Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 16136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 65(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 65(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
We both want this. I need to chill.
He sweeps me into a passionate kiss. Every time we kiss, it reminds me of our wedding. Each contact has the same want, the same desire, the same desperation. He presses his hands against the small of my back so that I can feel his solid rod pressing through his clothes.
“What’s that?” he asks, gesturing to the covered canvas. “Another snapshot, Snapshot?”
I take his hand, nodding. “I want you to do the honors.”
He tilts his head at me, curiosity in his eyes. “Okay …”
Letting me go, he approaches the canvas. He takes the corner of the sheet nervously, as though he doesn’t want to get too excited until he knows for sure.
He pulls it away.
The canvas shows a black-and-white photo of the forest. Except, in the middle, there’s a pregnancy test, impossibly bright, the only point of true light in the photo. I edited it so he could see the details. So he would know …
He turns, temples pulsing. “You’re pregnant.”
“Yeah. We’re going to have a baby.”
“You’re …” He lets out a choked noise. “We’re going to …”
I rush to him, squeeze his hands in mine. “Are you happy?”
“Happy,” he repeats, then his eyes clear. His smile spreads widely. “That doesn’t even come close. This is it, Lila. This is the beginning of the rest of our lives. I’m so damn lucky I found you.”
“No, Boone,” I whisper, standing on my tiptoes and pouting my lips. “I’m the lucky one. My baby gets to have you for a father. I get to have you for my husband.”
“I’m just hearing reasons why I’m lucky again,” he says, chuckling warmly, then pulling me in tight and kissing me hard.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Boone
Five Years Later
Kit raises his little gloves, looking at me over the top with his mother’s bright, alert eyes. At the edge of the cage, my wife stands, her hand on her swollen and beautiful belly. I swear, my woman somehow gets more attractive as the years pass.
The last five years have been good to us. We’ve got Kit. I’ve retired from fighting to open my own elite gym, and two of my fighters are now world champs. Most importantly of all, my angel, my Snapshot, has become a photographer for the stars, while still finding time to be a kickass mom and wife.
“Get him, Kit!” she yells playfully.
“I’m gonna,” Kit says, grinning as he moves closer.
“Oh yeah, big man?” I tease lovingly, moving from side to side.
He rushes me with one hell of a battle cry for such a little man. He jumps on my leg and tackles me off my feet, leaping atop me and yelling as he throws little play punches down at me.
I give him my back, and he leaps on it with good instincts, already snaking his arm under my neck for the choke. When I stand up with him attached, he lets out a delighted giggle.
There’s nothing like his laughter. It’s like a drug.
And so is my wife’s laughter. She laughs as I walk around the cage with our son attached and struggling to hold on.
“Careful,” Lila says between giggles, her hand always resting lovingly on her swell. “That’s quite a long way to fall.”
“I don’t fall!” Kit announces. “I win!”
I stumble against the wiring of the cage, winking at Lila as I make gasping noises and then slowly—careful not to land on Kit—fall back to the canvas. Kit puts in the choke like I taught him. When I tap out, he lets go and runs around the cage, his hands above his head.
“Kit McGraw, world champion!” Lila sings.
“Yay, Mommy, yay!” Kit yells. “Did you see, Mommy? Did you see?”
“I sure did, you little warrior!”
I smile over at my wife, as beautiful as the day we met, glowing with her second pregnancy, glowing with the light of our lives. Each year makes her more perfect, any lines or extra weight only deepening our lives, our bond, because everything she does, everything she becomes, is her.
That’s my only criteria. I love her soul. I love her bones. I love her everything.
Kit rushes over and throws his arms around me, lowering his voice. “Thanks for letting me win, Daddy.”
“Letting you?” I chuckle, lifting him up and cradling him to my chest. “I did no such thing, young man. You kicked my ass.”