Nerdy: A Fake Relationship/ Surprise Pregnancy Romantic Comedy (Unexpected Lovers Book 2) Page 11

  “Hey.” Emory’s comforting voice penetrates the panic flooding my system. My eyes snap open. She’s gotten back out of the car, and she’s right there with me. She places her palms flat against my chest and smiles up at me. “Breathe,” she urges me. “You got this.”

  I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to calm the storm brewing inside of me, then she takes my hand and leads me to the limo.

  Sebastian is normally so confident and self-assured. Seeing him in the shower this morning made my heart ache. He was freaking out, and I knew I had to do something to take his mind away from whatever was worrying him.

  It felt good being able to help him. It felt right.

  That feeling consumes me once again as I tug him into the limo after me. He’s back to his happy, relaxed self as he slides in beside me, throws his arm around my shoulders, then laces the fingers of his free hand together with mine. My heart squeezes at the way he’s looking at me right now.

  If I didn’t know it before, I certainly do now. I am well and truly gone for this man.

  Storm watches us closely, a smile curving her lips. She’s practically glowing in her long, ivy gown. It has long, lace-embellished sleeves and a high neckline, and her back is exposed by the deep V cut of it. She is absolutely stunning.

  The drive to the ceremony doesn’t take long, and soon, we’re all climbing out at a beautiful spot on a rise above the vineyard. It overlooks the entire property. A round arbor covered in flowers and greenery sits at the crest of the rise. Two sections of chairs create an aisle that leads to a devastatingly handsome Jake as he awaits his bride.

  This is quite possibly the loveliest wedding I’ve ever been to.

  I take a seat in the back row, but Spence appears out of nowhere and leads me to the front to sit with the rest of the family. From here, I have a prime view of Jake’s face as he watches his daughters walk hand in hand to him. He squats, hugs and kisses them both, then hands them off to Spence, who brings them to sit with us.

  Everly climbs into my lap, and I kiss her soft little cheek. Then Storm is walking down the aisle, and I keep my gaze on Jake, catching the moment he sets eyes on her for the first time today. The expression on his face is everything and more.

  Their love is the kind that romance novels are written about. And I am so grateful I get to be a part of this moment in their love story.

  I am absolutely beat by the time Sebastian drops me home on Monday. A weekend full of good food, delicious wine, mind-blowing sex, and Jake’s Southern family—not necessarily in that order—is enough to exhaust anyone. Stumbling into my apartment, I head straight for my room where I collapse on my bed and pass out.

  The following week, Sebastian stays the night with me not once, not twice, but three times. I’m practically living on cloud nine.

  “When do Storm and Jake get back from their honeymoon?” I ask the Saturday after the wedding while Sebastian runs his fingers through the unruly mess that is my hair in the mornings.

  “They’re gone for another week, but I’ll have the girls again from Monday. That’s when Jolene and Travis fly home,” he says.

  “Cool, cool, cool,” I mumble, snuggling into his side more.

  He curls his arm around my back then reaches down to squeeze my ass, sighing contentedly. “I could get used to this,” he says into my hair. “Waking up slowly with you instead of being body-slammed by an energetic almost-five-year-old.”

  “Me too,” I agree. “Not that I’ve ever been woken by a body slam... but I imagine it’s unpleasant.”

  “Here,” he says, sliding out from beneath me. “Let me show you.” His eyes sparkle with mischief as he stands beside the bed—completely naked—preparing to throw himself on top of me.

  I squeal and roll to my side of the mattress, then my bedroom door flies open, and Lennon is standing there, panicked eyes shooting around the room. “Where is the little fucker?” she hollers, and that’s when I notice the baseball bat in her hands.

  What the hell? “Umm, Len, babe, what are you doing?”

  Sebastian is obviously in some kind of shock, because he hasn’t moved a muscle. He’s frozen, one knee on the edge of the bed, his hands held up as if Lenny is holding him at gunpoint.

  Lennon’s eyes are still searching the room—for what, I have no idea.

