Sweet Ride (South Florida Riders #6) - Breezie Bennett Page 0,75
family. Holding each other and drowning in the excitement and wonder of everything that’s to come for the three of us.
“Are you glad we…” Ellie waves her left hand, making the diamond on her ring finger sparkle. “Tied the knot early?”
“I’m so glad. We’re a full-on family now.”
She giggles and nods.
Our wedding was small and unplanned, but awesome. We weren’t going to get married before Mason was born, but one day Ellie woke up in the middle of the night and said, “I want you to be my husband.” That weekend, we had her family and my grandma and a few close friends at a ceremony on the beach. It was perfect.
“McKenzie family?” Nurse Rita knocks lightly on the edge of the door to the hospital room.
Ellie and I look up and beam at her. She was a real godsend through the whole baby-having process. “Yeah?”
“Are you guys ready for guests? There’s, um…” She glances over her shoulder down the hallway. “Quite a few people who want to come and say hello.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Oh God.”
“Of course. Tell them all to come in.” Ellie smiles and shrugs at me.
“So, what do you think?” I ask her, shifting Mason so we’re both holding him together. “Your family? Or my teammates?”
She purses her lips and frowns. “That’s a tough one. Definitely your grandma. I know my mom and Noah said they’d be here, but I think all the other Vices are working.”
“Oh yeah, Gram’s here. I guess we’ll see who else. Get ready for a showering of love, Ellie Vice.”
She squeezes the little bundle of baby and kisses my arm. “I’ve got all the love-showering I need.”
“Junior!”
Ellie and I both burst into laughter as Chase and Whitney come into the room, Chase with an enormous grin and Whit with a bouquet of flowers.
I give Mason to Ellie and stand up to hug them both.
“Junior’s a real-life daddy.” Chase pats my shoulder. “Congratulations, brother.”
“Thanks, man.”
Whitney goes to coo over the baby with Ellie, and I see some more familiar faces coming into the little room.
Kendall and Andre are next, along with Frankie and Leo.
“Oh my gosh, he’s beautiful!” Frankie exclaims upon her first glance at Mason.
“He looks like you, Ellie.” Kendall smiles.
“Welcome to the club, my dude.” Leo high-fives me, and Andre pats my back.
More people flood into the room, which is quickly filling up with laughter and talking and happiness surrounding Ellie and the baby.
“Uncles have arrived!” Noah announces, walking in with Jayson, Ethan, and Clay. Trina Vice is with them, wielding her iPhone camera and smiling from ear to ear.
“Hey, guys.” I greet all of Ellie’s brothers—my brothers now—and introduce them to the baby.
The Vice guys stand around the bed, teasing Ellie and laughing and fawning over the baby.
“Mason, right?” Noah asks. “You stuck with Mason for the name?”
“We did.” Ellie looks up at her brother and then back down at the baby. “Mason Noah McKenzie.”
Noah drops his head to the side and widens his eyes. “Ellie Belly! You didn’t have to—”
“Shut up.” Ellie grins at her brother. “It’s the perfect name for him.”
“Dibs on the next one,” Jayson jokes as Ellie hands Mason to Noah for him to hold.
Trina takes probably a hundred pictures of all the Vice siblings and Mason, wiping a tear from her face.
“Oh my gosh! I can literally feel the energy of new life filling this space,” Melody observes as she bounces in with Dylan, her pink hair flowing everywhere. “Can’t you feel the spirit, Dyl? The life?”
“I can, babe.”
Elliot and Jessica come in with them, bringing more flowers and smiles and wrapping us in a tangible blanket of love and support.
“Hey, guys,” I say and get more hugs and smiles and selfies and laughs.
“Let me see the little one.” Finally, Grandma makes her way into the hospital room, quickly giving me a kiss on the cheek and then shoving her way through my teammates and their wives to get to Ellie and Mason.
