Page 28 of Ghost

I laughed, which wasn’t the right response because Brax stood abruptly and the stool tipped over and hit the floorby the force. He stomped to the fridge and yanked the door open.

“Water or soda?” he bit out,andI stifled my laughter to answer. He slammed the can of soda down in front of me and a beer beside his plate before he bent and picked the stool up, then sat back down. “Laugh all the fuck you want. But you won’t be stripping here. That’s fucking final.”

“Are you done ordering me around?” I asked as sweetly as I could without snapping at him. He’d misunderstood my question and jumped straighttothe extreme.

“Probably not, but you’ll have to get over it.” He picked up his fork and started eating.

“Well, now that we have that worked out.” I chuckled, and his head whipped toward me, and the vein at his temple was protruding. “Sweetie, I didn’t mean I wanted a jobstripping. But I do know the business. And I’m not talking about the strippers. There’s inventoryofthe bar and kitchen. Scheduling, you name it. I also know how to bartend. And if there’s nothing there I can help with, maybe one of the other club businesses could use some help.”

“Just want time with you, baby. But I’ll check for ya.” Brax leaned and kissed my forehead. “We can talk more about it later. Eat.”

“So bossy,” I said and picked up my fork and started eating.

“Yep,” he said and smiled at me, not a bit ashamed.

“Well, since you were so sweet about me letting me work,” I said, then laughed when he looked over at me and smirked. “And, you are even willing to share your money, I guess I could do the same.”

“Luna, I’m not going to use the money you make. You spend it however you want, baby.”

“Umm...Brax. Not talking about a paycheck. I’ve invested well, too. The mine the Ops owned in Riverton brought in a shit ton of cash, then more after the rights were sold. Everyone got a share. My share was...three million and some change.”

Brax had taken a bite when I said the amount and started to choke. I reached over and patted his back while he took a drink of his beer.

“Christ, woman, you don’t casually drop shit like that when people have food in their mouth.”

“Sorry, we were talking about money,andI thought I should let you know. I don’t want you to think I would keep things from you. Plus, it’s even more since I invested. And—”

“Stop.” Brax put his hand up and cut me off. “First, I’m happy you have money, a lot of money, but, baby, that’s yours. We won’t need to touch any of that to live. Might need to dip into it to send our kids to college, though.”

“Kids? As in plural?” I asked as I stopped the fork right at my lips.

“Well yeah, I would like to have at least three or four.”

Are you crazy? Iswhat I wanted to ask, but Brax’s facedropped,andI knew where his thoughtswent.

“Howcome you and Stormydidn’t havemore kids?” It took him a minute,andI was left wondering if he would even answer.

“She hadahard time carrying BJ. At delivery, they ended up having to give her an emergency C-section because he was too big for her to push out.” He took a deep breath and glanced down at my stomach before he brought his eyes back to mine. “After they delivered him, she started bleeding above what was normal. They ended up having to take one of her ovaries due to a small tumorthat had ruptured. The way it was wrapped around the ovary, the doctors were even surprised she got pregnanttobegin with.”

“Sweetie, I’m sorry,” I said and rubbed his forearm.

“She didn’t take any birth control after, but she never got pregnant again.”

My heart was breaking for him,andthere wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Braxto put light back in his eyes.

“I imagine you as an awesome dad to BJ, and I have no doubt you will be just as awesome with our child. So, sweetie, you want four kids—I’m game. We can go to the crazy house together.”

“Goddamn, I love you.” I was snatched off the stool and in Brax’s arms being kissed before I knew what happened. After he kissed me dizzy, he sat me back down on the stool and then went and pulled a box out of the fridge. “Want to celebrate?”

“If that’s the famous cheesecake, you bet your ass.” Brax laughed and set the box on the island and lifted the lid. “Don’t be stingy. I want a big piece. I am eating for two.”

“How about we share?” Brax chuckled, slid the box to me, and handed me a clean fork.

I took the first bite, then moaned around the fork. When I went for the second bite, I looked up at Brax. “My ass is going to be so wide.” Brax winked.

“And I will love every inch of it.” It was my turn to laugh.

“Hmm,” I said and closed my eyes, leaned on the back of the bar stool and ran my hand across my stomach. “Ah, I’m so full. I don’t think I can force another bite.”

---