40. Chapter 39
Chapter 39
R amiro scowled down at Hayes’s message, his skin flushing as his vision dimmed.
‘Living room has cameras.’
He was going to fucking carve out Hayes’s eyes the next time he dragged him out of the house.
‘Just a friendly reminder.’
Ramiro jabbed at the screen. ‘Don’t make me hurt you.’ He’d need to ask Diego if there was a way to switch the cameras off and on at will. Summer liked sex on the couch best with how round her body had become.
‘I didn’t watch long.’
Hayes wasn’t helping himself by trying to downplay it. ‘Liar.’
The chat screen disappeared, and Ramiro ran a hand down his face as he let the phone drop to his desk.
Summer giggled in the office doorway, drawing his gaze. She shifted farther into the room, and he couldn’t help but notice the waddling progress she made. That change had begun this week.
Ramiro wanted to jump up from his chair and force her to sit in it, but both Summer and the doctor had reminded him that being on her feet was good for her. She’d taken to making barefoot laps around the office every couple of hours. Barefoot, because she continued to kick her shoes off beneath her desk as soon as she could.
“Come here,” he murmured, holding out his hand. She took it, her smile not forced at all as she let him pull her in front of him.
Ramiro’s hands moved to her hips, and he leaned forward to brush a kiss over her stomach. Summer’s breath hitched, and she ran a hand over his hair, making him want to pull her even closer.
“How are you feeling?” Ramiro murmured, looking up into Summer’s eyes.
“Someone took away a lot of my work, so I’m a little bored. I thought I was going to send Hayes the list of new clients today so he could get started on the background checks?”
“The clients can wait.” Ramiro slipped out of his chair to his knee, his hands reaching for hers. He let out a shuddering breath as he pulled the left one to his lips, kissing her pregnant-swollen finger. “I don’t want to wait any longer. When our daughter is born, I want you both to have my name. ”
He reached into his pocket, and when he pulled the ring out, he dropped the damn thing under his desk. It rolled, and he closed his eyes, letting out a shuddering breath.
“Ram?” Summer asked, her eyes wide, her lips parted.
“It’s fine. The ring doesn’t matter. It won’t fit right now, anyway. I bought a chain for it so you can wear it around your neck instead, and after the baby comes—”
“Ramiro!” Summer snapped.
His eyes focused on hers. Her smile had fallen, and he wondered how often their daughter would get that stern expression from her mother.
“Ask me properly.”
Ramiro’s chest tightened at how good she’d gotten at telling him what she wanted. She’d hit the nesting phase of pregnancy, and how often she’d said ‘I want’ made his soul soar. Buying things for the nursery was like spoiling them both at once.
He leaned forward and kissed her hand again before looking up into her shining blue eyes. “I never thought I’d want to be married, but I can’t wait any longer for you to call me husband. I’ve belonged to you ever since that night we met. I don’t deserve you, not after—” His eyes squeezed shut as the pain that he tried to push away twisted in his gut.
Summer’s fingers laced behind his head, and she pulled him against her, pressing his face into her rounded stomach.
His breath shuddered against her flowered dress. “I’m sorry. I’ll always regret what happened that night. ”
“We can’t go back. Those days were horrible. I try my best not to think about them, but neither of us can change that they happened.”
Ramiro felt more hollow inside. “I’m sorry,” he gasped into her stomach.
“When you woke up—” Her words caught in her throat, and she hugged him to her tighter. “I was first on your mind. I know I’ll always be first on your mind and that you’ll come for me as soon as you can.”
“It’s not enough,” Ramiro rasped. “I wasn’t there. For days, I wasn’t there.”
“You were.” She dropped to her knees, her grip firm on his face. “Look at me, Ramiro.”
He braced himself, remembering the way she’d looked at him in the hospital.
Summer was crying, but the blue of her eyes was bright and clear, making his breath catch.
“You were there. Thoughts and memories of you were what I had to protect me, and I held on to them and wouldn’t let go. You’re what I imagine when I need hope. Don’t you dare take that away from me.”
Her words seeped inside him. Her eyes were filled with certainty and trust.
That hollow space inside of him was slowly filling with her. Time would pass, and they’d still be together, making each other whole .
