“No,” she muttered. “You’re sleeping on the sofa tonight.”
“Why?”
“You could have gotten us killed! What if that stunt of yours hadn’t worked? We’d both be dead.”
He had the audacity to chuckle as he kissed her cheek.
“It wasn’t a stunt,” he said. “Tim is the dumbest criminal on the planet. The safety on his gun was locked. The only gun I was worried about was Ray’s, but he was focused on you, so once you nailed Timothy, Ray was easily disarmed.”
“Doesn’t make me feel better.” She clasped her fingers behind his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. “Hold me,” she whispered. The last thing she wanted to do was cry, but she couldn’t stop the tears.
His hands ran up and down her back, getting tangled in her hair. He didn’t say a word, while she sniffled in the crook of his neck, focusing on the warm outdoors his personal scent created. She heard people coming and going. Frank said something about an ambulance and reading them all their rights. She had no idea how long they stood in the middle of the family room. As soon as her tears dried up, she took a step back.
“You’re still sleeping on the couch.”
He laughed. “I suppose we need to test the new sofa sleeper.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jake leaned against the stall door while slicing an apple as Boots nudged his shoulder. “Patience old man.” Jake held his hand out and the horse greedily took his treat. “So, I actually did it. I bought the ring.”
The horse nodded as if he understood.
“Even showed it to my dad.” Jake scratched Boots’ nose. “I’m going to ask her today. At the barbeque.” He cupped the horse’s face. “I’m coming home. For good.”
Boots pranced on his front legs. It was good to see Boots feeling his old self again. “Be good,” Jake whispered, then gave the horse the rest of the apple. “I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
The music and laughter from the farm barbeque filled his mind with happy memories of his childhood and promises of the future. He walked the path to the front lawn, where the smell of a roasting pig filled the air.
He sat in one of the rockers, next to his father and nursed a beer. “The District Attorney called my boss this morning. They won’t be pressing charges against you.”
“I think I should donate to a couple of children’s missions.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Jake said as he stared at Kenzie who was on the other side of the lawn holding Stacey’s newborn baby boy.
“She’s going to make a wonderful mother,” his father said.
Jake tapped his chest in unison with his heartbeat as Kenzie looked over at him and smiled. “She’s too good for me. Always has been.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I have this entire proposal planned out and I know I’m going to screw it up.”
“That I believe,” his father teased.
Kenzie gently rocked back and forth as she kissed the little boy on his bald head before handing him back to his mother. She took long slow strides across the yard, her white shirt clinging tightly around her baby bump. A short jean skirt showed off her long, lean supple legs.
“My two favorite men,” Kenzie said as she sat on the side of Jake’s chair, looping her arm around his shoulders.
He finished the last swig of his beer and stood, stretching his hand out. “I’ve got something I want to show you back at the cabin.” If he didn’t take her away now, he just might get cold feet.
“Now?” she asked. “I don’t want to leave the party?”
“Humor me,” he said.
“Just go Kenzie,” his father said.
She narrowed her eyes. “What are you up to?”
“Come on.” He laced his fingers through hers, holding tightly, wondering if his hand shook.
“Okay,” she said. “Better be good because I’m having too much fun.”
Nothing like putting the pressure on.
He pushed open the door to the manager’s cabin. His chest hurt as he tried to control his breathing, keeping the adrenaline from kicking in.
He tapped on the kitchen table, which was covered in architectural plans. “Check these out.”
She picked up on of the large sheets of papers. “What is this?”
“A house,” he said. “Specifically, turning this place into a home, a real home with five bedrooms and a reading room, just so you can curl up with a good book when you need your space. This is so you never have to even consider living in the main house and it’s an open plan and not too big. And this one.” He held up another sheet of paper. “This turns the main house into room rentals for people who are either training here or just want the farm experience. Of course, that’s on hold for as long as my dad wants to live in the main house, though he could also live here with us. Doug said, if you like the plans, he can have the house ready right before the baby is born.”
“Wait a minute.” She peeked over the plans. “What do you mean live here with us?”
“Dad could live with us, here. He’s going to need a lot of help over the next few months and we don’t know how long he really has, but only if you’re okay with it and Dad is willing to move in.” He blinked a few times, trying to think before opening his mouth, but it wasn’t working, and the words poured out so fast he wasn’t sure what he’d said so far. “I was hoping you liked the plans, though I don’t understand them at all. Doug can explain them.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. This wasn’t going quite as he had anticipated.
She just stood there, her gaze going from the blueprint to him as she chomped down on her lower lip. “When did we start living together?”
“We haven’t, but...” He pulled out the pouch he’d stuffed in his pocket earlier. His hand trembled slightly, though it felt like it was being rocked by a level five hurricane.
