Page 47 of One Mistake

She tilted her head so it rested in my hand, and I stroked her cheek with my thumb. I loved touching her skin. “I love you.” Maybe if I said it enough—and I said it as often as I could—it would convince her to stay with me.

She nodded. “I know. I love you, too.” She bit her lip and closed her eyes. But at least she’d said she loved me. No way could she dump me now.

Right?

I had to stop this now. “Reese, we are on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with a view of the arrest of the century.” For me anyway. “And I just want to enjoy it with you. Let’s save all the heavy stuff for tonight.”

Finally, she nodded and I got a reprieve. For a couple hours anyway, but the hours flew past and it was night, talk-time, before I could figure out how to stop the tide from rolling in, the wind from blowing, and time from passing.

She stood in our room, her dress—white with gauzy material that went from shoulder to ankle—billowing in the breeze from the open window she stood in front of. She didn’t turn when I came out of the bathroom, didn’t move when I got down on one knee beside her, and didn’t smile when she finally turned to see me. But I was undeterred. Nothing if not dogged in my determination.

Even when she swallowed hard and whispered an, “Oh, shit.”

“Reese.” My heart couldn’t take much more of this. “Last year, I didn’t think I was ever going to be happy again. I dreamed about holding you again, looking into your eyes, kissing those lips.” I was getting off track. But I meant everything I said. “When I’m with you, I’m the man I want to be. And you make me better than I am.” Moment of truth… “I love you so much, will you marry me?” I popped open the ring box and held it out.

And then I waited. Because she didn’t answer. Hell, I wasn’t even sure she was breathing. Still, I held my arm in the air like an idiot. Like a fucking fool about to get his heart broken because she didn’t feel the same way, although she always acted like she did.

Granted things the last couple weeks had been strained. She was working hard. Tired because of it. But I never dreamed she wouldn’t feel the same way, that this wasn’t the way she expected our relationship to head.

Maybe she didn’t expect it so soon. Maybe six months wasn’t long enough. Maybe—

“I’m pregnant, Ryder.” She closed her eyes and took a step backward.

“With a baby?” Not my brightest shining hour.

But she refrained from commentary more than a nod.

“How far?” Not that it mattered. Not to me. Probably it mattered. To a doctor, definitely. “Is everything okay? Have you been to the doctor? How do you know?” I found my voice and apparently, I had questions.

“A month or so. And I feel okay so far, a little nauseated in the morning. I made an appointment with the doctor for next week. And…” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out four little sticks. Each one had a plus sign in the little window. “I didn’t plan this.”

I finally stood because still kneeling with my arm out in front of me and the ring box flipped open made me feel pathetic since she hadn’t answered and wasn’t likely to now.

“I know that.” Of course, she hadn’t planned it. She was the condom gatekeeper. I couldn’t count the number of times she’d repeated her no glove, no love rule. “Condoms are only ninety-nine percent effective. Welcome to the one percent, sweetheart.” The news hadn’t really sunk in yet, but I could feel a smile building. A baby. Half me. Half her. All ours.

“Who said they’re only ninety-nine percent?” Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed.

“The box, the manufacturer, tenth-grade health class, and every PSA and soap opera with a premarital sex storyline.” Certainly, this couldn’t be a newsflash for her. And then it occurred to me… “You don’t want a baby?”

She laid her hand over her stomach, protective, motherly. “I do, I just thought we should have time first to be a couple.” She looked down. “We’re having a baby.” Then she smiled and pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “We’re going to be parents.”

Parents. Us. Me. “Yeah. Wow, right?”

She blinked a couple times then smiled. “Married and a baby. So fast.” She wrinkled her nose. “But so perfect.”

She flipped faster than a fish on the deck. “Do you want to get married? Because you…never really answered.” I would know because the waiting almost killed me. I was just now starting to breathe normally again from that first shock. The second one still hadn’t hit yet. Or maybe it wouldn’t because making a family with her was the right thing. The perfect thing.

“Of course, I want to get married. I just didn’t think you were ever going to get around to asking. That's why I was going to do it on the beach today.”

Relief swirled through me. Holy fuck. It made smiling, pulling her close, kissing her softly before I spoke easier. “That’s what that was?”

“Yeah.” She rested her hands on my shoulders and looked up at me as I pulled her closer. “I love you, Ryder.”

“I love you.” And I loved our future and our family, and for as long as I lived, there would never be another woman for me but this one. My one true love.

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