Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake (A Brush with Love, #2)(94)

“It’s really ugly,” she said, tears pricking her eyes as she dragged her gaze up to him. “I love it.”

Rake’s eyes glistened. “I, uh, I have something else for you,” he said, setting the cake down. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out an envelope. He handed it to Lizzie.

With shaking fingers, she took it, tearing open the seal. It took her a moment to comprehend what she was seeing.

“Plane tickets?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Flight vouchers,” he said. “Three of them.”

“For…?”

“It’s … well, it’s a promise of sorts. Obviously, I’m a clueless idiot and have no idea when babies can fly and the practicality of it, but I want to take you to Australia someday. You and the little one.”

Lizzie continued to blink at him. “Why?” she asked, unable to form more than one word at a time.

Rake dragged his hand across the back of his neck as he looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

“Because I want to show you where I grew up,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Take you to a new corner of the world to explore. I want you to meet my nan and I want my mum to babysit our child. I want to introduce my friends from uni to the girl of my dreams, so they can see what a lovesick idiot you’ve made me. I want to show you off and hold your hand. I want to take you to the beach and ogle you in a bikini. I want to take you camping and make love to you under the stars. I want to hand over all my old memories because I only want new ones with you.”

She blinked, trying to breathe past the lump in her throat. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked around like she wasn’t sure he was talking to her.

“I have … I’ll probably have to work,” she said at last.

Rake nodded, his face looking solemn. “For what it’s worth, Bernadette said she’s fine running the shop any time we decided to go. If you want to go, of course.”

“And you expect Dominic to give you time off your job?”

“I told Dominic to go to hell.”

Lizzie’s eyes snapped to his face, confused and wary. “You did?”

Rake nodded. “I told him that no one gets to disrespect you like that. I told him he could shove the stupid job up his arse because I don’t want it.”

“I…” She trailed off, not sure what to say. Lizzie looked at him. Really looked, taking in the beauty of his face, the sincerity of his eyes. Her heart felt stretched by the flood of emotions, like he had captured every star in the night sky into his cupped palms, enhanced them with whispered words of love, then let them float into her chest. Fill every inch of her.

He reached out, softly tracing his fingers across her cheek. Lizzie’s eyes fluttered closed at the touch.

“Why?” she finally asked, looking at him.

“Why?” The question made Rake laugh. “Because I love you. Because life was a shadow before, but you’re the sun. And I want the world to know that I’m an absolute fool for you and nothing makes me happier.”

“You love me?” A small burst of fear shot across her nerves.

“Yeah, Birdy, I do. I love you like a heart beats or a fish swims. It’s automatic and unavoidable, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. You’ve busted into my heart and carved your name into every chamber.”

Lizzie laughed, hot tears trickling out from the corners of her eyes.

“I don’t expect you to love me back. Not yet, at least,” Rake continued, taking a step forward, putting one hand around her waist. “Not until I can make it up to you. But all I want is to make it up to you. To show you every single day how much I love you. So let me take you to Australia. Or let me just take you home. Our home. Everything is so empty without you, Lizzie.”

“I’ve missed you,” Lizzie whispered, the happy tears rolling down her cheeks. Rake wiped them away. “And I’m a little scared,” she added honestly. “I’m scared I’ll mess this up.”

“I’m scared I will too,” Rake said, giving her a brilliant smile. “I’ve made a million mistakes, and I’ll make a million more. And I love you enough to know you will too. But we’ll do it together.”

“I love you too,” Lizzie said, an uncontrollable smile breaking across her face.

Then Rake kissed her. It was soft and perfect and made a sunrise of happiness bloom in Lizzie’s chest. She broke away, starting to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, resting his forehead on hers.

She grinned, taking his hand from her cheek and dragging it to the soft swell of her belly. Rake’s eyes shot wide as he felt it.

“Told you you’d get to feel the baby kick,” she said, more happy giggles bubbling up from her throat. “I think she’s trying to tell us she loves us too.”





Epilogue



Baby is 7 lbs. 2 oz. of perfection.

Evie Blake-Thompson was born at 3:06 a.m. on a Thursday. She came into the world, red-faced and screaming almost as loud as her mother.

Almost.

Within two seconds of existence, Evie had Rake and Lizzie wrapped around her dimpled little finger.

The couple tumbled, tripped, and fell into the terrors of parenthood, constantly looking at each other with fear that they were messing up, only to dissolve into giggles at their matching expressions of horror. They were clueless and scared, but none of that mattered compared to the overwhelming happiness that tethered them together.