“Go with me?”
He looked up, grief on his face. “To take care of it.”
Her chest constricted, and she stepped forward, lowering herself to her knees in front of him. “Shaw, there is no taking care of it. I know this wasn’t the plan. At all. But…I’m not ending this pregnancy. You can be part of that or not, but I’m keeping the baby.”
Shaw’s eyes rounded. “Keeping…but it’s… My family… Why would you want…”
She couldn’t bear the heartbreak in his eyes. She put her hands on his knees. “I’m not worried about your family. This baby was created from you and me. We are two amazing people, and though this wasn’t planned, it was created out of love. This baby is going to kick ass.”
Tears glittered in his eyes. “You want to have my baby?”
The hope in his voice nearly cracked her right open. She smiled through her own tears. “Yes. Have you seen how hot we are? This baby is going to be gorgeous.”
A choked sound escaped him, some combo of a laugh and a sob.
“But if you’re not ready to be a dad, I’m not going to force it on you. This is a huge, unexpected, life-altering thing. It’s your choice to get involved or not,” she said, trying to be mature but also freaking out on the inside. She could do this on her own. She could. But she didn’t want to. She wanted Shaw in her life, not just as her baby’s father, but as her guy. “I’m not going to stop you from leaving.”
“Leaving?” he said in disbelief. “You think I would leave now?”
She looked away. “I don’t want guilt or obligation to be the only thing that keeps you here.”
“Taryn. This isn’t—” Shaw slid down onto his knees, a look of wonder on his face. “Of course I’m not leaving. I wasn’t leaving the minute you showed up here and told me you loved me back. This is…everything. I’ve never been so happy as the days I’ve spent with you. I felt it that first night, too. That this-is-special thing.” He kissed her gently. “I love you. I wanted to be with you before this, but now…” He looked down at her belly, putting his hand there with a whisper-soft touch. “Now, you’re never getting rid of me. I hope you realize that. You’re stuck with me, songbird.”
She grinned and swiped at her nose, on the edge of going into the ugly cry. “I think I can probably live with that.”
“Think you can probably?” he teased.
She laughed. “I definitely can.”
He cradled her face and shook his head in awe. “A baby. Our baby. Holy crap.”
The words still made anxiety shimmer through her. This was all so much so fast. It was all so new. But another par
t of her felt the rightness of it all, the perfect combination sliding into the lock and opening a door she’d never thought she’d walk through. “Pretty crazy, huh? I think the universe had a plan.”
He arched a brow. “An expired condom plan?”
“It works in mysterious ways.”
“Yeah, it does.” He kissed her again, a little more urgently this time. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Excited,” she confessed, meaning it. “And completely freaking terrified because…holy shit, a baby.”
He laughed. “Glad we’re on the same page. Because I have no idea what I’m doing.”
She touched her forehead to his and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You think I do? How about we figure it out together? We’ll climb the wall as a team.”
“Together.” He closed his eyes and held her. “That sounds perfect.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “It kinda does, doesn’t it?”
He lifted his head and looked at her, tenderness there. “Everyone is going to think we’re batshit crazy.”
“Let ’em. I’m really, really tired of worrying about what other people think.”
He cocked his head. “And I’m going to need to sell this ridiculous RV.”
She snorted and glanced over at the giant vehicle before looking back to him. “I don’t know. It looks kinda cool. Maybe we can take family vacations in it.”