Page 32 of Dare to Embrace
I kissed the backs of her fingers. “What are you thinking about?”
She shuddered a breath. “You may not believe me, but I’m tired, Kade. I’m tired of worrying about baseball, you, me, us, and our family. I’m tired of putting in a hundred and ten percent effort. I’m tired of not seeing you for months on end. Sometimes I feel like I put in all this effort and I’m getting nowhere.”
I lowered her hand to the bed then leaned over and brushed my lips over hers. “You’ve come a long way, Lacey.” I pecked her on the lips. “You’ve done something that not many or any woman has in your career.” I kissed her nose. “You’re not quitting baseball. No matter if the Sea Dogs sign you again or not.” I kissed her cheek. “You’re a fighter.” I kissed her other cheek. “You’re my baseball beauty, and having a child will not hurt your career at all.”
She threw her arms around my neck. “I love the crap out of you.” Then her lips connected with mine.
I dove in and kissed her lights out. This woman was my world, my life, my heart, and my soul. Whatever fate had in store for us, we would persevere. We always did.
I tugged her bottom lip as I broke the kiss. “You’re going to be even more beautiful pregnant.” At that thought, Mr. Steel came alive.
“And you’re going to be relentless, making sure you dote on me every day.”
I moved stray hairs off her face. “Fuck yeah.”
“So what now?” she asked.
“You have a season to finish. Although I am concerned you might pass out again.”
“I’m not obligated to tell the team I’m pregnant, but they do need to know,” she said. “I’ll make sure I eat right and stay hydrated.”
I gave her a cheeky grin. “I’m going to be a dad. My mom is going to go nuts.”
The color drained from her. “Call me superstitious, but let’s not say anything just yet. I want to find out how far along I am, and I want to make sure nothing jinxes this.”
I wasn’t sure I could contain my excitement. My parents knew me too well, and they would know I was keeping some big news from them. “I’ll try.”
“Kade Maxwell, you can’t even tell your brothers. And I suggest we wait until I have my first ultrasound.”
She had a point about jinxes. I couldn’t get Mom’s hopes up only to shatter them if something did happen or if the blood results were a false positive.
Wait! False positive?
“What’s wrong?” Lacey asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I remembered Mom sharing with me how her pregnancy test had been a false positive when she and Dad were trying to conceive before she’d gotten pregnant with my sister. The family had gotten excited only to be let down when she’d found out she wasn’t pregnant.
“What if the media gets ahold of the news? If you tell the team, it’s going to leak out.”
She sucked in her bottom lip. “True. I’ll hold off then on telling the team too. I only have a month left of the season anyway.”
I was going to be a dad. Lacey was going to be a mom.
In that moment, I couldn’t ask for anything else.
Chapter 14
Lacey
The last month of the season had dragged by. I’d been plagued with morning sickness every darn day. I felt as though I might puke up the baby at times. Different smells affected me too. I couldn’t stand the aroma of coffee, and for some reason, I wanted to puke for hours when Kade drank his coffee in the morning. Other scents like pizza made me hurl, and I loved pizza.
The good news was that by the time I’d shown up for the games, the morning sickness was gone. But I didn’t need to worry about the games anymore since the season had ended a week ago.
I sat on the exam table, waiting for the doctor to come in.
Kade paced the room. He’d been anxious since he found out the great news. I knew he was trying not to spill his guts to his parents. We’d had dinner with them last Sunday, and his mom had kept asking him what was wrong.
Kade’s response had been, “Just a lot on my mind with the club.”
