Page 4 of Knock Me Up

“Really?”

“I’ve had a crush on you ever since you first wandered into my shop.”

“I could say the same, honestly.”

“Even though you were there with your fiancée?”

I shake my head. “I think I’ve made it pretty clear that Ophelia and I weren’t a couple made from love alone.”

“Or love at all is what I’m gathering.”

I grumble and nod. “I don’t think there would have been a second date without my father involved.”

“He has that much sway over you?”

I let out a sigh. “It’s a long story.”

“And I have the time.”

“If you insist.” I cross my legs on the pew. “My father isn’t my biological father. I’m adopted.”

“If he loves you, that shouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“It does. It makes me grateful to him. Even if I’m not working for him anymore, I have him to thank for the opportunities that got me where I am in life. If I stayed an orphan in the system, my life would be so much different, and likely a whole lot worse.”

“And that’s why you gave in to his pressure to make a deal with that woman and her family?”

I nod. “He wanted it. Stated the obvious benefits for his business. He also thought being married would be good for me. That starting a family would ground me and make me think more about the future than the now.”

“Did he know the woman was a complete bitch?”

“She was never eager to meet my father so he could find out.”

“Figures.”

“I guess there’s part of me that believed what he said. That perhaps we could grow to love one another. I thought about the past, how sometimes love grew from arranged marriages that started with none of it. And I thought about how much I want a family of my own, something I never had.”

“Even with your adoptive parents?”

“I mean no disrespect, I am eternally grateful for what they’ve done for me. But I wanted more. I want children of my own. Lots of them. I want that cliche nuclear family, Piper. It must sound boring as hell to you.”

She nibbles her lip, twirling a strand of her hair. “That doesn’t sound boring, Luke. That sounds wonderful, actually. But really? Ophelia would have never given that to you. I know her type. Narcissist to the extreme. She wouldn’t have been a good mother in the least and she would likely have used any children she had against you. I think you dodged a bullet, honestly.”

“You’re probably right. And I’m not regretting not getting her platinum silverware one bit.”

“Is that even a thing?”

“Right? I thought the same!”

“Luke, you need a chance at real happiness. With a woman you know will stick by you and not just use you to get ahead.”

“How convenient,” I say as I take her loose hand into my own. I can immediately feel the gooseflesh form under my touch. “Because I think you deserve the same, Piper. And I want to be the man to give you that happiness.”

She’s redder than any rose as I hold her hand. The connection between us is undeniable. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

I take a gander around the church, and how it’s ninety percent of the way to hosting a luxurious wedding. “How do you feel about getting married, Piper?”

She swallows loudly. “Like... now, or eventually?”

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