Page 67 of Pick Me This Time

I grinned. “Yahtzee.”

Sterling’s hand brushed against the back of mine as we made a beeline for it, and it happened again while we were fixing our coffee. As we walked back to our own waiting room. Sat down.

Every time his skin touched my own, it was like a bolt of electricity shot through me, making my heart skip a beat and goosebumps rise wherever he had brushed against me. I found myself sticking close to him, leaning more toward his side even as I sat still next to him, willing another casual touch to happen.

“Have you ever thought of having kids?” I asked as we sipped our coffee.

Those glittering dark eyes found mine, capturing my gaze and keeping it pinned to his. “Sure. With the right person.”

My heart skipped a lot more than just one beat. Did he really just say that while looking so intently at me?What does that mean?

We hadn’t really spoken about what had happened between us yet, and all day, I’d been trying to keep my expectations realistic, but suddenly, my imagination ran away with me. It happened before I could stop it.

I knew it was silly, but I wondered if there was any chance that he wouldn’t go back to New York City. Is it possible that he might decide to stay here, with me, forever?

Probably not, but those eyes were still on mine and I’d already determined that my logic was broken today. “The right person, huh? You haven’t found her in Manhattan? Is there really not anyone waiting for you back there? Not even a maybe?”

He shook his head slowly from one side to the other. “Not even almost. How about you? Have you ever thought about it?”

“Sure,” I said, borrowing my next words from him. “With the right person.”

A slow grin broke out across his lips. “You haven’t found him here?”

“Not even almost,” I murmured, feeling like staring into his eyes was putting some kind of spell on me. “How many would you like?”

“As many as the right person would let me have,” he said quietly. “At least two, though. Growing up as an only child was fine, but if it’s at all possible, I would like for my child to have a sibling. Or two. Maybe three.”

“Four kids, huh?” I chuckled, but the sound was nervous because I was suddenly wondering if I would be open to having four babies with him.

The answer was right there, though. I didn’t even have to go looking for it in the deepest recesses of my brain. Hell yes!

I loved kids. I couldn’t think of anything better than having four of ours running around my house. Well, perhaps not my house that I was living in now. There wasn’t enough space, but certainly in a house with rooms for each of them and a nice yard where they could play outside.

The thought brought a flush to my cheeks and Sterling smiled as he lifted an eyebrow. “I could handle four. You?”

“Yes,” I breathed, but the fact that I couldn’t even get my voice to work properly snapped me out of my trance.

Averting my gaze to the sludge that passed for coffee around here, I could feel him still staring at me, grinning. He nudged my elbow with his own. “Four kids. That would take plenty of practice. A lot of tries.”

For just a moment, I wondered if he was going to ask me if I’d like to start practicing with him, but he wasn’t that much of a cliché. When I nodded, he just chuckled and took a sip of his own coffee.

He winced. “That’s awful.”

“Terrible,” I agreed, but I wrapped my fingers around my cup anyway and lifted it back to my lips. Lost in thought, I finished the sludge and set the cup aside, deciding against having more. Eventually, I drifted off, falling asleep with my head on Sterling’s shoulder.

“Keep your hands off my baby sister, man,” Eric joked when he walked in, waking me up and making me feel like a flaming hot iron rod had been snapped up my spine as it straightened completely.

“Where is she?” I asked, blinking hard when it felt like my eyes were refusing to focus correctly. “Wait, I mean, how is she?

“Fine, as far as I know,” he said, dropping into a chair on the other side of the coffee table. “My guys are working on Jake’s truck. We collected it from the diner in Benson and we’re hoping to have it ready for him by morning.”

My brain still wasn’t quite back online, but I nodded at my brother as I yawned, glancing at the empty cup on the table. “The coffee here sucks, but I’m going to need more. Can I bring you guys some?”

They both nodded and I got up, leaving them alone as Sterling leaned forward, clearly about to talk to my brother about something. I knew better than to think it would be about us, so I left them to it, knowing that they had their own things going on.

An hour later, Jake finally walked into the waiting room with a giant grin on his face. “She’s here, folks. Elizabeth Grace Garrison has officially entered the world. Would you guys like to come and meet her?”