“You’re even more beautiful with a belly,” Jaxson says as he slides his arms around me while I’m trying to make eggs.

“Liar,” I say immediately, constantly aware of the way my belly pokes out of everything I wear these days.

Luckily, I wasn’t showing when we got married, so no one can tell from our wedding photos I was knocked up.

I also still haven’t gotten over the huge, sparkling diamond sitting heavy on my ring finger. A diamond like that is hard to miss and hard to forget—especially when it’s there because the person you love most in the world gave it to you as a symbol of his love and commitment.

Sometimes, it still feels like a dream that we ultimately ended up here—that I’m now Mrs. Pace, and I’m carrying my first child for my first love as I imagined so long ago. We had some twists and turns along the way, but we’re finally here and everything is perfect.

Jaxson kisses my neck before pulling away to seat himself at the breakfast table and wait for me since I’m almost done.

I like making breakfast for us, and I’ve decided I’m fine with his personal cook making us dinners.

Jaxson was used to having all meals made for him anyway, and though I know he still prefers the way his cook made his eggs, he’s ecstatic I’m doing it for him, and I’ll learn to do it the way he likes eventually.

His house feels like it was made for me, and when I first entered it, Jaxson told me that it was—that he couldn’t get my ideas about what our future abode would be like out of his head, even after all those years.

I made only a few adjustments since moving in, but beyond our home, I made a lot more.

I’m no longer working under Jaxson at the office, but I help him and his company out in other ways, particularly now that Jaxson is more inclined toward philanthropy these days.

I also work for a nonprofit, volunteer at the local library, and though I no longer have lunch with Jaxson every day, we definitely make sure to have breakfast and dinner together, the time spent apart in between making us more eager to see each other again.

Sometimes, I even show up at his office building during the day to surprise him with lunch, and the atmosphere is different—no one thinks I’m a raging slut now; more details about our relationship have made it out there, and Tamara assures me everyone is endeared by our hard-won love story.

Melody got canned once Jaxson found out what she did to me months back, and his new assistant has been approved by me.

I might go back to school eventually to study law, but not while I’m expecting, and not in the precious beginning of our baby’s life. Being away from Jaxson for almost a decade made it clear how important time spent with loved ones is, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time away from our child; I don’t need another regret like that.

My sister and I even keep up with each other now, and I can tell my parents couldn’t stop her from doing anything she wanted if they tried. Which they don’t.

She was even allowed to come to our island destination wedding, serving as one of our two witnesses—the other witness a friend of Jaxson’s I decided I didn’t need to ask too many questions about; he wasn’t the type one got straight answers about anyway.

All Jaxson said was that they knew each other a long time, and that was enough for me.

I trust Jaxson in every way—to protect me and care for me. To look out for me in every way and make sure I want for nothing.

There’s no doubt whatsoever that he loves me deeply—even more than when we were younger, it seems, and I totally get it—I feel the same.

* * *

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SYNOPSIS: Sweet, curvy Nina has been in love with her best friend, Brent, for years. She accepts being friend-zoned until one steamy impulsive night changes everything between them. But then Brent completely vanishes from her life, leaving her alone, confused, and carrying around a huge secret.

When she runs into Brent again, both of their lives have changed drastically, and now that her old best friend is a billionaire, she’s convinced he’ll never want her now that he can have any woman he wants, and especially once he finds out what she’s been hiding.

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