“I’m going to pace and freak out. I mean, we still have hours to go yet?”
“I guess we could have unpacked a little bit first, huh?” She’s teasing and I scowl at her.
“Unpack at a time like this?”
“It’s not like the world’s ending, it’s a baby being born. Women do it every day.”
Yeah, but it’s not every day it’s one of my best friends who’s had a really shitty few years of stress and heartache, so I might want this to go more smoothly and perfectly than Sebastian himself wants it.
He’s a good guy. He deserves it.
Time moves as slow as molasses.
Jude eventually orders lunch for everyone, and since half the team is here and he received a text saying Sebastian’s parents are on their way from the airport from Minnesota, he calls Chipotle and orders catering, probably magically greasing hands and pleading and promising an appearance or something in order for them to get it here as fast as they do. We have so much food, some of the nurses swing by and fill up plates on their breaks.
I’ve aged a decade and paced so much up and down the hallway between the two birthing wings, I won’t need to do cardio for weeks.
It’s Jillian who comes to me as I’m preparing to turn and pace another lap and settles her hand at my back, one at my chest. “Hey. Calm down. Everything’s fine.”
A nurse came out thirty minutes ago and said Gigi was about ready to push. What is taking so long?
“Something could go wrong.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong.”
“But it could.”
It’s not my baby. But Sebastian’s family.
“Come here.” Jillian pulls me in for a hug and I go reluctantly but as soon as I get a whiff of her perfume and feel her arms wrapped around me, the world rights and centers again. I press my lips to the side of her head and squeeze her tight.
“Thank you,” I murmur. “I needed this. Need you.”
“You have me for always and always,” she whispers back. Then she grins up at me and rolls to her toes, giving me a quick kiss.
I kiss her back, calmed by her presence, her steadfast love for me when the doors behind her open, squealing from their weight.
Sebastian steps through them, looking worn-out and exhilarated at the same time. His hair is a mess. His face is red. His smile is so big I can count all his teeth from here.
I go to him immediately, pulling Jillian with me as she laughs at me.
“He’s here. He’s healthy. Nine pounds which doctor says is big for a woman as small as Gigi but she did it.” His face turns even more red, tears swell in his eyes.
I throw my arms around him and hold him tight. “Congratulations. So damn happy for you.”
“Me too, man. Holy shit. I’m a dad.”
I pull back and smirk. “That poor, poor child.”
“Fuck off.” Sebastian shoves me playfully and then he’s embraced by women and men, all giving him their congratulations.
“How’s Gigi?” Hannah asks.
“Incredible. Amazing. Beautiful,” he says. I think all the women sigh at Sebastian.
I pull Jillian closer to me as Sebastian tells us she’s tired, but both she and Samson are healthy and doing well before he goes to George and receives a hug from his future father-in-law.
“I’m going to take George back,” Sebastian tells us, “and check with Gigi, but I know she’d like visitors so stick around if you want to. And thank you, thank you guys for everything.” Emotions grab him and more than one man feel the same sting in their eyes as I do. “Thank you for being brothers, for being there for me and us.”
“Oh shit. I need tissues,” Jillian says, tears streaming down her cheeks. She glances around the room. She’s not the only one. “I think we all do.”
“I’ll get them.” After we pass around kisses and clean our faces, I pull Jillian back into my arms.
“Someday,” I whisper in her ear, “this is going to be us, and this family, this family we build together will be here for us. And hopefully, the families we were given at birth will be too.”
She grins at me, tears in her eyes and a wobble to her smile.
She and her family are still working on their issues, but things are moving in the right direction for Jillian. She talks to her mom and Claire has sounded excited about getting ready to help Jillian put in gardens and redo flower beds in the spring. They’ll be here for Christmas to celebrate it in our first home together. As for Norman, he continues to decline slowly so unless things change, we’re headed to Charleston on my first break after Christmas to see him.
“I’m ready to start whenever you are,” she says, surprising the hell out of me. After shocking her with my demand for a large home for kids, she’d been so surprised we haven’t talked about that anymore.
I chalked it up to us rushing forward, moving in so quickly. The future can wait.
But hell.
Why should it?
We’ve already waited long enough.
It’s a damn good thing I already have the ring, wrapped up and hidden away for Christmas.
“Anything you want, Jilly-Bean. I’ll give you anything you want, whenever you want it.”
She kisses me and pulls back, smiling. “You already do.”
Thank you for reading Fighting Dirty! If you enjoyed it, please leave an honest review on the retailer where this book was purchased.
I hope you’ve enjoyed falling in love with the Ice Kings. If so, keep reading to check out the first chapter in my book, This Time Around. If you loved the Ice Kings, you’ll love the men in America’s Heartland.
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The Time Around
Love In the Heartland, #1
Rebecca
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“Come on Max, you can’t be serious about this.”
“I think it’ll be good for him, Rebecca. And you could use the help.”
Boy, could I. With my cell phone in one hand, my other curled around the kitchen countertop. Outside my small kitchen window, cows roamed in the pasture and goats ate their hay. I was behind on everything—the cattle, the other animals, the house, and the bills.
Knowing a defeat when I sensed one through the silence coming through the phone line, I asked, “What’s his name again?”
My uncle chuckled good-naturedly. “Cooper Hawke, and you’re probably the only female I know who doesn’t know who he is.”
“Well, who has time to watch TV these days?”
“Movies, Rebecca. He does movies.”
Whatever. That was worse. I had less time for those. I blew out a breath, flipping wisps of my black hair out of my face where they’d escaped my falling apart ponytail. “When will he be here?”
“I have to run it by him first, but I’m hoping by Saturday.”
Great. I had four days to prepare for Hollywood’s heartthrob to step foot on my ranch. I didn’t like the idea of any of this, but Uncle Max was the only family I had left besides my brother Jordan. Even though he lived out in Los Angeles, we’d always been close. He wouldn’t be asking for my help if he didn’t desperately need it.