Page 67 of Playing For Keeps
“Does this mean you believe him when he said…”
“That he’s never had sex with any of the floozies that threw themselves at him over the last eight years? Entirely, I saw it firsthand with two while we were away and when we were at the airport he focused only on me, that’s what I’ve wanted but didn’t know I did.”
“So, you’re going to marry him, right? The two of you are going to do it soon too I hope.”
“Why’s that Em? Because you’re pregnant and don’t want to be as huge as a house when we do?” she asked lifting an eyebrow at her friend.
“How did you know?” she gasped. “We barely know.”
“Oh, come on Em, you haven’t touched alcohol in the last two weeks. Miles has been grinning like an idiot every time we see a kid when we’re out. Not to mention you had tears in your eyes watching that diaper commercial not even two hours ago,” she teased hugging her tightly. “Congrats Emma, I’m thrilled for you two.”
“And I’ll be thrilled if you and Jake would just stop this nonsense and finally get married. I want this baby’s godparents to be as happy as we all are.”
“I promise I will be as soon as they can catch Nathaniel, Alan and Ricky or at least give me confirmation that they’re not in town. So, for now can we please hold off on talking about me and Jake and marriage?”
“Alright but you owe me big time, keeping the truth from your best friend, you’re my sister Stace and when you hurt, I hurt,” she said leaning her head against Stacey’s shoulder.
“What’s going on in here?” Jake asked as he and Miles came into the room.
“Not much,” she said as he dropped a kiss on her lips. Miles sat down on the other side of Emma, and she smiled at him before shaking her finger his way, “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“You told her?” Miles asked.
“She figured it out,” Emma shrugged with a smile.
“Figured what out?” Jake asked looking between the three of them.
“That those two are in over their heads and so happy about it that it should be illegal,” she laughed. “At least they’ve followed the little nursery ditty, you know the first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…”
“A baby—you’re having a baby?” Jake asked smiling at the two who grinned like fools.
“Told you they were loopy,” she said leaning back into his hold. “So, what have you boys been up to?”
“Not a lot, we worked out in the exercise room, swam and then came up to see our gorgeous girls,” he answered. “How about you two?”
“Gossiped right Em?”
“Mhmm, speaking of gossip, there’s a rumor going around that this carnival is going to be awesome,” she stated looking at her pointedly.
“Should be fun as long as we can get the three before then,” she sighed not resisting when Jake pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly.
“I know you’re frustrated Cee, but it’ll work out. I know you don’t like being cooped up here, but I can’t let something happen to you if I could possibly stop it.”
“I know Jake. I just want this to be done already. I want to get back to a normal life not this insanity that’s following us.”
“When have you ever been normal?” he asked with a grin.
“Never but there’s always hope,” she stated but as the next week progressed that hope began to fade. It was completely destroyed when news of a robbery at a chemical plant became known and the amount of chemicals stolen meant the entire city could be affected.
“Stacey, we need your help,” Jim said when she opened the door to the suite.
“What’s going on?” she asked looking between him and Galen who were both wearing expressions that made her heart stop.
“We’ve found a bomb, several actually and we need you to tell us how to stop them.”
“They’re not the same?” she questioned.
“They appear to be, but we don’t know anyone who can solve a calculus problem in eleven seconds,” Galen stated.
