Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“Are you at your apartment?” Hutch asks. When I tell him I am, he says, “We’re coming over.”
TATTOO 4
47
ROSE
I’m not sure whether to change out of my pajamas and into regular clothes, and I’m still going back and forth about the decision when there’s a knock at my door, making me jump.
They must have broken speed records getting here.
Even though they’ve seen me naked, I never slept over, and they’ve never seen me in my pajamas, especially not the pink short set I’m wearing that has a cartoon cup of coffee and a donut on the shirt and says “We belong together.”
When I answer the door, they don’t seem to notice my clothing or my clean-scrubbed face. Hutch is at the head of the group, and he pulls me into his arms immediately, but I don’t get to stay there long, because Mace wants a turn, then Christian, and finally, Zipper.
“We made a mistake,” Christian says.
“The biggest mistake of our lives,” Mace adds.
“You did?” I briefly wonder if I’m still in bed, and this is all a dream.
Hutch turns me back toward him. “We want you back, Rose. If you can forgive us for letting you go in the first place.”
“We’re miserable without you,” Zipper says, cupping my chin and turning me his way, his gorgeous gray eyes looking softer than I’ve ever seen them.
“You’re miserable with me, too,” I point out, unable to resist teasing him.
He shakes his head and pulls me toward him, his fingers gripping my waist possessively. “Not at all. That’s just how our faces look.”
“Resting grump face?”
“Something like that.” He’s looking at me intently, and I’m wondering if he’s going to kiss me when Hutch pulls me back into his arms. I’m dizzy being passed back and forth between them, but maybe that’s the happiness overflowing inside me, making me feel lighter than a cloud.
Even as I’m engulfed by Hutch’s arms, the others are right there, too.
“We love you, Rose,” Christian says. “We want to be with you, and we know we can make it work.”
It’s exactly what I want to hear, but it’s more complicated now than it’s ever been. Pulling back so that I can see all of them, I ask, “Is this because of the baby? Is that why you’re here, and why you’re saying this?”
Collectively, the men shake their heads.
“What we’re telling you now is the reason we went looking for you at the club last night, before we knew you were pregnant,” Hutch says.
“Then why didn’t you tell me this earlier today?”
“We didn’t want you to feel pressured,” he says. “We know you have a big decision to make.”
“I want to make the decision with all of you. I appreciate that you’re being so supportive and that you’re willing to respect whatever I want, but I also want to know what you want.”
“We want you,” Mace says.
“That’s what’s most important to us,” Christian says. “If you decide to have our baby, we’ll be thrilled. If you decide now isn’t the right time for you, then maybe you’ll be ready sometime in the future.”
“If not, that’s okay, too,” Hutch says, “though you’d make beautiful babies.”
“You want children?” Everything they’re saying still seems too good to be true.
Hutch nods, and the others do, too. “We want children with you, if that’s what you want.”
“I think I do, but I don’t want to do it alone.”
“You’ll never be alone,” Mace says, pulling me into a hug, and then finally—finally—his lips are on mine, and even though I’d been missing them desperately, I didn’t realize how much until Mace kisses me, followed by Christian, Zipper, and Hutch.
They touch me, hug me, and surround me, and everything in the world is right again.
When I’ve been in each of their arms and squeezed them hard enough to verify that they are truly real and not a dream I’m going to wake from, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay?” Hutch asks.
“I am,” I say, finally meaning it. “I’m still in a bit of shock, though, because I didn’t think you wanted children.”
“Why did you think that?” Hutch asks.
“I thought you didn’t want to bring a child into this messed-up world.”
“The world is indeed messed up, but life goes on. We could make our corner of it as good as possible for a child,” Zipper says.
“If you decide to have the baby, I know you’d make a great mother,” Christian says.
“Thanks,” I say quietly, still not feeling at peace with how flexible their opinion is on this life-changing decision. Are they just saying what they think I want to hear?
“You’re all so busy with work,” I say. “I couldn’t imagine fatherhood fitting into your lifestyle.”
“We can bring the baby into the shop and take turns caring for it while we work,” Christian says, grinning, with a look on his face that tells me he really likes the idea.