Pucks, Sticks, and Diapers
Page 7

“Love you too,” she said before hanging up and laying her phone down. With the biggest grin on her face, she pulled the dress up and over her bump, zipping it up the side. When she looked back at herself, her grin didn’t leave. She loved it. The lace was so elegant, and it fit great across her breasts, while hitting her right at midthigh. It fit her belly perfectly, which was always the hard part. There was beading, but not too much for people to assume it was a wedding dress. It was stunning.
She had the perfect blue and pink kimono that would go great over the top and downplay it a bit. With a nod, she decided this was it and went out to show Autumn.
Autumn was waiting, and when she saw Baylor, her eyes lit up. “Oh, I love it.”
“It’s almost nineteen hundred dollars,” Baylor said dryly, fully expecting to pay for it herself.
“So? It’s perfect,” Autumn said sternly before popping off the tag and walking away.
“Aw, you look beautiful, Baylor,” Avery gushed, holding Ashlyn in her arms as she wiggled to get down.
“Yes, I love it!” Claire declared, and when she grinned over at Lucy, Baylor felt like something was up.
“It’s perfect,” Lucy said, and Baylor eyed her.
“For a baby shower?”
“Yes,” Lucy said slowly, and then she turned, leaving quickly.
Yeah, something was up.
But Baylor was more concerned with getting home.
To the challenge her husband had accepted.
The baby shower for Baylor and Jayden was completely over-the-top.
Autumn had gone above and beyond, but if Baylor was honest, she loved it.
It was at dusk, and the sun was slowly going down, which gave such a romantic feel to the party in Jayden and Baylor’s backyard. Instead of lots of pink and blue, Autumn had done gold and white. Everything was sparkling and not Baylor at all, but in a way, it was perfect. Each table was covered in a huge arrangement of white peonies that had gold painted bottles and spoons in them. Balloons filled with gold glitter were everywhere, and above the cake—which was four layers of cheesecake, Baylor’s biggest craving—were balloons that spelled out Congratulations J&B.
Standing in the middle of the baby shower with Jayden holding her waist, Baylor all of a sudden started crying.
“Oh, God,” Jayden said, shaking his head, but Baylor couldn’t help it. “What is wrong? You said you loved it.”
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” she cried, which had him breaking out into a burst of laughter.
Turning her so she faced him, he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her lips and then her forehead. His kisses were like a drug, a beautiful drug she wanted to overuse. Pulling back, he looked deep into her eyes, his green ones shining with love as he whispered, “I say that every time I see you.”
With her lip puckered out, she stared up into his eyes as he slowly wiped her face free of tears, kissing her hard on the lips. Sinking into the kiss, she let go, her tears falling again and her heart filling with such love. She hadn’t wanted this party; she hadn’t wanted to be paraded around as the big fat lady at a party full of her friends and family. But now, in Jayden’s arms, his lips pressed to hers, she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Pulling back, she looked up into his beautiful eyes, her own eyes flooding with tears. “I could say the same about you. I don’t know of many people who wear suits to a baby shower, but you wear it well, Mr. Sinclair.”
He nodded, shrugging his shoulders as he dusted them off. “I know. Thought since you were going to look so incredible, I had to keep up. Though, I’m lacking beside you, baby.”
She giggled happily as she leaned into him. “I beg to differ.”
He went to say something, mischief in his eyes, but then someone pushed Jayden away.
“Get your hands off my best friend,” Markus said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek.
Crying out in joy, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly as he lifted her only slightly off the ground. She hadn’t seen him in months since he’d moved to Florida, and he wasn’t supposed to be here.
“I thought you couldn’t come!” she gushed, pulling back to look down into his dark caramel eyes.
“You think I’d miss today? No way. I’m staying for the week, so you better drop this kid while I’m here so he can meet his uncle Markus,” he said, hugging her tightly before setting her on her feet. “Man, you look amazing. And all the glowing shit, it’s true. I didn’t realize you were so big, though. You’ve been taking good selfies for Facebook.”
Glaring, she smacked him. “I hate you.”
“I love you too!” he said, kissing her once more.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I’m so happy,” Baylor exclaimed, and he grinned back at her.
“I know. Thank your hunky husband, he demanded I be here. Paid for it and all, you know, because I’m a poor little hockey player in the AHL.”
Baylor rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You just blew all your money.”
“That too,” he agreed, and Baylor couldn’t stop grinning. “But yeah, I’m excited and ready for this baby to get here.”
“Me too. Did you bring anyone?” she asked, and he scoffed.
“Please, we both know I fucked that up,” he reminded her, and Baylor nodded. It wasn’t like her best friend to cheat, but he had, and because of it, he’d lost the one girl he really loved. Though it had taken losing her for him to realize it. “But that is the last thing I want to talk about,” he said before bringing Jayden back over to the conversation. “You can have her back. I gotta go see your mom and her dad.”
“Thanks, asshole,” Jayden teased, and Markus grinned.
“But, hey, Sinclair,” he said as he slowly backed away and Jayden took her in his arms, kissing her temple.
“Yeah?”
“I’m completely jealous of you right now,” he said, and Baylor grinned. There wasn’t any kind of anything between the two of them, but it was still really great to hear.
When Markus turned his back on them, she looked up to her husband and smiled. “You are the best husband in the world.”
Grinning, Jayden nodded. “I know.”
“No, really, you didn’t have to bring him in for me.”