One Moment Please (Wait With Me #3)(89)

My jaw drops as my muscles tense. A sudden pressure builds in my chest, making each breath harder to take. My voice comes out in a tremble when I ask, “Why would you guys give him my name?”

Mark moves over to put his arm around Sierra. “Because you meant a lot to Julian. You were his hero, Josh.”

I shake my head, slowly taking in their perfect baby boy. “H-how can you guys be like this after…everything? How can you stand to be around me?”

Mark’s face grows serious as he stares back at me. “You couldn’t have stopped what happened to Julian. I know that now. I’m sorry I put you through the pain of a lawsuit back then. But Josh, I know now that I was wrong. And we want JJ to be a testament to how much you meant to our family. How much you still mean to our family. I honor Julian everyday through the eyes of JJ, and I want you to feel that forgiveness as well.”

An uneasiness vibrates inside my chest. The sensation is a chisel chipping away at my once granite heart that has been slowly softening since the moment Lynsey came into my life. Since the moment I let myself touch her belly and embrace the child we made together. Now with Mark’s words and this tiny, sleeping baby, I am completely undone.

Mark touches my shoulder, his eyes wide and sincere when he adds, “I’ve learned that it’s okay to let yourself feel happy, man. I want that for you too. More than you could ever know.”

Sierra nods her agreement and smiles at her husband with that same tender look.

It’s hard to breathe. My arms tremble as I look down at the baby sound asleep.

He’s beautiful. Pink cheeks and dark, glossy hair. His lower lip quivers as he dreams of whatever it is babies dream of. My eyes fill with tears when I see Julian’s little face in the hollows of JJ’s eyes and the curve of his tiny chin.

That’s when I feel it. A tiny, fluttering spark of something that I haven’t allowed myself to feel in over two years strikes me out of nowhere.

Love.

Fucking hell.

I love this kid, and I’ve just met him. I still love Julian. I love Mark and Sierra for bringing this moment to me and giving JJ my name and offering me their forgiveness.

I…I love them.

And I love my own child. My peanut.

More than anything…I love Lynsey.

Fuck.

“Are you guys in town for a while?” I ask, lifting the baby up to my nose to feel his warm head against my cheek.

“We’re here until Sunday,” Sierra replies with a smile.

I press my lips together and gently hand the baby back over. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

Mark smiles. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“But I have to take care of some things first.” I shove a nervous hand through my hair and scrub it over the strands for a moment, trying to clear my head. Trying to think. “Can I call you tomorrow and arrange a time once I sort things out?”

Mark smiles knowingly. “My number hasn’t changed.”

And just like that, I’m running from my dark past and chasing what could be my bright future.





The next day, it’s dark out when I pound on Dean’s front door. His little townhouse on the outskirts of Boulder looks nothing like mine, where Lynsey and the baby belong. Because they’re my family. My everything. It’s why I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours cleaning up the mess I made of my office and transforming Lynsey’s room into the most beautiful nursery I’ve ever seen.

Thankfully, Max, Miles, and Sam were willing to help because after Lynsey left, I’d broken all the shit I had spent hours putting together into a million pieces. I needed help to repair everything I’d damaged physically. Now it’s time to repair everything I’d damaged emotionally.

I’m all in with Lynsey and it took meeting JJ and facing my past to make me realize I’ve been all in for months now. Lynsey is the one who opened my heart and made it possible for me to embrace Mark and his son. To remember Julian with love and fondness not pain and guilt. She healed me so I can give her all of me now.

I want to give her the world.

And if Dean opens this door and says he can give her more than I can, he is dead fucking wrong.

Dean opens the door and stands before me in nothing but a pair of boxers. It’s dark in the house, and he squints at the stoop light just as I catch sight of a familiar brunette behind him wrapped in nothing but a sheet.

Rage sparks inside me, and I pull back my fist and cold-cock Dean square in the face. He drops to the floor like a rock, and I shake out my throbbing hand while stomping past his groaning body to Lynsey.

I stop mid-step when the brunette turns.

Not Lynsey.

Fuuuck.

Dean has blood seeping out of his nose.

“You fucking idiot!” Dean bellows, clutching his face. “I think you broke my nose.”




Moments later, we’re in Dean’s bathroom, and I’m tending to his injury. The strange woman ran upstairs to hide from the deranged man who’s just reset the bone of the person he assaulted and is holding pressure to the bridge until the bleeding stops.

Dean’s voice is nasally when he says, “I’d better not get a fucking bill for this.”

I roll my eyes. “Just tell me where Lynsey is, and I’ll get out of here.”

He jerks his face out of my hands and replaces my fingers with his. “She’s at Kate’s, you fucking psychopath.”