Page 22 of Tiny Precious Secrets (The Brothers of Calloway Creek The Montanas #4)

Allie

It’s nine thirty when Asher pulls my car into the garage at home. He cuts the engine and neither of us moves.

I know his thoughts are mirroring mine, but he’s the first one to speak. “What are we—”

“I don’t know, Asher. I don’t know what we’re going to do, how we’re going to tell people, what we’re going to say, or when. I’m still in shock.”

He massages my shoulder. “Good shock, or bad shock?”

“Good.” I smile. “Definitely good.”

After weeks of anxiety, and let’s face it, years of uncertainty, I finally feel like I can fully breathe again. And that full breath of air comes with what I think is hope. For me. For us. For a future I never allowed myself to envision.

“And what you said earlier?” He nudges me. “That still applies?”

I squint, unsure of what he means.

“You know, about being in love with me.”

Warmth spreads throughout my body, and I smile again when I finally allow myself to think back on that conversation. I love him. He loves me. We’re in love. I nod. “It still applies.”

“Okay then.” He gets out of the car and races around to open my door. “All that other stuff will fall into place. Right now, I just need to take you upstairs.” He checks the time. “Do you think your folks have left for work?”

“An hour ago probably.”

“So if I make you scream my name, nobody will be around to hear?”

For the first time in well over a month, tingles shoot through me. It’s downright surprising considering an hour ago I was sure my life was in ruins. But now…

I take his hand and exit the car, popping up on my toes to whisper into his ear. “Not a single soul.”

He smiles. It’s a different smile than any I’ve ever seen. It’s full of passion and awe and wonder and playfulness and… love… all mixed into one perfect grin. And it says much more than any words could say.

He sweeps me into his arms and we both laugh as he carries me upstairs to my apartment.

Laughing. I’m freaking laughing.

Suddenly, the world is a different place.

I’m not the same girl I was this morning.

Yesterday. Last year. The future is full of possibility.

My life, as crazy as it may be, is now something I’m looking forward to rather than just existing day by day.

And these tiny precious beings inside of me—these pieces of Asher and me—are like the missing pieces of a puzzle I’ve been working on my whole adult life.

One I didn’t even know could ever be completed.

Asher places me on the bed and stares down at me, his head cocked to the side.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’ve never seen you look like this before.”

I giggle. “Am I glowing?”

“Like the fucking sun.”

His lips meet mine in a kiss so passionate it makes me feel bad for all the other kisses. Because no two mouths have ever come together like ours are now. No pairs of lips have been made to fit each other’s as meticulously as ours do.

He pulls back slightly. Not enough for our mouths to part, just enough to utter the words, “Say it.”

I don’t make him clarify the command. I know exactly what he wants. “I love you.”

“Again.”

I dig my fingers into his lower back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he breathes into me.

And somehow, the world is even more right than it was thirty seconds ago. It’s more magnificent. More exciting. More… everything.

His fingers graze my ribs when he removes my top. When he palms my breasts, his touch is both gentle and electric. He pays them extra attention.

“They’re different. Fuller. How did I not know?”

“You? What about me? It’s my body and I missed all the signs.”

He lightly pinches a nipple. “What signs?”

“Nausea. Weight gain. Boobs. I was probably in denial.”

He nuzzles himself against my stomach, lowering my waistband and then touching, feeling, kissing his way around my bump. “This is the sexiest thing I have ever seen.”

I giggle. “You won’t be saying that when I’m as big as a bus.”

“You’re wrong.” He raises his head. “I’ve always thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. You growing larger with my children will only amplify that.” He kisses me just below the belly button. “And I promise to let you know it every goddamn day.”

He slips a hand beneath my panties and lets his fingers do the rest of the talking.

And, boy, what he says is amazing. The sensations coursing through me are inexplicable.

It’s like a sunrise, when you see the tip of the sun and it gets brighter and brighter and fuller and fuller and then, just as it rises above the horizon in a fiery ball of light, it’s like an explosion of nature.

And exploding is exactly what I’m doing right now.

After only seconds of his fingers on me.

In me. I’m reeling. I’m winding up and down and in and out and back and forth and through.

I’m rising and falling. Rolling and swelling.

Dying and living. It’s the most intense sensation I’ve ever experienced.

“I take it back,” his low voice rumbles against the skin of my neck. “ That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I can’t laugh. Can’t speak. Can’t respond in any way. I can just… feel .

