Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
I glanced down at her left hand, at her ring finger. The two-carat diamond looked good on her, real fucking good. It meant she was mine, that she’d be mine legally this time next year.
She looked incredible holding a baby, and every part of me wanted that baby she held to be ours, to be a little piece of both of us.
“Can you believe I’ve got a baby and am married now?” Soraya sounded like she was happy, like she had finally gotten everything she wanted.
And as I stared at Olive, I knew I’d have that too. I already did.
I glanced up at Soraya and smiled. “It looks good on you.” I turned my gaze to Felix. “It looks incredible on both of you. Congratulations again, on the beautiful baby boy and the marriage.”
Lorenzo started fussing, and Olive stood to hand the baby over to Soraya.
“Congratulations to you as well, both of you.” Soraya smiled. “The wedding will no doubt be beautiful.”
Olive glanced down at her ring, the grin on her face making me smile in return. I loved seeing her happy, loved it even more, because I was the reason for it.
“Excuse me. He’s hungry.” Soraya stood and started heading off to somewhere more private in their apartment.
Felix chuckled. “He’s always hungry. He’s got one voracious appetite.”
I heard Soraya laugh as she left.
I wrapped my arm around Olive and pulled her closer. Every part of my body was on fire as possessiveness had me staking my claim, even if Felix was newly and happily married... clearly deliriously happy. I supposed it was a primal instinct in me that made me do this, like I needed to mark my territory.
I looked at Olive and couldn’t help but smile, couldn’t help but feel myself fall in love with her even more.
For the next twenty-five minutes, we sat there and spoke with Felix—a lot of business talk—but mainly it was also about Chloe and Lorenzo. I could see the love he had for his children, and it made me want that as well.
I reached out and took Olive’s hand, giving it a squeeze. Once Soraya was back out, baby Lorenzo napping in his crib, we said our goodbyes and left. I continued to hold Olive’s hand as we made our way out of their apartment building, got a cab, and headed back to our place.
Three months ago, she’d moved in.
Two months ago, I’d asked her to marry me.
The truth was, I’d wanted to ask her as soon as she moved into my place. Hell, even before that. But I’d waited. I let us get settled into the new routine and fucking loved every minute of it. And as I glanced over at her, watching as she stared out the passenger side window of the cab, I felt my heart lurch in my chest once more.
“I love you,” I said softly, and she looked at me, a small smile playing across her lips. I cupped the side of her face and smoothed my thumb along her cheek, marveling at the fact that I was such a lucky bastard to have found her, to have her in my life.
“I love you too,” she replied and leaned in, kissing me on the lips gently, neither one of us caring we were in the back of a taxi in the middle of a busy city street.
Nothing mattered except the woman in my arms.
Nothing else mattered except the life we were building.
Olive
I stood in front of our apartment door, my heart racing, the keys in my hand slightly clanking together as my hand shook. Although I’d seen Pope today at work, it wasn’t until he left for a meeting mid-afternoon and had been gone for the rest of the day that I finally did what I had to do.
Took that pregnancy test.
And as I sat in the bathroom in our office building, staring at those two pink lines, I knew this moment would change everything. But whether that was for the best or not was still left to be decided.
In like… five minutes.
It wasn’t like we hadn’t talked about having children, about starting a family in the future. But with that reality now in our faces, how would Pope react? Would he be receptive to it, open to it?
Would he be happy?
And over the last six months, I’d felt things with us had grown exponentially. We were professional in the workplace, knew where to draw the line.
Most of the time.
Although I wouldn’t lie and say we didn’t break the rules a little bit, like meeting in his office during lunch breaks, locking the doors, pulling down the blinds to his front window, and doing all the things we probably shouldn’t be doing on the clock.
But then again, that’s what made it exciting. That’s what had that connection growing between us even more.