Page 216 of Three Reckless Words

His eyes widen.

“No, not now. But later. After we’re married, when we’re settled.” It’s a conversation we probably should’ve had before, but with Colt almost grown, I get it if he needs time.

Yes, I want my own baby or three.

Something small and sweet to hold and cradle and nurture the same way Archer raised his son. I need it with an intensity that makes my chest ache.

“How many babies you want, woman?” Archer asks, walking into the bedroom and laying me down on the bed.

He falls on top of me, and I wrap my legs around him, holding him close.

“One,” I whisper, blushing. “Maybe two.”

I hold back so I don’t scare him away.

“Two?”

“I know with Colt that makes three… is that too much for an old man?” I smooth the dark hair back from his brow.

He chuckles.

“Two, three, what the fuck ever,” he rumbles. “As long as it’s us, Winnie, I’m open.”

Us.

The best word in the universe.

“Then it’s settled,” I say happily. “Two girls, then we’ll see. Colt will be the best big brother.”

“Girls, huh?” Archer presses his hips against me, rubbing his erection against my belly in a way that makes me squirm.

“I want a little girl I can spoil, all the ways my parents never spoiled me,” I say, although it’s more of a gasp when Archer shifts again. It’s getting harder to keep my mind on the conversation I started. “But do you think we should ask Colt what he’d think?”

Archer kisses me fiercely, cradling my head in his hands. “I love that you think of him. I’m sure he’ll be down for whatever makes us happy.”

“He feels like my son sometimes. I know he’s not and he’ll never be, but—”

“He is,” Archer insists hoarsely. “He has another mother, yes, but you’ll always be around more. He already sees you as part of our family.”

My heart swells.

My eyes fill with tears.

So unexpected, the sweet sting of it.

Never once did I think I’d fall for a single dad. To my younger self, that was too much baggage, too much difference in life experience. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for kids.

But with Archer, it’s so different.

Colt isn’t like anything I imagined, kind and gentle and ridiculously smart.

Best of all, marrying Archer doesn’t mean I’m being tossed into motherhood.

Not when it’s something Iwantto take on, and they make it so easy.

I want to be an older, loving woman in Colt’s life—a mom he can trust when his real mother is still a whole lot of ‘wait and see.’

I want to be there to tease him about the girls he has crushes on.

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