“Gender reveal party time,” Georgia sings, strolling through my backyard with a giant-ass baby bottle-–shaped piñata in her arms. “Someone find out how and where I can hang this thing up, please and thank you.” She turns in a circle and points at Finn before shoving it into his arms. “You have been nominated as the official piñata boy!”
“What the—?” Finn stops before dropping the F-bomb.
Grace has been growing on him.
I’d never heard of a gender reveal party until Georgia announced she was throwing us one. I still don’t get the concept of it, but Jamie was excited, so that’s all that matters. Georgia and Ashley planned the party, and my backyard is packed with our friends and family. My mother is here, sitting in the corner, and I’ve barely spoken a word to her. Georgia insisted I invite her and wants us to work on our relationship. According to my sister, my mom is clean and has been trying to right her wrongs.
Jamie’s parents are here, both of them excited as fuck, which is awesome. Jamie loves them so much, and it would’ve crushed her if they hadn’t accepted our relationship,. At the moment, Noah is sitting on Regina’s lap as he shows off his iPad.
Yes, iPad.
Somehow, he talked Jamie into upgrading the iPod.
“Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln,” Georgia says, walking over to the tall, dark-haired guy, plopping down on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. “When are you going to take me out on a date?”
Lincoln is Archer’s brother who recently started working at the bar. His employment caused a few arguments between Archer and me. Lincoln is fresh out of prison, and the thought of a felon working in the bar put a bad taste in my mouth. What bothers me more is how often Georgia flirts with him.
How he ended up at our gender reveal party is beyond me, but I’m sure it was Georgia’s doing.
Lincoln wraps his arms around Georgia’s waist, glancing down at her. “Whenever you’re available, babe.”
“Why did I agree to this shit?” Archer grumbles, his eyes cold. “I don’t do baby shower shit.”
“First, it’s a gender reveal party,” Jamie corrects. “And second, you’re here because you love us.” She pats his chest while walking past us.
I keep my eyes on Jamie, watching her practically waddle to her parents and talk to them. She looks breathtaking. Her hair is curled into loose waves, and my cock stirs as I eye her dress, her belly sticking out in the front. As soon as I saw her in it this morning, I tossed her onto the bed, peeled it off her body, and then made love to her.
She put it back on to torture me.
“What crawled up your ass?” I ask, turning back to Archer. “You were fine fifteen minutes ago.”
He shrugs and scrubs a hand over his face. “Not trying to be a dick. I’m just stressed.”
“Stressed about what? The bar?”
“Nah, some personal shit.”
“You know you can talk to me about whatever, right?”
He nods.
“You ready, guys?” Ashley yells, skipping into the yard with a black balloon in her hand. “Cohen! Jamie! It’s time!”
I was as frustrated as Archer is now when Jamie informed me that the sex of our baby would be kept secret until this party.
Until we popped a damn balloon.
I wanted to know right then and there at our ultrasound appointment, and the anticipation has been killing me. Every day, I changed my mind on whether I thought we were having a boy or a girl. I backed off on my frustrations and agreed to wait because my pregnant girlfriend has me wrapped around her fingers.
Jamie snags my hand in hers and leads us to where our guests are crowded around tables, all eyes on us. She’s nearly bursting at the seams when Ashley hands us both a pin and the balloon.
This is it.
Our hands wrap around the thin string of the balloon, and the crowd counts down. My hand tightens around hers, excitement pouring through me, and we stab our pins into the balloon as soon as they yell, “One!”
Pink confetti rains down on us.
“A girl!” Jamie yelps.
“A girl,” I repeat, holding pieces of confetti and staring at them in my hand, still comprehending what it means. And then it dawns on me. “We’re having a baby girl!”
The crowd erupts in cheers, some crying, others ready to run to us with congratulations.
I can’t let that happen.
Not yet.
I turn around, skimming the yard for Georgia, and relief hits me when I see she’s running our way with another black balloon. She hands it to me and retreats back, and Jamie tilts her head to the side.
Her hand covers her mouth, her eyes meeting Georgia’s. “Oh my God!” Her hand leaves her mouth to grab mine. “Are we … having twins?”
Oh hell, this isn’t how I thought she’d react to this.
I grip the balloon in one hand and give her a pin with the other. “Pop it.”
There’s a hesitation before she does, and a frown covers her face at the lack of confetti.
“Wait, what?” The sound of her whimpering tells me when she’s spotted it—the ring box falling to the ground at the same time I drop to one knee. “Holy shit,” she hisses.
“Cuss word!” Noah yells at her.
She laughs. Her face is splotchy from the tears of finding out we’re having a baby girl, and they’re streaming down her face now.
“That … that isn’t confetti,” she whispers, staring down at me.
I peer up at her, playing with the box in my hand before popping it open. “It’s definitely not confetti.”
“Is it a thank you for having my baby ring?” she asks with an unsteady breath.
I snatch the ring. “It’s more along the lines of a will you be my wife ring?”
“Holy shit,” she gasps, her voice so low only I hear her. “Holy shit.”
“Does holy shit mean yes or no?” Fear settles through me that she’s not ready for this yet.
That I jumped the gun.
She waves her hand next to her mouth as if she’s struggling to produce words, and they come out between breaths. “Holy shit definitely means yes.”
I grab the ring from the box, and both our hands shake as I slide it onto her finger.
“See how good I was at keeping a secret, Dad?” Noah says, running to us. “I didn’t tell anyone!”
“You sure didn’t,” I say, rising to my feet. “I’m proud of you.”
Noah, like the nosy kid he is, went through my drawers—looking for a pair of my underwear to wear over his jeans with the outfit Georgia demanded she wasn’t going anywhere with him in—and found the ring.
Thank fuck Jamie wasn’t there.
That meant that not only did Noah learn my secret, but with the way he came into the living room, waving it, Georgia found out too. I learned my son is great at hiding secrets—not once did he let the cat out of the bag when we told him about the pregnancy, and Jamie seemed to have no idea about my proposing.
The Georgia thing worked out because she helped me plan the perfect proposal.
Jamie’s eyes meet mine, and she reaches out, running her hand along my cheek. “Are you going to cry, Cohen Fox?”
I repeatedly shake my head, fighting back my emotions. “Nope. I got this.”
“Let me go grab the cake,” Georgia says.
She’s been hiding it from us. She wouldn’t let us open the fridge all day, in fear we’d peek.
I’m pulling Jamie in for a kiss as Georgia disappears inside of the house. A crowd gathers around us, people inspecting the ring and offering their congratulations.
“Is Georgia in there, eating all the cake by herself?” Ashley asks.
I glance around the yard, now realizing she’s been gone for a hot minute. “Let me see if she needs help.”
She’s not in the kitchen when I walk through the back door. I open the fridge, thinking she’s probably in the bathroom, and snatch the cake box from it.
I set down the cake onto the counter and peel back the corner of the box at the same time I hear the sound of people arguing in Noah’s bedroom. I follow the noise and stand on the other side of the shut door.
“Don’t bullshit me,” Archer says. “You’re flirting with him to fuck with my head.”
“Screw you, Archer. Maybe I like your brother. Maybe I’ll go on a date with him, and I’ll kiss him. And you know what? I might even fuck him too!”
I stiffen at my sister’s voice.
“Don’t say that shit,” Archer grinds out.
“Why? Do you think that because you fucked me, you can tell me what to do now? You lost that right a long damn time ago.”
I swing the door open and take in the scene in front of me. “What the fuck?”