Bonus Epilogue
BONUS EPILOGUE
BLAKE, THREE YEARS LATER
“ F uck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Lawton’s voice on the other end of the phone is frantic.
“Slow down. What happened?” I pour coffee into one of the colorful, eclectic mugs that Kat collects.
Since I moved into her house a year ago, things are much more colorful—I’ve always decorated in neutrals and minimalist style, while Kat loves colors.
It’s cheerful, actually. It’s hard to keep a frown on your face when you’re surrounded by paintings and artwork in every color.
“I don’t— Fuck. This can’t be happening.”
Lawton’s job as a police officer requires him to stay calm in the most stressful situations, so I can’t even imagine what has him this rattled, especially this early in the morning. He’s two hours behind us in Colorado, so it’s barely 5 a.m. there.
“Okay. Take a breath. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. Do you need me to come out there?”
Please say no. I have plans for tonight.
The box with the ring is in my sock drawer.
“I might.” He starts hyperventilating again.
I will murder him if he messes this proposal up for me, but family comes first, even if you have to murder them afterward.
“Tell me what you need.”
“It’s…it’s Kristina.”
His girlfriend from like four years ago? He hasn’t mentioned her since Cam’s wedding. I thought they were over.
“What about her? I thought she was ancient history.”
“She’s dead.”
I should probably feel worse about this news, but she did dump my brother in a rather unceremonious way.
“I’m…sorry?” I venture.
He finally takes a deep breath and gathers himself. “I mean, not to speak ill of the dead or whatever, but she was kind of a bitch. I’m not that torn up about her. ”
Not judging him at all. “So why are you freaking out?”
“She has a kid.”
“Oh.”
I guess that’s not surprising. We’re in our thirties. People get married and have babies all the time. Maddox and Holly have two now, with one more on the way. Cam and Addie have one, and Becca is pregnant with her and Miller’s first. According to them, Kat and I need to catch up.
Maybe once I get her to marry me. It’s taken a few years, but her parents have finally given their blessing, or at least acquiesced to the idea that I’m not going away, so they have to get used to me.
“He’s four.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He’s silent for a minute. “Do the math, Blake.”
I think back to four years ago. I’d just started at Ardmore. I’d just met Kat. And Lawton had just…
Now I understand the panic in his voice.
“It’s mine.”
Look for Hitting the Jackpot , the final book in the Betting on Love series, coming early 2025.
My small town life gets flipped on its head when a child I never knew about is suddenly mine to care for; now, falling for his nanny may be a mistake that will cost me everything.
I thought I’d move on from the heartbreak of the past, until a part of it came back. Finding out I have a son and learning to be a father is stretching me thin. When I add in my job as a small town police officer, it’s more than I can handle alone.
Hiring a nanny seemed like an obvious choice, but when I placed the ad, I never pictured her coming into my life. And if I thought being a single dad was tough, that was before I added in the complication of trying to keep my feelings to myself while living in the same house as the woman I shouldn’t be falling for.
I’m not sure how long I can fight these feelings. But soon, I’m fighting for something else entirely, and even my time as a poker player didn’t set me up for stakes like this: something that could have me hitting the jackpot… or losing everything .