“Have I ruined it?” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to ruin it.”
“No, Layla. You haven’t ruined anything. This might not be how I had planned to tell you, but you haven’t messed anything up.” I brushed a kiss over her eyes, tasting the salt of her tears on my tongue. “I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you after that first weekend. Emmie started making all the arrangements for me. For us, sweetheart. Neither one of us was happy about my moving out, but I can’t start our lives together sharing a house with her and the guys. So she found us a house just two houses over.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “The yellow one that just went on the market?”
I grinned. “Yeah, that’s it. Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful from what I’ve seen of it. But…”
“No buts.” I hushed her with a quick kiss. “It’s ours. Four bedrooms, so the girls each get their own room…and there is room enough for an addition to the family if we can fit that in later on.” I hadn’t really thought about having kids of my own, but after holding Mia for the first time it had become a kind of ache in my chest. I wanted my own baby. Layla’s baby.
“That…That sounds really wonderful.” She smiled up at me.
I felt a dopey grin split my face. “Yes it does.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“I guess you won’t eavesdrop anymore, huh?” I brushed another quick kiss over her lips.
“Nope, never again.”
“Good.” I pushed her back against the wall. “Will you marry me, Layla?” I murmured, kissing a path from her ear down her neck. “Will you spend the rest of your life letting me spoil you? Letting me make you happy?”
“I can’t imagine being more happy than I am right now.” She shivered as I sucked on the sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder met. “But I’m willing to spend the rest of my life letting you try.”
Epilogue
I had thought the end of that stupid tour would never get here!
I was rushing through the house making sure that everything was in order. Determined that the house was going to be just right for when Jesse got home. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks—two incredibly long, agonizing weeks! It might not be a long time for some couples, but for me it was an eternity.
From the day we were married—which had taken place in at a little chapel in Vegas the day after Jesse had proposed—we hadn’t spent a night apart in the more than two years that we have been married, not until this stupid, completely retarded tour came up. Sometimes, I hated that my husband was the big bad ass rock star that everyone was dying to see live!
Lucy came into the house, tossing her backpack on the sofa. “Is he home?” she asked excitedly. “Did I miss it?” Now eight years old, Lucy had changed quite a bit over the last two years. Her hair was kept short with little ringlets framing her beautiful face, and she had shot up a good six inches in the last year alone. Since I had married Jesse, she had blossomed even more into a young woman that I was incredibly proud of.
Jesse had been the one to bring up the topic of adoption, determined that he wanted Lucy to know exactly how much he thought of her as his. Lucy needed to be asked twice, and six months after we had gotten married she had officially become our daughter. It had been weird at first. Lucy didn’t know if she wanted to call us “Mom and Dad” or not. We had let her figure all of that out on her own. It took some time, but after a while she had slipped into calling Jesse “Dad”. She and I were still figuring out if she wanted to call me “Mom”. From time to time she slipped from calling me “Layla” to calling me “Mom”.
I grinned down at her as I fluffed up the pillows on the sofa. “No, baby. He hasn’t gotten home yet.”
“Thank goodness.” She hugged me tight and flopped down on the sofa. “I didn’t even want to go to school today because I was scared I wouldn’t be here when Dad got home.”
“Emmie texted me about an hour ago, so it shouldn’t be too much longer.” I assured her as I continued to straighten up the living room. I loved the house that we had made a home. Actually, it was as perfect as it could get, but I needed to do something to keep busy or I might lose my mind!
“I wish we could have gone with him this time.” Lucy sighed. The last few times Demon’s Wings had gone on their mini tours, Lucy and I had gone with them. This time it hadn’t been possible because Lucy had school. Ever though she was now in a private school, she couldn’t be missing that much school at a time, especially with all the extra work she had from her creative writing classes her teachers had put her in.
“Me too, baby.” I dropped down beside of her on the sofa and pulled her close. For two weeks, it had just been me and her. No going down the beach to see Emmie and Mia whenever the mood struck. It had been kind of lonely for us, but we had gotten through it together.
