Page 41 of Romance Reset
Her face colored with a blush, and he ran his thumb under the fullness of her lower lip.
“Um… We should… Maybe we should go get some coffee to finish this conversation?”
“No. I want an answer, Amelia. Right here. Right now.”
“Lincoln, I can’t help but think you feel pressured because of me and my body’s timetable. Are you sure this is whatyouwant?”
“Yes, sweetheart. I know what I want, and if you’re going to have a baby, I want it to be with me. No one else.”
A strange look flitted across her face.
“What? What’s the matter now?”
“I’m afraid I might be confusing things. Are you saying you want to…donate? To the cause?”
“What? No. Well, yes, technically,” he said, cocking his head with a wry grin, “but no. Ahhh, I’m bumbling this.”
“Would coffee help?”
A rough chuckle started low in his chest and rumbled out and he groaned at the pain it caused. “Coffee would be great, but after sleeping propped against your door, I think I’d have to crawl in to get it.”
“Oh.Oh, Lincoln.”
A laugh erupted out of her, softening the worry lines he’d probably put there. He tugged her low once more and kissed her, softly, sweetly, lingering over the contact and taste of her. “Amelia, I’m saying I love you. I also never stopped loving you and I want to be with you. Will you marry me?”
“M-marry you?”
“You want my baby, you’re going to have to make an honest man of me.” He released her long enough to dig the velvet case and the ring he’d purchased on his mad dash to her house several evenings ago out of his pocket.
Amelia gasped at the sight of the ring box and her eyes filled with tears.
“That’s for me?”
“If you don’t like it, we can go back and pick out something else.”
She held the box closed when he tried to open it and shook her head.
“It’s beautiful. It’sperfect.”
He brushed her hand away and fished the ring from the satin folds, sliding it onto her finger. A tear trickled down her cheek and she hurried to wipe it away as she stared at it. “Is that a yes?” he asked, watching her every move and loving her emotional response. It was as honest and telling as she was.
Her nod was rapid and wobbly but affirmative, and her smile left him feeling like someone had sucked the air out of his lungs.
“Yes. Yes, I would love to marry you. To make babies with you. Oh, Lincoln, I love you.”
She kissed him with all the happiness and frustration and pent-up emotion he’d experienced the last few days without her. He pulled her across his lap, cradled her against him, and they celebrated the moment as the sky began to lighten with the first sign of the sunrise. After several more kisses and a few whispers about what he couldn’t wait to do with her, he pulled away, groaning. “We have to get inside.”
“Now?”
He chuckled at her question. “You have an appointment to cancel.”
Chapter 17
Ten months later
Two daysafter Amelia’s thirty-ninth birthday, Lincoln held her hand as she pushed their baby into the world. She fell back against Lincoln’s chest, grateful for the support of his loving arms and chest surrounding her.
“It’s a boy,” the midwife said, her eyes smiling from behind her glasses. “Ten fingers and toes, Mama Bear. All looks good. Rest for a minute and catch your breath.”
