In the Crease
Page 67

 Toni Aleo

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Her love?
His love, yeah. But hers?
Had she been lying the whole time she had been there? No, she had been herself. But she didn’t love Jensen. She cared for him, a lot, and maybe she’d fall. But what was Emma talking about? She didn’t look at him like she loved him.
Did she?
Wait, did she love him?
No.
You don’t fall for someone in a month. That was dumb.
Biting her lip, Wren looked up and smiled. “He’s amazing.”
“Damn right, I am.”
She looked over her shoulder as Jensen came into the room toward her, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her belly in his hands. Before she knew it, she was leaning into him, and he kissed her beneath her ear. Then he said, “I’m sure you’re talking about me.”
Wren scoffed as Emma shook her knife at her. “Mon chou, I tell her, you two are adorable together.”
“Of course we are,” he said, kissing Wren’s jaw before he leaned his hip on the counter beside her.
“Everyone has been telling me that,” Emma said.
“They have?” Wren looked puzzled.
“Yes, everyone in town says you two should never stop having babies.”
Wren laughed as Jensen looked down at the ground, kicking it with his toe as he shook his head. “I don’t know, Mum. Wren doesn’t like being pregnant much.”
She nodded. “I don’t.”
“Why? It agrees with you,” Emma said, dumping the pigs’ feet in the pot, causing Wren to gag.
When Emma turned to the sink, Wren looked at Jensen with wide eyes, and in a very low voice, said, “I’m not eating that.”
His face lit up, the biggest grin coming across his mouth. “What? It’s the best part!”
“I swear, I’m not.”
“Fine, I’ll eat yours.”
She made a face. “I’m not kissing you, then.”
He laughed at that before taking her in his arms and nibbling on her jaw. “Like you’d deny me kisses,” he whispered in her ear before biting her lobe. “I’ll kiss you with my pigs’ feet breath.”
She gagged, and he laughed as she pushed him away. “You’re disgusting.”
He stuck his tongue out as his mother turned, shaking her head. “Jensen, don’t do that. It’s rude. She’s your chou.”
He shot her a cheesy grin as Emma left the kitchen. “She keeps calling me that. What is that?”
“My cabbage.”
Her face wrinkled. “What! She’s calling me a cabbage?”
He laughed. “It’s her favorite food.”
Wren shook her head. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Feel good. She never called my ex-wife that. Ever.”
Wren grinned at that. “So I guess that means she doesn’t hate me?”
He shook his head. “She can’t.”
“Yes, she can.”
“Nope.”
“Jensen!”
“Really, she can’t.”
“And why is that?” she asked, holding his gaze, and she loved the smile on his face. Being home opened him up. He was so much happier, so full of life, and it was beautiful to see.
As he leaned toward her, his eyes sparkled as he said, “Because I love you, and she loves what I love ten times over.”
Kissing her jaw, he left the kitchen, and all she could do was watch him in complete awe. In that instant, she was jealous. She wanted to feel that. To be so confident in them.
She wanted it.
She did, but she didn’t know how to get it.
Inside, she wondered if she already had it, but she was too stubborn to see it.
Why was being an adult so hard?
The windows were open, the curtains drifting with the cool night breeze, and the moon was the only light in the room. Watching as the curtains floated, Wren held her stomach as her son moved around like he was trying to rip out of her. It was insane how much he had grown and how hard he could kick. She loved it.
God, she loved him.
Beside her, Jensen lay on his back, on his phone as she watched the night sky, the silence so peaceful and perfect. She loved sleeping there. It was still and serene. Letting out a sigh, she whispered, “It’s beautiful here.”
Jensen chuckled beside her. “I used to hate it until I came to Colorado and it was loud as hell there. Now, I swear, I sleep the best when I’m home.”
She smiled into her pillow, her hand moving up and down her belly. Her back was to him, but his body warmed her in more ways than one. “I bet.”
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I am,” she admitted. “It’s amazingly beautiful, and your parents are so hospitable.”
His hand came to rest on her ass, his thumb moving along her skin, causing her to break out in gooseflesh, before he said, “Good.”
Silence fell between them once more, and she felt calm. Even if in one second she felt her life was falling the fuck apart, being in that room, the window open with Jensen’s deep breath filling the air, his thumb moving along her, she felt tranquil. It was an insane feeling, something she didn’t feel a lot, but God, she welcomed it. She ached for it. She’d move here in a second, a nice little cabin, just her, Jensen, and kiddo.
“I love it here.”
“I can tell.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You don’t think. You’re just enjoying. Except when I make you walk or when you’re trying to sneak those Kit Kats.”
Shit, he saw that? Her laughter shook the bed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
When she heard a wrapper opening, she glared. “Yeah, and this isn’t one of your Kit Kats either,” he said to her, and she laughed.
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
“You’re the epitome of a pain in my ass, Wrenya.”
Her face broke into a grin as her eyes fell shut and the summer breeze kissed her face. “Are you going to start calling me that too?”
“I think so. I like it.”
Her smile didn’t falter as he squeezed her hip. “We should move here.”
He chuckled beside her. “Considering we both have really great careers, that would be a waste.”
She smiled. “True. Can we vacation here?”