Page 45 of Baby, It’s Hotter Inside

“Stop being so nice to me.” I say those words, but I snuggle my head onto his chest, making myself at home in his lap. Like this is where I belong.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about here, baby doll. Can you first tell me why you were crying?”

I open up my palm and show him the ornament.

He plucks it out of my hand and looks at it. “Baby’s first ornament.” He exhales slowly. “I think I’m with you, but break it down for me anyways.”

“I’m feeling sorry for myself,” I say.

“I seriously doubt that.”

“I’m single. I have no prospects on the horizon as far as dating goes. And I want to be a mother. I thought I’d be a mother twice over by now. You can’t throw a rock in Saddle Creek without hitting a pregnant lady.”

“You really shouldn’t throw rocks at pregnant ladies. That’s not nice.”

I smack his chest and give a watery laugh. Then I gasp and look up into his face. “I’m not upset about Savannah or jealous or anything. She deserves Ren and that baby and all that happiness. I’m just sad for me. That’s all. See,” I shrug. “Feeling sorry for myself.”

“That is not what you’re doing, baby doll. You want a baby, I’ll knock you up right now. You on any kind of birth control? I’ll give you a baby.”

I lean back and stare at him, looking for his smile or the punchline to his joke. But he’s completely serious. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I can. Because it’s something you want and I have the power to possibly give it to you. Of course I would do that. I’d do anything for you, Jackie.”

“I’m so confused.”

He leans in and kisses my forehead. “I know. You and I need to have a conversation and I need to clear some things up, because you have some serious misunderstandings about me and how I feel about certain people.”

“Like me?”

“Yeah, like you. And Matt Hardin.”

“His annoying wife is strutting around town with her baby bump too, and that was part of why I had to get out of town because I just couldn’t look at her anymore. I swear to God I wanted to use the wrong toner and accidentally make her hair green.”

“She goes to you for her hair?”

“Of course she does. She wants to rub things in my face. Show off her big diamond and talk about how Matt is now the vice president at the car dealership.”

Luca snorts. “The car dealership that her daddy owns? Big fucking deal.”

His phone rings again and he pulls it out of his pocket. I see it’s something about Quantico, which I know from television is where the FBI is headquartered.

“You can go deal with that.”

“I’m going to call them back. I want you to go wash your face. I’ll handle the call, then we’re going to talk about all the things.” He holds my chin and stares into my eyes.

chapter twenty-six

Luca

By the time I’m off the phone—which takes longer than I wanted—I’ve got things settled with my job and I’m ready to get things settled between me and Jackie.

It’s fucking time.

I step back out into the living area to find her on a stool in front of the Christmas tree. She’s already placed the “baby’s first Christmas” ornament front and center on the tree.

“You could get down and I could hang the ones that go up higher,” I say.

“No, you talk. You said you had things to tell me. You do that while I do this,” she says.