Just Sex (20 page)

Epilogue

J.J. maneuvered his rental car through the back roads of Maine. He checked the rearview mirror and grinned to himself. “Hold on, Peanut.” His baby girl kicked her feet and squirmed in her car seat. Valerie yawned and closed her eyes. “We’ll be at Kat’s new house in just a minute.” He rubbed his clammy palm on his jeans. “Let’s hope she says yes to us.”

Valerie’s small lips twitched into a half smile as if to say
, “Dad, of course she’ll say yes.”

“I hope so, baby girl.” J.J.’s GPS signaled. He turned onto Kat’s new street. It still dumfounded him that she had a home in Florida and a home in Maine.

Fall leaves crunched under the wheels of the rental car as he approached the old Cape Cod. The large yard was awash in bright reds and oranges. “Look at the colors, Valerie. The trees have already changed. In a week or two they’ll be bare.” He parked behind a shiny new red Land Rover and shook his head. “Of course she’d buy the most rugged vehicle on the market.” J.J. opened his door and stepped out.

“What are you doing here?” Kat ran out of the house, jumped into his arms and kissed him hard on the mouth.

Loving the way that she felt against him, he pulled her tighter to his chest. It had been too long since he held her. “Do you think we would have missed the mill’s grand reopening?” he said. “Besides, we missed you.” He fused his mouth to hers and nipped at her bottom lip before he let her go.

She smiled up at him. “I was just home last week.”

“Valerie missed you and Sam.” He opened the back door of his car and removed the infant car seat from the back.

Kat took the diaper bag. “We miss her too.” She brushed a finger over the baby’s cheek. “Come on in. It’s getting cool out here.”

“It was ninety degrees when we left this morning.” He walked over to the Land Rover and kicked a tire. “Nice.”

“I wanted something that could handle the elements.”

“This thing could climb Mount Everest.”

“All I need it to do is climb the White Mountains.” She moved to the front steps. “You haven’t seen what I did with the place.”

J.J. set his now sleeping daughter inside the door. His eyes roamed the charming space. “Wow, this looks like something out of a magazine.” His heart swelled with pride. “I don’t know how you do it.” He grabbed Kat’s hand. “You rebuilt the mill and restored this old house in less than eight months.” He kissed her knuckles.
This is as good of a time as ever.
“You also came home every other weekend to be with Sam and spend time with me and Valerie.” His chest tightened and his heart pounded. “Katherine.” He retrieved a light blue box out of his jacket pocket and knelt on one knee. J.J. remembered what Sam had said to him before he left Kat’s parents’ house fifteen minutes before.

“Ask my mom to marry you like they do in those stupid girl movies.”
J.J. wanted to make the boy proud. “Will you marry me? Will you be a mom to Valerie? Will you make Sam a big brother?” His hand shook when he opened the box. “Will you let me love you every day of the rest of my life?”

Tears ran down Kat’s face. Her eyes fixated on the three-carat princess-cut solitaire in his hand. Unease filled him. “Kat, baby, what do you say?”

“Oh my God, where did you get that?”

His heart plummeted to his stomach, “Tiffany’s, but we can get you a different one if you don’t like this one.”

“Oh my God no. It’s gorgeous.” She stared at him and smiled. “I have never loved anyone like I love you. I would be honored to be Mrs. Jared James Adams.”

Words couldn’t express how he felt. He slid the ring on her finger.

Kat reached for him and wrapped herself around him. All J.J.’s anxiety fled. “I was worried you wouldn’t say yes.”

“I’m sorry. I know I haven’t always made it easy to love me.”

He gazed into her gray-blue eyes. “Over this last year, you have shown me how to really love. When I found out about Valerie, you were there for me, even though you had it in your mind I would be better off without you.

“When she was born and I was scared shitless, it was you who stood by me and told me I could be a good father to her.” He felt moisture track down his face. He cleared his throat. “I knew my life was complete when you lifted Valerie from the clear plastic bassinet in the hospital on Valentine’s Day and placed her in my arms.” He swiped at his face. “Do you remember what you said?”

She nodded. “I said she was the luckiest little girl on the planet, because you were her dad.”

J.J. wound his hands into her hair and tilted her face to him. “I knew then that I needed to marry you.” He covered her mouth with his.

A soft cry came from behind them. He pressed his forehead to Kat’s.

“Someone is feeling left out,” she said. “I’ll get her.” Kat stepped to the baby carrier. “Then I need to call Patty and tell her the news.”

“Don’t bother.” He checked his watch. “She’ll be here in about five minutes. She and Ron are at your parents’ house with Sam. They didn’t want to miss the big reopening party.”

Kat lifted and placed the baby against her chest. “Hi, Valerie. I missed you.” She kissed the top of her head.

Love overwhelmed J.J. “You’re so beautiful.”

She walked with over to him with Valerie and laid her head on his chest. “I love you.”

Valerie reached for him, blowing spit bubbles. J.J. smiled and lifted her with his free hand out of Kat’s arms. The door flung open, rattling the pictures on the wall.

“Mom, did you say yes?” Sam called as he skidded to a stop.

“I said yes,” she said.

Sam plowed into them and wrapped his arms around their waists. “Good.”

Who would have thought that something that started as just sex would turn into so much more?

As a child, Heidi Lynn Anderson played with imaginary friends. When her mother asked the doctor if that was normal, he assured her that Heidi was fine, and told her she was just creative.

As an adult, Heidi became a huge fan of romance novels. She loved to take what she called “book vacations”. With hundreds of novels in her library, she decided to sit down and write her
own
vacation. In the process she fell in love with writing. Now Heidi puts her imaginary friends in steamy stories.

When not writing, Heidi is running a small business or spending time with her husband and son. She is taking writing workshops and doing what she can for her local Romance Writers of America chapter.

Heidi welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.

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