To distract ourselves, I turned on the flat screen and we settled down to watch one of Lucy’s favorite shows. I tried not to glance at my phone every five minutes to check the time or see if Jesse had texted me, but my eyes were drawn like magnets.
The front door opening startled me, and I jumped. I heard something heavy hit the floor in the entrance hallway and then the door slammed shut. “Where are my girls?”
Lucy was already up and skipping out of the living room. I was slower to get up and by the time I reached the hallway, Lucy was already in Jesse’s arms. He swung her around a few times, making her giggle. When he sat her on her feet, he pulled her close and gave her a tight hug. “Missed you, Lu,” he murmured against her curly head.
“I missed you too, Dad.”
I stopped a few feet away, taking in the man I loved more than life itself. He looked tired. Dark shadows under his eyes told me that he hadn’t been getting much sleep since he had been gone. Neither one of us could sleep well without the other. He needed a shave; dark stubble shadowed his jaw and head. His shirt was wrinkled, and his jeans had a stain on one thigh that attested to too much fast food. All in all, he was the sexiest, most heartwarming sight that I had laid eyes on. “Well I definitely missed you!” I informed him with a welcoming smile.
Jesse’s bald head snapped up, and I watched in fascination as his eyes rapidly changed colors. I would never get over his eyes. Even after two years of marriage they still made me melt. Right now, they were eating me up and I had to fight the urge to drag him upstairs. “Welcome home, Jess.”
With the speed of lightning, he had me in his arms. His fingers tangled in my hair and his lips devoured mine. I kissed him back, desperate for a taste of him. You would think we hadn’t seen each other in years instead of mere weeks. When he finally raised his head, we were both breathless.
Jesse pressed his forehead against my own. “Yeah, this isn’t going to happen again!” he muttered. “You either go with me or I’m not going.”
“Agreed.” I brushed a quick kiss over his lips and then took his hand and tugged him into the living room. “Are you hungry? I haven’t cooked yet, but I can make you a sandwich or something.”
“No, babe. I’m not hungry.” He flopped down on the sofa and pulled me down beside of him. Lucy took her usual place on his other side and the television was forgotten as we made him tell us all about the tour. For more than an hour, he indulged us.
“What’s been going on around here?” he asked after a while. “We’ve talked every day, but that doesn’t mean you girls tell me everything.”
I glanced over at Lucy who was eyeing me questioningly. She and I had been keeping something from him this last week. It wasn’t exactly something that you told your husband over the phone and I had been so anxious about it that I broke down and confided in Lucy… “What?” Jesse laughed.
I bit my lip. “There is something…” I began.
“But we wanted to tell you face to face,” Lucy cut in.
“Did you two adopt another pet?” He raised a brow at Lucy. “Please tell me it’s a dog and not another lizard, Lu. Or a freaking snake!”
Lucy had a thing for exotic animals it seemed. She had conned Drake into buying her an iguana last year for her birthday without talking to us about it. Then for Christmas Lucy had actually asked for a python. The girl was crazy about the yellow and white snake that she had named Zippy. Big, bad rock star Jesse Thornton? Not so much. He steered clear of Zippy and Lucy’s room.
“No, Dad. It isn’t about a pet.” Lucy was quick to assure him.
“Jesse, remember before you left you said you thought it was time to start on a few additions..?” I stopped when he turned those ever changing eyes on me. “I hope you really are ready.”
“Layla are you trying to tell me you’re pregnant?” he demanded.
I grinned. “Maybe.” We had been talking on and off about having a baby from the day we got married. But it seemed like every time one of us was ready something would come up and we would put it off for a little longer. This time it had been completely taken out of our hands because I was still on the pill until I had found out that I was pregnant.
He growled and pulled me onto his lap. “Really? You are really pregnant?”