  When her gaze finally locks on mine, she says, “There was a mouse in my room last night. I tried to get the little bastard, but he got away. Isn’t that why you were screaming?”

  “Umm, noooo,” I say, my eyes going wide as I try to tell her to get the hell out without having to actually voice the words.

  She arches a perfectly sculpted brow, then her gaze drifts over to Sebastian and down his torso to his still-hard dick. He seems to snap out of his trance, and his hands drop to cover his junk.

  “Sooo, no mouse then,” Len says, smirking.

  “No, Lennon. No mouse,” I grumble, throwing myself back on my pillow and staring up at the ceiling.

  My roomie chuckles. “I might have to pop this little mental image in my jill till...”

  I sit up and glower at her. “You will not. Now get out, you bat-wielding psycho.”

  Her laughter can be heard long after she exits my room, closing the door behind her.

  “Jill till?” Sebastian eventually asks.

  Sweet baby Jesus, why do you keep letting this stuff happen to me?

  Over the past few weeks since the wedding, I’ve learned that Emory and her roommates are complete and utter winos and a little bit crazy.

  Thankfully, there haven’t been any more incidents that involve baseball bats, but the night Lennon actually did catch that mouse was not pretty. That woman has balls bigger than mine; she literally crushed the little sucker to death with a Doc Marten. She’s straight-up hardcore in my book.

  Em was so distraught she burst into tears. And not just the oh-it’s-so-sad-the-little-mouse-is-dead variety of tears. No, she was such a mess you’d have thought that mouse was Em’s soulmate and Lennon was a Deathly Hallow that had devoured it. She wrapped it up in a tissue and made me take her to my place so she could give it a proper burial.

  That little Harry Potter reference is thanks to Em making me watch every one of the movies with her over the past few days. We watched the final two last night, and she cried through those too. It’s weird because I never would have pegged her as a crier.

  And with that thought, I bolt upright in bed, startling her awake beside me.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks, her voice thick with sleep as she rubs at her eyes.

  I must look as flustered as I feel because she hurries to sit too, placing her hand on my thigh as concern blankets her features. “Bash?” she asks. “What happened?”

  She’s only just started calling me Bash, and as much as I fucking love it, I can’t focus on it right now. Swallowing thickly, I run the numbers over in my head then ask, “Babe, weren’t you supposed to get your period, like, a week ago?”

  “What?” she squeaks.

  “We’ve been fucking like bunnies since the wedding,” I explain, running a hand through my hair. “That was just over a month ago, and you were on the rag the week before that...”

  Emory blinks rapidly as the color drains from her cheeks. “I-I, umm…” she mumbles, her face scrunching and her blue eyes glassing over.

  Oh my freaking god. I’m pregnant.

  Me, the perpetual hot mess who can’t arrive anywhere on time to save myself, is about to become responsible for another life.

  Sebastian sits on my bathroom floor, his big, strong arm holding me close to his side as we stare down at the deceivingly insignificant-looking stick that declares we’re going to be parents.

  “I guess we know why I demanded a funeral service for a mouse now,” I mumble.

  He presses his lips to the top of my head and chuckles. “I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together then.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I know we’re nowhere near rea
dy for this. We only just started dating; what if we don’t like each other a year from now? What if I’m a terrible mother? I’m flat out behaving like a grown-up as it is. How am I supposed to be a role model for another human being?” My mind fills with all the things that can and probably will go wrong.

  “Hey, stop that,” Sebastian says, dragging me over his lap until I’m straddling him. He cups my cheeks and stares into my eyes. “We’ve got this. I’ve spent the last five years of my life as a live-in manny. That makes me more than qualified, and I’ll be there with you every step of the way. You hear me?”

  My throat thickens with emotion and tears prick my eyes again. I’m too overwhelmed to speak, so I just nod then press my forehead to his.

  FIVE MONTHS LATER…

  “Yo,” Lennon calls as she enters the apartment Bash and I just moved into.

  “In the kitchen,” I yell back, unpacking a box of wine glasses that I won’t need to use anytime soon.