“Wow,” I say when I regain my ability to use words. “You think you could do that again?”

“With pleasure.”

His clothes, along with the rest of mine, are in a pile on the floor quicker than I can pull back the covers.

His erection is hard against my hip, and I reach between us to stroke him.

He groans. “I’m assuming it’s okay to go without a condom?”

I smile. “I doubt you could get me any more pregnant, Asher.”

He studies me for a second, then shakes his head with realization. “It was that night we lost the condom, wasn’t it?”

I nod. “Pretty much.”

“And the birth control pills?”

“I never missed one, but the kind I took weren’t as effective as regular ones.”

“Oh, right. Because they gave you migraines.”

“You were listening.”

He kisses my collarbone. “I’m always listening to you, sweetheart.”

I sigh. Nobody has ever called me that. I never wanted to be called that. The way he says it, it’s sweet and sexy, and so completely honest.

He moans as my hand works him harder. But then, he brushes it aside. “It’s been a minute since we’ve done this, so I’m not going to last long. I swear I’m going to make you come a dozen times today. But, Al, right now, I just need to make love to you.”

Asher is the only man who has ever said he wanted to make love to me. Others have said they wanted to sleep with me. Have sex. Fuck. But never make love . Maybe it’s because he’s older. More sophisticated. A dad.

I look into his eyes knowing it’s none of those things.

He says it because what he does to me is so much more than just sex.

The way he looks at me. Touches me. Speaks to me.

He loves me with his eyes. His hands. His words.

Every part of him is invested in these moments.

And as he enters me, softly, slowly, gently, it’s like our very souls are connecting.

I always assumed I knew what love was.

I didn’t.

This. Here. Him. He’s larger than life. He loves like he lives—with everything inside him.

I watch his face as he comes inside me, and a foreign emotion overcomes me. One I never thought I’d feel again. One I hope will become a frequent visitor.

Happiness.

~ ~ ~

He laces his fingers through mine, both of us spent and satiated after hours and hours of sex. “I have a question,” he says lazily.

“Shoot.”

“If you only found out you were pregnant two weeks ago, why did you pull away from me after Antigua?”

I turn and face him, tucking a hand under my pillow. “So we’re moving on to the serious conversations?”

“As if what we’ve been doing all day isn’t serious, Allie?” He tugs me closer. “Come on, no more secrets between us, okay?”

I nod. “Okay.” I try to collect my thoughts and put them into words. “I guess my feelings got too big.”

He traces my jawline with his finger. “You mean you realized you were in love and you didn’t want to be. But why?”

“You’re a great dad.”

He narrows his eyes. “You didn’t want to love me because I’m a great dad?”

I shrug. “Great dads usually want more kids. I knew how long you and Stella tried for a baby. And since I’m only twenty-eight, it would make sense that you’d want one with me.”

He blows out a frustrated sigh. “I wish you’d just talked to me.

If you’d told me about Christopher and your fears.

If you’d said you loved me but never wanted to have another child, I’d have accepted that.

The truth is, I gave up on the idea of having more kids a long time ago.

Did the thought cross my mind over the past eighteen months?

Sure. But I knew you didn’t want them. Or couldn’t have them.

I never knew which. So it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker. ”

I lay my head on his chest. “So I’m an idiot.”

He plants a kiss atop my hair. “A beautiful idiot.”

“I guess we got lucky. It’s sort of strange how fate intervened. If I hadn’t accidentally gotten pregnant, we wouldn’t be together.”

“We’d be together.”

I lift my head and look at him. “How do you know?”

“I knew from the moment we met. I can’t even explain it. It’s like I knew we had to be together. There wasn’t even a choice in the matter.”

“Well, I’m glad one of us has their shit together.”

He laughs. “I would hardly say that.” His head shakes. “If you only knew. Bug is going through a bit of a crisis. Her best friend is moving, and she’s been asking to go to a new school because she won’t have any friends.”

His eyebrows shoot up, and he pulls me on top of him and kisses me. “Sweetheart, this couldn’t have been better timing.” He looks around my apartment. “But with five of us, we’re going to need a bigger place.”

“We?” I bite my lip in nervous anticipation.

“Allie, of course I’m moving here.”

A slow smile creeps up my face. “You’re moving here? And you want to live together?”

