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My father’s mouth dropped open. He was too quick to agree. “Son, that’s a great idea.”

His eyes drifted off into the distance as the old man considered the possibilities. What could he do with an empty house? On his birthday weekend no less.

“Really? You don’t mind? It would just be for the day. Then we could all celebrate the next day.” I studied his expression, looking for any hint of suspicion.

There was none.

He’d taken the bait. Hook, line and sinker.

TWENTY-FOUR

DELILA

Jax kept on saying that he had a plan for the two of us to get together… but I didn’t understand it at all. How was planning a surprise birthday party for his father going to do anything?

Honestly, I was the older adult. I should be the one handling everything if and when the shit hits the fan. The right thing to do would have been to break up with Ryan weeks ago…

But I had already promised Jax that I would let him handle everything.

I’d already broken so many promises, it didn’t feel right to break them to the person who actually cared about me.

But, still. I wish his plan made sense.

We drove with duffle bags filled with party decorations, pretending to go on a trip. Instead, we headed straight to his cousin Victoria’s house. She’d cooed over my belly, though I barely had a bump. It looked more like I’d eaten too many extra pizza slices than a belly that was really growing a tiny little person inside.

A sweet little baby… who might have Jax’s strong chin, or my dark hair. Whatever the little one looked like would be perfect—a little mix of the two of us.

All the cousins were in the other room inflating balloons. Victoria shrieked when one popped. At one point one of the twins—I couldn’t tell if it was Henry or Samuel—inhaled helium and started cracking jokes in high-pitched squeaks.

I was in the kitchen, baking a cake for the man who acted like he couldn’t stand me.

Red velvet. His favorite.

All of it was made from scratch, adding the cocoa powder to the flour. Mixing the wet ingredients—the buttermilk and eggs with vanilla and vinegar. I even added freeze-dried strawberry powder instead of food coloring to make everything healthier.

As I baked and worked on the cream cheese icing, I tried not to wonder if Jax knew what he was doing.

It was fine.

So far, Jax showed me he was going to take care of me every step of the way. This was a birthday party. I’d dealt with six years of Ryan’s birthday parties.

What was one more?

Jax was glued to his iPad, checking it obsessively. When he was finally done with the iPad, Jax switched to his phone, sending out a series of texts. He must have had a lot of details to organize to get everything running smoothly.

When I was putting the finishing touches on the cake, Jax snuck a look to check that we were alone, then pulled me into a hug, settling one possessive hand onto my belly.

“There’s my tough little man.” He murmured, just for me to hear.

“What if the baby is a girl?”

“Then I’ll tell her sorry for misgendering her later. It’s a fifty-one percent chance that this little guy is coming out with a dick. I’ll take those odds.” He teased, looking so adorable with that knowing little smirk, I was tempted to scoop up some of the extra frosting to boop him on the nose with it.

As if he knew what I was plotting, Jax grabbed my hand suddenly.

“Hey,” he whispered in a completely different tone.

My gaze snapped to him at the urgency in his voice.