She hugs me tighter and whispers into my ear. “You better believe it. Call me when you tell him the news.”
Lo reminds me of my bun in the oven and I close my eyes as another round of tears threatens to take me. The baby! I walk back into Connor’s arms and kiss his chest. Wheeler comes over to us and points at Drake’s truck. “Do you all need a ride, or do you have it covered?”
Drake nods at him and grabs Lo by the waist. “We’re good I can get everyone home.”
I lift my head from Connor’s warmth and face Wheeler. “What’s going to happen now?”
“Well we’re going to get him patched up then question him. We have his phone and he must have been keeping contact with Holden so I’m sure we can get most of what we need from it, but hopefully we can get him to tell us where he is. Even if he doesn’t we still have a lot to use. Then we will try and get him to give us the name of the woman who gave you this address so we can take her in as well. I’ll let you know how it all pans out.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s almost over.
I hug him last and he hesitates before patting me on the back kind of like how Drake did. “Thank you so much for getting here so fast.” I let go of him and smile. “And for not getting us into trouble for coming out here on our own.” Wheeler chuckles at me and shakes his head.
“You didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done myself and you didn’t break any laws that I know of. I’m just glad we caught the bastard. Maybe now you two can go on with your lives and quit worrying about Holden. I’ll call you once we know everything.” He shakes Connor’s hand and looks back at us one last time with a large grin on his face before shaking his head and walking away laughing to himself.
The drive home is silent and when we get out of the truck and say goodbye to our friends for the night Connor lifts me into his arms and carries me up the porch steps and through the door of our house. “Are you ever going to stop toting me around like a sack of potatoes?” I say to him and start attacking his face with kisses.
“You my Princess, are not a sack of potatoes. What do you weigh like a buck ten?” He starts to move me in his arms like he’s testing his guess.
“I wish I weighed a hundred and ten pounds but that’s completely hopeless now.” I say as we get to the bedroom and he sets me down on the bed.
Connor raises an eyebrow. “Why do you say that? You’re sexy as hell Nina you don’t need to lose weight.”
I smile at him and touch my stomach where our baby is growing inside of me. “Then I hope you don’t mind me gaining some, because in about eight months you’re going to have a little more trouble lifting me.” I watch him carefully to gauge his reaction and he has frozen with one knee on the bed and one foot on the floor. His face starts to turn up in a brilliant smile and the blue of his eyes sparkle like a thousand gemstones. He reaches down and puts his hand on top of mine on my stomach and I look down at them.
“
Nina?” He breathes as he takes the meaning of my words and the hand on my stomach. “A baby.” He whispers, his voice full of wonder. “I’m going to be a father?” I look back up at Connor and see that there are tears in his eyes.
I nod at him and I know my face matches his. “You are going to be the best father.”
I assure him, letting go of all my lingering fears. Connor lifts me into his arms again and kisses me, cradling my body tight against his. He lowers me back to the bed and his hands go to my stomach again. Our lips move together and his tongue rubs against mine and I feel our tears mix on our cheeks. Connor breaks the kiss suddenly and looks down at me.
“You went there, knowing it would be dangerous and you already knew you were pregnant?” He asks sounding slightly angry.
I bite my lip and nod. “I had a pistol and I wasn’t alone.”
Connor closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Nina Ryan. You are going to kill me. You’re going to turn all my hair grey
and then you’re going to kill me.” He opens his eyes and moves his hand against my stomach. “If you ever put yourself in that kind of danger again I’m going to spank your ass red!” He looks down at his hand on my stomach and his face softens. “I promised you I would keep you safe from them.”
“Connor you did keep me safe. You are the one they took not me. You think I don’t have the same need to protect what I love as you do?” I smile at him and try to lighten the mood a little. “Just because your girlfriend rescued you doesn’t mean you’ve lost your man card. I have the proof you’re still all man right here.” I put my hand on top of his on my belly.
“You save my life and then give me a child. Princess you’ve turned what should have been the worst day into the best of my life. I can’t believe your mine.” I bring his head back down and kiss him again.
“I was meant to be yours Connor. The Universe commanded it. I would have been a fool not to listen.” I feel a tear roll from his face to mine before he kisses me and he doesn’t stop this time.
Later that night my dreams wake me up and I immediately reach across the bed for Connor. I cry out when I feel him warm and alive next to me and throw myself on him waking him up. “Nina! What’s wrong baby?” He says and wraps his arms around my back and strokes gently.
“I dreamt that I was too late!” I say through my tears into his shoulder. “I lost you and I never got to tell you about the baby! Connor, I couldn’t breathe! It was so horrible.” I sob harder into his chest and the door to the bedroom bursts open.
“What the hell Nick!” I hear Connor shout and I look up to see Nick primed at the doorway gun in hand. The sight of him like that makes me giggle and I wipe my tears from my eyes.
“You’re a little late Nick.” I say to him and sit up in bed.
“I heard yelling and crying. I thought something was wrong?” Nick says dropping the pistol and fingering the safety.
“As always my friend, your timing is impeccable.” Connor says wryly and Nick frowns.
“What the fuck happened to your head Con? Why do I always come home to one of you injured?” Nick says approaching the bed.
“Well if you quit running off to Toni’s maybe you wouldn’t be gone when all the action happens.”
“What do you mean? Nina told me she was coming home and that you were going to be here? My phone died but I didn’t have any voicemails and when I got home your cars were both here so I assumed everything was good.” He looks so confused and it makes me laugh harder. “Will you please stop laughing and tell me what I missed?” Nick says frustrated.
“Oh nothing much.” Connor says and I swat him.
