Desiree

Another wave of nausea hits me and I heave my breakfast into the toilet.

Thirteen weeks.

Hopefully by the end of next week I’ll be past the morning sickness phase.

“Mommy, you okay?” My sweet Jasper asks from the doorway.

“Yep,” I say brightly, splashing water on my face and rinsing my mouth out.

“You need someone here to take care of you.”

I turn, surprised by this observation. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

“I mean a man. Where’s your boyfriend?”

I go still. “What boyfriend?”

“The man who came with you when you got me from Daddy’s.” It’s the first time Jasper’s mentioned Junior. I’m sure I screwed up as a mother, but I never addressed what happened that night. I felt too emotional about breaking up with Junior and I guess I didn’t know what to say to Jasper to take away the trauma of what he saw.

“He would take care of you, Mommy. He would keep us safe.”

My heart starts to pound. “Safe from what?” My voice cracks.

“From Daddy. Or bad stuff. I think he wants to help us.”

“Jasper...how do you know? What makes you say that?”

Jasper shrugs. “I just know. He’d be a good dad to me.”

Tears leak from my eyes before I even realize I’m crying them. I have no idea what prompted Jasper to say these things.

Jasper wraps his arms around my waist and hugs me. “It’s okay, Mommy. You don’t have to be sad any more.”

“Aren’t you afraid of Junior? After what he did to your daddy?”

Jasper shakes his head. “No.”

Just no. No other explanation for his take on the situation. I still haven’t ferreted out much about Jasper’s stay with his dad. I don’t think he was mistreated, but he definitely seems relieved to be with me again. The first few weeks he kept asking me if his dad would come and take him again. I promised him he wouldn’t, although I’m not sure how I’ll keep that promise. Right now he’s in jail, and looking at up to a year in prison for taking Jasper. After that, though? Who knows what will happen.

I draw in a shaky breath. “So you think I should let Junior be my boyfriend again?” My voice wobbles on the words. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it until I said it out loud.

“Definitely,” Jasper says.

Definitely. Wow. Okay.

Junior

I wait for Desiree to round the corner in the parking lot. She’s parked in her usual place, and I’m in mine—a spot across from her car.

There’s something different about her today. Vulnerability glimmers on her face. She finds me with her gaze, as she always does, but this time she keeps looking. Keeps walking, straight toward my car. I roll down the window, but she walks past without saying anything. Then pulls open the passenger side door and climbs in.

My entire body comes alive at being close to her again. I want to reach for her, to touch her skin, taste her lips, but I utilize the restraint I’ve been practicing these last few months. Winning Desiree back is going to take time. I had to get my life in order, prove I can be the man she needs me to be.

And I’m getting there.

“Hey,” she says softly. She’s still wearing the ring I bought her. She never took it off. I try not to read too much into that.

Fuck it, I can’t resist any longer. I reach for her hand and pick it up. “Hey,” I say back.

“Junior...I’m pregnant.”

I squeeze her hand, bringing it to my lips to kiss. “I know, baby.”

Her brown eyes widen. “You knew?”

“Yeah, doll. And believe me, it took all my willpower not to just barrel into your place, pack all your shit up and move you and Jasper in with me the second I figured it out.”

Tears glisten in her eyes and I go rigid, not sure what they’re for. “Why didn’t you?” she croaks.

I cradle the side of her face. “Did you want me to?”

She shakes her head and a tear drops down her cheek. “No, not really.”

I try to decipher that answer. “Listen, doll. I have some things to tell you.”

“Yeah?” she lifts her wet lashes to gaze at my face.

“My brothers and I talked and we’re shutting down the family business—retiring. No more danger. No more illegal activities. And I got divorced. It was final this week.”

She swallows. “W-was that for me?”

“For you. Only for you. Totally for you. Desiree, I’ve missed you so goddamn much. I want you in my life. I want to figure out how we can make it work. Because, baby, you changed me. I’m a different man than I was before you came into my house.

“Into my heart. It’s like I was living life in black and white before I met you. And then you showed me technicolor. And since you’ve been gone—I’m not living life at all.

“I’ve just been working to make myself worthy of you.

“I want you to know if you let me into your life, I will never show my violent side to you or Jasper ever again. I’ll never let him see a gun. Or teach him to fight—unless you want me to. I’ll take care of you two—and the new one, of course. I have plenty of money. You don’t have to work. You can stay home with the kids, if you want. Or I’ll stay home with the kids. Because I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with myself, yet.”

Desiree lets out a watery laugh.

“Is that a yes?”

“That depends—what am I saying yes to?”

I shrug, afraid to say the wrong thing. I want to ask for it all—moving in together. Marriage. The whole package. “To me?”

She smiles through her tears. “Yes.”

For one solid beat, I can’t believe my ears. “Yes, you want to be with me?”

She nods happily. “Yes, Junior. So does Jasper. He told me this morning.”

I fall back against the seat, humbled. Overwhelmed.

“Well?” Desiree demands.

I raise my brows, not sure what she wants.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me?”

Dizzy with relief, maddened by lust, I lunge across the car and capture her face between my hands, pull it to mine. My lips descend over hers, moving, molding, nipping. My tongue sweeps between her lips and then we’re both frantic, devouring each other with our kisses.

“I love you, Junior,” Desiree whispers when we break apart.

“I love you more, doll.”