed my girls.” I look at Aubrey. “Where’s Jenna?”
“Sleeping,” she says then shakes her head when the baby cries. “She must know you’re home.”
“I’ll get her and give you two a minute alone,” Mom says, taking Dad’s hand and pulling him out of the room.
I lead Aubrey over to the couch and sit down, pulling her onto my lap.
“Are you okay?” she asks, sliding her fingers through my hair as I wrap my arms around her waist and rest the side of my head on her chest.
“Oh yeah.” I’ve kept my promise to her each and every trip, and this time isn’t any different. “It’s over.”
“It’s over?” she repeats on a whisper, and I tip my head back to look at her.
“Paulie’s dead. His wife found out about his mistress and killed him. We didn’t even have to get our hands dirty.”
“So it’s really over?”
“It is.”
“My brother?”
“Still isn’t my favorite person, but I don’t dislike him as much as I did at first.” She looks surprised by that. “He wants to reconnect with you and asked me to talk to you.”
“I…” She shakes her head. “I don’t know if I’m ready for that, if I’ll ever be ready for that.”
“You running marked him. He knows he messed up.” I cup her cheek.
“He hurt me.”
My jaw clenches. It kills me thinking of her in any kind of pain. Even her parents being in town for our wedding was hard on her, and I was tempted to send them back to Vegas sooner than planned. It was a catch twenty-two; she was happy they were here but still hurt by all that happened.
“I’ve got your back for whatever you decide, but I think it’d be good if you two spoke. He just wants you to be happy, even if it means he’ll never be a part of your life again.”
She leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder. “I don’t know if I could ever trust him after what he did, after everything that’s happened.”
“This isn’t something you need to decide on today, tomorrow, a year or however fucking long from now. The ball is in your court, baby.”
“Thank you,” she whispers, cupping my jaw. “Thank you for always putting me and Jenna first.”
“No matter what, baby, you and Jenna will always be my priority,” I say, knowing I’ll work my ass off so she never regrets putting all her trust in me. She touches her lips to mine then smiles when Jenna cries. I turn my head and my chest warms when I see my baby girl’s eyes on me. “Hey, pretty girl,” I coo as Aubrey scoots off my lap, and I take Jenna from my mom. The minute she’s in my arms, she latches onto the beard on my face, tugging hard enough I lean forward.
“You’re probably going to need to shave that,” Dad says, and I grin.
“Maybe I should shave my hair off too,” Aubrey states, and I look at her, narrowing my eyes. “I’m kidding.”
“You better be.” I give her a swift kiss then lift my girl so we’re eye-to-eye. “I missed you. Are you ready to go home?”
Her answer is to reach for my beard again, making me laugh.
“I’m gonna miss having the girls here,” Mom says, eyeing the luggage and baby items packed up by the front door.
“Mom, we’re less than thirty minutes away. You can come over whenever you want.”
“I know.” She waves me off. “It’s just that Jenna has already gotten so big, and it feels like each day she grows more and more.”
“I think that’s how it works,” I tell her, and she shakes her head.
“You and Aubrey should have another baby, so I don’t run out of baby time.”
“Why don’t you let Aubrey and Justin decide when they are going to have more kids?” Dad suggests, rolling his eyes.
“It’s their choice. I’m just saying I wouldn’t be upset if they wanted to start now.”
“I think you two should go.” Dad grins at me. “If you don’t, your mom might lock you in a room until she gets her way.”
“Right.” I stand with Jenna while chuckling at my mom, who’s glaring at my dad. “We’ll see you two in a few days.”
“Don’t worry, Cora. I’ll try to convince your son,” Aubrey says, surprising me, and I look at her. “What?” She shrugs. “I wouldn’t mind having another sooner rather than later.”
“Baby.” Fuck, I want that. I want lots of babies with her.
“Yay!” Mom whispers loudly. “More babies.”
I keep my eyes locked on Aubrey’s then close them, wondering how the fuck I got so goddamn lucky.
Chapter 17
AUBREY
“I CAN’T BELIEVE we have a whole night to ourselves.” I should probably be nervous about leaving Jenna, since it’s my first time away from her, but I know she couldn’t be in better hands. And I’m excited about spending the night alone with my husband.