Return To You - Leia Stone Page 0,104

send Autumn a message asking her if she needs me to pick up anything on my way home. She responds with a picture of some casserole cooking in the oven.

I know it won't always be this way. Next week Autumn and Livvie will start moving inventory into the new space at Tlaquepaque. She'll be interviewing potential employees, and Livvie will move down to Phoenix to be with her husband, leaving Autumn in charge of it all. But for right now, it feels like the domesticity I always wanted with her.

After pulling my car into the garage, I walk inside. The place smells good, and it's not just the mouthwatering smells wafting in from the kitchen. There's a candle burning on a table, something that definitely wasn't there before. There are also new throw pillows on the couch, and a blanket draped artfully on the back of a chair.

"Welcome home," she says, her arms sliding around my waist from behind. She presses her nose into my back as she hugs me.

"Music to my ears." I loosen her grip so I can turn around to face her. Placing a finger under her chin, I tip up her face to kiss her. "You're beautiful." Her hair is piled messily on her head. She wears yoga pants, a tank top, and not an ounce of makeup.

She rolls her eyes as if she doesn’t believe me.

"I have something to show you," she tells me, and her eyes sparkle like a clear night sky. "Follow me."

I do as I'm told, trying to guess what it is she has to show me. What if it's a floral comforter for our bed? I make a face, and I'm glad she's in front of me and can't see it. How am I going to tell her I don't want a floral comforter without hurting her feelings? I’ve never lived with a girl, and I’m kind of freaking out she’ll want pink and flowers everywhere now.

Oh shit. What if this is our first big fight while living together? What if—?

Instead of going right into our bedroom, Autumn takes a left into an empty bedroom I have across the hall. My stress evaporates. She's probably making the room into an office for herself. That I can totally handle; she can floral the crap out of it for all I care.

I walk in and pause, trying to understand. Pieces of furniture are strewn around the middle of the room. In the corner by the window is a rocking chair. Beside it is a ridiculously huge stuffed hippo.

Hmm, not exactly the office décor I would imagine for her. I suck in a sharp intake of breath when my eyes land on one of the furniture boxes in the middle of the room.

It’s a crib.

"I was trying to finish the crib before you got home, but they are way harder to assemble than you'd think." Autumn bites the side of her lower lip and watches me like a hawk.

My brain trips over my jumbled thoughts. All the weight leaves my limbs and I'm floating, except I'm not because I'm still here, standing in this … nursery?

For a baby.

A baby.

Our baby?

The smile starts slow, somewhere down below my knees, then flies up, overtaking me like a flame to tinder. Head to toe, I'm beaming. "You're pregnant?"

She nods. Her teeth release her lip and she smiles the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face. Like me, her whole body is glowing.

"Holy shit. I'm going to be a dad." My hands run through my hair. "I'm going to be a dad!" I yell this time, for good measure. In my mind I see a small baseball mitt, a gentle toss, a smiling boy or girl in awe as they've just caught their first baseball.

Autumn's palms are pressed together in front of her mouth and her shoulders are quaking with joy. I lift her in my arms, spin her around, then quickly put her back down.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt? Are you okay?" My eyes fall to her belly, looking for any sign that I’ve harmed her or the baby.

She laughs and puts her hand on my shoulders. "I'm not made of glass, Owen. I'm just pregnant."

"Say it again."

"I'm pregnant."

I kiss her, hoping the action shows her just how damn much I love her. She kisses me back, the kind of kiss that asks for more, but the timer in the kitchen interrupts us.

I hold the door open for her, but just as Autumn is about to