Page 162 of Vegas Heat

We arrive at the hospital, and Cooper grabs my hand once we’re inside. He’s careful outside when he could potentially be spotted by the media, but once we’re inside, it seems like he’s more comfortable with the idea of being close to me. Or maybe he justneedsto be closer to me to help carry him through whatever internal feelings he’s experiencing as he watches his brother get stronger each day.

When we arrive at Connor’s room, we find there are already some guests in there. Cooper grins at a woman holding a baby plus a man standing beside her, and he pretty much ignores his brother in favor of greeting the couple while Cheryl moves over to talk to Connor and get a read on how he’s feeling today.

Cooper glances back at me while I stand awkwardly by the doorway. “This is Gabby,” he says to the couple. “She’s, uh…she’s a good friend here visiting.” He leaves it at that, and I get the very clear sense that he’s not ready to share our status with these people. “Gabby, this is Marissa’s best friend Isabel, her husband Bryce, and their daughter Olivia.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say with a wave.

“May I?” Cooper asks, and he nods toward the baby.

“Of course,” Isabel says, and I stare as she hands the baby over to Cooper, who takes her like a natural into his arms.

I watch as he bounces a little while he stares down at the baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket, and then he smiles at her.

And holy shit…my fucking ovaries explode.

It’s like all the estrogen in my body rushes to the same place at the same time and causes an explosion of epic proportions.

I watch as if I’m watching my future, as if I’m seeing Cooper hold our baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket as he bounces and smiles down at her and whispers sweet gibberish to her.

I want it.

I want the picture I see. I want to create life out of this bond we share that will leave behind a legacy of our love. And I want to do it over and over.

I know very little about babies and what it takes to care for them. I know there are sleepless nights and a whole host of new anxieties and worries that accompany them, but as Cooper glances up, that smile still playing at his lips, and meets my eyes across the room, I know for sure that he’s the man I’m meant to do this with.

My God, he’s gorgeous as he stands there holding her, and it taps into some different sort of need I didn’t know existed.

The need to give him children. The need to protect them and care for them because they are part him and part me. The need to see him as a daddy, to give him the family he’s always wanted. To give himeverythinghe’s always wanted.

Maybe that’s the thing about finding your soul mate—you start to want the same things at the same time because you’re connected by the thread holding your souls together.

I don’t care that I’m young. Hell, my parents were young, too, and as it turns out, they didn’t plan for me. Imagine what a life would be like for babies who are wanted, who are planned for, who are loved beyond all measure by both their parents?

I want to do that with him, and I hardly can even stand waiting another moment for it all to begin.

I mean…I know I need to wait. Obviously. We’re in a hospital right now, so I can’t exactly just have him knock me up right this second.

I scroll in my memory down the hallway we just walked. There was a closet, some offices, other rooms holding other patients…my mental rewind pauses on the offices.

No. Not in a hospital.

But in the guest room at Marissa and Connors house? That’s a maybe.

Or the closet down the hall.

The bathroom?

No.

The elevator? Maybe…

“You want to hold her?” Cooper asks, breaking into my totally inappropriate thoughts.

I nod. “Do you mind?” I ask Isabel.

She smiles and nods as if to saygo for it, and Cooper carefully hands her over.

I’ll be honest.

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