Chapter 52

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Lola

“Will you stop fussing.” I swipe Wade’s hand away when he tries to help me out of his truck.

“You have little legs, and I don’t want you falling on any patches of black ice.” Unmovable, he stands in the open doorway. “No stress. Complete bed rest. That’s what the doctor said.” Due to Wade’s insistence, as a precaution, which I thought was a bit much, I spent a night in the hospital for observation.

I’m fine. The baby is fine.

Wonderful, actually.

Wade still hasn’t told me what was discussed with Jordan when they left the room, but I’m grateful they were talking to each other like nothing had changed when they returned.

When everything has changed.

Once Kali and Wade left, Jordy and I spoke for a while, discussing my appointments as well as prenatal classes. He said he wanted to come to everything, which was a relief. He told me he was not going anywhere and the only reason he left me at the hospital is because he wanted me to rest and sleep. Which I did.

Maybe now that everything’s out in the open, we could maybe be a thing.

Would he want that still?

Or is that wishful thinking after I pushed him away?

“Do as you’re told for once.” Wade holds his hand out.

I give in and let him help me out of the high truck.

“Thank you.” I step onto the asphalt.

“See, that wasn’t so difficult now, was it?”

“I think I much preferred you when you thought I was just your assistant. You were nicer to me then,” I say, making Wade chuckle.

Holding onto me, he ushers me to the door, opens it, and walks inside, where I’m hit with the smell of something delicious.

“Did you cook?” I ask, and he ignores me.

“Wade didn’t, but I did.” Jordy’s deep voice appears in the hall.

I jump in surprise and spin around on my feet.

Dressed in a simple white Henley and a pair of jeans, he looks deliciously handsome today. He looks edible every day. My pulse quickens, my heart slamming against my chest at the sight of him.

I miss him.

I love him.

Those words have been running around my head like a hamster stuck on its wheel for weeks. I can’t live another day without him in my life, and I can’t keep pushing him away.

I want him.

My throat finally works. “Hey.” I suddenly feel nervous around him and chew the side of my mouth.

Staring at each other, I eventually ask, “What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

I nervously laugh. “What?” I think I must have misheard him.

“Do you like the house, Lola?” he asks calmly, but I can tell he’s nervous when his voice wavers.

My entire body is vibrating to the thumping of my heart. “I do. I love this house.” Why is he asking?

“I bought it from Wade for us,” Jordy says with a straight face.

I burst out laughing at how crazy he sounds. “You’re joking?” Checking Wade’s serious expression, then Jordy’s, I realize he’s not. “Oh.” I’m speechless, which is unusual for me.

Tears prick my eyes at his next words as happiness fills me up from toes to the top of my head. “This will be where we raise our baby. In a house you love. Across the street from your brother and sister-in-law and niece or nephew. We’re going to fill it full of memories. Together, as a family.”

“Together?” He’s such a beautiful man, and he wants to build a family together. How did I get so lucky?

Wade kisses me on the cheek. “Welcome to your happy ever after, Lola.” Then he leaves.

What’s happening?

Gingerly, Jordy walks to me at the same time I walk to him, meeting somewhere in the middle.

He cups my cheek in the same way he’s done a million times, and I lean into it, inviting more. His touch is always incredibly tender and makes my eyes flutter shut. I’ve missed everything about us.

“Gladiola-Grace Ramsay.” He calls me by my full name, and I open my eyes to meet his dreamy ones.

“I’m completely, hopelessly, and madly in love with you—body, heart, mind, and soul.”

Oh, dear Lord, I was not expecting him to say that, but it’s what I’ve craved to hear, making my heart flood with happiness.

“You love me?”

“I do. I've known for weeks.” His face is now full of strength, his tone of voice the same. “I never wanted us to go our separate ways. Every day, I wished that we could be together. I just couldn’t figure out how. I love you so fucking much. I don’t want to spend another night apart.” His voice flounders. “But I don’t know if you feel the same way.”

I blink in astonished silence.

“Say something.” His thumb brushes my cheek.

“Do you remember on New Year’s Eve? I told you I was catching feelings?”

“How could I forget?” He bows his head, moving closer to my lips.

“I had already fallen for you, Jordan. I think I started falling for you when you took me to build a snowman, then some more when you bought me a bauble to fill with my hopes and dreams. Do you want to know what I wrote in mine?”

“Tell me.”

I snake my arms around his waist. “Figure out a way for Jordy and me to continue our relationship after I finish working for the Eagles without any consequences for Jordy… and hope Wade doesn’t kill him.”

The mood between us suddenly buoyant, his lips curve upward, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

“Do you want to know what I wrote in mine?” he asks, and I answer with a series of quick head nods. “Figure out a way for Lola and me to be together without getting my ass transferred or demoted to the AHL.”

We want the same things.

My skin tingles with excitement and, for the first time in weeks, elation floods my heart.

I pull him closer. “The way you treat me has had me falling in love with you from the minute you stepped inside this very house three months ago.” I push myself up to my tip toes. “I love you, Jordan.”

“I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you.” He presses his lips against mine in the gentlest of kisses, but I feel it everywhere. The first one in over a month and the first of a million more to follow.

“You bought Wade’s house?” I ask, astonished when we break away from our forever kiss.

He wraps me in his big, strong arms, sealing me firmly to his chest. “Not yet. That was just a test. But I will if you want me to.”

“I liked your test.” I nuzzle into him, loving his masculine fragrance and strong body against my soft one. “What about your penthouse apartment?”

“We’ll keep it and stay over on nights I play in the city, and I like having my studio there.”

That makes sense. “I want to buy the house,” I confirm. It’s perfect. “Together.”

“Together,” he repeats. “I like the sound of that.”

“Me too.” I hold my ear against his chest, loving the beat of his strong heart that feels a lot like home.

“I can’t wait to build a life with you. Grocery shop together. Decorate our house and the nursery together. All the mundane shit. I want you at my games with the baby, where I can kiss you both before every game as my lucky charms.”

I jump in. “The press will eat our story up. I can already see the headlines.” That fills me with a hint of dread. They’ve been sitting outside the secure compound every day since my rancid ex sold my story.

“I don’t give a shit. If it means everyone knows you’re mine and you’re having my baby, they can write about us all they want.”

I love how possessive he is of me.

“I want to do what we did at my apartment,” he says.

“Have sex?” I blurt.

“No. But also, yes, that too.” He kisses the top of my head. “I want to watch the stars come out at night. Binge watch television series. And we can add new things like swim in our pool because we have a pool now and a home theater.” Which he’ll never let Wade hear the end of. “And I want to build a snowman every year with you and our children to carry on the tradition you started with your dad of keeping the snowman alive every winter.”

“Children?”

“We are going to have lots and lots of babies.”

After such a shitty year, his words settle my soul. I’ve struck gold with him.

But he’s not done yet. “Wade told me you liked Zane’s G-Wagon the other day. We should go shopping for one. It would be the perfect family car for us.”

“I want a white one.”

“Then I will get you a white one.”

He looks down as I look up. “I like the thought of you with my baby inside of you. Watching your belly grow month to month, knowing that our little jellybean is part me and part you. This is everything I ever wanted. More than I dreamed of.”

I've gone from being alone to being surrounded by people who love and care about me. It’s like a dream come true for me too.

“You’re everything I ever wanted,” I say.

“You’ve got me, baby.”

“I love you, Jordan.”

“Right back at you. With all my heart.”