Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(59)
Author: Molly McAdams

Thankfully he couldn’t stop smiling, I had been worried he would be upset about that part, “And you’re just now telling me?” He growled playfully and buried his face in my neck.

My breathing was getting ragged and I had to force myself to answer him, “Well I had my first appointment today, and I wanted to wait until I had that to tell you.”

“Wait, today?” He sat back to look at me, “I thought you and Bree were doing wedding stuff.”

“Yeah, we did all that yesterday. The appointment was all we had today. I was pretty positive I knew what the doctor was going to say, and I wanted to be alone with you when you found out, so I called your mom, asked her if she would watch Liam after we were done.”

“So that was you? Not her?” He smiled and shook his head at me. “Wait, wait, wait. So Bree already knows?”

I laughed, “She was actually the one to make me take the test. I swear she has a built-in radar for pregnant women. I had no idea and she just showed up with a test one day and forced me into the bathroom.”

“She would. Who else knows?”

“No one, and if Bree hadn’t been literally waiting outside the door that day, you would have been the first to know, I promise.”

“I can’t blame you for Bree knowing, she’s kind of a force all her own. She gets her way with everything.”

“Pretty much.” I smiled and pulled his face back to mine.

Pulling away, he lifted up the bottom of my silk shirt and placed soft kisses on my barely-there-bump, skimming his nose across it he kissed it one last time and made his way up my body. “When are you due?” He asked against my chest.

“May twenty-sixth, I’m ten weeks.” I said breathlessly.

“I love you so much Harper, and I can’t tell you how excited I am.”

“Yeah?”

Brandon looked directly into my eyes, his brown eyes full of so much love, “Yeah.”

Smiling, I kissed him once and let my head fall back onto the pillows while reaching for his towel, “I love you too.”

20

“Well I hear a congratulations is in order, huh Kid?” Konrad kissed the top of my head as he pulled me in for a hug.

“Why thank you! Your turn next, yeah?” I mock glared at Bree when he released me, but smiled when her jaw dropped.

“I swear I wasn’t the one that told him!” She said with her hands raised, palms facing me.

“I told him.” Brandon said as he walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, “It’s only fair if Bree knew, he got to know too.”

“You guys didn’t tell Mom though, right?”

Konrad and Bree shook their heads and Bree said, “No, we know you’re telling everyone at Liam’s birthday party. I still can’t believe you’re going to have two kids before I even have one!”

“Hmm…guess you better get working on that then.” I winked at her.

“No way, we’re going to have our hands full playing with yours. Just keep popping them out, and we’ll act like they’re ours.”

“Um, no! I think two is more than enough for now, I won’t even be twenty-one and Brandon will be twenty-three when baby number two is born, if we have more I’m sure it can wait.”

The doorbell rang and Brandon kissed my cheek before releasing me, “That’s probably Jeremy, he’s coming with a few cousins, so is it okay if we tone down the baby talk until they leave?”

“I thought you told Jeremy?”

“I did, because I know he won’t say anything. My cousins on the other hand, don’t know how to shut up. They’d probably call my mom before we could finish telling them.” He chuckled and jogged off toward the door.

Bree leaned over the island in the middle of the kitchen and raised her brow, “So Jer knows too?”

“Yeah,” I grunted and tried to reach for the stack of bowls on the top shelf, “I don’t know why we’re making such a big deal about not telling the parents yet, we’ve told practically everyone else. I guess we just want them all here at once, so they can find out at the same time.”

I had just climbed on top of the counter when Konrad reached over me and grabbed the bowls, smirking when I glared at him. He didn’t even have to go on the balls of his feet.

“Damn tall people.” I muttered under my breath.

“Hey sis! Hey Bree,” Jeremy hugged her quick, and turned to do a “guy hug” with Konrad, “Konrad, what’s up man?” He stepped over to where I was still sitting on the counter and I frowned when I realized he was still taller than me even when I was up here, “Trying to reach the bowls again Harper?” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek before whispering, “Congrats sis. I’m really happy for you guys.”

I hugged him tightly back, “Thanks Jer, and thanks for coming.”

“I brought my girlfriend, is that okay?”

“Jeremy, you have a girlfriend?!” His face lit up and he had a huge grin, “Are you even old enough for one of those yet?” I laughed when he playfully punched my arm.

“I’m seventeen, not twelve.”

I got all serious, “Oh yes, of course. How could I ever forget?” I looked around him, “Well where is she? I want to meet this girl who stole my brother-in-law’s heart.”

“She’s with Laura and Kate, but she’s really shy, so Bree” he turned to look at her, “go easy on her, okay?”

Bree put a hand to her chest, “Who me? Shy people are my specialty. Just ask Harper.”

