DEBT (33 page)

Why I had kept it for two months after that, that was beyond me.

Maybe it was a bit of her prudence rubbing off on me.

I wanted to be sure we were both in the same place. I wanted it to be the right time.

About an hour before Mack showed up, Prue had come out of the shower, skin still steaming from the hot water, dropped the towel to the ground, then climbed up onto the bed where I had been sitting, answering a text from Aaron. She moved in beside me, completely unconcerned about her nudity, pressing her head into my shoulder, and taking a deep breath, like she always did, trying to breathe me in.

And I had never been more fucking sure of anything in my life.

Had the ring been close by, I'd have done it right fucking then and there.

But it would have to wait until after dinner, after dessert, after her father and Ella left.

Then I would ask her.

Prue- 1.5 years

"You can't be serious," I said, shaking my head at my father who had just informed me that he and Ella were going to have a Vegas wedding.

"We thought it would be funny," he said with a wicked smile.

He was still in recovery from his gambling addiction. Over a year and a half and no slip-ups.

But, regardless of that, he was still my father and, as such, could be a tad bit ridiculous at times. I had been counting on Ella being the practical one between them.

"Ella thought it would be fun to step out of her comfort zone a little. She even suggested we get an Elvis impersonator to marry us. Or maybe a Dolly Parton one. Hell, we can do both!"

At that, I felt my smile spread, genuinely, truly happy for the both of them. My father, because he had such a big heart and had never found a woman to share it with after my mother. At least not for any length of time. And Ella because it seemed that my father, in a way, had done for her what Byron had done for me. He had allowed her the freedom to be more herself, to do things she wasn't sure she could do, to be a more complete version of herself.

I looked down to where my father's hand had rested on mine when he told me the news, seeing Byron's ring flashing there. He'd asked me almost ten months before and we were nowhere close to even getting the wedding invitations out. One, because I cringed at the idea of being the center of attention on the 'big day'. Two, because Byron was in no rush, declaring 'whenever the fuck we get around to it, we get around to it' like we were discussing getting the gutters cleaned. But again, it was another thing I appreciated about him. He genuinely didn't care about peoples' expectations. It didn't bother him in the least when someone ribbed him about 'making an honest woman' out of me.

The oven dinged, making me jump up and reach for the mitts to pull the donuts out of the oven. Cinnamon sugar donuts for the fourth birthday of one of Byron's business associates. I got enough calls to warrant my maybe considering opening up a shop somewhere, but I couldn't quite find the motivation to do so. I generally took maybe two or three jobs a week on a busy week, enjoying the down time.

It was especially good considering that in about eight months, I wouldn't really have too much spare time to bake cookies and homemade Pop-tarts for other people.

"Did you tell him yet?" my father asked as I stood next to the oven, staring down at the donuts, my hand subconsciously having moved to my belly.

"No," I said, shaking my head.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, standing up and crossing toward me. "Dear Prudence," he said, framing my face, "the day your mother told me you were going to come into the world was the best day of my life. Until, of course, you actually did come into the world. That day was infinitely better," he said, giving me a wink. "Why would you hesitate in telling him? In giving him that kind of happy?"

"I just... I don't know. We haven't really discussed children much. This was an oopsie. When I was sick last month? I must have missed one of my Pills."

"Baby," he said, his tone suggesting I was being silly, "the way that man loves you... he wants to have a baby with you. Even if he didn't know it before, he will know it the moment you tell him. In fact," he said, swatting me until I moved away from the donuts. "I'll take care of this. You go tell him now."

"Dad, I really need to..."

"Tell your man that he is going to be a daddy? Yes, I totally agree," he said, giving me a smile and a hand wave toward the door.

With that, I moved into the hall, taking a deep breath as I rounded Byron's office. I knocked, but went in without waiting for a reply. He was sitting at his desk, phone to his ear, listening to someone else. I moved around the desk, sitting down on it right in front of his chair.

"Alex, I have to call you back," he said, hitting the end button before Alex could have possibly said anything, and throwing his cell down on the desk. "What's the matter?" he asked, scooting a little closer, grabbing the sides of my knees with his hands.

"I need to tell you something..."

"That's almost as irritating as you asking if you can ask a question, you know," he told me and I felt myself smile a little. His being a bit of a dick at times still somehow managed to comfort me in a weird way.

