Free Healing Hearts (The Challenge Series) by Liz Crowe Page B

all her favorite places, with giant front windows out over Ann Arbor’s Main Street. But she’d be damned if she hadn’t told him that those duct work things would get dusty and spidery and…. “Ack!” she yelped when a giant rubber spider landed on her shoulder then slid down to her lap. “You asshole.”
    Jay jumped over the back of the couch and tugged her onto his lap, nuzzling her neck. Her skin pebbled at his touch. “You smell like blood. Gross. Go get a shower,” he muttered as he kissed her and held her close until she felt the unmistakable press of his erection. She wiggled around, making him sigh into her skin. “Mmm.” He slipped a hand under her scrubs and cupped her breast. “A little bird told me it’s your birthday.”
    “Yeah, the same little bird that wrote ‘Abigail’s Birthday’ in big letters on the kitchen calendar, I guess.” She smiled and kept her arms around his neck. A stickler for milestones, Jay insisted on celebrations for the smallest events. Birthdays made him pull out all the stops. While exhausted at the moment, she had no complaints, not anymore.
    “Maybe.”
    “Fine, yeah, it’s my birthday so what. You know I don’t like to celebrate that stuff. You posted all that crap on the calendar. Besides all I want to do is hit the…oh.” She sucked in a breath when he held out a small, square, velvet-covered box. He smiled, setting her heart ablaze. He’d grown the beard back at her request, keeping a short but soft covering over his jaw. Longmire Group had sold the beer distribution business, losing money on paper but gaining Jay and his brother-in-law all kinds of peace of mind by getting rid of it. Jay had launched himself into a new project with gusto—he’d funded and opened an actual brewery on the west side of Ann Arbor and after two and a half years, they were already expanding. Personal Bubble Brewing had become the darling of the Midwest brewing world, winning awards and boasting standing room only in their large two-hundred person Tap Room almost every night. And he smelled great, especially now, when the astringent hops and sweet malt soothed her stomach.
    He took the simple solitaire diamond ring and slid it onto her left ring finger, before pulling it to his lips. “Will you please, after years of begging, pleading, threatening, boycotting, and withholding sex for periods as long as twelve hours—please, God damn it, will you marry me, Abigail?”
    She bit her lip, nodded, a tear slipped from her eye. His bright blues flashed, making her breathless with unbelief. This incredibly handsome man claimed she’d given him his life back. “Yes, Jay. And I have another bit of news for you.” She took his palm and put it to her still-flat stomach. “We’re having a baby.”
    He gulped, jerked away as if burned. “You know how I feel about that, right?” His voice stayed low.
    He’d made it clear from the start that he did not want children. That the thought of being responsible and potentially failing yet again to protect a family made him sick to his stomach. But she’d worn him down and gone off the pill with his reluctant blessing. He shook, but she held onto him.
    “It’s okay, honey. You don’t have to be afraid. It will all be great.”
    He pushed her away, gripping her shoulders, his eyes bright with unshed tears. “I know.” He leaned down, lifted her shirt, and pressed his lips to her stomach before standing and picking her up. “And I’m gonna make it even more great in a minute. You know, birthday style.”

 
     
    ~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
     
     
    Mom of three teenagers, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. Years of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as an ex-pat trailing spouse, plus making her way in a world of men (i.e. the beer industry), has prepped her for life as erotic romance author.
    When she isn't sweating inventory and sales figures for the brewery, she can be found