“You ready to look for a car?”

“Nope! No need to look. I already know I want the Expedition!”

She jumped out of my arms and grabbed my hand as she started walking off in the direction of the cars in the lot. I laughed and pulled her toward the showroom instead. Harper test-drove the completely blacked-out SUV and fell in love with it, just as I was hoping she would. We went through the process of buying it, and I swear the guy helping us scoffed when I said we would pay for the car right then. Ass. Once we were done with his stubborn ass, we drove separately to the bank and started the much-shorter process of adding Harper to my accounts and putting her savings into what was now our savings account. She was smiling brightly and bouncing along, and I wondered why I’d ever been worried about the day.

My family already knew what I had planned for it, but you could see the relief in Mom’s and Dad’s eyes as Harper excitedly showed them her new car and told them all about joining our bank accounts. When we were sitting at the table for dinner, we told everyone we were having a boy, and Mom had immediately ran to the kitchen to get the baby-name book, and we started through it right then. We must have highlighted three dozen different names before shutting the book for the night, and I watched as Harper lovingly ran her hands over her small stomach and talked to our “Gummy Bear,” as she’d come to call him. God, I was so in love with her.

After dinner, I packed my bag and threw it in my truck before giving Brian a call at the shop.

“Hey, man! Shit, took you long enough to call, Riss is freaking out texting me every ten minutes wanting to know how everything went.”

I snorted a laugh. “Tell her to calm her ass down. Everything went great, we’re—” inhaling deeply, I shook my head at the ridiculous smile I had on my face—“we’re having a boy.”

“Yeah?” He laughed loudly and shouted the news to whoever was in the shop before coming back. “Hate to break it to ya, Chase. But I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided you’re seriously confused and just think that this is your baby.”

My heart stopped, and my smile quickly fell. “The fu—”

“I mean,” he cut me off with a snort, “everyone knows it’s my baby. You’re just in denial.”

As soon as his words registered, I laughed out loud. “Seriously, I was about to go kick someone’s ass.”

“Just sayin’, I even told Riss. That baby is mine.”

“All right, I’ll let Princess know, too.”

“Damn straight you will! As long as we’re all on the same page, we’ll be good.”

“You’re such a dumb-ass.” I laughed again. “Tell Marissa that the rest of the day went well. Harper’s really happy, and we’re about to leave for the last part of tonight, er, this weekend.”

“You lucky bastard. All right, have fun but make sure my baby mama doesn’t overdo it.”

I shook my head. “See you Monday.”

We hung up, and I jogged back into the house and into the living room, where I wrapped my arms around Princess from behind the couch.

My lips skimmed that sensitive spot behind her ear before I whispered, “Can you do me a favor?”

Her head had rolled to the side, and her arms were covered in goose bumps. “Anything.”

“Go pack a bag for a few nights and meet me down here in ten minutes.” Lightly nipping on her ear, I lowered my voice even further. “You won’t need many clothes.”

Her eyes flew open, and she turned to look at me, an odd expression passing over her face. “Are we going to your house?”

I wanted to ask what had freaked her out so much but decided I might not want to know since Brandon was at my house. Whether it had to do with him or not, I’d been making sure he and Harper didn’t see each other anymore and really didn’t want to discuss him with her. “Nope, but it’s a surprise, so I can’t tell you.”

Her face relaxed, and she rolled her eyes with a light laugh. “You and your surprises. Okay, ten minutes, and I’ll be ready.”

While she was packing, I called Brad and told him about the appointment, the sex of the baby, and made sure everything was all right at the house. By the time I was hanging up, Princess was coming down the stairs with a very small bag, and I couldn’t help but smile. Apparently, she’d taken my words seriously.

Since we’d gotten together, Harper and I hadn’t slept together . . . in any way. We would curl up on her bed in my parents’ house and talk until she fell asleep, and I’d quietly make my way back to my room. I knew my parents didn’t care—after all, she was already pregnant. But even though she’d taken time between breaking up with Brandon and telling me about the baby, I was terrified of pushing her away like I’d done so often during the school year. And she hadn’t asked if I would stay with her, so I’d continued to let her sleep alone.

