Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)

Brandon's husky laugh gave me goose bumps and I couldn't help but smile just listening to it, “Beach and Pinkberry it is.”


He pulled the blanket out of the back of his Jeep and walked me towards the shore before laying it down and sitting me between his legs, my back pressed against him. After rolling my shirt up over my stomach, he started tracing delicate patterns on me. Liam instantly started wiggling as soon as Brandon's hands were on my bare skin.

“I'm so excited to meet him,” His deep voice filled my body, “but I'm going to miss this. You're the most beautiful pregnant woman I've ever seen Harper.”

I sighed and molded my body to his even more, “Have I told you how amazing you are and how much I love you recently?”

“I love you too.” He brushed my hair away and pressed his lips to my neck. “What are you most excited for?”

“Watching you teach him things. Like how to throw a ball and surf…” I said quickly, I thought about that all day long. “You?”

“Everything.”

“That's not fair babe! You have to say something.”

He thought for a minute, “I want to see you hold him.”

“You want to see me hold him?” I deadpanned.

“Yeah. The way you hold yourself whenever he moves or you're thinking about him, makes me fall in love with you that much more. It's tender, and full of love even though he isn't here yet. So I can't wait to see you actually hold him.”

“Oh.” And that right there made me fall in love with you more. I turned so I could face him and pressed a quick kiss to his neck, “You're going to be an amazing father Brandon. Your dad would be so proud of who you are.”

“I hope so.”

“I know he would.”

He shrugged but was smiling at me, “I don't think he wanted me to fight for a living. He was a business man, I always thought I'd do that too.”

“Do you want to? Someday, I mean.”

“I'm really not sure. I should probably figure that out soon. I can't fight forever.”

Thank God for that. “We have time, we have enough money to last us for a long time. I want you to just be with me for the first few months, I don't want you to worry about a career yet, okay?”

“Not likely, but thank you. I will stay home with you as much as possible for a while, but I've already been worrying about a career for some time now, I just don't know what I want to get into.”

“We'll figure it out.”

“Yes we will.” He kissed me thoroughly before turning me so my back was pressed against his chest again.

We stayed out there until after the sun went down and were now both lying on the blanket. My shirt was still rolled over my stomach and we each had a hand on it while our cramped baby tried to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in.

“It's getting late sweetheart, let's get some Pinkberry and get you home.”

“Thank you for taking me here, even if I was still laying down for most of it, it was nice to be outside near the water.” I let him pull me up and helped him fold the blanket back up.

We went to Pinkberry and my mouth was watering, Brandon thought my sugar cravings over the last few months were adorable, but I swear I turned into a crazed animal whenever I knew I was about to have some. Only problem was, if there were choices, I could never decide, which is why he usually went alone and picked for me. I stood there looking at everything and Brandon remained patient, he knew we'd be here a while. He wrapped his arms around my belly and planted his chin on top of my head, every now and then bringing his face down to kiss behind my ear and whisper how much he loved me and Liam. Then he'd start a trail of kisses down my neck and I'd have to start the decision making process all over.

“You're not helping babe.” I reached my hand up to run my fingers over the back of his buzzed head, I knew that would keep him from distracting me for a while. I glanced to the right and saw two female workers sigh with a dopey-eyed look. Looking over my shoulder to see that the wall was the only thing next to us, I glanced again and saw they were indeed watching us. “Jeez, no matter what you do, women drool over you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You fight in only a pair of shorts, and women practically climb over each other to get to you. You walk around at school or a store, and they trip over themselves to keep watching you. You talk or laugh, and their jaws drop and they get goose bumps. Then you do something as sweet as wrap your arms around your very pregnant fiancée and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, and they start swooning.”

His body tensed and I could practically feel his eyes looking everywhere, without moving his head, “That's kind of creepy. Wait, how do you notice this stuff?”

A quick glance to make sure they were still sighing and watching us together and I whispered, “I notice because I know what it's like to look at you, and I do the same thing. They’re at our three o’clock, by the way.”

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