“I want to do more than live with you. I want to marry you. But I’m not about to ask until I have a ring to slide on your finger. Out of curiosity, though, when I ask, will you say yes?”

My heart thunders as blood pulses through me so fast I’m sure he can hear it. He wants to live with me. Marry me. Have babies with me. Grow old with me.

Yesterday, I’d have said all those things were impossible. But today, my world is full of possibilities I never imagined.

I swallow, wanting to say yes. But one thing stands in the way of the word. “Only if Bug agrees.”

“You won’t marry me unless my daughter gives her blessing? You’re having my babies, Al.”

“I think it’s only fair to her.”

“And if she doesn’t agree?”

I raise a shoulder. “Then I guess we’ll live in sin until we die and go to hell.”

He laughs. “So you’ll live with me if my kid hates you, but you won’t marry me?”

“How do you think she’ll take the news?”

“I think she’ll be excited to be getting a brother and a sister.”

“Do you think it will change how she feels about me?”

“I don’t see how it couldn’t. Look at you. You’re carrying my babies. Her siblings. We’re going to be a family.” He pulls my hand to his lips and kisses it.

We’re both laughing when the alarm system indicates a door has been opened. I look at the time and realize we’ve been in bed for seven straight hours. I sit up. “We should tell my parents.”

He momentarily looks worried. As if my parents would have a problem with this.

They won’t.

“Don’t worry,” I say, getting up and pulling him toward the bathroom. “They love you. Now let’s get in the shower.”

We don’t make it downstairs for another ninety minutes.

~ ~ ~

Mom and Dad are eating dinner when we enter the kitchen. Mom smiles brightly when she sees who’s coming in behind me.

“Asher,” she says with delight. “What a nice surprise.” She winks at me.

It’s as if in this moment she understands that my entire existence wasn’t right without him. And the past six weeks make sense to her now that she sees us together. I feel bad for putting her through what I did. I swear she was about ready to send me to either an emergency room or a shrink.

Yeah, my mom is about to be super happy.

She motions to the table. “There’s plenty of food if you want to join us.”

Before we can even answer, she’s getting two more place settings.

I dish some casserole onto a plate for Asher. “So, we have some news.”

A hand flies to Mom’s mouth. “You’re getting married!”

Asher tosses me a look and smiles as if to say ‘see?’

“Well, um, no. We—”

“Yes,” Asher interrupts. “Someday.”

“Okay, yes, someday. When Bug agrees. But that’s not our news.”

“Spit it out,” Dad says impatiently as if he can’t enjoy his dinner until he hears whatever it is I came down to say.

“Asher and Bug are going to move to Calloway Creek.”

Mom’s eyes narrow to slits. She senses that’s not all. “Aaaaaaand?”

“And I’m moving out.”

Mom claps her hands together, happily. I once told her that it would take one hell of a guy to get me to move out of Montana Manor. So she knows. She knows Asher is that guy. Hell, she knew it even before I did. “Oh, that’s fantastic. We’re so happy for you.”

Asher and I share a look.

Dad doesn’t fail to notice. His eyes dart back and forth between us. “Aaaaaand?”

I blow out a cleansing breath. “And I’m pregnant. With twins.”

My parents’ reaction is somewhat expected. It’s a mixture of surprise, excitement, and deep, deep concern.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I had the blood tests. They’re fine. No abnormalities.” I smile at Asher. “We’re happy about this.”

Mom breathes a huge sigh of relief, hops out of her chair and practically topples me out of mine. “I’m so, so, so happy for you.” She reaches over and touches Asher’s arm. “Both of you.”

Once my mother calms down, we settle in and eat as I fill them in on the reality of what I’ve been dealing with over the past few weeks.

Other than Mia and Jason—and now Asher—my parents are the only people who know about Christopher, so they fully understand what I was going through.

That doesn’t mean I don’t get a few harsh looks and stern statements about not coming to them earlier.

“We need to have a family dinner.” Dad claps his hands once like he’s making a proclamation. “We’ll make it a celebration.”

“That would be nice,” I say. “I think I’m ready to tell everyone.”

“Well, I’d hope so.” Mom stares at the ultrasound photo. “With twins you’ll hardly be able to hide it much longer.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, yes, we’ll tell them I’m pregnant.” I turn and take Asher’s hand. “But I’m ready to tell everyone about Christopher.”