Stay(79)
“She’s so beautiful,” I whisper, touching her pale hair. “Just like you.”
Emmy smiles and kisses my cheek, chuckling. “She’s going to have you so wrapped around her finger. I can’t wait to see it.”
I know it’s true. Just like this woman in my arms does. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“If you ever leave the house without your phone again when I’m thirty-six weeks pregnant…” She’s smiling, speaking in a calm voice. “I thought you were a genius.”
Squeezing her tighter, I laugh, kissing her head. “I told you I was an idiot. Next time I’ll know.”
“Next time…” Emmy says it like it might be a discussion.
Speaking of discussions. “When we have time, I’ve been thinking about something.”
Her blue eyes meet mine. “Okay?”
“We can talk about it later.”
“Stephen.” Emmy isn’t one to sit on things.
“I’d like to adopt Eli. Legally. I’m going to talk to Don—”
Tears are in her eyes, and Emmy pulls my face down to kiss her. I kiss her good, touching her tongue with mine, pulling her closer to my chest, sealing the deal.
“You really are my hero.” She blinks and a tear falls.
My throat tightens. “You think he’ll like that?”
She nods, smiling as more tears join the first one. “I think he’ll love it.”
She’s in my arms when Eli and Bex enter the room to meet Selena. Eli’s on his knees, touching his sister’s little head. “She’s so small.”
He looks up at Emmy, and she kisses his forehead. “She’ll grow. And you can teach her all the cool stuff you know.”
At that, he bounces around, finding the remote, ready to start her first lesson—sea creatures.
Stepping back, I watch as Bex takes her turn, cooing and doting on my daughter.
This is what a family is. It’s something I didn’t know I’d love so much, and it’s all here because a beautiful girl said she’d stay. I knew Emily Barton Hastings was something special. I didn’t know she’d change everything about me.
Life changes. Situations change.
People come and people go.
The best people are the ones who stay.
Thank you so much for reading STAY!
I hope you fell in love with Stephen and Emmy’s story as much as I did…
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Stephen has a brief cameo appearance in my single-dad romance MAKE ME YOURS.
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It’s Remi’s story, and I think you will adore it. It’s hilarious, sexy fun!
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Keep clicking to read Chapter 1 of MAKE ME YOURS… or get it now (link).*
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*MAKE ME YOURS eBooks are available in Kindle Unlimited. Print copies are available on all retailers. Audiobooks coming soon…
My next stand-alone, office romance BOSS OF ME is coming Sept. 2019!
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Start my sexy military romance series with ONE TO HOLD, Book #1 of my “One to Hold” series—FREE on ALL eBook retailers!
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It’s a sexy story of ultimate alpha-hero Derek Alexander, who meets and falls in love with small-town girl Melissa Jones… But they have more in common than they know.
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One to Hold
Derek & Melissa
Derek Alexander is a retired Marine, ex-cop, and the top investigator in his field. Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past.
When the two intersect in a bar in Arizona, their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But what is revealed during their "one week stand" only complicates matters.
Because she'll do everything in her power to get away from the past, but he'll do everything he can to hold her.
1
A One-Week Stand
In the cool darkness of the semi-crowded bar, I could allow the last year to dissolve into a hazy fog, a far-off memory. Each low thump of bass that disappeared into the dull roar of voices beat it further down. With a little more alcohol, it could even become a dream—something that never occurred in real life. Something that could be brushed aside like a phantom, not a true form. Not a reality that burned shame, low and deep in my stomach.
Bars had become a thing of my past, along with flirtatious passes from unfamiliar men, but sitting alone in this hotel club, hundreds of miles from home, I felt wonderfully liberated. I could be anyone. Any anonymous woman having a drink before bed. I could pretend to be free.