“’Scuse me, great-grandmother coming through. Yes, I know that’s redundant.” She pushes Chase and Andre to the side and gets to the bed where Ellie is lying with Mason tucked against her.
“Oh sweet heavens.” She clutches her chest.
“Hi, Gram.” Ellie giggles. “Say hi to your great-grandson Mason.”
“He’s just a gem, Ellie. You two are so lucky. Oh, enjoy these years. Soak them all in. He’s a wonderfully beautiful baby.” She grins at Mason in his blanket.
“You look happy, El.” Noah rubs Ellie’s back. “I’m proud of you.”
“The youngest Vice sibling,” Ethan remarks about Ellie. “And the first one to settle down and have a family. Pretty wild. I would have guessed it’d be Jay,” he says sarcastically.
“Shut up, man. You know I’m never settling down. Yeah, the baby’s cute and all, but that life is not for me.” Jayson, who I’m starting to realize is a bit of a playboy and a reckless billionaire gambler, shakes his head.
“Who knows?” Ellie winks at her brothers. “One of you will be next. Trust me, it happens when you least expect it.” She smiles at me, and I shake my head in disbelief at the entire situation and my entire life.
I sure as hell didn’t expect this, any of it. But it’s so insanely good, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“That has to be everyone, right?” I whisper to Ellie, crouching down next to the bed and laughing at the amount of people who came to see Mason today.
“Uh, yeah.” Ellie swallows. “I think that’s got to be it.”
We look around the room together, everyone we love all in one place. I kiss my beautiful wife and admire our adorably flawless baby boy.
“Elizabeth.” Christopher’s voice breaks through the murmur of the hospital room as his tall frame approaches us. “Matthew.”
I stand up and hold out my arms, because I’m so damn happy today that I’m gonna give Christopher Vice a big old hug whether he likes it or not.
He accepts my embrace and even pats my back with a little more enthusiasm than I anticipated. “Congratulations,” he says, a genuine twinkle of pride in his eyes. “Both of you. I couldn’t be more pleased with how everything’s turned out.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Come say hey to Mason.”
He leans over and looks at his grandson for the first time, and I watch his face soften into putty when he sees those tiny baby eyes. “He’s wonderful,” Christopher says.
“I’m glad you’re here, Daddy.” Ellie opens her baby-free arm and hugs her dad, shutting her eyes and smiling.
“I’ve gained a son and a grandson,” Christopher says, giving me a half smile. “I’m a lucky man today.”
Warmth fills my chest as I look around the room. Melody is talking about Mason’s vibrant spirit. Chase is making sarcastic remarks about how he can already tell Mason’s gonna be a ladies’ man. Whitney and Frankie are rolling their eyes. Ellie’s brothers are giving each other shit and teasing Ellie and welcoming me into the family.
Grandma wraps her arm around me and gives me a squeeze. “Like a fucking Hallmark movie,” she whispers in my ear with a salty wink.
I thought all I ever wanted was a Super Bowl win. I thought that was my dream. But this, this gorgeous, insanely amazing woman and this ridiculously perfect baby, this feels about ten times better. Whatever life throws at us, whatever confusing mess comes next, we’ve got each other.
And I’m never, ever letting them go.
Coming Soon
The Miami Vices
by Breezie Bennett
As the South Florida Riders series comes to a dramatic close, get ready to fall in love with the new billionaire team owners, the Miami Vices. This colorful South Florida family has secrets, makes mistakes, gives into temptations, and takes risks…all in the name of love. A brand new series from Breezie Bennett…coming early 2021!
Want to know the day Breezie Bennett releases a new book?
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About the Author
Breezie Bennett has had her fingers on a keyboard since she was a middle schooler writing sports romances about her brother’s baseball team. A graduate of the University of Florida, she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, can dance on pointe, and has been known to shotgun a beer in 5.2 seconds. When not writing romance, you’ll find her on a Florida beach with her two dogs, Ginger and Rosemary, and a playlist full of Pink Floyd and Lil Wayne.