Naked Love(98)

“Just your words? Do my words no longer matter?” Tension bleeds into my voice. I can’t help it. I can’t hide my desperation.

“Nope.” She shakes her head, staring at her feet. “Your words don’t matter. My words are the only words that matter. They are the final words. And you can choose to accept them or not, but it changes nothing.”

“Jesus, Ave …” I step closer, unable to stop my hands from grabbing her face, forcing her to look at me as I rest my forehead on hers. “Don’t do this.”

“I have to,” she whispers, reaching for the zipper to her hoodie, pulling it down slowly.

What is she doing?

I pull away just enough to see her better.

Fuck me …

She keeps her gaze down as I read her white T-shirt with black lettering.

Congratulations, you knocked me up.

Baby feet are stamped on the belly of the shirt.

Teary blue eyes glance up at me. “I’m sorry.” Her bottom lip quivers. “I know what you’re going to say. We should have—”

“Shut up.”

She swallows hard, blinking once to release the tears. I hate the fear in her eyes.

“This …” Emotions strangle my words. “This day. This. Very. Moment …” I thread my fingers through her hair, forcing her to look at me with her tear-drenched face. “It’s the greatest moment of my life.”

“I’m scared,” she whispers.

I kiss the tears from her cheeks. I kiss her forehead. Then I kiss her lips. “I’m not, Ave. I’m not scared. I’m relieved. I’m tired of running from the demons. I’m tired of chasing something I can’t see. For the first time in so many years … I can breathe.”

Her arms slide around my neck, and her body melts into mine, her face in my neck. I lift her off the ground, her legs wrap around my waist.

“I love you,” she says on a long sigh.

Yeah, definitely the greatest moment of my life. She’s never said those exact words to me. I don’t think she probably realizes it. I’ve felt her love in a touch, an innocent smile, a tiny glance, but not until this moment has she said the actual words.

Avery Montgomery has finally given herself permission to love me. All of me. All of us.

“What are you doing?” She looks up as I open the passenger door to the truck.

“Getting you fastened in.” I set her in the seat.

“Where are we going?”

I latch her seat belt and bend down. Pulling up the front of her shirt, I press my lips to her flat belly. “Milwaukee.”

“What? No. I can’t go with you. I have a job. I live here. My sister is here. I need to—”

“Shh …” I grin, keeping my lips pressed to her stomach. “We’ll return later.”

“You’ll return. I need to stay here.” The panic in her voice escalates.

Lifting my head, I rest my hand on her leg, giving it a light squeeze as I nuzzle into her neck.

Her fingers slide into my hair. “Jake …”

“Ave … do you know what I need?”

“What?” she whispers with slight resignation in her reply.

“You. That’s it. So can you do me a tiny favor?” I kiss her neck one last time and lift my head to capture her gaze. “Can you just need me? Can you trust me to be everything you need?”

She blinks several times. “I don’t have anything packed.”

“We’ll stop along the way and shop.” I grin.

Avery tries to hide her delight by biting her lips together.

“Pregnant women shouldn’t sleep on the ground in tents.”

I chuckle. “We’ll stay at the finest hotels.”

“I don’t have that much money.”

“You should have the forty dollars you stole from me. But let’s let that go.” I wink at her. “I’ll cover our lodging.”

“I have nothing, Jake …”

“You have me.” I press my forehead to hers and whisper, “Am I enough, Ave? Because you sure as hell are my everything.”

She smiles, eyes filling with more tears. “Okay.”





EPILOGUE





I only needed Jake and our simple life, but he gave me more.

A big wedding.

A closetful of clothes.

Spa days.

Flowers.

Date nights.

Passion.

Adoration.

Love.

And babies.

If getting pregnant once was a miracle, then we’ve had three miracles in five years—a boy then two girls.

“Is it wrong of me to love the lines on your stomach and the new shape of your belly button even more than I loved the pre-mom version of it?” Jake stands behind me as I stare at my reflection in the full-length mirror.

I’m sure many women judge me when they see me wearing a bikini with my stomach stretched out and distorted from three babies, two of them just over nine pounds. I know this because, at one point in my life, I was that person judging others. I’m not anymore.

Jake snakes his hands around me, palms pressed to my not-so-perfectly-flat stomach just above my bikini bottoms. He kisses my shoulder.

I cover his hands with mine and smile at his reflection—at my reflection. “I love my body.” I don’t just say the words. I mean them to the depths of my soul. “It’s given us Tyler, Kylie, and Rylen. It’s taken me many places. It’s fed babies and held them. It’s given my husband pleasure.” I smirk.