Page 50 of F Buddy

I wanted to raise one of my hands from the bed and touch his face, but I didn’t think I could move in that moment, I was so exhausted.

Then Zach smiled at me—he grinned, as if he’d just seen the best thing ever, and his eyes shone. Suddenly, he was kissing me. I was a little confused, but I gave in eagerly, dragging my hands to circle his neck. He kept the kisses soft and chaste, his hands cupping my cheeks delicately like he feared I would break. I didn’t know how I looked right then, but it must have been bad. I tightened my hands weakly around his neck, but eventually he pulled back.

“Scarlett,” he whispered my name roughly, and I blinked up at him.

There was alarm when suddenly tears started falling from his eyes, and now it was my turn to comfort him. But he was still smiling, even with an edge of pain on his face.

“What is it?”

“I can’t believe how much of an idiot I’ve been. I should have been here sooner! I should have—”

I pressed a hand to his mouth, cutting off his words. He took my hand in his and kissed my fingertips, making me smile.

“There’s no point in thinking about should have been,” I murmured. “You needed to go on the trip for work, I should have told you sooner I was pregnant with our baby instead of waiting for you to find out in the worst way possible. I should have been the one to tell you.”

He pressed a hard kiss to my forehead. “You should have,” he said sternly. “But I don’t blame you. Looking back, I acted like an ass. I practically blinded myself to the fact that—”

He cut off suddenly, looking uncomfortable. With my hand still held in his, I stroked his cheek.

“What?”

He glanced down at me, before looking off to the side and wiping at his eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was acting shy. But then he met my eyes again, his own looking dead serious.

“I was hurt when I thought you’d betrayed me, and I couldn't get my mind off you. I didn’t fuck Abigail. I took her out a few times, but I couldn’t do anything with her. It was as if my cock only wanted you. I swear we didn’t do anything, Scarlett, only goodnight kisses on the cheek. I love you, and I’m so sorry for taking so long to realize it.”

I stared up at him, stunned. Then I felt tears leaking slowly out of my eyes, and I blinked them away. I was too exhausted for full out wailing, I’d had enough of that for a while. I smiled tremulously up at him, pressing the tips of my fingers to his cheek, laughing wetly when he kissed them again.

“I love you too. And you better not change your mind later, or I’ll hunt you down,” I warned weakly.

He laughed and pressed his forehead against mine.

“You don’t have to worry about me running away,” he murmured. “I’m not going anywhere. I haven’t had a good look at the baby yet, but I love it just as much as I do you.”

I smiled as tears continued to trickle down my cheeks, and he smiled back at me.

“You two are such a cute couple,” a voice said, interrupting us.

We both looked toward the voice, and my eyes immediately zeroed in on the bundle the nurse carried in her arms.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, smiling at us. “But this little guy wanted to meet his parents.”

My breath caught and met Zach’s eyes, before turning back to the nurse.

I licked my dry lips. “You mean...”

Her smile grew wider, and she moved closer to us. She held the bundle out to me carefully, and Zach kept close as I arranged my arms to hold my baby.

“Say hi to your baby boy. And congratulations,” she added, then left us alone.

I moved the soft blanket wrapped around the baby so that I could see more of him. He was tiny and pale, with wrinkled skin and a tuft of dark hair at the top of his head. His hands were held in tight little fists, and his chest moved quickly up and down with his breaths. Zach, just as careful as me, brushed the baby’s cheek with the back of his hand.

“He’s so small,” he murmured.

I giggled. “Well, yeah. Any bigger and I might not have been able to pop the guy out.”

Our gaze met again, and suddenly all the time we’d spent apart, feeling hurt, and my torturous labor, fell away, and it was just the two of us and our baby, happy. We laughed together, and Zach wrapped his arms around both of us as we continued to stare down at our little sleeping miracle.

Chapter 21