Before Jamaica Lane (29 page)

‘I really do appreciate you guys keeping me company.’ Ellie smiled gratefully as she set down a tray of drinks and snacks among all the boxes. ‘Adam can’t stand clutter or chaotic spaces, so I promised him I’d get this place up and running before we move in.’

I stood with an ornament wrapped in newspaper in my hand as Joss and Jo dug through boxes. ‘You can stop thanking us,’ I assured her. ‘We’re happy to help. You’ve got a lot on your plate. New house. New job. Wedding plans.’ I frowned at her, putting down the ornament to reach for a drink. ‘Did I tell you lately that you’re crazy?’

It was a few weeks since our night out with the gang, and Ellie and Adam finally had the keys to their new home on Scotland Street. On top of the stress of the move they were now well into their wedding plans. The wedding was only nine months away.

Ellie laughed. ‘Well, I thought I’d have help from a certain someone, but she had to go and get knocked up by my overprotective big brother, who, I might add, barely let her out of the house to help me unpack.’

Joss glanced up at her. ‘Yes. I got knocked up deliberately so I wouldn’t have to help with the heavy lifting or bouquet choosing.’

‘Speaking of heavy lifting,’ Jo said with a frown, ‘where is Cole?’

I looked toward the front of the house. ‘I think he went outside. Want me to haul his ass back in?’

‘Aye,’ she said with a sigh. ‘Bribe him with food if you have to.’

‘You didn’t have to make him help.’ Ellie smiled as if in sympathy with the teenager.

‘Why?’ Hannah suddenly appeared in the hallway, arms wrapped around a box. ‘You made me help. If I can’t escape, Cole can’t escape.’

‘I’ll go get him,’ I muttered, making my way out of the huge living room into the wide, spacious hallway. The double doors were both open against the wall, giving us better access to the property, and as I neared them I heard Cole’s voice, followed by a softer female voice. I slowed my steps, quietly making my way to the entrance.

My eyes widened at the sight of Cole standing at the bottom of the front stoop next to a small redhead. It wasn’t that the sight of him talking to a girl was surprising; it was his body language. He hovered over her, almost protectively, and the way he was smiling down into her face …

The girl laughed at whatever Cole was murmuring to her and I bit my lip at the bright look that entered his eyes. They continued talking in hushed voices in an intimate way, and I decided I definitely was not intruding. On silent feet I made my way back into the sitting room.

Jo looked up from her packing box. ‘Where is he?’

I grinned. ‘He’s flirting his ass off with a pretty redhead. There’s no way I’m interrupting that.’

Her eyebrows hit her hairline. ‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously. And by the looks of things, I’d expect a girl to be coming around the apartment from now on, if I were you.’

Hannah smirked. ‘Great. Now I have ammunition.’

Ellie nudged her. ‘Be nice.’

‘Why? He’s always taking the piss out of me. Now I finally have something to torture him with.’

We shook our heads at her and continued to unpack.

Twenty minutes later, Cole strode in, a dark scowl marring his handsome face. Worry creased Jo’s brow. ‘Hey, baby boy, you okay?’

He grunted at her and moved toward a box.

I shared a look with his sister before plucking up the courage to ask, ‘What happened to the girl? The redhead.’

Cole jerked as though I’d shot him. Without looking at me he muttered, ‘She had to leave.’

‘Well, did you get her number at least?’

He lifted his head and his green eyes blazed into mine angrily. ‘What do you think?’ And at that he stormed out of the room, ignoring Jo’s shouts to him to apologize for his rudeness.

‘Leave it.’ I shook my head. ‘Just let him be.’

Before Jo could reply, my cell rang and seeing Nate’s face on my screen lightened my mood. ‘I have to take
this.’ I ducked out of the living room and wandered toward the empty kitchen as I answered, ‘Hey, baby.’

‘Hey, yourself.’ His low, warm voice soothed me. ‘You about done at Ellie’s?’

‘Unfortunately not. I’ll be a few more hours.’

‘Okay. Cam and I will just hang out for a bit, then.’

‘You know, it might be good if you swing by the house and pick up Cole.’

Nate snorted. ‘Bored, is he?’

‘Upset. I think something happened. With a girl. So obviously he doesn’t want to talk about it with us.’

‘We’ll be right there.’

My stomach melted. ‘You are so getting laid tonight.’

He laughed softly. ‘Don’t I get laid every night?’

‘Yes, but tonight I’ll do anything you want.’

‘Anything?’ he growled.

‘Absolutely
anything
.’

‘Remind me to be a nice guy more often if this is the benefit.’

