Beautiful Surrender (The Surrender Series Book Three) (12 page)

When
the ambulances arrived, Vincent had regained a bit of his strength. He insisted
on riding to the hospital up front in the same ambulance as me, even though he
was in a much worse state than me. The paramedics argued with him for a while,
before letting him have his way. They must’ve figured that this way they would
at least get him to the hospital, even if he refused to get there on a
stretcher.

I lay
in the stretcher as the paramedics fussed over him, wrapping up his hands and
flushing his eyes with water.

“Kristen,
I meant everything I said before. I love you. If you want to have the baby,
I’ll be right there with you. It’s up to you Kristen, but I love you. I’ll be
here for you, no matter what you decide.”

“Is
that what you want Vincent?”

He
nodded. His eyes were glistening, I’m not sure if it was from the water the
paramedics were rinsing his eyes with or from tears.

“When
we were back there and Marty told you about the baby, for a moment, I thought
you didn’t want the baby,” I said.

“I’ve
wanted a child for a while now, Kristen. When you told me, I was so happy. . .
but I thought I was about to lose it all. I love you Kristen. If you’re ready,
I want to start a family with you. Do you want that?”

I
struggled to find the words.“I—I love you too Vincent, and I think I do want a
family, but I don’t know yet. Things have just been so crazy, we should take
some time and think about it in case either of us changes our minds.”

He gave
me his hand, wrapped in medical bandages and I latched onto it. “I won’t change
my mind Kristen, but you’re right. We’ll talk about it later. All I care about
right now is that you’re okay.”

I
pursed my lips. He was going to make me cry again. “I’m glad you’re okay too,
Vincent. I thought I was going to lose you.”

Vincent
let out a deep breath and chuckled. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

His
expression turned serious again. “I’m sorry about all of this Kristen. This was
all my fault. Earlier today, when we were interrupted in the office, it was
Kurt and Bernie. They had come to tell me that they lost track of Marty. I
should have realized that he was more dangerous than he seemed.”

“No
Vincent, you didn’t know. How could you have known that Marty would react that
way? I didn’t even know. I thought he had changed and got the help he needed
and was recovering. I was wrong about him too.”

Vincent
growled, “Guys like that don’t learn their lesson until you bury them under six
feet of concrete.”

“I
wouldn’t have wanted you to do that Vincent. That wouldn’t have been right.
Marty is sick.”

He let
out a long sigh, “It doesn’t matter anymore. Now you’re safe and you won’t ever
have to be afraid of him ever again.”

“If you
hadn’t met me, if I hadn’t dragged you into my problems, none of this would’ve
happened. Your hands . . .”

“Don’t
you dare say that Kristen. If I hadn’t met you, my life wouldn’t have been
whole. I don’t regret a single moment I’ve spent with you. I’d gladly trade my
thumbs, my hands or any parts of my body for you Kristen. You’re everything to
me.”

“Did
you really mean it when you said you wanted to start a family?”

“I know
we haven’t been dating for that long Kristen, and I don’t know what the future
holds, but I know how I feel about you.”

“What
about your company?”

“They
don’t need me there all the time. I’ll take more time off to be with you.
You’re more important to me.”

“What
if . . . what if it doesn’t work out?”

“We
can’t live life based on ‘what ifs’ Kristen. We’ll make it work.”

Vincent
looked around the ambulance and then raised an eyebrow at me, it looked almost
comical on his swollen face. “So . . . ‘waddles’ was your phone password huh?”

I
half-laughed half-sobbed in relief and held on more tightly to his hand. No
matter what happened next, we would work through our issues together.

“Ouch.”

“Oh,
I’m so sorry,” I said.

“It’s
fine. Just try not to put too much pressure there,” Vincent said.

He
moved his arm out from under me and I stroked it lightly. The cast had come off
a month ago, but sometimes it was still sore for him. In addition to breaking
his thumbs, Vincent had also fractured his forearm in the fight with Marty.

