Page 128 of Resisting the Running Back

I nod. “Tanner’s covering for me. I need to get back, but I couldn’t go another second without seeing you. And, you know, I couldn’t miss your first book signing, could I?” I ask with a cheesy smile.

She giggles. “You’re too much.”

“And I’m yours. Forever. I swear to God, Soph, whatever happens, I’m here. And in the last few days, I’ve really been thinking about things, about the future, and I want whatever is meant to happen for us. Kids or no kids, a dog, a cat, a fish…fuck, a hamster. Any of it and all of it.”

She wrinkles her nose. “A hamster? No to the hamster. And no guinea pigs, too.”

“Deal.” I laugh. “Ooh, what about a penguin?”

She nods. “Yes! We can adopt one through the World Wildlife Fund! Oh, and also, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.” She pulls back, and more tears are falling from her eyes. She wipes them away, and she leans in toward me. Shemoves to my ear, and she whispers, “I took a test. It was positive.”

My eyes widen and my stomach turns over as my chest tightens. “It was?” I whisper as she moves back, and my eyes search hers.

She nods. “I hated keeping it from you, but it’s why I couldn’t pick up when you called. I didn’t want to slip it over the phone, and I had to know you wanted this no matter what before I told you.”

I hate that I made her feel that way.

Never again. Never again will she question my love for her.

“Of course I want this.” I pick her up and twirl her around before my lips slam to hers again.

An unfamiliar feeling falls over me like this is what was always meant to be. It feelsright. We’re getting married. We’re having a baby. Maybe we’ll have more. That uncertainty about whether I wanted to have kids or not seems to have vanished into thin air as a new feeling takes its place: anticipation.

Holy shit. We’re having ababy.

I’m going to be adaddy.

I knocked up the woman I’ve been in love with since I was fourteen.

Goddamn, I’m one lucky man.

We have a lot to talk about. We have a lot to work out. We have a lot to celebrate.

And now it feels like we have a lot oftimewhere we can do all those things.

We hear a throat clearing behind us over the whoops and cheers of the people gathered here to get a book signed by my fiancée, and I pull apart from the woman I’m going to marry.

“So sorry to interrupt,” Victoria says, “but we have a lot of people waiting to meet Ms. Love.”

We both laugh at that.

“Yes, of course,” Sophie says, and she kisses me one more time. “How much time do you have?”

“I have to get on a flight back to San Diego in a few hours.”

“Will you hang out here with me?” she asks.

“I’d love to.” I move into place behind her as the workers pass down the next book for her to sign. “Wait a minute,” I say, and she turns back to look at me. “You didn’t sign my copy.”

“Oh, I’m keeping that one,” she says with a grin. “Forever.”

I smile, too, as warmth fills my heart. This is really, actually going to work.

The next two hours are madness as she signs books, smiles for photos, and answers questions. Some of her readers want my photo, too, and some even want my signature. I laugh when they ask if I’ve tried out any of the spicy scenes with her, and I make sure everyone leaves knowing I’m the man who inspired all the best ones.

Sophie just rolls her eyes and laughs. Considering she wrote most of them before we got together, it’s not true. But I can still pretend it is, and all the ones going forward definitely will be.

I don’t want to go, but I do need to get back to camp. There’s a meeting tonight I can’t miss even though I missed most of today’s practice.

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