Untimely You (31 page)
One year later…
“L
ook, Dad,” Damien shouts. “She’s walking!”
I chuckle as I prune the rosebush on our rooftop garden. It had been a surprise for Neesy after I’d worked all summer on it after Lucy was born. Now, we spend most of our time up here if the weather is nice. “She’s been walking for weeks now.”
“Stupid college,” he grumbles. “I miss all the good stuff.”
I’m clipping a rose when I suddenly feel two chubby arms around my back. “Dadda.”
Plopping down, I drop my tools and shed my gloves so I can reach around to pull my little squirt into my lap. She giggles, a sound which I’m convinced comes straight from heaven, and grins her toothy smile at me. Her eyes have turned the same pretty hazel as her mother’s, but she’s definitely got hair like me. It’s wild and unruly, almost black in color. Today, she’s wearing a floral print dress that poufs out at the waist. Nees has attempted to contain her hair in a bow, but Lucy has already managed to pull it free.
“Hey, beautiful girl,” I coo and poke her belly.
She squeals and squirms to get away.
Damien strides over and rescues her from my lap. “Daddy’s mean,” he tells her and carries her over to her swing set.
Chuckling, I stand and dust off my jeans. Working with Nees instead of with Eric has been an adjustment. Sometimes she has me help her crunch numbers. Other times she makes me do manual labor for her. But mostly, I think she likes me here so she can have someone to boss around. Heaven forbid it if Terry or Damien knew she could be a growly bear when she doesn’t get her way.
I like teasing her and telling her the power is going to her head.
She blames pregnancy hormones every time.
“Where’s Neesy?” I ask my son.
He pushes Lucy in her swing but points toward the door. “She had a conference call with Jenny in New York. But that was earlier. She’s probably napping now, or eating. I’m going to go with eating.”
I shake my head at him and chuckle as I push through the door into our apartment. She’s not anywhere in our home, so I trot downstairs to her office. When I pass by Terry’s desk, she smiles at me and waves but continues on her phone call. Neesy scored big time when she found Terry.
When I peek into Nees’s office, I find her standing on her desk, much to my horror.
“What in the fuck are you doing?” I thunder and toss the flower I was holding onto a bookshelf on my way over to her.
She wobbles, drops the light bulb she was about to replace, and thankfully crashes right into my arms.
“I’m okay!” she tells me.
I set her on her feet and glare at her. “Jesus Christ, woman! You could have died! What about the baby?”
She grumbles and storms off to the utility closet. After rooting around for a few minutes, she reemerges with a dustpan and brush. “I was fine until you showed up to scare the crap out of me.”
Today, she’s wearing a pair of black leggings and a loose maternity top with tiny whales embroidered all over it. She’s barely showing, but she just had to have this shirt while we were shopping the other day. I can’t get over how fucking gorgeous she is when she’s carrying my children.
“I rescued you,” I tell her with a smirk and take the dustpan and brush from her hands.
She lets out another little kitten growl but settles on her desk chair to watch me clean up the mess. “You woke your son up. Now he’s bouncing around like crazy in there.”
I flash her a grin as I sweep up the pieces of glass. “He just missed me is all.”
A small smile breaks out across her face. “
I
missed you.”
Once I’ve cleaned up the mess, I replace the light bulb. She’s busied herself in looking through some paperwork, so I take the time to study her. Her auburn hair is messily piled on top of her head and her face is clear of makeup. I want to undress her and kiss every single part of her perfect body.
“I brought you something,” I tell her as I retrieve the rose from the bookshelf.
She swivels in her chair and her eyes light up. I’ll never grow tired of the way she looks at me when I bring her a flower. They’re always just stupid flowers from my rooftop garden, but she always looks at me as if I’ve handed her the entire world.
“It’s beautiful,” she gushes. “Thank you.”
She replaces the dying flower in her cup of water by her computer with the new one. My chest fills with pride. Once upon a time, I’d picked a rose in my garden. I’d wanted to give it to her so badly. In fact, I’d picked it for her. But that time, guilt won over and I gave it to Chrissy’s comatose body instead. I’ll never forget the flash of hurt and disappointment in Neesy’s eyes that day. And as a result, I’ll spend the rest of my life giving her flowers and earning her joyful grins instead.
