Read Online Now and Forever by Brenda Rothert - Free Book Online

wasn’t about the baby?
    “Baby, I love you.” He took her small hands in his much larger ones and locked his gaze on her big brown eyes. “That’s what this is about. I wouldn’t ask you otherwise. You’ve owned me since that day in the coffee shop, and I just want to make it official.”
    “There’ll be plenty of time for that,” she said, squeezing his hands.
    Frustration coursed through Cole, and he pulled away from her grasp. “This is about your dad, isn’t it? He doesn’t think I’m good enough for you, so now you don’t, either.”
    “No! Cole, no. I’m mad at him because he was completely out of line.”
    “What, then? Why won’t you marry me?”
    Emma wrapped her arms around herself. “It has to be for the right reasons.”
    Cole ran a hand through his hair and turned. “Why the fuck don’t I get to decide what my reasons are?”
    “I can’t handle another . . . thing right now,” Emma said. “I’m pregnant, the construction loan payment on the bakery is overdue and my dad is on my shit list for the first time ever. I just need a little space right now.”
    Bitter hurt made Cole’s temperature rise. An uncontrollable flush spread through him, and he closed his eyes. He needed to punch something, or run somewhere. Anything to get rid of this overwhelming sense of disappointment.
    “Yeah, I’ll give you some space,” he said, heading for the kitchen without looking back at Emma. He grabbed his car keys and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
    ***
    None of the dresses she’d worn to countless college formals came close to the beauty of the ones in the bridal magazine Layla was thumbing through. She’d been a bridesmaid so many times, and now it was her turn to be the one on center stage.
    But when she looked at the intricate beadwork on one dress, and then the billowing skirt of another, she wasn’t feeling either one. She didn’t picture herself as a glamour queen on the day of her wedding to Ben. When she did picture it, she saw her hair blowing loosely behind her in a light breeze.
    She was never the star of the show in her daydreams about getting married. Ben was. She imagined his expression when he saw her coming down the aisle toward him. How it would feel to hear him make lifelong vows to her. The warmth of the kiss that would seal them together.
    Her daydream was interrupted by the ring of her office phone.
    “Layla . . . Carson,” she said, shaking her head. She’d been close to saying “Montrose” because she said the name “Layla Montrose” in her head at least 20 times a day. She’d never intended to hyphenate her last name, but Ben didn’t have to know that. Let him think he’d won one.
    “Miss Carson.”
    “Julian Pelham.” The British accent gave him away every time. He was an attorney she’d gone out with once before meeting Ben. His invitation over dinner to join what he called his “harem” had been quite resistible.
    “What’s this I hear about you getting married?”
    “It’s true -- I’m engaged.”
    He gasped dramatically. “To that detective from Chicago PD? The bloody huge one?”
    “His name’s Ben. And he is bloody huge.”
    “Fuck me,” Julian muttered. “What about us?”
    Layla laughed. “There never was an us , Julian. I considered your offer to join Team Pelham for about one and a half seconds, if that makes you feel any better.”
    “There may’ve been an us when I decided to settle down in a decade or so,” he said, sounding offended. “But seriously, Layla, I’m happy for you. And for him, too. Hope he knows what a lucky bastard he is.”
    “You’re sweet, thanks.”
    “I’m actually calling on business and pleasure. My client Brian Winston is starting a real estate acquisition company and he wants to hire in-house counsel. You’re his top choice.”
    “Me? I don’t have enough experience. And I just opened my own practice recently.”
    “Apparently you come highly recommended. I told him I can only