“Thank you. I’m so lucky to have you,” I said.
“You sure are,” he replied. “Hey, you know I’m kidding!” he added as I held up another pillow and took aim.
Before he finally left to get the food, he leaned over, kissed my forehead and murmured into my ear. “You’re mine. All mine, forever.”
Damn right I was.
Chapter 28
Riley
During the month after Serra had pushed me down the stairs, Kaiden barely left my side. He did absolutely everything for me, and I didn’t know if I would’ve been able to heal so fast without him by my side, especially not since the morning sickness had finally decided to show up. It was almost unbearable. Not only did it refuse to limit itself to the morning, preferring to be an all-day occurrence, it had me so exhausted that I often found it a challenge to get out of bed.
Two weeks ago, he’d started to move my stuff into his house. I would’ve helped, but the doctor had made it clear that I wasn’t allowed to lift anything, and besides, Kaiden had enough strength and energy for the two of us. That was one of the upsides of being with a champion fighter—they were on a physical peak compared to the rest of us, with almost boundless energy and indomitable strength, and I got to reap the benefits of all that muscle…in more ways than one.
I was still struggling to think of his house as my permanent home, but I was sure I’d get there eventually. Kaiden was doing everything within his power to make me feel welcome, and he’d even let me partially redecorate the bedroom to suit my tastes. When I actually had the energy to get out of bed, that is.
Right now it was six o’clock on a Friday, and I was lounging around sipping on pineapple juice, which seemed to be the only thing I could stomach right about now.
“So what do you think about this one?” Kaiden asked me, coming out from the bedroom dressed in a suit. He’d tried nine other suits so far, and none were good enough—according to him, that is. To me—the girl with no fashion sense—a suit was a suit.
“Looks exactly like the others,” I said, and he grinned and rolled his eyes.
He had some sort of UFC awards ceremony to attend, and he wanted to look just right. After all of the media attention he’d received recently because of Serra, he wanted to be noticed for something positive.
And speaking of media attention—Kaiden had recently fired Wenden and Brown as his PR firm. I’d told him that he was being silly, and that Eric had had every right to fire me the other week, but Kaiden still hadn’t been interested in retaining their services without me on their team. Still, he needed a PR expert on his side, so I was helping him out whenever I could. It was the least I could do, really.
“So if the media asks you about Serra tonight…” I began.
“They won’t,” he replied.
“They will. If they do, just say it’s all in—”
“In the past now, and I don’t want to discuss her anymore. I’m looking forward to the future. I know!” He smiled and kissed me on the lips. “You’ve taught me well.”
I grinned. “In that case, you’re good to go.”
“It’s just a shame I don’t have a beautiful girl on my arm,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“I know, I’m sorry, I just don’t have the energy to go anywhere right now.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Oh, you thought I was talking about you? You’ve certainly got a high opinion of yourself.”
“Hilarious. Now get out of here before I spray you with this juice,” I said, brandishing my cup in a mock-threatening gesture.
He chuckled and rubbed my back. “Are you sure you don’t need me to stay?”
“No, no,” I said. “I’ll be fine. You go have fun.”
“If you insist. Are you going to get some writing done while I’m out?” he asked.
He was always encouraging me to write, to pursue my dream, and I loved him dearly for it. If he hadn’t, I probably would have given up already. He kept making me do it whenever I wasn’t succumbing to my morning sickness, which sometimes irritated me, but he had my best interests at heart.
“Yeah, I’m going to do some more if I can keep this juice down,” I said. “I’ve been writing so much in the last few weeks that I’m actually quite close to having my first book done already. It’s pretty crazy.”
“I can’t wait to read it.”
“Not until it’s complete. I’d be too embarrassed,” I said, waving him away.
I was still unsure of my level of talent, and I wasn’t ready for the world to see my work yet.
He winked. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. I already read some of it when you were asleep the other night. It’s great.”
“You did not!” I said, playfully smacking his arm. “Go on, get out of here.”
“Okay. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
As much as I was sad to see him go, I was glad of the time alone to be able to lose myself in my story once more, and I turned on my laptop before opening up the almost-completed manuscript.
“Okay Patrick and Maria, let’s give you the romantic ending that you deserve…”
***
The next morning, I yawned and stretched in bed, half-expecting to roll over and see Kaiden in bed next to me, snoring gently. He wasn’t there, and I sat up and looked around. There was a strange buzzing sound coming from somewhere in the house, but it was so faint I thought I might’ve been imagining it.
“Kaiden?” I called out towards the bathroom, wondering if he was in there.
When he didn’t emerge from there, I frowned and got out of bed before padding down the hall. I was about to call out to him again when I heard the buzzing sound again, louder this time. Now that I was closer, I could tell that it was the metallic sound of a drill, and I raised an eyebrow. What DIY job could possibly be so important that Kaiden would do it this early in the morning?