“What’s this?”
“A necklace I had made from my parent’s rings,” he said.
“Your parent’s wedding rings?”
Jake nodded. “Take a look.”
He watched as she carefully opened the pouch, inserting her fingers, gently lifting the silver chain up.
“Oh, my, God.” Kenzie held up the necklace, staring at the two rings made an infinity sign with the diamond from his mother’s engagement ring in the middle. “This is gorgeous.”
“Let’s put it on you.”
“This is for me?”
“Who else would I give it to.” Jake took the chain, undoing the clasp and reached around her neck as she held her hair up. It took him three tries to secure it before letting it dangle just above her cleavage.
“That’s a huge diamond,” she whispered.
“Ten years ago.” Jake traced the outline of the design on her skin. “My father wanted me to give that diamond to you as an engagement ring.”
“Come again?”
“Right before I turned twenty-five. My father said it was mine when I was ready.”
“You were going to propose to me ten years ago?” Her fingers traced the necklace as her eyelids fluttered.
“I thought about it, a lot,” he said. “And I’m thinking about it again.”
He reached into his other pocket, slipping the tiny ring onto his pinky. “I loved you ten years ago and I still love you. I never stopped loving you.” He held his hand up. “I thought this might be a little more your style than my mother’s ring.”
“Oh, my God.” She pointed to his hand. “That’s a ring. A diamond ring.”
He glanced at the simple band with three small diamonds set low so she could wear it when she worked. “Technically, the three diamonds on this one equals the one around your neck.”
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
“I thought that part was obvious.” He took her hand, taking the ring off his pink and gently glided it on her ring finger. “I want to be with you. Always. I know now that I can still be a Trooper and you can have everything you want too, including our farm. This cabin has a
lways been a home to us and it can be that again.”
A long excruciating pause made him wonder if she might actually say no.
“That’s it?”
“What else is there?” he asked.
“You’re hopeless.” She rested her hands on his shoulders. “You could try the words, ‘Will you marry me’.”
“Yes,” he said, smiling. “How could a guy turn down that proposal?”
“You can be infuriating.”
“So, I’ve been told.” He grabbed her hips, lifting her up, carefully putting her over his shoulder.
“Put me down.”
“I will after I put you in my truck. I am whisking you away to my cabin in the middle of nowhere for our much-needed alone time.
“I have to pack.”
“Bag is in the truck.” He kicked opened the door. “You’re heavier than I remember.”
“That is not going to get you laid,” she said. “We need to go back to the party. I just can’t leave without saying good-bye.”
“Dad knows. He’ll fill everyone in.” He set her down in the passenger side, and before she could protest anymore, he buckled her in.
“You told your father?”
“I showed him the ring,” Jake said.
“What if I want to go back and tell Stacey? Show her the ring.”
“Then we’ll never get out of here. You can do that when we get back.” He smiled, slamming the truck door shut before racing around and hoping behind the driver side.
“You really suck at understanding women.”
He laughed, opening the center console, pulling out his last gift. “You’re going to take that back after you open this.”
She tore through the wrapping, revealing a picture frame with the words, ‘I love Mom’ and their latest ultrasound picture.
“How long to your cabin?” she asked.
“Less than an hour.”
“I think someone is going to get lucky. Very lucky.”
He ran his hand across her stomach. “I’m the luckiest man alive.”
Epilogue
Kenzie watched in awe as Jake took a lesson from the nurse on how to swaddle their newborn baby girl. The last thirty hours had been grueling, and there were moments she didn’t think she’d be able to continue, but through it all, Jake stood by her side, whispering encouraging words, even when she had chomped down on his arm during a contraction.
She rolled her wedding rings around on her fingers. It had only been a month since they officially tied the knot, having waited for their house to be finished so they could have a small private wedding in their own back yard.
“Let’s go see Mommy,” Jake said as he took the nine-pound baby into his arms and carefully walked the five paces to Kenzie’s bed side. “So, what’s it going to be? Matilda or Emma?”
Kenzie laughed. “You have to ask?”
Jake gently set the baby down on her chest. “We never talked about middle names, but I like the idea of using Chorley.”
“I like that,” Kenzie said. “I hope your father got to his treatment okay.”
“I got a text from Elsie. She took him and said she’d bring him by when he was done.” Jake pushed down the side railing and slid next to Kenzie on the gurney, wrapping his arms around both mother and child. “I didn’t think I could love any one as much as I love the both of you.”
She considered his eyes, noting a small dot of water forming in the corner. “Save a little love for others because I'm going to want a few more kids.”
“How can you say that after what you just went through?”
“It was nothing.”
