Page 140 of Rival Hearts

“Yeah, he is, but he’s always home at five on the dot, and he refuses to work weekends, no matter what they say. He says it’s family time.”

“He’s the best,” Maya said with a grin.

“The company is doing better, though. He found three new investors who are on board with his eco-friendly vision, so the worst is over.”

For the first couple of months after Alex had changed direction to be more environmentally conscious, the company had had a wobble. The stock had decreased in value, and a few people had decided to leave. It hadn’t looked good, but Blackwood Inc. had bounced back amazingly, and they were doing better now than ever.

Alex kept telling me he’d realized it was a matter of finding the right people who shared in the same vision as his, and he was right.

“He’s such a great leader,” Maya said. “I think it doesn’t matter what he decides to do because he’s so committed and sotransparent about who he is and what their values are. It’s so easy to follow him.”

I nodded. At first, Alex had been worried about exactly that—being transparent. He’d been worried that if he showed who he really was, no one would be interested. But once he’d realized that his past didn’t define him, it had only shaped him, his attitude toward the world had changed, and so had his leadership style. And as soon as that had fallen into place, everything about his company, his attitude, and his life had followed.

I firmly believed that was the reason things were going so well now. Not just because he’d found the right people to invest, that had just been a happy aftermath, the result, the positive effect of a different outlook on life.

“Oh, feel this.” I grabbed Maya’s hand, pressing it against my stomach. “The little one hasn’t stopped kicking for the past two weeks.”

Maya’s eyes widened in surprise when the baby kicked against her hand.

“Oh wow, that’s wild.”

“Yeah, I’m exhausted,” I sighed. “It never stops, and here I thought the baby was supposed to be asleep sometimes.”

“I still can’t believe you didn’t want to know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“We wanted it to stay a surprise,” I said with a smile.

My baby shower, where we’d been inundated with gifts from all our friends, had consisted of a bunch of neutral colors from yellow and gray to white and cream. The nursery in the new house we’d moved into a month ago was decorated in whites and grays, too. We could add accent colors once the baby was born and we knew what it was.

“I still don’t believe it,” Maya said. “I would die of curiosity.”

“I won’t lie, sometimes I—” I stopped talking and stared at Maya.

“What is it?”

“I think…” I glanced down, but I couldn’t see over my stomach. “I think my water just broke.”

Maya stared at me. “What?”

My stomach contracted.

“Yeah,” I said, gasping with the sudden cramp. “I think it’s time.”

“Oh, shit, shit, shit,” Maya said. “What do I do?”

I already had my phone out. “Let’s get to the hospital. I’ll call Alex.”

Just as Alex answered the call, another contraction made me gasp for air, and Maya grabbed the phone.

“Code baby, code baby!” she cried out. “I’m taking her to the hospital. Meet us there!” She ended the call, and we left her apartment.

The trip to the hospital was a quick one, but it didn’t feel like it. My contractions got closer and closer to each other very quickly.

By the time the nurses got me to a bed and Doctor Rowe came in to check on me, she looked up at me with wide eyes.

“You’re ready to have this baby, honey. Is Alex here?”

I was about to shake my head when he barged into the room, his hospital johnny only half-pulled over his suit.