I went from room to room, finding each one of them empty until I eventually discovered him hunched over in the room we’d decided was going to be the nursery. He was crouched on the ground, wearing a pair of safety goggles, and I stepped over and stood in front of him. When he finally noticed me, he quickly removed the goggles and grinned at me.
“You’re up.”
“Kinda hard not to be, with all that noise,” I teased.
“Well, all this noise is a surprise for you,” he said before stepping aside to let me see what he’d been working on. It was the most gorgeous white crib I’d ever seen, and I gasped as I took it all in.
“Oh my god…it’s adorable!” I said, running my hand along the carved wooden side.
“I made it myself.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m not just a pretty face,” he said, eyes lit with mischief. “So you like it?”
“I love it. There’s only one problem.”
“What’s that?” he asked. He stepped closer to the crib and leaned down, looking for an imaginary fault.
“It’s not enough,” I said.
He furrowed his brows in confusion. “Huh? What do you mean?”
I took a deep breath before answering. I’d known about this since the doctor had done my ultrasound scan in the hospital, but I’d wanted to wait till my five-month scan to tell him, seeing as that was when I’d find out the sex…or sexes, I should say. I’d wanted it to be a big surprise, but after seeing what he’d made for the nursery, I couldn’t keep it from him any longer.
“We’re having twins,” I said. “I wanted to wait till I found out about the sexes so I could surprise you with the whole thing and tell you exactly what we were having, but now that you’ve made this beautiful crib, I felt like I kinda had to tell you now.”
His mouth dropped open in shock, and I continued. “That’s why I already have a belly like this, even though I’m barely four months pregnant. Some women hardly even show at all this early in their pregnancies.”
Kaiden finally found his tongue. “We’re really having
twins?”
“Yep. And we’ll find out the sexes at my five month scan in four weeks.”
“I can’t believe it. Here we were, all worried that you’d never be able to have just one baby, and now we’re getting two!”
“I know,” I said, tears of joy brimming in my eyes. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
He picked me up and twirled me around, being careful not to be too rough, and then he put me back down on the ground again before kneeling and kissing my stomach.
“I just realized something,” he said as he stood up again a moment later.
“What’s that?”
“This is why you were smiling so mysteriously at the hospital when the doctor wanted to talk to you alone. That’s when you found out!”
I nodded. “Uh-huh, and I told the doctor I wanted to surprise you with it, rather than let you find out the good news under such shitty circumstances, so he played along.”
“Here I was thinking you were just happy because he’d declared me to be your personal servant.”
“Oh, I was happy about that too,” I said, playfully pinching his chest.
He grinned. “Well, I guess I’d better get on with my servant duties and start making crib number two, then!”
“Okay. But you have to kiss me first,” I replied.
He happily obliged, crushing my lips with his as his arms tightly wrapped around me. I could still scarcely believe how lucky I was to be with such an amazing man, yet here he was, kissing me, hugging me, and helping me prepare for our bright future.
I was his, and he was mine…and now that I was pregnant, we had something that was truly ours. Someone that was ours.
Two ‘someones’, in fact.
I couldn’t wait to meet our babies.
Chapter 29
Kaiden
Now that Riley and I had two healthy babies on the way—due in just a week, in fact—my life priorities had shifted irrevocably, and I’d finally made some important decisions that I’d spent the last few months implementing. It hadn’t been easy and it definitely hadn’t all been fun, but I didn’t care. All I cared about now was my little family.
My world was changing, and I was evolving with it—and I was damned happy to do so.
The first thing I’d done was quit fighting professionally. Many people had been extremely disappointed at that, given the fact that I was one of the best, but I’d made my decision and I was sticking with it.
Riley hadn’t made me do it at all, even though she’d never been a fan of my fighting. In fact, she’d protested against me quitting for a very long time, but it was what I wanted. She argued that it was my dream, but to be honest, it wasn’t anymore. My only dream now was to be the best father in the world, and I didn’t want to take the unnecessary risks that came with fighting.
I’d done it with no backup plan, but things had immediately fallen into place. I’d been offered a job that I hadn’t even considered—coaching younger fighters who wanted to make it into the leagues. I’d been unsure at first, but now I loved it. It was the perfect job for me; the hours were great, the work was rewarding, and the money was good. Obviously the salary wasn’t what I’d been earning before as a sponsored fighter, but that was fine because I had a nest egg saved up.
The second thing I’d done was send Riley’s completed manuscript to every literary agent and publisher in the city, along with some others in New York. I had admittedly done this behind her back, because I’d known she was too nervous to do it herself, but I knew she’d be a success. Her writing was amazing.
The acceptance letters had quickly started shooting through the door, which meant I’d been forced to confess the truth. She’d been a little miffed at first, but this quickly subsided when she saw how great the publishers thought she was.
The book had been rushed through publishing and was being released in all major stores today, and right now, I was on my way to buy her a copy. This was linked to the third major life decision I’d made in recent weeks, but no one knew about that one just yet.