But this weekend, I had other plans. I know I’d told her not to bring many clothes, but that’d been a joke. All I wanted was to fall asleep with her and wake up the same. If she was still uncomfortable, I’d gladly sleep on the floor if that’s what she needed. But I figured it might be uncomfortable for her either at my house with her ex, or at my parents’ with them there. So I was taking us for a weekend of just us. And hoping I didn’t screw it up.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, and slowly scrambled out of my truck once I was parked, unable to take her eyes off the restored Victorian house in front of us. The sign out front showed it was a bed-and-breakfast. “Chase, I don’t know how you’re ever going to be able to top today. Finding out we’re having a boy, buying me a car, joining our bank accounts, and this?”

“I promise I’ll always try to top this, but I did want today to be perfect.” Kissing her forehead softly, I grabbed our bags and went inside to check us in. As soon as we were in our room, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, waiting until her eyes met and locked with mine. “I know what I said earlier, but don’t think we have to do anything this weekend. All I wanted was to have three nights of just you and me; I don’t expect anything.”

“I know you don’t”—her voice was breathy as she grabbed for the bottom of my shirt and lifted it until I had to take over for her—“but I want this, too, Chase.”

I sucked in air though my teeth when the tips of her fingers ran gently down my bared chest and stomach until they came to rest on the top of my jeans. Her eyes clouded over when she ran her fingers just inside my waistband, only to remove them and reach for the button. I would do anything to have her this way, but I needed to know she wouldn’t regret this later. Grabbing her hands, I stilled them and bent slightly to look at her. “You’re sure, Harper?”

She huffed softly, and her head tilted to the side as she pointed to her rounding stomach. “Um?”

“Just because we’re having a baby doesn’t mean we have to do anything.”

“Chase. I didn’t mean it like that. But yes, I am sure. Now stop trying to stop me and let me love you.”

Shaking my head, I let out a short laugh and rested my forehead against hers before straightening and letting go of her hands. Her fingers and knuckles brushed against my growing erection as she undid each button and slid my jeans down before doing the same with my boxer briefs. I swear I groaned at one point. How was something as simple as her taking my pants off already having me breathing roughly? As soon as I kicked my pants away, I was grabbing for her shirt and giving her the same torture she’d just given to me. My knuckles skimmed across her small baby bump, and when the tips of my fingers caressed up the side of her breasts, I was rewarded with hearing her breath catch and her body instantly become covered in goose bumps. It took everything in me not to touch her where my body was craving, but I was happy to see I wasn’t the only one struggling with keeping still as I pulled her shorts and underwear off her body. Her hands were clenched into fists, and if I hadn’t looked up to see her gray eyes turn to liquid silver and her teeth sink into her soft bottom lip, I would have been afraid I’d been rushing things again.

Stepping away from her, I shamelessly ran my eyes over her beautiful body, and once again my chest filled with love when they caught sight of my work on her hip, and her little Gummy Bear bump. She finished her visual exploration of me seconds after I’d finished mine of her, and I bent down to press my lips to her growing belly and tattoo before standing to take her lips in mine. She moaned, and her hands came up to my neck as she deepened our kiss. Lifting her gently, I carried her over to the bed and deposited her in the middle before crawling on top of her.

Minutes that felt like hours—and still not nearly long enough—were spent touching every inch of each other with hot kisses and memorizing hands. As I made a trail of openmouthed kisses up her body, she grabbed my cheeks and begged me not to make her wait any longer. She grabbed my length and guided it to where she wanted it most, whimpering softly when I pushed inside her. Her eyes had fluttered shut momentarily, and opened on a gasp when I slid out and back in. I made love to her slowly, letting my lips graze hers softly before making their way back down to worship her neck and breasts, and when her head dropped back, and her body tightened as she came, I rolled us over so she was on top and lowered her body to kiss her again as she continued to move on me. Her breathing picked up again, and she intertwined our fingers, holding our hands down firmly on the bed as she sat up slightly and rolled her hips against mine over and over. I gritted my teeth and removed one of my hands from hers to grip her hip and help in her movement as she cried out her next orgasm, and I followed her into it.

“CHASE, WHERE’S MY baby mama?”

I turned to look at Brian and laughed. “Probably out with my mom and sister.”

“Well, get her ass in here! I miss my baby boy.”

“Bri, she was just here a couple days ago.”