Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic) (23 page)

BOOK: Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic)

5.05Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

Tessa’s tears rolled freely down her cheeks. She would always be amazed at his ability to melt her with his well-timed, sincere eloquence.

“Oh, Gavan, I love you, too.”

Gavan leaned his forehead to touch hers.

“Deep down, I’d like sons, but two smaller versions of you would definitely keep me on my toes.”

They laughed and sniffled together. Gavan shut her door and ran to his side of the truck to jump in.

* * * *

Just over thirteen hours later, Jaime entered the room, balloons, bouquet, and teddy bears in hand. Tessa looked exhausted but more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. His best friend, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed beside her, was smiling like the biggest loon he’d ever seen. They each held a baby in their arms.

“Jaime, brother, meet your nephews,” Gavan said proudly.

Jaime stepped to Gavan to gaze down at the brown-haired wailer with stormy gray eyes. He turned then and leaned toward Tessa to stroke the cheek of the blond boy, eyes already tinged with a touch of dark amber, quietly cooing in her arms.

“What are their names?” Jaime asked, kissing Tessa’s cheek, smiling at her with pride.

Tessa grinned. “Well, this is Greer Mackenzie Murdoch and Gavan’s got
Jaimeson
Danvers Murdoch.”

Jaime’s eyes opened wide.

“We’ll be calling him Jaime,” Tessa said.

Jaime turned and Gavan handed him his namesake with a wink. “It’s the least we
coul
’ do, man. After all, if it weren’t for you, they probably
woul’na
be here.”

After
gooing
and
gahing
at the twins for a sufficient amount of time, they put the sleeping babies in their cribs.

“Gavan, I called your family as soon as you guys went in and they said they’d be leaving for the airport within an hour. They’ve been checking the flight schedules every day for two months waiting for this,” Jaime said with a chuckle.

Gavan nodded. “Aye, I think they might be just a little excited about this. You didn’t mention twins, did you?”

Tessa chimed in. “
Ooo
, yeah, we want that to be a surprise when they get here.”

Jaime shook his head. “Nope. Not a word. They have no idea.”

As he bent to plant a kiss on Tessa’s forehead, Jaime wished her good night.

“They’re so beautiful, Tessa. And I’m so proud of you.”

She smiled up at him, her eyes nearly closed from exhaustion.

He and Gavan exchanged those big, slap-on-the-back hugs that men do, and Jaime congratulated him again.

Bending over the twins, he lightly stroked each of their cheeks with his index finger and whispered, “Good night, little men. I can’t wait to teach you two all kinds of mischievous things to make your mommy and daddy go gray prematurely.”

At the door, he paused and turned back. Tessa was already asleep, curled up against Gavan, who was happily gazing over at his sons while he absentmindedly traced his fingers up and down Tessa’s arm.

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I love to read, always have. There have been times when I’ve been reading several books at once and was so caught up in them that when I finished one, I’d find myself wondering what some of the characters were up to that day. Eventually, I discovered that romance novels ain’t what they used to be and, thanks to the almighty internet, there’s a whole new world of erotic romance out there. I think because I read so many of them, they started to spill over and my own ideas just clambered to get out. So, here I am.

I don’t think I’d be able to decide between curling up under Grandma’s afghan with a cup of hot chocolate to read a book or sitting on the beach with my toes digging in the sand to read a book as my favorite way to spend a day.

I live just outside Philadelphia with my husband of 17 years, two humongous dogs and a cat who thinks she’s a dog, too.