Page 145 of Between Hate and Desire

“What about you, Hunter?” Maddie asks, drawing our attention to him. I want to interrupt and protect him from having to answer. I can’t even imagine how hard this is for him now knowing his secret, which is why I was surprised he came today.

“Oh, um…I have no idea.” He shrugs. “I’m excited for you either way.”

“I have a feeling it’s a girl,” I say.

“Well, let’s find out.”

An image appears, and I see the cute little butt on the screen and then…

“There’s no penis!”

“Maddie!” Sophie and I both scold.

“How would she even know what one looks like?” Sophie snorts, making Hunter and me laugh.

Maddie scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“Well, she’s right,” the tech announces. “It’s a girl!”

Hunter arrives at the apartment a few minutes before me. I lug my bag and purse in and am ready to sit on my ass after today.

“Hey, wait…” Hunter says as I walk toward my room. “I have a surprise for you in there.”

Tilting my head, I narrow my eyes. “You do? What kind of surprise?”

“C’mon, you know I’m not gonna tell you.” He comes up behind me and wraps a hand over my eyes. “Okay, you can walk now.”

“Oh, okay, sure,” I reply dramatically. “I can’t see a damn thing.”

“I’ll lead you.”

I hear a door open and the click of the light switch flicking on. “Okay.” He removes his hand, and I blink a few times before my vision clears.

“What’s that?” I walk toward it. “Oh my God. You got me a rocking chair?”

“Yep, figured you’d need one.”

I look over my shoulder, and he’s grinning.

“I can’t believe you did this.” I close the gap between us and wrap my arms around him. “Thank you, Hunter.”

“You’re welcome.” He kisses my forehead, making those damn goose bumps appear again. “Go take it out for a test drive.”

I sit and rock, the chair soft and comfortable. “It’s perfect.”

Hunter crosses his arms over his chest, standing tall and proud. His smile is genuine and sweet, and I wish I could express how much this means.

“Hopefully, you and baby girl make a lot of memories rocking together.”

“I can’t wait,” I tell him, beaming. “My mom used the same rocking chair for each of us, and it now creaks after years of being used. But it always felt special.”

Hunter watches me with a look of pride. “So now that you know the gender, do you have any names picked out?”

“I’ve narrowed it down to a few, but nothing concrete.” My head falls back as I rock back and forth, the motion causing my eyes to close. “Oh shit.”

“What?” Hunter’s brows furrow.

“We have to do a gender reveal announcement.”

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