Stealing Harper

And all I could think was holy shit.

The air had left my body in a rush when our baby appeared on the screen and a lump formed in my throat. My mouth opened, but nothing came out, and when the heartbeat filled the room, it took everything in me to not break down right there. This baby is ours. I turned to look at Harper and saw her eyes glistening through the dark in the room as we listened to our baby’s racing heart.

“I can’t even believe how perfect a position your baby is in right now! That is unreal.” The doctor laughed. “Now, did you want to find out the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”

“I already know.” My princess glanced back at the screen and smiled softly when I squeezed her hand and laughed.

“I told you, baby,” I whispered. “I told you it would be a boy.”

We both looked at Dr. Lowdry. “It is a boy, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he is definitely a boy.” She laughed again, and I watched as our baby boy moved around on the screen.

I looked back over at my beautiful girl and kissed her softly, keeping my lips brushing against hers as I told her, “I love you and our son so much, Harper.”

When I pulled back, I saw that her eyes were glistening, and a few tears had fallen down her face. Using my thumbs, I brushed the trail of wetness off her cheeks and was rewarded with a heart-stopping smile.

After the doctor handed us the ultrasound pictures, I continued to stare at our son as Harper and I left the building. I’d known for months that I was in love with the girl walking next to me, and I’d known that I would give anything to make her mine, forever. But I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with her all over again, or to have this instant love for our baby.

When we got to my truck, I grabbed around her waist and hauled her back to me, my mouth crashing down on hers. Harper laughed softly, and her arms went around my neck as I walked her slowly backwards ’til she was against my truck. Our kiss was slow and heated as I tried to show her how happy she was making me.

I broke the kiss on a huff and looked into her smiling gray eyes, “That was . . . that was absolutely amazing!” I laughed and kissed her hard once more.

Her hands found their way into my hair as she pulled back. “Having you there made it so special, all I could think about the last two times was how I wished you were there to experience it with me.” Harper’s eyes filled with pain when she whispered, “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.”

“No sorrys today. I love you, and we’re having a son.” Holy shit, we’re really having a son. I smiled and pushed some hair away from her face. “Today is only allowed to be an I love you day.” When she nodded, I opened the door and helped her into the truck before running around to the driver’s side and getting in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as my Princess looked over the pictures with a wide smile. I only hoped the rest of today kept her smiling just as big.

We stopped for Mexican food, but thank God Harper was too distracted by the appointment to notice I could barely touch my lunch. My palms were sweating, and I was praying that the rest of the day wasn’t too much too soon for her. I hadn’t been lying to Sarah and Brad. I already had an idea in mind for a proposal to the only girl in the world that would ever matter; and it wasn’t going to happen that day. But everything I had planned for that day could definitely scare her just as bad as a proposal this soon would.

I was so stressed, I couldn’t even hold Harper’s hand as I drove us to the Ford dealership I’d had her dream car sent to. So I kept the music up loud enough that there wouldn’t be much room for talking and kept my right hand on the steering wheel, so I wouldn’t go to grab her hand. There was no way she could miss my shaking if I did.

As soon as I pulled in, Harper’s head stopped moving in time with the music, and she instantly stopped singing, “Uh . . . ?”

I had to clear my throat before I could talk to her as I turned to grin at her. “So I’ve been thinking, you’re going to need your own car soon, and I happen to know that you want a blacked-out Expedition.”

“Chase . . .”

“I may have had one brought to this dealership.”

“No you didn’t.” Her already wide eyes got even bigger, and her jaw dropped as she looked around at all the cars.

“I said I may have. Never said I did.”

She backhanded my arm before opening her door and hopping out of the truck. I blew out one last shaky breath as I rounded the front of my truck and pulled her into my arms. She was chewing on her bottom lip and looking around me before finally meeting my eyes. “Are you being serious?”

I smiled and pressed my lips to her neck. “I am. But we can look around and see if there’s something else you want.”

“Babe! I can’t buy a car.”

Shit, here goes nothing. “Maybe not, but we can.”

“You want to split it?”

A short, hard laugh escaped my lips at her adorably confused expression. “Not exactly. Okay, you can tell me if this is moving too fast, but since I plan on marrying you soon, I wanted to put you on my bank account so you have access to my money.”

“Chase”—her face had fallen, and I felt like I was holding my breath—“I don’t need you to do that, and I don’t need you to buy me a car.”

“I know, Princess, but I want you to have access to it. I make decent money at the shop, but Bree and I were also left a lot when Dad’s parents died. So I have more than enough in savings to take care of the three of us and to buy you a car. It’s not a big deal.”