Playing It Safe

EPILOGUE


About eight months later …

I’m not a man of many words.

I say what I want, when I want, with as little fuss as possible. This is particularly effective when it comes to the woman in my life.


She, on the other hand, can talk my ear off and question every little thing to the point of distraction. I especially enjoy when she gets that look on her face as she’s about to go off on me. Because all I have to do usually to get her to calm down is wrap her up in my arms and kiss her senseless until she shuts up. Then she’s back to her normal self, spouting off pop culture references that I sometimes can keep up with, but for the most part I have no goddamn clue what she’s talking about.

As of late, this has been happening more often.

No, no, no. It’s not what you think. She’s just … how can I put this delicately?

I’d say she’s a bit stressed what with the move and all.

Julia and I now live together. It was a natural progression in our relationship, seeing as how we essentially were living together but not sharing a closet. At least that’s how her father nicely put it the last few times we had dinner with them. Actually what he really said was, “When the f*ck are you two going to move on to the next step already? Inquiring minds want to know.”

So now we share a closet and everything else that comes with it. Today will be the third day since she’s moved all of her stuff into my house. Sorry, I mean our house. I have to try and catch myself with that because if she hears me say it wrong one more time, she’s threatened to pack her stuff up and move back to her old house.

There’s still boxes scattered everywhere as we try to decide what will go where and piles of clothes in the bedroom that scare the living crap out of me. I’ve never seen that much clothing in one place before without it being a mall, but she swears she needs all of it.

I glance up at the clock on the wall in my home office and notice that she should be home soon. I’ve been checking off and on for the past ten minutes since we have reservations for dinner in about an hour, and I don’t want to be late.

And like clockwork, I hear the front door open not a minute later.

And not even a second after that I hear her voice floating down the hall. “Motherf*cker! Are you f*cking kidding me with this shit? Jesus Christ! No f*cking way!”

I cringe before calling out to her as calmly as possible. “Julia?”

“Hang on a second, I’ll be right there.”

More cursing ensues for a few more seconds, and her voice gets closer until she’s standing in the doorway of my office holding a letter in her hand and looking as beautiful as ever. No joke, she takes my f*cking breath away every time I see her. Especially now.

I beckon her with my finger, and she walks over to me with a worried look on her face. She comes around my desk, and I swivel my seat to make room for her to stand in between my legs. I grab her hips and kiss her stomach before looking up at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just got Sabrina and Tyler’s wedding invitation in the mail.”

I smile as she shows me the invitation in her hand so I can read it for myself. “Baby, we already knew about this. I don’t understand why this is getting you so upset that you have to curse like that. We had a deal, remember?”

“I know, I know, I owe the curse jar like a hundred bucks, but I don’t give a shit.”

I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing because I love it when she gets so worked up. She looks beyond adorable when she’s angry. “That’s another ten bucks. Keep it up and you’ll be able to pay your rent here for the next year in advance.”

“Very funny,” she says with a smile creeping up on her face.

“Tell me what’s the problem without cursing, and I’ll take you out to dinner.”

“You’re taking me out to dinner anyway.”

“I know, but watching you try not to curse is fun.”

She drops the invitation on my desk and plants her hands on my shoulders. I rest my chin on her stomach as she goes on about the date of the wedding, getting more worked up with every passing word until she drops the f-bomb again.

“Don’t say it,” she warns playfully.

“I still don’t understand what the problem with the date of the wedding is.”

“Alex, do the math.” Her eyes go wide as if hinting at something when it finally clicks.

My fingers lift up the hem of her T-shirt so that I can kiss the skin underneath her belly button. I shoot my eyes up to find her watching me as I press more kisses softly against her stomach, and my hands grip her hips to keep her in place.

“Alex?”

“Julia?”

She smiles then and weaves her fingers through my hair, holding me close to her.

“My tits are going to be f*cking huge after this kid is born in November. Have you ever seen a woman after she gives birth? Seriously ginormous f*cking tits. And the wedding is supposed to be in December on a f*cking beach on some island. What the hell am I supposed to even wear to cover those puppies up?”

“Cover your ears, kid,” I say against her stomach.

“Stop calling our baby kid. She’s going to come out thinking that’s her name.”

“You think it’s a girl?”

She gnaws on her bottom lip for a second, thinking it over before she answers. “I’d be a liar if I didn’t want you to have your own little girl after seeing you with Josie, but I really don’t care what it is because it’s ours.”

I kiss her stomach once more, and all the cursing is forgotten because when she says things like that my whole body reacts to her. And for the record, I really don’t care about the cursing. It’s just a way for her to practice curbing it before our baby is born in about five months.

