Authors: Jill Shalvis
Mac rolled over, tucking her snugly beneath him, pressing her into the mattress as he lifted his head. Sinking a hand into her hair, he smiled down at her. “Be mine, Taylor. Be my wife, my lover, my heart.”
His smile nearly burst her heart. “Yes. Yes to all of it.”
His lips found hers in a sealing, promising kiss. “So from now on you'll wake up with me? Forever, just the two of us?”
She held her breath, not because he was still squeezing her too hard, which he was, but because
she had yet to share her one last, very private, very secret fantasy with anyone. “I'll wake up with you, only you.”
He grinned.
And she slowly let out that breath wondering if she was going to get hurt after all. “Until we have a baby. A little girl,” she added breathlessly when his grin faded, “with your beautiful eyes and my savvy fashion sense and then there will be three of us.”
He didn't say anything and she rushed on. “She'll want to pounce on us early in the mornings, and snuggle in,” she teased, while inside she was dying, dying,
dying,
not knowing if he would ever want to have kids after what Ariel had done to himâ¦..
He ran a finger down her jaw, her throat, to where her heart lay in her chest nearly beating its way past her ribs. “You want to have a baby,” he said, his voice thick. “With me.”
“I do,” she whispered. “Only with you, Mac. What do you say?”
He watched his finger circle over her heart, eyes solemn. Then he slowly smiled and lifted his head. “I can't think of anything more perfect than that.”
Her heart sighed, completely content.
“Let's do it, Princess. Let's do it all.” He rolled with her over the bed again, and then again, until they were both laughing.
Then bent his head to hers to make it all come true.
One Year Later
“T
HE PLACE IS FULL
,”
Nicole told Taylor, plopping into a plush chair in the bride's dressing room of the church. “We have exactly five minutes to get out there. How many people did you invite anyway, a bazillion?”
Standing in front of a full-length mirror admiring herself all in white satin and lace, Taylor sighed with so much joy she could hardly contain herself. “Just about.”
“Mac's out there of course. He's got his eagle eye on this door, let me tell you.”
At the thought of him, her heart nearly burst. “Does he now?”
“Yeah, he's looking a bit like he hit the lottery.”
“He did,” Taylor said, and laughed.
Suzanne came up on her right and ran a finger over the bride's veil. “You look gorgeous.”
“You both look pretty gorgeous yourselves.”
Nicole sighed and came up on the other side, the
three of them staring at each other in the reflection. “You're right. We don't look half-bad, considering we're dressed to the nines. Why couldn't we wear jeans like we did at my wedding last month? Think how original it would have been.”
“Oh, be quiet. The dress won't kill you.” Suzanne smiled when Nicole lifted a bottle of champagne and three long stemmed glasses. “Well, that's more like it. Aren't you so sweet to think of it. I thank Ty for that.”
“The man did sweeten me up,” Nicole admitted, pouring them each a glass. “What can I say, love did exactly what you said it would, hit the three of us like a tornado.”
Taylor laughed. “A tornado. So
that's
why I feel so unsteady on my feet.”
“You look steady enough,” Suzanne said softly, reaching for her hand. “I'm so glad you're happy. I'm just so glad for all of us.” Her eyes filled. “I love you guys.”
“Ah, hell, I actually have mascara on today and she's going to get sloppy.” Nicole sighed as her own eyes went suspiciously bright. “But I love you guys, too.”
Taylor laughed, and a tear fell. “To us, then. All six of us.” Both she and Nicole lifted their glasses, but Suzanne did not.
“What's the matter?” Nicole demanded.
“I, umâ¦can't drink.” She grinned and patted her stomach. “As of this morning.”
Nicole's jaw dropped. “You're pregnant.”
“Yep.”
“Oh my God.” Taylor's heart felt like it was going to burst as they all hugged and ended up messing up each other's makeup anyway.
“We're trying, too,” Nicole admitted, which prompted another group hug and more tears. Then they went back to the mirror to check the damage.
Taylor felt so full of love and joy and hope, she could burst. “Well then.” Her voice was thick as she kissed first Suzanne's cheek, then Nicole's. She lifted her glass. “To all of us, seven for now, and God willing, more to come.”
“To all of us.”
“All of us.”
Grinning, crying, arm in arm they walked out of the room, ready for all of it.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7128-3
MESSING WITH MAC
Copyright © 2003 by Jill Shalvis.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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