All in good time…
“That’ll be $13.99,” the young cashier in the book store said as he rang up my purchase. “Hey, by the way, aren’t you that fighter?”
“Used to be. I train other fighters now,” I said, handing over the money.
“Cool. Good for you. Anyway, do you need a bag?”
“Nah, I can carry it by itself. This is actually my girlfriend’s book,” I said, my voice thick with pride as I picked it up. “She wrote it. Look, there’s her name. Riley Solis.”
I traced my finger over the letters of her name once more before turning it over to reveal her picture on the back in the small author bio, and the cashier arched an eyebrow.
“Wow. She’s hot.”
“Tell me about it,” I replied with a grin. “I’m really punching above my weight.”
“Well, you’re used to that, right? You used to fight guys almost twice the size of you.”
I chuckled. He had a point.
“True. Anyway, thanks.”
I left the store and headed out to my car, a smile playing on my lips. There was just one more store I had to go to before returning home…
***
“Riley? You okay?” I called out as I stepped through the door an hour later. I’d called her twice while I was out just to check that nothing had happened, and she’d been fine, but I was anxious all the same.
“I’m fine,” she called back with a mouth which was clearly full of food. “I’m in the kitchen.”
I headed towards the kitchen with her book clutched tightly in my hand. I couldn’t wait to see her face. This was going to be the proudest moment of her whole damn life, and I was so grateful that I could be a part of it.
She smiled as I entered the room, and I drank in her gorgeous appearance. She was wearing a loose-fitting sundress which barely fit over her massive bump, her face was makeup-free, and her dark curly hair was hanging loose and messy. All natural, just the way I liked her best.
Perfect for this moment.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Fine, as long as I keep eating,” she said after finishing a bite of the sandwich she was holding. “How was your day?”
“Good,” I replied. She still hadn’t noticed the book, despite the fact that I was practically waving it in her face.
“Glad to hear it. You have no idea how jealous I am that you can go out whenever you want while I’m stuck here looking like I swallowed a beach ball.”
“It’ll all be over soon, and then you’ll be able to go out and do stuff again…only with two babies following you around,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s true,” she replied, rubbing her belly. “That reminds me, I keep thinking about fun places to take them when they’re a bit older, and I suddenly thought about a drive-through cinema. They’re so cool. Are there any of them around here?”
“Hmm…yeah, I think I saw one in 1972,” I said, feigning a thoughtful expression.
She laughed. “Oh, shut up. Wait…is that my book you’ve got there?” she asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she finally noticed what I was holding and put her sandwich down.
“Sure is.”
“Well, that’s one way to stop me from raiding the fridge,” she said with a grin. “Distracting me with something like this!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at her goofy happiness. I wanted her to be this happy every single day for the rest of her life, and I intended to do everything within my power to ensure that happened.
She took the book from me and squealed as she stared at it, her eyes alive with her fiery passion for writing. The idea of being published had really transformed her and brought her out of her shell in the last few months, and I loved seeing her that way. She deserved this dream, and I was glad that I’d played a small part in making it come true.
The publishing house was already asking her to write another three books, so there was no way this career path was bei
ng taken away from her anytime soon.
“Oh my god!” she said, stroking the cover. “I can’t believe it. It looks so good.”
“You’ll be a bestseller by next month, I bet.”
“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it,” she said with a rueful smile, but I knew she was wrong. The preorders had been insane, especially for a brand new author, so it was guaranteed to hit the bestseller charts within no time. She was going to be huge, even if she didn’t know it yet.
I watched her turn the first page of the book with a racing heart. This was it; this was where plan number three finally fell into place. I just needed her to be distracted enough to not notice what I was doing for a few seconds. Her eyes focused on the pages as she turned them slowly, and the tension was damn near killing me.
The perfect moment came as she held the book closer to her face and squinted at one of the pages.
“God, for a second I thought I saw a typo on page five,” she said, looking up at me. “But it was just…oh!”
She’d finally noticed me again. I was down on one knee in front of her, holding out a crimson ring box, and her lips fell open in a perfect O-shape as I opened it and stared up at her, displaying the princess-cut diamond ring set in a white gold band.
“Riley, I’ve spent my whole life loving you, even if I didn’t quite realize it when we were young. We’ve been sent to hell and back more than once, but here we are, still together, stronger than ever, and ready to take on the world. I think that means we’re destined to be together.”
Tears of joy were sliding down her face already, and it was taking all of my strength to hold it together as I continued.
“We were thrown back together for a reason, and now we’re about to have two children. Our lives are about to be complete, except for one thing. I need you to be my wife. So what do you say? Marry me?”
“Oh my god, yes!” she said, moving forward to hug me as I stood up. “Yes, yes, yes!”
I slid the ring onto her finger…and that was the exact moment her waters broke.
Bad Boy Brit (A British Bad Boy Romance) Page 43