I change positions and pull her down on my lap so she can straddle me. “Uh-uh, this is how we got ourselves in this mess to begin with.”

“Aren’t you the one who forgot her birth control pills and told me not to pull out?”

“Yeahhhhhh,” she says, drawling out the word and tilting her head to the side. “But you were the one who decided to whisk me away to a remote island where there were no pharmacies around to buy condoms.”

She grins at me as I curl my hand around the side of her neck, pulling her to me so I can taste her. As soon as my lips meet hers, she melts into me. Her tongue, silky soft, darts out and reaches for mine, and I more than willingly oblige, angling my mouth to give her better access. I gently tug at her hair to break off the kiss before it spirals out of control, and she pouts, making me chuckle.

“Don’t you worry.” I press another kiss to her lips. “We’ll pick this up later.”

I help her stand up, and as she’s backing out of my office she says, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

She disappears toward the bedroom but shouts out a second later to me. “How much time do I have before we have to leave for dinner?”

“Half an hour,” I shout back.

I start to read the wedding invitation she left on my desk, focusing on the date, and I grin to myself because she fell for it. This invitation is really for our wedding in Bermuda. Sabrina and Tyler are getting married in December as well, but in Philadelphia and after us. Julia won’t know until the day it happens. And yes, I’m prepared for the wrath of my beloved. But I’m sure she’ll get over it.

Because you all know how much Julia loves my surprises …





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Christian, thank you for being my sweet little boy and warming my heart with every hug and smile you grace me with. I love you, little man.

Belinda, thank you for showing me how to be a mom and a best friend all rolled into one. You constantly amaze me, and I learn something new every day because of you. I love you, mini me.


Kyle, I would not be here were it not for you. Thank you for your unending support, encouragement, and love. Sorry, but this book doesn’t have a hot dog cart scene in it either. Maybe next time …

Dionne Simmons, woman … thank you for being there whenever I need it and for being the bestest friend a girl could ever ask for. Love you so much!

Lisa Chamberlin, thank you for being such a great friend in every sense of the word and for making me laugh whenever I need it. Your loyalty goes beyond the normal bounds of friendship, and I love you for it.

Claribel Contreras, thank you for always being so supportive and for simply being there for me when I need it. Oh, and for sharing your love of serial killers with me too … it makes me feel so much better about myself. Love you!

Sara Queen, you are amazing! You have continued to be a great friend, and your support continues to amaze me. I am forever grateful to have found you in this crazy book world. Love you, SAQ!

Mimi Abraham, thank you for believing in me. Your encouraging words have helped me more than you will ever know. Love you!

Vicky Carballo, thank you for just being you, Void. Your Null loves you no matter the amount of time between talks and visits. Xoxo!

Jessica Carnes, thank you again for taking the time to look at my work and always finding the little things that I would have missed along the way. Without your eyes AND you, I would be completely lost.

To everyone at Montlake Romance who has been so welcoming from the very beginning, especially Jessica Poore in Author Relations and my editor, Maria Gomez, you both have made me feel like I was part of the team and have made all of this so much more worth it.

Melody Guy, thank you for taking the time to go through my story with such a fine-tooth comb. Working with you has been a complete joy.

Kara Malinczak, thank you for all of your time, comments, and suggestions. Your input has been so helpful in getting me closer to the finish line.

Thank you to EVERY SINGLE BLOGGER, big and small, who has helped to get my name out there, supporting me in every sense of the word. Without all of you, there is no way that I would be here right now. I can’t possibly list every one, but I would like to give a very special thanks to Sandy Roman Borrero at The Book Blog, Christine Estevez at Shh Mom’s Reading, Kayla Sunday at My Book Muse, Becca Manual at Becca the Bibliophile, Patricia Lee at A Literary Perusal, Nadine Colling and Tamara McRae at Hook Me Up Book Blog, and last but not at all least, Angie “Squeee” McKeon at Angie’s Dreamy Reads.

Thank you to the following people who have come into my life and have made a lasting mark: Sandra Cortez, Michelle Finkle, Stephanie Sandra Brown, Shawna Vitale, Karina Anastazia, Crysti Perry, LaStephanie Kannady-Foster, Dyann Tufts, Luisa Hansen, Sarah Lowe, Lizzy Henriquez, Ciara Martinez, Tessa Teevan, Fred LeBaron, and all my KBs!

And finally, to my family … I love you all and thank you all for your support over the years and hopefully many more to come!