everything I heard about her.”
Luke looks at her strangely, but before she leaves, he stops her. “Hey, just a heads-up, Baker was at the precinct. He pulled in the fire truck hot and went searching through the precinct for you.”
Heather tries to keep her face free of any emotion, but I see the tiny spark in her eyes.
“See you tomorrow, Luke. Night, Carly.”
But Luke doesn’t give up. “You’re going to have to forgive him sometime, Heather.”
She just shrugs her shoulders and walks out the door.
I stand there watching him as he locks the door behind her and flips off the outside light.
He clears his throat. “How was everything here tonight?”
“Uh, good. I guess I’ll go home.” I get up to find my purse, but he stops me.
“I know I fucked up, Carly. But I wish you would stay.” He says it with so much feeling, it’s like the recording of his voice telling that man that he loves me is playing over and over in my head.
I should make him beg for it. I should make him apologize. But I’m hurting just as much as he is.
I drop my purse back on the table and walk over to him. “You want me to stay?”
He holds his hand out to me. “I don’t ever want you to leave.”
I smile up at him, walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist. The fact I could have lost him tonight hits me hard as I hold him against me.
I feel him lean down and breathe me in before kissing the top of my head. He whispers softly, “I love you, Carly.”
I smile against him. “I know.”
Epilogue
Luke
9 Months Later
“You have to quit. You’re spoiling her,” I tell Carly.
She just laughs and leans up for me to kiss her.
We’re having Anna’s eleventh birthday party and Carly has gone all out. There’s people everywhere and she’s turned the back yard of our new house into a country fair.
She’s added one more present to the pile that’s already there and shrugs her shoulders. “You’re only eleven once, Luke.”
I just laugh. I can’t be mad at her and I think she knows that. She has me and Anna wrapped around her finger. Of course it might have something to do with how much happiness she’s brought into our lives.
I cup her rounded belly and I lean down for a kiss. “Now sit down, wife. You are supposed to be resting.”
She says, “I’ll rest after the party,” but she lets me pull her down into my lap.
She curls into me and I rest my head against hers.
When she sighs, I have to ask her, “Are you happy, Carly?”
I feel her lips stretch into a smile against my neck. “Yes. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
Everything seemed to fall into place after that night I was held hostage. Carly finally decided what she wanted to do with her parents’ company. Even though she didn’t have the experience or knowledge needed for the medical research, she did have determination. She hired all the right people to put them in place and to carry out her parents’ dreams. She even added an extra resource in asthma research, wanting to help Anna and other kids like her.
As for me, I finally graduated and got the detective job. The only thing was Carly and I both hated the hours. So I joined on at Colton Medical as the chief of security. This way I got to see my wife every day. Yeah, my life couldn’t get any better.
I feel Carly’s body tighten over top of me. “Honey, are you okay?”
She grunts a yeah at me. But I can tell by the clench of her face she’s in pain.
I pull back from her and look down in her eyes. “Are you in labor?”
She starts to lie, I can tell, but she quickly answers, “Yes, but I didn’t want to take away from Anna’s birthday.”
“You’re having the baby now? My little brother is going to be born on my birthday?” Anna asks excitedly, running over to us.
Carly blows out a breath. “Well, I guess I was worried for nothing.”
I stand up then and carry her to the front door. “C’mon, let’s go have a baby.”
She looks back at me with a beautiful smile full of promises. “Sounds good to me. I love you, Luke.”
I just laugh. “I know.”
Not Playing You
1
Baker
Usually I don’t have any problem. I have complete focus on my job. I’m a fireman; I have to. But today’s different. Right as our