Page 130 of Time Out

I used the keycard, and once the green light flashed, I opened the door. Quietly, in case Maggie had fallen asleep because as well after one o’clock in the morning, but what awaited me was even better.

The second-best surprise Maggie had given me since she showed up at my door and told me she was pregnant.

“You’re a dream.” I dropped my bag from my shoulder, and the door slammed shut behind me. “Absolute perfection. This was exactly what I wanted.”

She was naked. Gloriously naked, exposing every single inch of her body unashamedly to me, standing in front of the bed wearing nothing but her ring and a smile.

Her hair was draped behind her shoulders, her boobs, already large to begin with growing larger with every week, and that round stomach I now loved so much on display for my viewing pleasure only.

“I was hoping you’d get here soon before I fell asleep.”

Some days I thought we were starting to share a mind.

“We can if you need to.” I’d give her anything.

She reached for me and grabbed my hand, drawing me to her, but it wasn’t like it took effort. I was already hard beneath my suit pants. “I’m suddenly not tired anymore.”

I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles where her ring sparkled on her finger. “If you weren’t already pregnant, I’d want you knocked up tonight, too.”

Might as well go with a hat trick—championship, engagement, and baby all in one night.

Maggie laughed and brushed my hair back before pulling her hand from mine and shoving my suit coat down my shoulders. I shook it off and let it fall to the floor as her fingers went to work on the buttons at my shirt.

“I think we have enough kids to think of for a while.”

As she always did when she thought of her family, the light in her eyes dimmed with sadness.

There would be none of that tonight. All I’d see was her glassy eyes after an orgasm, a satisfied smile, and flush on her cheeks by the time I was done with her.

“Get on the bed and spread those legs for me.”

She swallowed thickly and flashed me a sassy little smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

What could I say? I was a starving man.

For her body. Her heart. Her soul. I was desperate for her in all the ways she’d give herself in a way I knew it would never end, only growing stronger and fiercer with time.

Epilogue

MAGGIE

“Did you girls get your beds made?”

Joy, Leah, and Martha scrambled onto chairs at the dining room table in our new home.

“Yes, Maggie.” My sisters were the sweetest, kindest little creatures to ever roam the planet. They’d come to us in tears and uncertainty, clinging more to Ruth in the first few weeks. Expected, considering Martha was only three when I’d gone away to college. She barely knew me.

“Good.” I gave them all kisses on the tops of their heads and then set waffles and eggs and bacon onto the table in front of them. They dove on it like they hadn’t eaten in days. At six, seven, and nine, these girls could eat.

We’d moved in next door to the Buchanan’s in March, a few weeks after the Super Bowl and after we were busting at the seams in Davis’s condo. That sold in a matter of days, and we invested some of that money from the sale into a home in the mountains outside Knoxville, close enough where we could spend weekends whenever we wanted. The rest would go to an addition on our home.

That was taking some time to find the right contractor, but until that happened, we were working on updating the inside. New wood floors had already been laid, new carpet for upstairs. The floral wallpaper was all gone, and Ruth was settled in the downstairs bedroom.

She’d offered to stay upstairs so she could be close to the kids, but Davis and I put our foot down.

She was now eighteen, an adult, and it was time for her to find her own way in what she wanted. She was no longer the provider of her siblings, outside anything she felt like doing but we were not expecting it. Ruth took it to heart, too, because as of yesterday, she’d enrolled in a cosmetology program in Nashville. She was going to stay living with us while she completed it, which was the reason for the addition of the home. We were building a separate garage slash pool house for the pool we were going to install, and above the garage there was going to be a two-bedroom apartment for Ruth and any family who came to visit.

Besides, it made more sense for Davis and me to take the upstairs primary bedroom with the baby coming in a couple of months.

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