Page 156 of Stupid Matchmaking Love

“Come meet your new cousin,” Pane tells him, leading him over.

I smell his scent first. God, it’s been so long, and as soon as it hits me, every memory of Rhett floods my brain—how we laughed, how we made love, how we were just us, and how perfect life seemed with him.

He looks down at the baby. “She’s beautiful, Rowe. Looks just like you.”

“Thank you,” she says, beaming.

“Would you like to hold her?” I ask.

“I don’t know if I should. I mean, I’m not really an expert at these things.”

“Nonsense. The only way you learn about babies is by doing. Just hold your arms like you’re cradling her already, and I’ll slip her into them.”

He does as I say, and when our arms brush one another, my body simmers like it’s on a slow rolling boil. His touch still ignites me. His smell still drives me wild. Everything about this man makes me feel alive.

“There you go,” I murmur, slipping baby Georgia into his arms. He looks down at her and then back at me. I smile. “See, you’re a natural.”

“Thank you, Cristina.”

“You’re welcome, Rhett.”

For a moment it’s like nothing bad ever happened between us—I never collapsed, we never broke up.

But we did.

I move away as he holds Georgia, and I think about what Rowe told me: how he fought Jace, and his expression on the trust bridge. I’m also thinking about fighting for him, for us.

He holds Georgia for a few minutes until there’s a knock on the door and a woman peeks her head in. “Hi, I’m the lactation consultant.”

“Oh, everyone, can y’all please excuse us?” Rowe asks as Rhett carefully hands baby back to mama. “I need to learn how to breastfeed.”

“We’ll just be right outside,” her mom says.

We slowly make our way out the door and into the lobby. Rhett walks beside me quietly, and I really, really don’t want to return to the waiting room, because I want to talk to him, but of course I don’t want to force it. What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?

But I need to make him listen, to at least hear me out. While I’m silently spiraling beside him, he says, “You want to go for a walk?”

I’m squealing on the inside, but I bite down on my lip and say, “Sure. That would be great.”

Chapter 53

Rhett

The moment I walked into that hospital room and spotted Cristina holding baby Georgia, I stopped breathing.

I’d been prepared for a lot of things. Prepared to congratulate Pane and Rowe. Prepared to meet my new cousin. Prepared to stay for ten minutes, tops, and then leave before things got awkward.

What I wasn’t prepared for was her.

She stood there with a newborn in her arms, tears in her eyes, and looked so beautiful, so perfect, so exactly like the future I’d convinced myself we couldn’t have that I almost turned around and walked right back out.

But then her eyes lifted and found mine. And I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything but stand there like an idiot while the overhead lights flickered and dimmed as if the universe itself was reacting to us being in the same room again.

Now we’re walking down the hospital corridor, and I still don’t know what the hell I’m going to say.

Turns out, I don’t have to, because she speaks first. “What took you so long?”

“Pardon?”