Page 112 of Training the Heart

I nod in response.

“I’ll be maybe nine or ten weeks then, by the doctor’s calculations, and we will be able to hear the heartbeat.” I shrug sheepishly, and Wade’s eyes snap to mine.

“Heartbeat?”

“Yes …” I answer.

Wade kisses me again, takes his large hand and places it over my abdomen, then he moves his face down to talk to my belly and I die a slow death from how fucking adorable it is.

“How can you have a heartbeat, little one? You can’t be bigger than a penny in there.”

“A bean, actually,” I say as Wade’s eyes come back to mine. he’s still on his knees before me.

He looks back down, and takes in the sight of his inked hand resting against me, and he smirks and whispers the word that covers his child. “Mine,” he says, then kisses my belly.

I feel my heart shatter, there is no going back. I’m a total goner for this man.

“You get cozy in there, bean. Your mama is your home, and she’ll be the best home, you’ll see,” he whispers before he kisses my stomach again, then rises to kiss my lips.

“I know this is a lot. Are you—”

Wade’s mouth comes down on mine, smothering my last words. The kiss is full of all the love he says he has for me. He kisses me like he may never have the chance again, before pulling back and looking into my eyes.

“I don’t know whatever made you think for one fucking second that it’s you against this world, but it isn’t, it’s youandme. If I haven’t made it clear enough for you, Ivy, there’s everyone else and then there’s us. And this little bean”—he runs his fingers over my abdomen—“is part of us now. Not only am I not going anywhere, if anyone ever tried to keep me from you two, I’d set them on fucking fire to stop them. I will always protectus.”

Wade looks at me with so much hope in his eyes, it almost does me in. It almost makes me believe this is possible.

“You just give me all your burdens, all your worries, I’ll be the steady, for both of you.” He kisses my cheek. “I’ll do anything you need.” A kiss brushes my other cheek. “I’ll even share my Pop-Tarts with you.”

I smile through my tears and kiss him.

“Besides, I have a feeling maybe we have a shot here,” he says.

“Oh yeah?” I ask. “Pretty confident, are you?”

“Fuck yes, this baby is an Ashby,” he says as he kisses my neck, his voice commanding.

“And let me guess, you’re going to tell meAshbys never quitor something like that?”

He chuckles as his lips find my neck.

“No, baby, we never follow the rules.”

I laugh, a real laugh for the first time in what feels like days, as Wade’s lips trail my neck to my lips and then he kisses me deeply.

“I never want to miss you like that again—no matter whathappens from here on out, we are in it together,” he whispers in my ear, and his deep commanding voice has me clenching my thighs together just from the sound. “Tell me you understand.”

I nod just before his lips meet mine.

He pulls his face back.

“That’s my good girl,” he says, with a kiss that sets me on fire.

I let my hands move through his hair and pull, hard enough to make him suck in a breath between his teeth. The way I missed him for just those few hours settles into my chest; there’s not a chance in hell I can ever live without Wade Ashby.

He pulls me up by my wrists and we start to move toward my room, but any hope we have of even making it to my bed fails as Wade’s hands roam down my sides, slow and intentional as he presses me into the wall.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

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