Ramiro’s hands covered hers. “I love you so much. Every moment I spend with you is one I want to last forever. Marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, and her mouth found his.
By the time she finished kissing him, both of them had stopped crying. The way she smiled at him was everything.
“Let’s do it at the courthouse as soon as possible. No white dress or church or any of that stuff.” Summer’s smile lit up his heart. “I want to be married to you yesterday, husband, and you’re going to make it happen as soon as possible.”
He loved when she got demanding. “Anything you want, baby girl.” He kissed her again. “Anything and everything.” Then he lifted her to her feet carefully and dove back under the desk to find the ring, grinning at her like an idiot when he dropped the chain over her head.
R amiro panted as he braced himself on his hands, staring down at his well-fucked and very pregnant wife. He loved the way her ring nestled between her breasts, reminding him all over again that she’d chosen to be with him forever.
Even if she was well past enjoying the pregnant part of their forever.
Summer melted back into the pillows he’d stacked around and under her, looking more relaxed finally. He’d nagged her into staying home today, since she was three days past her due date. She had kept rubbing at her lower back and wincing. What had started out as a back massage had turned into her begging him to fuck her. The pregnancy hormones had kept her needy throughout the last trimester, and even Ramiro’s stamina was starting to dip.
“Need another?” he asked, rocking a little to test whether she wanted more.
Summer made a humming sound in her throat, her eyes staying closed.
One of his hands moved to her stomach, and he brushed over the stretched skin. “Is your back still aching?”
“Not as much,” she mumbled, sighing.
Ramiro believed her. She’d been hiding her discomforts less and less, to the point that he happily listened to her grumble at the end of each day. He did the best he could to help ease things for her, but there was only so much he could do now that she was full term. Multiple orgasms had been the best cure he had found so far, especially when she demanded them with that stubborn little scowl.
Her lips tilted up in a small smile as she let out another relaxed hum.
Ramiro eased his cock out of her. When they parted, liquid gushed from her and soaked the sheets below.
Summer’s eyes flew open as her body tensed. “Oh no! Please tell me that didn’t happen.”
Ramiro swallowed his chuckle, placing a kiss on her knee. “It’s okay. I read— ”
A small sob slipped out of her lips, and her hands covered her face.
“Hey, no. Look at me, baby girl.” He waited for her hands to shift, for those gorgeous blue eyes to lock on his. “Everything’s fine. I promise.”
The red in her cheeks made him want to kiss her, but he helped her to stand instead.
More liquid rushed out of her, soaking the carpet at her feet.
“Oh!” Summer squeaked out, staring down.
Ramiro’s head got dizzy as he stared with her. “Your water broke. I think I finally fucked you into labor like you wanted.”
Summer turned a glare on him. “That’s not what I wanted!” She shook her head as he grinned at her. “And quit looking so proud of yourself. I—” She broke off with a pained gasp, her hand pressing against her firm belly and her eyes squeezing shut.
Ramiro’s smile fell as she panted through the pain. “It’s okay. Slower breaths. Breathe with me now.”
Her hand was in his, gripping it so tightly it ached by the time the contraction passed.
She released a shaky breath. “I don’t like this. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Ramiro pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll be with you the whole time.”
She nodded against his chest, petting at it the way she liked to do. Her body relaxed as her breathing slowed. Tension built in her pregnant belly, pressed against his, and then her breathing hitched and she gasped in pain again. He rubbed her back while he breathed with her, not saying anything, but her breathing steadied to match his pace. He stared at the clock over her head.
His heart thumped hard in his chest when she relaxed again.
“Let’s get dressed, and I’ll call the doctor,” he said, hoping like hell he’d timed the contraction wrong. The hospital wasn’t far. She and their daughter would be fine.
Summer pushed away enough to look up at him. “Are you sure about this?”
Ramiro kissed her forehead with a laugh. “It’s a little late now, isn’t it?”
“You’re supposed to say, yes !”
He kissed her lips this time. “It’s going to be hell, seeing you in pain, but I love you. I love both of you.” His hand rubbed over her belly.
Summer’s face softened, so he repeated the words. “I love you so much, baby girl.”