"Okay. Fine," I said, looking down at him. "I'm pregnant."

There was no shock on his face. There were no wide eyes. There was no slack jaw. Actually, there was no response at all for a long minute. Then a small smirk I couldn't interpret pulled at his lips. "About fucking time you told me."

"You knew?" I asked, slapping his arm.

"Babe, when you started singing that fucking
Aladdin
song to your stomach, I figured you were either going batshit fucking crazy... or pregnant." He paused, giving me a softer smile as his hands squeezed my knees. "Why did you wait to tell me?"

"I don't know... we've never really discussed kids..."

"There's a lot of things we've never discussed that have ended up being great. Not the least of which being: whips, belts, handcuffs, floggers," he paused, getting more serious, "your baking career. Not everything needs to be talked about to death. We don't have to plan for everything. We can take shit as it comes."

"So you want to have this baby?"

"Fuck yeah I want to have this baby. So long as it gets those eyes," he said, giving me a rare gushy compliment that made my heart do that swelling thing again.

"And
doesn't
get your potty-mouth," I teased.

"You love my potty-mouth," he declared, making me snort then giggle at the words 'potty-mouth' coming out of someone like him. But then his hands pressed my legs wide and yanked, making my belly plummet and my heart lodge up into my throat as I free-fell for a second before landing on Byron's lap, his arms going around my lower back.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point," I agreed with a smile. "Actually," I said, leaning down and planting kisses up his scruffy neck, "I might just love everything about you."

"Well, that's convenient," he said, his voice already getting sex-rough. "Because I might love everything about you too," he agreed, his hands roaming up my back as his lips found my ear. "But that fucking battle over the closet is so not over."

xx

DON'T FORGET!

If you liked this book, please pop over to Amazon or Goodreads and tell me your favorite parts. You can also help spread the word by recommending this book to your friends of by buying them a digital copy that can be sent right to the Kindle App on any device!

Also by Jessica Gadziala:

What The Heart Needs

What The Heart Wants

What The Heart Finds

What The Heart Knows

The Stars Landing Deviant

Dark Mysteries

For A Good Time, Call...

Dissent

The Sex Surrogate

Dr. Chase Hudson

Reign

Monster

Cash

Killer

Wolf

Savior

Repo

Keep an eye for the upcoming:

Into The Green

What The Heart Learns

Shane

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica is a full-time writer from New Jersey who believes coffee is a food group and that her parrots can totally understand her when she talks to them. She can not be trusted with houseplants or to respond to text messages in a reasonable amount of time. 

Writing was the only acceptable career path for her from the first time she learned that with just twenty-six letters, she could create whole new worlds. She attempted a string of odd jobs before quitting and taking the blind leap of faith that was trying to make a career out of her passion.
Jessica is a firm believer in snark, strong secondary characters, and HEA.
When she is not writing (which is practically never), she is obsessively trying to read as many books as possible and has totally been known to throw temper tantrums over fictional characters. 
She is super active on GR and, in fact, is probably stalking your status updates right now.

You can find her on:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Jessica-Gadziala-746940975355564/

GoodReads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13800950.Jessica_Gadziala

Twitter:
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♥
/
Jessica

RECIPES

MADELEINES

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz, plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp lemon zest

- Prepare the wet ingredients and dry ingredients into separate bowls.

- With an electric mixture, carefully beat the batter together.

- Rest the batter in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease your molds.

- Fill your pans (its okay that the mixture doesn't spread into the molds, it will spread out while baking)

- Bake the madeleines. Check at eight minutes and then every minute after until it springs back to your touch. They should be very slightly browned at the edges and spongy in texture.

- Enjoy!

CINNAMON SUGAR DONUTS

INGREDIENTS

5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 rounded tsp ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FOR THE COATING

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

- Preheat oven to 350. Grease your donut pans.

- In separate bowls, combine your wet and dry ingredients. It is okay that the wet mixture looks curdled.

- With a mixer, carefully combine ingredients. Do not overmix.

- Spoon the batter into your molds, filling each half-full.

- Bake for 10-12 minutes until donuts spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

- While waiting for donuts to cool, melt the butter for coating.

- In a bag, combine the sugar and cinnamon for coating.

- Dip or lightly brush the butter onto both sides of the donuts and drop into the bag, shaking until the donuts are covered.

- Enjoy!