I walk over to her side of the desk and turn her chair to face me. Then, I kneel before her and hug her middle. She threads her fingers in my hair, which is long overdue for a cut. Kissing her belly, I revel in the fact that my life is so fucking beautiful.
When I feel our son move inside of her stomach, I grin and talk to him with my lips pressed against her. “Daddy loves you, little man.”
She chuckles and he flops around some more. I lift up to see the light of my entire world staring down at me. Her hazel orbs twinkle with such life and love that I know I’ll die one day the happiest man on earth because she completes the other half of my heart.
“I love you, Wacko,” she tells me and leans down to press a kiss to my lips.
I tangle my fingers into her hair and kiss her deeper. When we break apart, I wink at her. “I love you too, my crazy, clumsy, beautiful Neesy.”
Somehow, I did something to earn this perfect life. To catch her when I wasn’t even searching. I’d done some stupid shit along the way, but the woman stuck it out with me. She waited. Thank fuck she waited.
God clearly made a mistake…because I don’t deserve this life.
But I won’t tell if you won’t tell.
The End.
Listen on Spotify
here
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Beautiful
– Thornley
Blown Wide Open
– Big Wreck
Someone Like You
– Adele
Black
– Pearl Jam
The Morning After
– Meg Myers
Heaven Beside You
– Alice In Chains
Last Goodbye
– Jeff Buckley
Undisclosed Desires
– Muse
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
– Death Cab for Cutie
Ain’t No Sunshine
– Bill Withers
I Will Wait
– Mumford & Sons
Can We Still Be Friends
– Todd Rundgren
Islands In The Stream
– Kenny Rogers
Ghetto Supastar (That is What You Are)
– Pras
Thank you to my husband, Matt. You are my inspiration, my voice of reason, and my biggest supporter. I love you, my dear.
A huge thanks to Elizabeth Clinton. Thank you always being so supportive and quick to read my stuff no matter what. You’re a great friend!
Thanks to Nikki McCrae. I appreciate all you do for me!
Thank you to Sunny Borek. Your support has been amazing!
I want to thank the people who either beta read this book or proofed it early. Elizabeth Clinton, Ella Stewart, Jessica Hollyfield, Amy Bosica, Shannon Martin, Brooklyn Miller, Robin Martin, Amy Simms, Amanda Soderlund, (I hope I didn’t forget anyone) you all gave me great feedback and the support I needed to carry on. You all give me helpful ideas to make my stories better and give me incredible encouragement. I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions.
Also, I want to thank Bex Lovesbooks and Vanessa Renee Place for dropping everything to read this book and watch for any last minute mistakes. Thank you!
A big thank you to my author friends who have given me your friendship and your support. You have no idea how much that means to me.
Thank you to all of my blogger friends both big and small that go above and beyond to always share my stuff. You all rock! #AllBlogsMatter
I’m especially thankful for my
Krazy for K Webster’s Books reader group
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I am totally thankful for my author group, the COPA gals, for being there when I need to take a load off and whine. Y’all rock!
A huge thanks to my amazing editor Vanessa Bridges with PREMA Romance Editing. You take my books to the next level! Also a big thanks to Jessica Descent for proofing the book and giving it that extra set of eyes it needed. Love you ladies!
Thank you Stacey Blake for making my book GORGEOUS like always! Love you!
A big thanks to my PR gal, Nicole Blanchard. You are fabulous at what you do and keep me on track! Also a big thanks to the ladies over at The Hype PR!
Lastly but certainly not least of all, thank you to all of the wonderful readers out there that are willing to hear my story and enjoy my characters like I do. It means the world to me!
K Webster is the author of dozens of romance books in many different genres including contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, dark romance, romantic suspense, and erotic romance. When not spending time with her husband of thirteen years and two adorable children, she’s active on social media connecting with her readers.
Her other passions besides writing include reading and graphic design. K can always be found in front of her computer chasing her next idea and taking action. She looks forward to the day when she will see one of her titles on the big screen.
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