“I came home and Connor was missing but his car was still here." I begin and Nicks face turns hard. “There was blood on the porch but no one would answer their phones. I had remembered seeing the girl who hit on Connor on New Year’s getting into the same SUV that Lucas drove and that she had given him an address. I got a hold of Lo and Drake and we all went out there thinking that if that’s where they had tried to lure him once, then that was where they would take him. We pretty much went in guns blazing and saved the day.” I say smugly and Connor laughs.
Nick looks at Connor disbelieving. “You’re fucking kidding me! What the fuck!”
“It’s all true. Lucas came up behind me when I was walking back inside and knocked me out. I woke up in an old barn house to Nina shaking me and Lucas on the ground with a bullet in his leg, Drake standing over him with a pistol and Lo at his side with a shotgun.”
Nicks eyes widen and he looks at me for a second, then smiles slightly. “So it’s all over? Lucas is going to give up Holden right?” Nick says setting his pistol on our nightstand.
“Maybe. If not we’re pretty sure the info from his cell phone and the woman from the bar will be enough to find him.”
“Wow.” Nick says then looks at me. “You’re something else, Nina Ryan. How the hell did you put all that together?” He asks.
I smile at him. “I had some help.” I say thinking of Lo and Drake and my old friend the Universe. “I didn’t do much I just knew that I couldn’t do nothing.”
“You did everything. You saved him.” Nick’s shy smile turns into a frown. “I guess I was never really needed here after all. Every time you guys needed me I was MIA.” He looks down at me and Connor in each other’s arms. “I can probably head back to New York now.” His face looks defeated and I smile widely.
“You could, but if you decide to stay longer you’re going to have to get a hotel or a rental.” I say and he looks at me curiously.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we won’t have room for you once the baby comes. Congratulations Nick! You’re going to be an Uncle!” I squeal. Uncle Nick’s eyes widen and he drops on to the edge of the bed.
“Holy Shit!” He says and Connor and I burst out laughing.
CHAPTER 18
A few days later I wake up to the beautiful smell of apple cider. I lay in bed with my eyes still closed and let the spices wake up my senses. Last night was Connor and I’s first night in the house since Nick had gotten his own rental. He decided to stay after all so that he could be here when the baby was born and until they found Holden, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that.
I stretch my limbs feeling decadent from a night in Connor’s arms and waking to my favorite smell. I peel my eyes open and smile to myself when I see a white mug sitting on my bedside table. I start to sit up and reach for the cup and see a trail of white on the floor of the bedroom that leads out the door. I rub my eyes to clear the fog of sleep and when I open them the trail is still there. I set down my mug and stand next to the bed and look down at the white mugs filled with cider sitting in a row on my floor. Connor.
What is he up to?
I follow the trail of mugs out the bedroom door and into the hallway and the trail continues. When I reach the living room
, I see that it extends across the entire main area to the front door. Curious, I follow it to the front door and pull the knob.
Oh no he didn’t!
Parked in my front yard is a white city bus just like the one Connor and I met on. The trail of mugs continues to the bus and up the steps. I run from the house to the bus knocking over a few of the mugs on the way. When I reach the doors, I take the steps slowly. I get to the top and see that Connor is sitting in the back in the same seat I was in the day he turned my world upside down.
“It’s about time Princess. You sure know how to keep a man waiting. I’ve been out here since seven o’clock.” He smiles at me and I feel like my heart will burst out of my chest. “I hope you didn’t try to drink any of that cider. It’s definitely not hot anymore.” He says and I run down the aisle giggling and plop down on his lap. Connor curls his arms around me and smiles. “If only you would have reacted this way the last time we were on this bus.” I kiss him all over his beautiful face because I just can’t help it.
“This is a sweet surprise baby. What’s the occasion?”
“Well you’re having my baby and we’re getting married
, so I figured it was appropriate.”
I freeze at his words. “But you haven’t asked me to marry you.”
Connor laughs at me and shakes his head. “Mornings really aren’t your thing are they Princess. That’s kind of what I’m doing now.” He picks a black velvet box up from the seat next to him and hands it to me. “You can’t say no because I won’t accept that, so I’m not really asking.” He lifts the top of the box for me, because my hands won’t stop shaking long enough to do it myself.
A large round sapphire blinks up at me from its place in the little black box. Its set in white gold and the band looks like two strings of diamonds woven together in graceful loops and crosses. The sapphire is the exact color of
Connor’s eyes and just as mesmerizing. Marriage. I love Connor more than anything, but I can’t help but think of my parents. What if getting married ruins what we have? What if he’s only doing this because of the baby? What if he ends up like my father? My mind is whirling and I’m still staring at the ring like it holds the secrets to the Universe. I must have been staring at it for a while because Connor shifts a little in the seat.
“Nina? Can you say something please? You’re making me nervous.” I look up at him and in his eyes is my answer. Unconditional love.
Connor would never betray me and I’m not my mother. I don’t need any grand gestures although, I sort of like the one he just gave me. I just need to be able to look into his eyes and see that love. The same love we will one day share for our child. In his eyes I see my whole world. A beautiful Sapphire Universe. I start to tear up and I take the ring out of the box and slip it on to my hand where it belongs.
“You’re stuck with me now Connor Sebastian Wright.” I say in a choked voice and he crushes his mouth to mine. He shoves his hand into my hair and shows me how happy he is, how much he loves me, how much he wants me. All with a single kiss. When he finally pulls away
, we are both breathless.
“Thank God! You had me sweating for a minute there. Do you like it? I figured it was fitting and it felt like I would be giving you a piece of me.”