We all laughed and Jeremy eyed me curiously, “Sis, what the f**k are you doing?”

“Language!” I chastised him but started giggling uncontrollably when I still couldn’t get down, “I can’t get back down. I usually can’t even jump up here. How the hell did I get up here Konrad?”

“Language!” Jeremy tried to mimic my pitch as he scooped me off the counter. “God you’re so short.”

“No, the rest of you are just freakishly tall.” I pushed him away from me and went to stand by Bree, since she was much closer to my height.

“Aww, are they making fun of you again sweetheart?” Brandon was grinning when he rounded the corner, “I can’t believe anyone would ever make fun of your height. Because you’re average height, right?”

I glared at him until he wrapped his arms around me with my favorite smile and his dimple flashing at me, “Exactly.” I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him soundly.

“Uh, one, get a room. Two, Harper I want you to meet Aubrey.”

I peeked around Brandon’s side and saw a pretty girl with pale skin, raven black hair and wide brown eyes tucked under Jeremy’s arm. Oh my word they were cute together. “Hi Aubrey!” I walked over to them and hugged her quickly, dropping my arms and stepping back when I remembered how much I hated being hugged before Bree socialized me.

“Aubrey, this is my sister-in-law, Harper.”

She gave a small wave and blushed when she smiled, oh yeah, we were going to get along just fine. “Nice to meet you Harper, you have a beautiful home.”

“Thank you! Aubrey, this is my best friend Breanna and her fiancé Konrad.” I waited until they said their hellos and stepped back into Brandon’s arms, “And I’m guessing you just met Brandon?”

She nodded and bit her lower lip, trying to curl further into Jeremy’s arm.

“Um, no! Where is the little munchkin?” One of the twins called from the dining room.

I laughed and when Kate and Laura walked into the kitchen, I went to hug them both. “He’s at Mom and Dad’s for the night, figured this would be a little much for him. You girls remember Konrad and Bree?”

Laura jumped over to Bree’s side for a hug and Kate crossed her arms and failed at glaring at me, “I wanted to see my little Liam though.” She pouted and drug her feet to hug Bree.

“Next time,” I promised them, “besides, we have four or five single guys fresh out of the Marine Corps coming today, you really want to be playing with a baby that whole time?”

“Oh my God, really?!” They both said at the same time.

I laughed and nodded. The twins were Brandon and Jeremy’s cousins, only a year younger than myself and insanely beautiful. They had a good half foot on me, had blue eyes and unnatural blonde hair, but they rocked it pretty well. Other than their eyes, I still hadn’t found a way to tell them apart, thank God Kate had one eye that was half blue and half brown, or I’d always wonder who I was talking to.

“Well then!” Kate said and grabbed her sister’s hand, “We’re going to go change into our bikinis!”

“You do realize we don’t have a pool, right?” I called to their retreating forms.

“Don’t care!”

“I’m going to end up punching someone, aren’t I?” Brandon grumbled from behind me.

“Probably.” I sighed and looked up at him, glad to see he was smiling. “When are you going to start the grill?”

“Already did after I let them in. I’ll put the burgers on a bit after everyone else gets here.”

“Thank you.” I kissed his soft lips and relaxed further into his chest, “And thank you for this, I think it’ll be a good day.”

“I think you’re right.” He lifted me up and sat me on the counter, gave me another kiss that almost reduced me to a puddle and walked over to Jeremy, “Come help me with the ice chests.”

“Brandon! I just barely got down from the counter, and Jeremy had to help me!”

“I know.” He smiled wickedly and walked out to the garage.

I turned to Konrad, “Care to help?”

“Ya know, I forgot to get the ice from the store…wanna go with me baby?” He grabbed Bree’s hand and led her quickly out of the kitchen.

Jerks.

Looking to the only person left in the room I added dryly, “Want to join?”

Aubrey walked up next to me and had to jump three times before she got enough leverage to lift herself all the way up.

“They’re really high up, right? It’s not just me?”

“No, it’s definitely not just you.” She said softly and tucked her hair behind her ears, “Thank you so much for having us, this is really sweet of you.”

“Of course! It’s fun to do. I apologize in advance if it gets rowdy. I don’t know much about the guys coming.”

She laughed and swung her legs back and forth, “That’s fine.”

Man, did I talk this soft too? “So tell me, how did you meet Jeremy?”

“Um, school.”

“Oh yeah? How long have you been dating?”

Aubrey blushed fiercely and looked over to the door leading to the garage, “Only a week. He asked me out a few times last year, we were Chemistry partners, but I don’t know…he scared me.”

“What? Why?”

“Well I mean, besides his size, he’s really popular and outgoing. He was already popular after his first week at the school, and I knew a lot of girls liked him. I don’t know. Guys like him don’t date girls like me, I thought it was a joke.”