I nodded. “Yes. I saw the doctor last week when I realized I was late. I’m eight weeks pregnant.” I pulled the little picture out of my back pocket where I had put it that morning. The night before Lucy and I had stared at it for hours until we had fallen asleep on mine and Jesse’s bed.
“The doctor wanted to make sure how far along I was and did an ultrasound,” I told him as I gave him the little glossy picture.
Jesse stared down at the almost unintelligible blob of dark swirls in wonder. After a moment, he frowned. “Where is the baby?” he finally asked.
I looked over at Lucy and we both grinned. “Well, this little black thing here is a baby.” I told him and he nodded his bald head.
“Okay. I see it now.”
Lucy turned and got on her knees so that she could see the picture too. After a minute she touched her finger to the picture. “And that little black thing there is another baby,” she informed him.
“That’s cool… Wait! What?” He turned his head from side to side. Looking at first me, then Lucy, and then back to me again. “What does she mean by ‘there is another baby’?” he whispered.
I leaned forward and brushed a kiss over his slightly gaping mouth. “What she means, Big Daddy, is that we are going to have more than one new addition. It’s twins, Jesse.”
“Oh…” He blinked a few times, and I watched as tears gathered in his amazing eyes. “We’re going to have twins,” he whispered. “That’s amazing.”
“It sure is.” I reached for the cordless phone and started dialing. It rang three times before someone answered. “Hey!” I greeted when I heard Emmie’s voice. Before she could say more than two words, I interrupted her. “Can you come over? Like now? Run if you can!”
“Um…You aren’t hurt or anything, are you?” She sounded concerned.
“Nope, I just really need to see you.” I hadn’t seen my best friend in what felt like forever. Two weeks away from people I normally got to see on an hourly basis had been brutal. And now that she was home, and I had already shared my news with Jesse, I needed to share it with Emmie or I was liable to burst.
“I’m on my way,” Emmie assured me.
Jesse was still in a kind of daze staring down at the picture in his hands when the front door opened and Emmie came into the living room. Her hair was tangled around her face and Mia was hanging from her hip. Behind her was Nik, and I was just as happy to see him as I was Emmie. “Okay, I’m here!” Emmie frowned when she saw the look on Jesse’s face. “What’s up with Jess?”
Taking the picture from Jesse’s slackened fingers, Lucy jumped up and waved the picture at Emmie. “Look! Look!”
Emmie took the picture, and her eyes grew wide as soon as she realized what she was looking at. “You’re pregnant!” she exclaimed. “That’s awesome.” Her eyes were scanning the photo and I knew the instant she figured it all out. “Oh. My. GODS!”
Nik was laughing. “What is it, baby?” He glanced down at the ultrasound picture over her shoulder and frowned, unable to make out anything just as Jesse hadn’t.
“Dude!” Jesse was back to himself. “Nik, man. I’m having twins!”
“What?!” Nik took a closer look at the picture. “Holy shit! Good job, bro!”
It was a long time later before Jesse and I had any alone time. Lucy was finally in bed and Emmie and Nik had only left a few hours hour before. I was lying on our bed in Jesse’s arms and I couldn’t help but feel anything but completely and utterly happy. My eyes started to drift closed. Jesse’s lovemaking had really tired me out. After so much time apart, we had had a lot of loving to catch up on.
“Does Lana know?” Jesse’s question made my eyes snap open. “Have you talked to her?”
I sighed. Thinking about Lana always made my heart hurt a little. “I’ve talked to her every day on the phone…but I haven’t told her about the babies.” Like with everyone else, I wanted to tell my sister in person about her becoming an aunt.
“Maybe we should visit her,” Jesse murmured.
“Okay.” I snuggled closer, yawning as I closed my eyes once more.
“Layla?”
“Mm?”
“I love you.” He kissed the top of my head and I felt his breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.
“I love you, Jesse.”
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Terri Anne Browning, The Rocker That Savors Me (The Rocker...)
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