  Storm is perched on a barstool on the other side of the counter, her big baby belly poking out from the bottom of her maternity shirt. She tugs at it and grumbles something about being sick of feeling like a whale.

  “Hey, sexy mamas,” Lennon says, entering the room then plopping down on the stool beside Storm. “How’s it going, fatty?” she asks, giving Storm a side-hug.

  “Fat,” she mutters. “I’m so over it. I hate this part of pregnancy. Everything hurts, and I just want it to be over,” she groans, dropping her head on Lenny’s shoulder.

  Len shifts her gaze to me, an evil glint in her eyes. “See what you have to look forward to, Emmy? Aren’t you just sooo excited?”

  I take the mature course of action and flip her off.

  Storm has become the fourth member of our little group over the last few months, which makes me incredibly happy. I still feel like I was the straw that broke the camel’s back in her friendship with Jayla. But she assures me that’s not the case.

  “Kins should be over soon. I reckon she’s got some big news,” Len says, popping a grape in her mouth from the bag Storm brought with her.

  “Cool, cool, cool,” I mumble, placing the last wine glass in the cabinet. “Any idea what it is?”

  Len shakes her head. “Nope.”

  Turning to face Len and Storm, I rub my lower back. It aches like a bitch, and I’ve still got three more months of this crap.

  “You should sit down,” Storm says. “Let Bash do the rest. There’s only, like, three more boxes to do anyway.”

  I’m about to agree with her when she pulls a weird face. I frown, and Len jumps off her stool, her eyes wide and horrified.

  “Stormy,” I say, rushing around the counter to be at her side. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?” I ask, panic lacing my words and making my hands shake as I run them over her belly.

  “That better be pee,” Lennon says. “I am not equipped to deal with childbirth.”

  My eyes widen as they shoot to the floor where a puddle grows under Storm’s stool. “Oh God,” I mumble.

  Storm’s hand wraps around my wrist. Our gazes collide, then she…smiles.

  “Why are you smiling? Your water just broke!” I yelp.

  She beams at me, and maybe insanity is one of the stages of labor.

  “Because I’m going to hold my baby today,” Storm says just as Kinsley waltzes into the room.

  “You’re going to what?” Kins blurts, the smile falling from her face.

  “She just leaked amniotic fluid all over my favorite boots,” Len whines.

  We ignore her.

  I pull my cell from my pocket and call Bash who’s upstairs with Jake, getting the last couple of boxes from my old apartment. He answers on the fourth ring. “Hey, babe. Miss me already?”

  “Storm’s water just broke,” I say, my voice wobbling.

  “Oh shit, we’re on our way down,” he tells me. “Is she okay?”

  I nod then realize he can’t see me. “The crazy bitch is smiling,” I say then hear Jake laughing in the background.

  Not two minutes later, Jake and Bash come crashing through the door. Jake heads straight for Storm, wrapping his arms around her. “You ready, baby?” he says to her, a matching smile on his face.

  What the hell is wrong with these two? She’s about to push an entire human being out of her teeny-tiny vagina. That is nothing to smile about.

  Bash comes to my side, concern evident in his amber eyes. “You okay? You look freaked.”

  “I am!” I yelp. “Why is she smiling? She’s lost her marbles, Bash. Is that going to happen to me?”

  He laughs and kisses my temple. But he doesn’t answer me. Bastard.

  “I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you Atticus and I are getting married?” Kins says from behind me.

  I whirl around and gape at her. “Since when?”

  She beams, holding her left hand out for me to inspect the crazy-big diamond on her ring finger. “Since yesterday.”

  “Jesus H. Christ, everyone is getting married and having babies,” Lennon grumbles, snatching Kins’ hand away from me then examining the ring closely. “But damn, if someone gave me a rock like that, I might just consider jumping on the relationship train.”

  Kins and I both give her the look.

  Len rolls her eyes at us. “Kidding,” she says. “Relationships blow.”

