Every Beat of My Heart (New York Sullivans 0.5) - Bella Andre Page 0,4

pregnant.”

Everything inside Zach’s brain went blank, and he swore his heart actually stopped beating for a split second before blood came rushing in like a flash flood. All he could do was echo her words. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes.” The word shook slightly in her throat. “We’re going to have a baby.”

He could hardly breathe. Could hardly think a coherent thought. All he could do was kiss Heather and pull her tight against him.

“A baby.” His eyes were wet now too. “We’re going to have a kid. A little bruiser like me or a beauty like you.” He had to put his mouth on hers again, had to say to her with his kisses all the things he couldn’t yet form into words. “You hear that Atlas? Cuddles?” he said as he tugged her naked from the car a few moments later. “You’re going to have a brother or sister to play with and protect soon.”

As if the dogs could actually understand what he was saying—and were as thrilled about it as he was—they ran up to Heather and Zach with tails wagging.

She was laughing as she patted the dogs on the head, then reached for her clothes. “You tore my shirt again.” She shook her head while she slipped back into her bra and panties. “Good thing I love you. All three of you,” she said as the dogs started to roll into a spot of axle grease on the concrete floor. “Nice Ferrari, by the way.”

Unable to be apart from her for more than a few seconds, especially today when she’d just made him the happiest guy alive all over again, he had to pull her back into his arms as soon as they both had their clothes on. He had been planning to sell the sports car, but that was before Heather had given him the greatest news in the world in its backseat.

“I’m going to keep it.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” She took his hand and drew him back toward the car. “Turns out it’s true what they say about pregnant women’s libidos.”

She always took him from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. But knowing he had nine months ahead of him with Heather wanting to jump him in—and out—of this backseat? And that at the end of that, they’d have a new baby to love?

Once upon a time, he hadn’t believed it was possible for him to ever be this lucky. But he was.

All because of Heather.

CHAPTER TWO

I need you. Come quick.

Ryan Sullivan was standing in the Hawks locker room with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist post-shower when Vicki Bennett’s text came. Once upon a time, seeing this text from her would have sent terror into his heart. But today he grinned like a fool instead.

He’d just finished pitching practice, followed by a workout in the weight room—and had been called out by both his coach and his trainer for his inattention. The first World Series game was in only a handful of days, and Ryan’s face was currently on the cover of Sports Illustrated, along with the headline: “Can the Greatest Pitcher in Major League Baseball History Do It Again?” He understood why his team wanted him one hundred percent focused on the game—but he wouldn’t apologize for missing his fiancée, damn it. Vicki had been working in France for the past two weeks, and it irritated him beyond measure that instead of being there to welcome her home this morning after her overnight flight, he’d had to be at the stadium.

He couldn’t have been happier about her growing notoriety as a sculptor, and he would never begrudge her the time she wanted to spend in her studio creating beautiful art. Just as she would never want him to feel guilty for the hours he spent with his team for practices and games. But it was still frustrating as hell that between their two busy schedules, the only moments they could grab together lately were stolen ones.

Ryan had fallen for Vicki after she moved to Palo Alto when they were fifteen years old and they’d instantly become friends. But before he could get up the nerve to tell her that his feelings went way past friendship, her father had been transferred to the East Coast. Ryan never forgot her, though, not even after she married another guy after graduating from college, and moved to Europe. He never stopped loving her either. So the day three years ago when she’d