We made plans with Lark to come out and stay with us for a few days, and then we said our good-byes.

Jessie and I headed out of the airport and to my truck. The cool December evening felt amazing.

After a quick stop for a new cell phone, we were on our way to Mason. Jessie was asleep before we were even out of the Austin city limits. I grabbed my cell phone and hit Gunner’s number. After giving him a quick rundown, I asked him to let everyone know we were back in Texas, and we would probably be locking ourselves away for a few days.

I hit End and then peeked over at my sleeping beauty.

A father—I can’t believe I’m going to be a father.

For the first time in the last five weeks, I finally felt happy. I turned and glanced at my bag in the backseat, knowing that I had Jessie’s engagement ring in there. My heart started pounding in my chest. I was so glad I hadn’t asked her to marry me last night in Belize.

As we drove down the driveway, Jessie woke up. She stretched and made the cutest noise. I couldn’t wait to get her in the house and strip off her clothes. I wanted to do nothing but make love to her.

She looked over at me, and the passion in her eyes told me she was thinking the same thing. “I’m so glad to be home!”

“Me, too, baby. I’m gonna make love to you all night long.”

She smiled and nodded her head. “I like that plan—a lot. Maybe I should start undressing now.”

My dick jumped in my pants, and I laughed as I watched her pull her T-shirt over her head. I looked back ahead and slammed on the brakes.

“Shit! Jesus, Scott, why did you—” Jessie quickly put her shirt back on and started laughing. “Oh my god! Are you kidding me?”

I pulled up next to Drake’s truck and took a deep breath. I looked at Jessie. “Looks like you’re in trouble.”

She slowly smiled and gave me the sexiest look I’d ever seen. “I guess you might have to spank me then after they leave.” She opened the door and jumped out of the truck.

“Wait! What?” I yelled out after her.

I instantly imagined Jessie naked with me spanking her. Holy fuck. Talk about an instant hard-on.

I opened the truck door and jumped out. I tried to adjust my dick. As I walked around and grabbed her hand, she looked up at me and giggled.

“For that, I think you maybe deserve two spankings,” I said with a wink.

Her eyes filled with lust, and she bit down on her lower lip.

“You ready for the wrath of your father and brothers?” I said as I glanced over at Drake, Aaron, and Dewey all standing on my porch.

I guess I should have told Gunner not to call Drake.

As we got closer, Jessie began squeezing the hell out of my hand.

I leaned over and said, “Baby, I need that hand for later.”

She snapped her head over and looked at me. A blush quickly swept over her cheeks, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s gonna be fine. Don’t worry,” I said.

When we reached the top of the porch, Aaron walked up and hugged Jessie. “Jesus, don’t ever do that to us again, you little brat,” Aaron said as he pushed Jessie back and gave her a quick once-over.

He stepped aside and Dewey strolled up to her. His eyes were filled with tears.

“Dew, are you about to cry, dude?” I asked with a laugh.

He shot me a look that made me instantly stop laughing.

“I can still kick your damn ass, pretty boy,” Dewey said as he grabbed Jessie and pulled him to her. “My god, Tiny…don’t ever leave like that again without calling one of us. We were going crazy.”

Jessie wiped a tear away. She leaned back and gave Dewey a weak smile. “I’m so sorry I worried you. I really am.”

Dewey put his arm around her and turned her to face Drake. I had noticed the small smile on Drake’s face when his sons were hugging their sister, but the moment Dewey moved, Drake’s smile was replaced with a look of anger.

“You think you can just run away like that with no word to anyone, and then just walk back in like nothing ever happened?”

“Daddy, I—”

“No. You don’t get to Daddy me. You left the goddamn country, Jessie. You didn’t tell anyone. Then, you were holed up with some stranger while we all went insane.”

Jessie sucked in a breath of air and quickly wiped her tears away.

“Drake, I think maybe you need to calm down before you—”

“No, Scott. I don’t need to calm down, and if I were you, I’d be so pissed-off at this girl right now that I don’t think I’d be walking up, holding her hand. You left him without so much as a reason why.”

“I thought he—”

“Well, he didn’t cheat on you, Jessie. You would have known that if you hadn’t run away. How in the hell did you pay for this little trip to Belize?”

I saw her as she started wringing her hands together. She looked down at the ground and then up at her father.

“Oh my god. You didn’t use your savings for the vet clinic, did you?”

Savings? What savings? I hadn’t wanted to ask Jessie, but I was wondering how she’d paid to stay in Belize for so long. When I’d checked her out of the hotel, they had said she didn’t have a balance due. She had paid in full through the end of the month…in cash.

“At the time, I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. Daddy, everything has changed, and I don’t think I want to buy the clinic anymore.”

“Damn straight, everything has changed. You left with no good-byes or explanations, and Doc sold his practice to another person.”

Jessie let out a gasp and put her hand up to her mouth. “What?”

Drake shook his head. “Did you really think everyone would put their lives on hold while you were gone?”

Dewey let out a laugh. “Hell, Scott did. Bastard lost out on a—”

I cleared my throat and shook my head. “Dew…” I said.

Jessie glanced back and forth between Dewey and me. I saw the sadness in her eyes, and it about gutted me.

“People moved on, Jessica, and you lost out on your dream,” Drake said, his voice filled with disappointment.

Jessie looked at her father. “I have a new dream, Daddy.”

Drake let out a chuckle. “Oh, really? Did you graduate high school early and finish up college in record time for this new dream?”

I knew Jessie wanted to tell her father about the baby, but I also knew she wanted to make it special. “Jessie, baby, I don’t think now is the time to—”