  Then Storm groans long and low, and I spin to face her as she clutches her sides and breathes deeply. Somehow, a smile still shines in her amber eyes. And I know, without a shadow of doubt, she’s lost her damn mind.

  SIX HOURS LATER…

  “It’s a boy!” Jake shouts as he enters the waiting room filled with our friends and family.

  A round of cheers erupt, and he scoops Ever and Hazel into his arms as they rush him, huge, happy smiles on their pretty faces. He takes them back to meet their new little brother first then reappears and hands the girls off to his parents and approaches Em and me. “Storm wants to see you and Emmy now,” he says, a massive grin on his face.

  We follow him to Storm’s room where she’s propped up in bed, holding a tiny bundle in her arms with a brilliant smile on her face. Pride fills me as I step up to the side of the bed and brush a kiss to her forehead. “He’s perfect,” I tell her.

  “I know,” she says, grinning at me. “Now, get out of my face. Where’s Em?”

  I frown as she shoves me out of the way so she can see Emory wringing her hands behind me. “Hey, you,” Storm says. “Want to hold your nephew?”

  Emory nods, her eyes shining with unshed tears, but she remains unmoving as she gnaws on her bottom lip. I close the small distance between us, cup her cheeks in my palms, then kiss the apprehension right out of her.

  When I pull away, we’re both a little breathless. My girl is all I can see as she smiles up at me with so much love and adoration that I can’t stop the words spilling from my lips. “I’m going to marry the shit out of you, Miss Moss.”

  “Oh, are you now?” She smirks, her hands resting over my pounding heart.

  I nod. “Yep.”

  “Are you two quite done?” Storm mutters then grumbles, “Always stealing my thunder.”

  Em breaks away from me and lets my sister place her newborn baby in her arms. She goes quiet as she stares down at him, her tears finally falling. “I know why you were smiling now,” she says, beaming at Storm and Jake. “What’s his name?”

  “Sebastian,” Storm says, and son of a bitch, now I’m crying too.

  THE END

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read Bash and Emory’s story. If you enjoyed it, please take an extra second to leave a review by flipping to the last page of this book.

  You’ll be happy to know, Lennon is getting her story next. Dirty, will be releasing very soon. You can order it by clicking here.

  AWKWARD GIRLS SERIES

  (Bestselling RomComs)

  Pink Bits (awkward girl)

  Blue Beaver (opposites attract)

  Silver
Bush (second chance/single mom)

  UNEXPECTED LOVERS SERIES

  Interconnecting Romantic Comedy Series

  Starfish (billionaire)

  Flirty (single dad/enemies to lovers)

  Nerdy (fake relationship/ surprise pregnancy)

  Dirty (brothers best friend/sports star)

  STANDALONES

  What If It’s Right? (Not your average cougar romance)

  VIPERS DEN NOVELLA SERIES

  (Comedic Romance)

  Piper & Kade

  Pixie & Jake

  Tay & Nate

  ATTRACTION SERIES

  (Romantic Suspense Completed Series)

  Undeniable Attraction

  Pure Attraction

  Fierce Attraction

  Morgan Sisters Duo (Prequel)

  ALPHA ONE PROTECTION SERIES

  (Romantic Suspense-Sexy Bodyguards)

  Worth The Risk

  Worth The Wait

  JB Heller is an average Aussie housewife and Mumma in her early 30's with a wicked sexy imagination. She lives on a mini farm with her family and a few cows, sheep, a parrot, cats, fish, dogs, and a butt load of chickens. It's JB's dream to one day add a llama to the mix and an alpaca or two.

  She writes across several romance subgenre’s including romantic comedy, romantic suspense and contemporary. All include a healthy splash of heat, intrigue and wit. You'll love her sinfully sexy alpha hero's and their feisty counterparts.

  Monday to Friday you can find JB glued to her laptop weaving words or trolling Pinterest for her next potential muse. Come the weekend, it's family time. (And of course lots of reading and Netflix binges.)

  Want to know more?

  Website: https://www.jbtheindie.com

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