Marty
was prosecuted and locked up. Even though he needed serious help, it was
because of his ill-guided actions that Vincent and I were closer together. I
wasn’t happy about what happened to Marty, but I knew that he would finally be
able to get the help he needed in prison.

Sunlight
drifted in through the translucent blinds, illuminating small specks of dust
floating in the air. Vincent beamed at me, his eyes still squinty from sleep.
We were in his New York penthouse. Though I would have preferred the
tranquility of his island, Vincent insisted on being in Manhattan so that we
could be close to the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He told me that it had
the best neonatal care unit in the world.

I
snapped back to the present and Vincent was looking at me with a suggestive
look on his face. His cock was out and he was nudging at my entrance.

“Wait,
aren’t you missing something?” I teased him.

He
nuzzled his chin against the side of my face. “Like what?”

The
light fuzz on his chin rubbing against me made it difficult not to giggle.
“Like a condom. That’s how we got here in the first place.”

Vincent
had proposed to me as soon as we had gotten out of the hospital. We had many
serious talks while we were both recovering. Somehow, despite it being against
hospital policy, Vincent had gotten us placed in the same recovery room. After
the events we had been through, it was pretty clear that we both wanted to
raise a child together.

Giselle
had visited us a few times with Brady and Rob. She gave me a few tips on making
the pregnancy go more smoothly and I appreciated the time I spent with her. She
wanted to know the sex of the baby, but we didn’t even know—we wanted it to be
a surprise. I was looking forward to calling Giselle my sister-in-law.

Vincent
lifted his head up and smiled down at me.

“But I
like where we are now.”

“You’re
not worried about how our lives will change with a baby in the picture?”

He
propped his head up with his other arm, his expression turning serious. “I’m
excited. In fact, I’m going to come inside you and we’re going to make twins.”

I
laughed. “I hate to burst your bubble but that’s not how it works.”

“It
might be improbable but we’ve beaten the odds before.” Vincent kissed my round
belly before laying the side of his head against my chest.

“So
you’re going to break the rules of biology now?”

I
pushed myself up until I was propped against the headboard. Vincent shifted and
grimaced as he put his weight on his injured arm.

“Maybe
when I get my full strength back, we’ll give it a shot.”

After
we had talked in the hospital, we decided that it would be best if I left my
job at Waterbridge-Howser and helped Vincent manage his wealth until I gave
birth. With the way things had been going at Waterbridge-Howser, I would’ve
been forced out sooner or later, and I would always have to sleep with one eye
open, knowing that Richard had it out for me.

Our
plan was that Vincent would help me establish my own wealth management firm
afterward. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but he’d convinced me that I had
all the skills I needed and he had the connections to get me up on my feet.
Vincent started delegating a lot of his work in order to spend more time with
me, and in preparation for taking care of the baby. He also cut out the riskier
aspects of his love of extreme sports, though he still enjoyed surfing
occasionally.

I’d
moved out of my place with Riley and in with Vincent. Riley had a few
blush-worthy comments about sex during a pregnancy, but she was overjoyed for
us and insisted on being involved in planning the wedding.

I’d
finally called my parents and invited them to the wedding that was happening
six months from now. It was still awkward, but they’d seemed happy for me. I
don’t know if I will ever be close with them, but at least they could still be
a small part of my life.

“Not
feeling so invincible anymore huh Mr. Risk-Taker?” It felt good to be like
this, just lounging around and teasing each other.

“I feel
great. How do you feel?”

“I
don’t know, maybe you can make me feel even better,” I said smiling.

“Insatiable.”
Vincent kissed me and rolled me onto my back. “That’s the woman I love.”

“The
heart wants what the heart wants.”

It
turned out Vincent had been right all along.
Nothing worth pursuing comes
without risk
. I took a risk in a bar in South Africa with deadly spiders. I
took a risk dating Vincent when it could have cost me my job. And I took a risk
trusting Vincent, Mr. Trouble-At-First-Glance, when I was afraid nothing good
would come of it.

Vincent held me tightly and I
relaxed into his arms as two—no—three hearts beat together. Everything my heart
ever wanted was right here with me.

Thank you
for reading!

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J

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