Her hands snaked around him, and he forced himself to stand there with her for a few more minutes as his heart beat out of control and his mind raced, unable to latch on to a thought that would stay for more than a second.
The girl he’d met so long ago, standing on the edge of a bridge, was there in his arms, and they were about to have a baby together.
It didn’t feel real at all.
Breathing through the next contraction together helped to make it feel more real .
Ramiro had timed it correctly. The contractions were only five minutes apart.
S taring at Bridget Wynter Rodriguez resting on Summer’s bare chest changed everything for Ramiro. His mind grew very still as he studied them together. He loved them. He loved them both so much.
Each moment etched itself into his heart. The awe on Summer’s face as she held her baby for the first time. The nervousness that faded to contentment when Bridget fed from her mother for the very first time. Even holding Bridget in his own hands, so very delicate and breakable, but amazingly perfect.
Ramiro leaned over the two of them on the bed, brushing a kiss over Summer’s sweaty and limp hair.
“You’re amazing.” He brushed a finger over Bridget’s soft cheek as she slept. “You both are.”
Summer’s eyes opened, but she looked at the wall, not at him, tears beginning to fall. Her hands shook around the baby, still resting on her chest.
“Oh, baby girl,” Ramiro murmured, reaching for Bridget. He carefully transferred her to the bassinet before turning back, sitting on the edge of Summer’s hospital bed and leaning over to wrap his arms around her. “It’s okay. I’m here. ”
“I’m scared!” Summer gasped against his neck. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her fingers dug into his arms, the nails leaving crescent shapes behind. “What if I hurt her?”
Ramiro lifted away until he could stare down into her eyes. “You’re not alone. I’m here, too.”
She shook her head, letting it fall back to the pillow. “Why?”
“Because she’s a part of you.” Ramiro wiped his thumb under her eye. “And I love every part of you. Even the parts that might hurt our little girl.”
Her breathing stopped as her face froze.
“You’re going to do your best. You always do your best, Summer, but no parent is perfect. Mistakes happen. Hell, I’ll probably make way more mistakes than you. Do you want me to stay away from Bridget?”
“N-no,” Summer gasped. “I need you.”
“I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” She often needed to hear the words, and Ramiro liked the way her face softened when he said them. “Neither of us will hurt our daughter on purpose, will we?”
Summer’s gaze moved to the bassinet and the precious bundle inside. “No. Not on purpose. But—”
“Then we’ll do better than a lot of parents out there. Including yours and mine.” He leaned over, kissing her still damp cheek.
The tension seeped out of her expression.
Ramiro took her hand, sinking into the chair he’d pulled close. “I do have a confession, though. ”
Summer turned her head on the pillow. “What?”
“I love her. I loved her the moment I saw her in your arms.”
Summer let out a breath. “I thought it was going to be something bad.”
“I’m not done.” Ramiro lifted her hand, kissing the back of it. “I love her, but my love for her doesn’t even compare to my love for you. You’re everything to me, Summer. Everything. I will love her and take care of her, but I can’t love anything more than I love you, even her.”
Summer’s lips parted as she stared at him, and more tears soaked her cheeks. She let out a sob, then another, before biting her lip to hold them back.
“I’m not sorry,” Ramiro admitted, even as his insides twisted at her tears. “I wouldn’t change it, even if I could, but I wish it didn’t hurt you.”
She shook her head, her lips trembling before they parted. “No. I’m not upset. I want that,” she whispered. Her eyes shut, squeezing out more tears. “I’m so selfish, but I want that. I always want to come first with you.”
Ramiro kissed her hand before linking his fingers with hers. “That’s one thing you never have to worry about. You’re mine, and you always will be.”
His gaze moved to the bassinet, and warmth filled his chest. Bridget was his, too, but in a different way.
“She looks sweet like that, doesn’t she? I doubt it’ll last, though.”
Summer let out a choked gasp of a laugh. “Probably not. ”
Ramiro laid her hand on the bed, keeping his over it. “Rest now. I’m here.”
Summer’s smile wasn’t huge and blazing, but it was real and still radiant in the soft way he craved.
She was all he’d ever crave.