Page 107 of Rocky Top

She snorted.

As we sat on a bench out front, I glanced over at her. The evening breeze tugged at her dark hair, and the lights from the storefronts cast a soft glow on herskin.

“You’re gonna be okay, y’know,” I said.

She gave me a skeptical look.

“I mean it. Knox loves you. Emma adores him. This baby? She’s gonna have the best damn mama on this side of the Smokies.”

Eliza’s eyes filled again, but this time, she didn’t cry. Just nodded slowly, like she was letting herself believe it.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I always am.”

“You’re really not,” she teased. “But we’re in this together. Right?”

I nodded.

We finished our ice cream staring out at Knoxville, the light glinting off the Sunsphere tower in comfortable silence. The kind only years of friendship can give you. The kind that felt like home.

Then she asked, soft as smoke, “Has Rocky popped the question, yet?”

I blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.”

I stared at my empty cup. “He’s not even said he loves me.”

She leaned back, resting both hands on her belly. “Does he need to?”

It was nearly dark by the time I dropped her back off at the Wild Dog. Knox came out the second the headlights hit the lot, like he’d been standing there the whole damn time, waiting on her. His eyes locked on Eliza’s belly first, then scanned her face, softening with that rare tenderness he only ever showed her.

“Baby,” he murmured.

She looked at him for a long second. No words. Then she walked right up to him, threw her arms around his neck, and clung to him like a life raft.

I stayed in the car, watching from behind the wheel as Knox gathered her up like she was glass. He kissed her temple, her cheek, then dropped to one knee, pressed his hand to her belly and whispered something I couldn’t hear.

My throat tightened.

That biker Prez might’ve been a fox shifter with too many secrets, but he sure as hell loved her.

When Eliza turned and motioned for me to come out, I stepped into the cool night and smiled as Knox came up and wrapped me in a rare but genuine hug.

“Thanks for taking care of her,” he said gruffly.

“Always.”

He pulled back and looked at me like he wanted to say more but didn’t.

Instead, he just nodded, one hand on Eliza’s back, and the two of them headed inside together.

I lingered by my car, taking a second to breathe in the night. The stars were bright tonight.

And that’s when Rocky’s voice came from the shadows behind me. “You girls have fun?”

“I felt you lurking, Wolfman?”

---