In the Crease
Page 98

 Toni Aleo

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“Hey, babe—”
“I need to talk to you—” she said at the same time, and they shared a smile. “Go first.”
“No, you,” he demanded, but she shook her head.
“Mine is dumb, you go,” she said before looking away, and he noticed that she seemed nervous. He wasn’t sure what that was about, but if he didn’t get this out, he wasn’t ever going to.
“Okay, so, I was wondering, if, um, maybe—”
“Wow, is this a struggle?” He glared, and she smiled. “Sorry.”
“Actually, it is,” he answered, moving his free hand down his face.
“Oh, my bad. Sorry,” she said, guilt flashing in her eyes. “I’m a jerk.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m nervous.”
“Oh. Okay?”
Inhaling hard, he didn’t look at her as he said, “I was actually wondering if maybe, when we get home, you’d go to the doctor’s appointment with me that I had made.”
She scrunched up her face. “For what?”
His mouth went dry as he exhaled through his nose. “To see if I’m still sterile, and maybe working on getting that fixed.”
Her eyes widened, and he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. He knew she hadn’t asked him to do it, nor had she implied for him to. Also, he didn’t even know if she wanted any more kids after this one. But if she did, he wanted to give them to her.
He wanted to give her the world.
“Really?” she asked, her eyes locking with his as she stopped, which stopped him.
Unsure of himself, he nodded. “Yeah.”
“Jensen, wow this is out of the blue.”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot since our conversation, and I want to go back, really look into it.”
“Are you sure this is what you want? You aren’t doing this because of what I asked?”
“No, I want this. Because if one day you look at me and tell me you want another kid, I want to be able to give you one.”
“So, it is for me. I would never ask you do something you aren’t comfortable with.”
“I understand that, and yeah, it is for you. But it’s for me too, Wren. So, um, will you go?”
She didn’t move, her eyes searching his as his heart went nuts in his chest. Her lips curved up in a smile as she stepped into his arms, her eyes sparkling with the possibility of their future as her chin dug into his chest. “Of course, I will.”
He exhaled hard, moving her stray hair out of her face. “It freaks me out.”
“Don’t let it, because I’ll be there with you.”
His grin matched hers as he pressed his nose into hers. “Which is all I need.”
“I know, I’m pretty stinking amazing,” she said, kissing his chin.
“You are,” he agreed, and then he smiled as he touched his lips to hers. When he pulled back, he remembered that she’d had something to ask too. “What did you have to say?”
“Oh, I forgot. It wasn’t important, I guess.” Waving him off, she pressed her lips together as she shook her head. But from the look in her eyes, he could see she was holding something back. “Really, it was nothing.” She tried once more before threading her fingers through his hair. “All I care about is our future.”
“Me too.”
“So stop stalling and kiss me.”
She didn’t need to ask twice. He dropped his mouth to hers and fell into the kiss. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she met him with the same demand he felt deep in his soul.
A soul that belonged to her.
“Am I squishing you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Mom, this is awkward. My ass is squishing him.”
“It’s not.”
“Wren, he said it isn’t.”
“He’s too nice to say so!”
“I’ll say it. Your ass is huge,” Wells called to her from the bar, and Jensen glared. “I mean, you are a beautiful butterfly.”
“I hate you,” she hollered at him as her mother laid another strip of plaster onto her belly and over their hands that were making a heart. As Brie laid one after Elaine, Jensen smiled, leaning his head into the back of hers. She didn’t want to do this, she wanted to go to bed, but he had convinced to do it for Elaine. Her mom had been so excited when she’d found the set to plaster Wren’s belly. And since he still felt bad about the argument the day he had gotten there, he was all about getting Wren to do something she hated. When she groaned loudly, he chuckled against her neck as his son moved inside of her. “Are we done yet? Even Gunner hates this, he’s hungry.”
“Jesus, Wren! We just got started. Someone feed her, please,” Elaine called back to Vaughn, Wells, and Alex, who were sitting at the bar.
“I’m not. I saw her tits, and it freaked me out,” Vaughn said, shaking his head.
“Right? Like big, sand-dollar titties. Is that normal with pregnancy?” Wells asked, and Jensen decided he didn’t need Wells to call off the wedding because he was going to kill him.
“Mom! I told you I should have worn a bra!”
“I didn’t want lines on the plaster,” her mother yelled back, and Jensen just laughed.
“Yeah, I would have gone with lines instead of seeing those big ole titties,” Vaughn teased.
“I swear, if I wouldn’t have to start over with this, I’d kill you both!” Wren yelled at them.
“But seriously, are your nipples supposed to be that big?” her brother asked, sputtering with laughter. Before she could answer, Jensen set him with a look. “I’m not too good with boobs, but in porn, they’re always so much smaller.”
“Wells!”
“Sorry, Mom, but really. Big titties on that girl.”
“Watch it,” Jensen warned.
Silence fell upon all them, and he realized he might have yelled that.
“Yes, sir,” Wells said, saluting to him as Vaughn shook his head.
“I don’t know why you mess with her. Jenny will kill you. He’ll kill anyone for Wrenny-boooooo,” Vaughn sang, and Wren rolled her eyes. “He luvvvvvvsss herrrrrr.”
“Yup, that whip is in full force between those two,” Wells teased.