I smiled a little goofily and leaned back against the wall, my body all pliant just thinking about him. ‘Okay. But don’t be too nice of a guy. I do like it when you’re bad.’

‘Do people actually talk like that?’ Hannah’s voice ripped me back to reality, and I jumped off the wall to see her giving me a wide, teasing smile.

My cheeks flushed and I heard Nate laughing on the other end of the line. ‘It’s not funny,’ I snapped at him.

‘Oh, it’s definitely funny, babe,’ he said on a chuckle. ‘See you soon.’

We hung up and I glared at Hannah. ‘You could have let me know you were there.’

Her eyes twinkled mercilessly. ‘I could have, but then I wouldn’t have overheard your delightful conversation.’

I narrowed my eyes on her as I moved to brush past her. ‘One day, Hannah Nichols, you’re going to meet a guy who makes you so gooey you’ll end up doing and saying things you never imagined, and then who’ll be laughing?’

Hannah’s pretty smile widened. ‘Hopefully we’ll all be laughing.’

‘You have a good answer for everything, don’t you?’

‘I like to think so.’

Chuckling, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her with me. ‘Come on, we’ve got a house to get in order.’

Eighteen months later

I glanced at the bathroom door, thinking of the thing I’d left in there.

Okay.

I had to tell Nate.

After a moment I sighed heavily. I glanced at him, then at the movie he was watching, then back to him.

Here goes.

‘Whatcha watching?’

I was such a coward!

Nate gave me a look. ‘The same movie I’ve been sitting here watching with you for the past half hour. You okay?’

Tell him
.

I shrugged. ‘I completely zoned out. Sorry.’

Seeming to accept my weirdness, Nate turned back to the movie and we sat and watched it in companionable silence. Well, he watched. I stewed.

Just a little over a year ago, Nate gave up his apartment in Marchmont to move into my tiny little apartment on Jamaica Lane. That day after he’d shown me the tattoo he’d had Cole design for him, we’d worked through everything together. My dad, Jo, Cam, and Nate’s parents were particularly happy for us. I’d go as far to say that Nathan and Sylvie were grateful to me. But they weren’t the ones who should be grateful.

Although he wasn’t perfect – but who was, right? – Nate had tried his hardest to assure me that he was completely and deeply in love with me. He didn’t need to try so hard. When I said the tattoo and his speech did it for him, I really meant it. From that moment on, things with us fell back into their usual beautiful pattern. That included Nate spending a lot of time at my apartment. I think if we both hadn’t been scared about pushing the other too quickly, Nate would have moved in with me right away, but we didn’t broach the subject until six months into our new relationship.

The move didn’t just make us happy; it made our parents extremely happy. Because of my insistence – and
also because of the heart attack scare – Nate and I visited his parents in Longniddry as much as possible, driving out there at least once a month to spend the night with them. Nathan and Sylvie thought I hung the moon. As for my dad, well, he would always be overprotective, but he’d eased up since Nate moved in with me, especially since Nate had made it clear that he felt it was now
his
job to be overprotective. And boy, did he do that job well.

I wasn’t even going to pretend to find it annoying.

I was an independent, capable, strong woman … but God, I loved it when Nate got all protective and possessive, because it was usually followed by sexy time.

Sexy time … that had led us to our current situation …

I was unconsciously staring at his handsome profile, the light from the screen flickering over his features as he watched a prison break.

‘What would you prefer?’ he suddenly asked. ‘Life in a maximum-security prison or trapped in Jurassic Park?’

Tilting my head to the side, I pondered his question. ‘Do I have a social standing in this prison?’

‘No. You’re just an average Joe.’

I heaved a dramatic sigh as if my decision weighed heavy on me. ‘Then I guess I have to go with Jurassic Park.’

Nate smiled at the TV. ‘Why?’

‘Well, I’ll have constant fresh air, for a start, and also if I’m going to be anyone’s prey, I’m going to be the prey of an animal that’s acting out of instinct rather than psychopathy.’

His laughter filled our apartment and my chest with its warm richness. ‘Good answer, babe. As always.’

‘You?’

He shrugged casually. ‘If you’re in Jurassic Park, I’m in Jurassic Park.’

There were moments, like this moment, when sometimes what I felt for him completely and utterly overwhelmed me. ‘I love you so much – you know that, right?’

Turning his head on the couch, his expression adoring. ‘Love you too, babe.’

We smiled at each other, then turned back to the movie.

The perfect contentment of the moment was broken by the silent taunting of the object in the bathroom.

I swallowed hard. ‘So … what would you prefer? A two-bed in New Town or a three-bed farther out of the city?’

