Page 209 of Crazy for this Girl

“We might have to take them on full time. I can do the books and reservations, but I’m going to have my hands tied with other things.”

“Now, what is going on in that little head of yours? Don’t tell me you’re wanting to go corporate.”

I chuckle. “Um, never.”

“What did you do now?”

“It’s what we did. Mostly you.”

Cal sighs. “Now, what did I do? Because whatever it was, I don’t mind getting on my knees. In fact”—he turns me around and begins to get down on one—“I can remedy that right now.”

His fingers dip into the waistband of my leggings, but I clutch tightly onto his hands to stop him. “Cal.”

Worry immediately washes over his face, and he narrows his eyes on me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I—” He stands up so quickly that I actually take a small step back, but I’m quickly pulled flush against his hard frame within the next second.

“Are you worried? You’re going to do great.”

“No—well, a little nervous. But—”

“You got me,” he counters confidently. “I’m not going to let you fail.”

I bob my head in agreement because it’s the last thing he’d ever let me do. I couldn’t ask for anyone better at my side with this. “I know you won’t. However, that’s not what I’m nervous about.”

“Okay…”

“I’m…” I swallow down my fear that he might freak when I push through with, “I’m pregnant.”

He freezes.

I mean like he just walked through an ice storm and literally can’t flinch or move a muscle. My heart beats triple-time.

Two years ago, he found out that River Mae was, indeed, his daughter. And since he already thought for a long time that she was, he wasn’t upset, but more relieved.

“I know that with the loss of River, it probably sets off a lot of PTSD,” I tell him, fidgeting with my fingers and watching him stare at me with zero emotion. “I’m sorry, Cal, I—”

“The hell are you sorry about?” he growls angrily, marking me down with a glare that I haven’t seen him wear since his football team lost the playoffs last year.

“We’ve kinda skimmed over the kids thing, and I’m not sure if—well, we’ve been so busy the last two years that it hasn’t been a topic of conversation. I knew we’d talk about it eventually, but it never came up. You’ve let me do this”—I gesture to the cabin—“and, I haven’t made a lot of time for you, us. You’ve been so patient and—”

“Stop talking, Laynee.”

“I want to live here,” I blurt out, deciding to just get everything out in the open before I chicken all the way out. “We fell in love here. It’d be a great and quiet place to raise the baby. Then when she gets older—”

“It’s a girl?” Cal appears as if he’s about to collapse, like I just told him I cheated on him.

I frown because I’m not sure what I’m going to do if he doesn’t want this. “I think so. I dunno, it feels like it.”

“Laynee…” He steps forward, cupping my face in his palms and studying my face as if now I’m the one that possibly doesn’t want this. “You gave me another child?”

I bob my head. “We did.”

“Another child with the middle name of—”

“Say it,” I growl through slitted eyes. “Say it, Cal Harper, and I will drown you in that lake behind you.”

He smiles for the first time, brushing his thumb along my cheekbone. “Fuck…I am the luckiest bastard in the world. I have the most beautiful wife and now…a baby.”

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