Page 68 of Baby for My Billionaire Rival

“Jake, what’s going on?” Caroline asks.

I stride to the middle of the room and reach into my jacket. “I think you’ve got an idea.”

Her eyes light up. “What?Now?”

Jude rushes over and swipes Ava out of Caroline’s arms, her broad grin distracting Caroline long enough so I can settle onto the floor before her on bended knee. “Caroline…”

Her hands fly to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“I don’t know where to begin. Because there are so many things I love about you,” I say. My eyes catch my mother’s in the shadows. She’s already tearing up and Gram is patting her arm in support. I can’t look at them or else I might cry. “There are so many things I admire about you.”

Caroline shakes her head in disbelief.

“Let’s start with the obvious. You’re an amazing mother. There’s no one else I’d want to raise a child with. You’re compassionate and loving, you have been tireless in your effort to be a good mother when you already have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Ava is lucky to have you.”

“Jake, please,” she whimpers, whisking a few tears out from under her eyes.

“We might have been from different worlds at first, but appearances can be deceiving. And once we stripped away all the assumptions, you saw my soul the way no one else had.”

She glances over at Jude, Chase, and Ava, smiling ear to ear.

“I love you so completely. You make me a better man. You’ve made me stronger. Made me see my true purpose in life to give my love freely. Not to mention you’re funny as hell. And smarter than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Caroline folds her hands in front of her, trying not to cry.

“And I want to walk through life with you. You make life so joyous.” I open the ring box. “I want to take this next step in building our life together. Will you marry me?”

Caroline nods before the words leave her lips. “Yes, of course. Of course, I will.”

Our families and friends break out into cheers. Caroline gives me her hand and I breathe a sigh of relief when the ring fits perfectly, light glinting off the diamonds. She grabs my hand, pulls me to my feet, and throws herself into my arms, kissing me with all her might.

I look forward to a lifetime of her kisses as husband and wife. We’ve already done the hard shit together. We’ve lived together, worked together, we have a child together. What’s one more thing to add to the pot?

Ava’s sharp cry jolts us apart. Caroline sighs. “I can’t even kiss you without –“

I nip her ear with my lips. “Later, when we’re all alone, you can kiss me as much as you want.”

“All over,” she murmurs back, snagging one last peck before Jude returns our daughter into my arms.

“Alright, everyone, let’s celebrate!” I cry out. The barn comes to life, lights glowing in all the corners, jazz rumbling through the wooden slats. Champagne is poured, toasts are made, and dances are danced.

The whole night, Caroline doesn’t leave my side. We trade off who is in charge of Ava, the glue that seals our already watertight connection. The little girl who expanded my heart to unfathomable sizes and brought her mother back to me.

The party finally winds down much later than our bedtimes (with a seventh-month-old, bedtime is embarrassingly early.) Caroline and I walk back to our home, Ava sleeping in my arms. Our home, our place. To love and to worship each other.

We put Ava down to sleep, lingering over the crib with our arms tangled together, watching her chest rise and fall, her pink lips parted as she dreams sweetly.

“Oh, Jake…” Caroline says with a sigh.

“I know what you’re going to say,” I chuckle in her ear.

She lifts her eyebrows.

I nod toward Ava. “You want another one.”

“I – how did you –”

“I can read your mind, Caroline. Have you forgotten?” I grab her hand and kiss the inside of her wrist, her engagement ring sparkling.

She flushes, wrapping her arms around me. “I know what you’re going to say too, then.”

“Do ya now?”

“You’re going to say, ‘One thing at a time,’” she says.

I nod. “Spot on, Gladstone.”

Caroline gets onto her tiptoes, snagging my lips in a kiss. Long and promising of much, much more in the privacy of our bed. “But here is the thing, Simmons. We sort of have a way of doing everything at once. Don’t ya think?”

I bite my lower lip and shake my head. “You’ll be the death of me.” I kiss her. “The life of me.” I kiss her again. “And everything, everything in between.”

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