Confusion lit Nate’s eyes at my unexpected question. ‘Why would we want either? We love this place.’

My heart began to thump, thump, thump in my chest, and I could swear he would see my pulse throbbing in my neck. ‘Okay.’ I took a shaky breath. ‘I’ll be clearer. What would you prefer? A boy … or a girl?’

His entire body locked. Frozen.

‘Nate?’

Slowly, he turned to look at me, his eyes wide as they silently asked the question.

I bit my lip and nodded.

With my confirmation, the most gorgeous smile broke across Nate’s face.

Relief and excitement poured through me. I don’t know why the hell I’d been so worried. He’d made it clear in the past that he wanted this for us.

I crawled across the couch until I was straddling him. Stunned dark eyes bored into mine as he wrapped his arms around me. ‘You’re pregnant?’

Dipping my head, I whispered against his lips, ‘Congratulations. Daddy.’

His whoop of laughter filled our apartment, my relieved giggles mingling with it as he held me tight and launched us off the couch, his quick, determined strides taking us toward the bedroom. Usually when Nate was in the mood to celebrate, he’d throw me on the bed and follow me down, but today I laughed to myself as he gently laid me on it like I was fragile.

Grinning up into his face, I asked softly, ‘Are you getting soft on me?’

‘You’ve got our kid inside you. I’ve got to watch what I’m doing now.’

‘I hope not when it comes to sex.’ I reached for the buttons on his jeans.

Nate grew still, his hands braced on either side of my head.

My heart stopped at the sudden seriousness in his expression. ‘What is it?’

‘I had this plan,’ he told me, his voice low. ‘I was going to wait until our two-year anniversary, fly you
back to Arizona to visit your old friends, and your mum’s grave. You would tell her about us, and after we got back I would propose to you.’

A beautiful ache settled across my chest. ‘Nate …’

‘But with the baby … maybe we should get engaged now?’

I grinned. Huge. ‘Okay.’

His brow cleared. ‘Okay as in “yes” ’

I laughed. ‘Yes.’

And then he frowned again. ‘Shit. That wasn’t the most romantic way to propose, was it?’

Smoothing his brow with the tips of my fingers, I promised him, ‘It was romantic to me.’

He smiled into my eyes, pressing a hand to my stomach. ‘This is not where I expected to be.’

‘Me neither,’ I whispered.

‘But I’m so fucking glad that someone out there thought this is where I deserved to be.’

Running my fingers through his hair, I gently tugged his head down, bringing his lips close to mine. ‘Here’s to “after,” baby.’

Nate pressed his mouth hard to mine, wrapping his arms around me, tightening me against him in absolute agreement.

When I first introduced Olivia and Nate into Joss and Braden’s makeshift tribe, I knew Olivia had to be a librarian. Not just because, during my pre-author years, I always imagined happily working in a library, but because Tammy Blackwell insisted upon it. Okay, so I know you were just cracking jokes, Tammy, but it got stuck in my head. So thank you for inspiring Olivia’s career choice, and for giving me insight into the world of librarianship.

Thank you to Paul Gorman at the University of Edinburgh main campus library for taking time out of your busy schedule to show me around the library from the point of view of a librarian. Not only did you provide me with all the invaluable technical info so Olivia would sound like she actually worked in a library, but also you gave me surprising insight into the brazenness of college students. I told you I’d put it in the book.

My deepest thanks to my agent extraordinaire, Lauren Abramo. You always give me genuine encouragement. Anytime I see an e-mail from you in my in-box, I grin huge. You work your butt off every day, and I appreciate it every day. You never fail to rock, my friend.

To my editor Kerry Donovan, a gazillion thank-yous.
Your belief in these characters, this series, and me, is mind-blowing. You’ll never know how much it means to me. I love working on this world with you. I hope we get to work on many more in the future!

A massive thank-you to my publicist Erin Galloway, and every single person at NAL who has worked hard to see
Before Jamaica Lane
into print and into the hands of the readers.

Also thank you to my editors Claire Pelly and Hana Osman, and my publicist Katie Sheldrake, at Michael Joseph (Penguin UK), for all your hard work.

Moreover, I must say a huge thank-you to Nina Wegscheider and her team at Ullstein for their unbelievable enthusiasm for this series. It’s been absolutely amazing to watch German readers fall for these characters, and I thank you for keeping me updated on all the excitement.

As always (and forever), thank you to my family and friends for putting up with my absentmindedness, my disappearances into fictional worlds, and my inability to text back until a really awkward length of time has passed.

And finally, to my readers: Thank you for embracing this series. You make every day a good day.