Jake rubbed his forearm. “Nothing? I got a tennis ball tossed at my head. Was called a mother you know what a few times and do I need to remind you that you bit me?”
“Only thing I remember was you holding our daughter for the first time and then placing her on my chest.”
Just then a knock came at the door.
“Hey there,” Elsie peeked her head in. “I heard a new member of the family arrived about an hour ago.”
“Yep,” Jake said. “Is my dad out of chemo?”
“He’s right here,” Elsie said. “Doctors said he could come in and say hello for a few minutes.”
Jake leaped from the bed and wheeled Ethan into the room. The cancer treatments were taking their toll on his body, but he was responding better than they had expected and though he was still terminal, he fought, wanting to spend time with his grandchild and his son. He had hope. They all had hope.
Jake kissed his little girl’s forehead before holding her up. “Emma Chorley Prichard, meet your Grandpa.”
“She has your hair,” Ethan said. “Maybe even more than when you were born.”
“We’ve already started calling her Goldilocks.” Kenzie took Jake’s hand as he eased himself next to her on the hospital bed.
“She’s perfect,” Ethan whispered.
“She’s her mother’s daughter.”
Kenzie smiled at her husband. It had taken a long time for all of them to heal the wounds of generations past, but this new life brought with her a new beginning.
The End
A Word from the Author
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Other Books From Jen Talty
NY State Trooper Series
IN TWO WEEKS
DARK WATER
DEADLY SECRETS
MURDER IN PARADISE BAY
TO PROTECT HIS OWN
DEADLY SEDUCTION
WHEN A STRANGER CALLS
NY State Trooper Novella
HIS DEADLY PAST
Brand New Novella for the First Responders series
A spin off from the NY State Troopers series
PLAYING WITH FIRE
PRIVATE CONVERSATION
The Men of Thief Lake
REKINDLED
DESTINY’S DREAM
Other novels
JANE DOE’S RETURN
THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS
The Aegis Network
THE LIGHTHOUSE
HER LAST HOPE
THE LAST FLIGHT
THE RETURN HOME
Coming soon!
THE MATRIARCH
The Collective Order
THE LOST SISTER
THE LOST SOLDIER
THE LOST SOUL
Coming soon!
THE LOST CONNECTION
Special Forces Operation Alpha
BURNING DESIRE
BURNING KISS
BURNING SKIES
BURNING LIES
BURNING HEART
BURNING BED
REMEMBER ME ALWAYS
The Brotherhood Protectors
ROUGH JUSTICE
ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES
ROUGH RIDE
ROUGH EDGE
The Twilight Crossing Series
THE BLIND DATE
SPRING FLING
SUMMER’S GONE
WINTER WEDDING
Witches and Werewolves
LADY SASS
ALL THAT SASS
Coming soon!
NEON SASS
PAINTING SASS
Boxsets
LOVE CHRISTMAS, MOVIES
UNFORGETABLE PASSION
A NIGHT SHE’LL REMEMBER
SWEET AND SASSY IN THE SNOW
SWEET AMD SASSY Prince Charming
UNFORGETABLE CHARMERS
Novellas
NIGHTSHADE
A CHRISTMAS GETAWAY
About Jen Talty
Welcome to my World! I'm a USA Today Bestseller of Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.
I first started writing while carting my kids to one hockey rink after the other, averaging 170 games per year between 3 kids in 2 countries and 5 states. My fi
rst book, IN TWO WEEKS was originally published in 2007. In 2010 I helped form a publishing company (Cool Gus Publishing) with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer where I ran the technical side of the business through 2016.
I'm currently enjoying the next phase of my life...the empty NESTER! My husband and I spend our winters in Jupiter, Florida and our summers in Rochester, NY. We have three amazing children who have all gone off to carve out their places in the world, while I continue to craft stories that I hope will make you readers feel good and put a smile on your face.
Contacts
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BEDDED BY THE BILLIONAIRE
Bedded By The Billionaire
The Billionaire’s Club
Leanne Banks
New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
Copyrights
First Copyright @2008 by Leanne Banks
Second Copyright @2019 by Leanne Banks
Book Description
Duty demanded Max DeLuca protect and care for Lilli McCall. After all, she was pregnant with his dead brother’s baby. Determined to uphold the honor of the DeLuca name, Max will protect Lilli and her unborn child at all cost.
But he doesn’t count on the possibility that sweet, pretty Lilli could get under his thick skin. Max has never experienced the passion and tenderness he feels for Lilli. When Max, however, uncovers a hidden secret about Lilli and the baby he is caught between cynicism and his growing feelings for Lilli. Will his heart win the fight?
Sweet and Sassy Baby Love Page 73
