Lord Have Mercy (The Southern Gentleman #2)(64)

“Uhhh,” I hesitated. “Why?”

“Because I felt like you were the most qualified,” he answered, dropping his bottle of sweet tea down onto the counter beside my cup of decaffeinated coffee and pressing his palm to my belly.

I rolled my eyes.

He was always doing this.

It didn’t matter where we were, or who we were with. If he had a spare second, and I was close enough, his hand was on my belly.

He loved feeling the baby move.

He loved it even more when she kicked against his hand.

That’s right.

I said she.

There was going to be a little Pebbles Stone soon.

Though, that wasn’t going to be her name.

We hadn’t actually agreed on one just yet, but it would come.

You know…a month after she was born, if how we were going was any indication.

“So what’s in the bag, Officer Stone?” my transfer student from the UK asked, sounding all prim and proper.

‘Officer Stone’ grinned. “Look.”

Then my husband opened the bag and showed the kid.

“Is that…a baby kangaroo?”

Flint grinned. “Yeah. Can you watch it for a little while?”

That last part was directed toward me as he held out the bag.

I blinked. “Flint…I’m not exactly sure how to take care of a kangaroo. Does it need to be fed?”

He shrugged. “Honestly? I have no fuckin’ idea. I found it out in the parking lot, and I had to steal it away from a couple of freshmen that thought they’d take it home.”

I just shook my head.

“Did you call the game warden?” I asked. “Who do you call about a kangaroo?”

“I called the game warden, who got me in touch with the zoo who had a baby kangaroo go missing last night when a couple of teenagers vandalized an exhibit. That’s the next item on my agenda…find those kids.”

I just shook my head and waved him off, curling the kangaroo in the pillowcase up tight to my big pregnant belly.

“All right, Flintstone. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

He winked and then he was gone, leaving me to turn back to my students who were all practically bouncing in their seats. “One at a time. Form a line. Get your look, and then go sit down. I’d like to get to know you all.”

Every last one of my students got up to look.

***

Six hours later, I was in heaven.

“Oh God,” I whispered. “That’s the spot.”

Flint chuckled against my side.

“I’m ready for this baby to be here,” I declared. “Why are you laughing?”

“You sound like a contented cat,” he teased.

I kind of was.

He’d just made slow, sweet love to me and then had started rubbing my back.

There was literally no better spot on the planet that I could be.

“Ella?”

He grunted out a negative sound in his throat.

“Joan?”

“What the fuck kind of name is that?” he laughed.

“Jett?” I whispered, moaning slightly when he hit a particularly sore spot.

He paused when that name left my mouth.

“What middle name with that?” he asked.

“Jett Carina Stone,” I whispered, feeling like this was a pivotal moment for us.

He let that sit for a long moment, then surprised me by saying, “That’s it.”

I felt my lips turn up at the corners. “Did you just agree on a name, Flintstone?”

He curled himself around me until we were once again skin to skin, from the top of my shoulders to the backs of my calves.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I think we did.”

And four days later, when my stubborn baby girl made her entrance, the first thing her daddy said to her was, “Hey there, Jett Carina Stone. I’m your daddy.”

And right then, there was nothing in the world that could have made me happier.

I’d only thought that when Nivea moved to a different school district that I’d been happy.

I’d only thought that the day that Carver was sentenced to twenty years in prison, I’d been happy.

I’d only thought that the day that I had exchanged wedding vows with Flint, I’d been happy.

But today? Seeing him with his newborn baby girl? Feeling the pride swelling in my chest at seeing the two of them together?

That was the day that I truly knew happiness.





What’s Next?


F-Bomb

Book 9 of The Bear Bottom Guardians MC

5-14-19

Prologue

I didn’t mean to push all your buttons. Just kidding. I really did.

-Slate to Izzy

Slate

3 years ago

The first time I saw her I was shackled to a table with chains.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes on Izzy but having a hard time doing that since there was a blonde woman that was about five foot nothing at the table next to me, giving the man she was visiting a rundown about a Chuck Norris race that she was running in a week’s time.

“I’m talking about the fact that our mother is a whore, and she tried to get the daycare that Astrid is enrolled in to allow her ‘visitation time,’” Izzy explained patiently.