Can't Stop the Feeling Page 26

  Jenna nodded.

  They walked slowly down the hallway. They were just a foot or so away from the employee break room when Mimi suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh no!” She glanced down at the floor in horror. Their gazes followed to the large puddle of clear fluid by her shoe. “My water just broke!”

  Water was everywhere making it impossible to walk in any direction without getting the bottom of their shoes wet. Doug recoiled in horror. “Gross! Can’t you control that shit?”

  It was just the distraction Jenna needed to grab Mimi by the arm. “Run!” All three women dashed into the open room, leaving Doug in the hallway. They slammed the door shut then locked it. Pilar picked up a phone and dialed the front desk. “Darlene! Doug Wentworth is in the building and he has a gun. Get out of here now!”

  Chapter Thirty

  Luckily, Zeke and his deputies already had city hall surrounded when the call from Darlene came through. It took them about three minutes to rush the building and another three to disarm Doug.

  “Looks like we gotcha, Doug!” Jenna yelled as he was led away in handcuffs. “Sorry,” she said to Mimi and Pilar, who both rolled their eyes and giggled, “I just couldn’t help myself.”

  “Hey! Watch my head!” Doug screamed as Zeke personally took it upon himself to put him in the squad car.

  Then Zeke gave the okay for the anxiously waiting family members to come inside the building to reunite with their loved ones. Ben had somehow managed to get himself included in the group.

  “Are you all right?” he asked searching Jenna’s face. He put his arms out and she automatically went straight into them.

  “I’m okay,” she said against his chest.

  “I’ve never been so scared in my life. Between you and Rachel, I’ve aged ten years in the past few weeks,” he said tenderly.

  Mimi and Pilar were recounting the afternoon’s events back to Zeke and Pilar’s husband, Nick, for the third time. “Are you sure you aren’t having contractions?” Zeke asked his wife.

  “Positive.”

  “And your water really hasn’t broken?” he asked again.

  “Nope.”

  “I admit, you almost gave me a heart attack when all that water hit the floor,” Pilar said. “It looked so real!”

  Mimi pulled an empty two liter bottle out of her purse. “I have Jenna to thank for always having one of these on me.”

  “You know what they say,” Jenna said. “It is important to stay well hydrated during pregnancy.”

  “I have to know,” Ben asked. “How did you all come up with the plan for Mimi to fake labor?”

  All three women smiled at one another. “We just sort of…knew,” Jenna said.

  “Chalk it up to the three of us working well together,” said Pilar.

  “But how did you know Wentworth would go for it?” Zeke asked.

  Mimi raised a brow at her husband. “Babe, you ought to know better than anyone. There’s nothing more frightening to the average man than a really pregnant woman.”

  * * *

  Besides the three of them, the only other people in the building at the time of the siege had been Darlene, who’d been at the front desk and clueless until Pilar’s phone call had alerted her, and Denise and Larry, who’d still been in the conference room discussing the vote and hadn’t heard a thing until Zeke and his cops had charged the building.

  Doug’s old desk had been resurrected and after a few minutes of searching, Zeke had found a false drawer brimming with cash. The money had been confiscated as evidence. Jenna heard Zeke tell one of his deputies to update the district attorney so that he could file even more charges against Doug.

  All in all, it had been a pretty good twenty-four hours for Whispering Bay.

  Larry gave Zeke a military salute. “Nice bit of police work, Grant. Good to know our tax dollars aren’t going to waste.”

  “You should be thanking the mayor, the city manager and the city attorney. They’re the real heroes here.”

  Denise clapped her hands together. “Oh! It’s like you’re those three women on TV that fight crime. You know, Charlie’s Angels!”

  Larry made a face. “Come on over to the twenty-first century, Denise.” He patted Jenna on the shoulder. “I guess we’re okay, then?”

  “We’re okay,” Jenna said. “After all, Larry, we both want what’s best for the city.”

  “Glad to know you’re staying on board, after all.” He made a grumpy noise, then shuffled off. Everyone began leaving to go home, until eventually only she and Ben were left in the building.

  “So you still have your job, right?”

  “Right,” she said, grinning.

  “And did I hear right? Did the city council vote again on whether or not to accept Nora’s offer?”

  “Yep. It was four to two in favor of accepting.”

  “Who changed their vote?”

  “I did.”

  He looked surprised. Not that she blamed him. She’d been so adamantly against accepting Nora’s offer that to change it now seemed unlike her.

  “You know the famous quote,” she said. “‘Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.’”

  “Churchill?”

  “George Bernard Shaw. I’m not an egghead. In the end I’ll do what I think is best for the city. And after a lot of deliberation, I decided that Larry was right. As long as we control the growth, I think Whispering Bay will be okay.”

  He looked like he was about to kiss her.

  Yes, please.

  “Do you know why I asked you to be my study partner that day in calculus class?”

  “Because I took more notes than anyone else?”

  “That’s only part of the reason. You were so focused on Dr. Parrish’s lecture that you never once noticed that the guy sitting to your left was hitting on you.”

  Jenna blinked. “There was a guy sitting on the other side of me?”

  He smiled a little. “When you really want something you have this uncanny ability to zone everything else out. You’re a winner, Red. I knew that the moment I met you. Then there was the way you challenged me with that calculus problem. I think I fell a little bit in love with you right then and there.” He paused. “Plus, I really didn’t want Melanie for a study partner.”

  “Her name was Melissa.”

  He laughed.

  “Ben? I’d like to answer your question now.”

  “What question?”

  “You asked me the other day if I would give you another chance?”

  He nodded solemnly.

  She could answer him one of three ways.

  She could go with something flimsy, that would let her save face.

  Sure we can try again! No big deal if it doesn’t work out.

  Or she could go with a semi-honest version.

  Okay, but just one more chance. So don’t blow it.

  Or she could go with the absolute truth.

  “I love you, Ben. More than I loved you thirteen years ago but probably not as much as I’ll love you thirteen years from now. So, yes, I’ll give you another chance. I’ll give you all the chances you need because you’re the best guy, period.”

  He kissed her then, slow and sweet. When they came up for air, his voice was husky. “I need to talk to your father. Or your mother. Or both.”

  “What—oh!”

  “Yeah.” He grinned. “Apparently, that’s still a thing.”

  Jenna laughed. “Oh my God, my mom is going to blow a gasket!” She pulled out her cell phone. Marsha Pantini answered on the first ring.

  “Honey, are you all right? Viola says that some madman held you hostage in the city hall building!”

  “It wasn’t just me, Mom. The mayor and the city attorney were with me. But we managed to outwit him.”

  “Of course you did! I didn’t raise you to graduate summa cum laude for nothing. Is anyone hurt?”

  “No, thank God.”

  “Still, your father and I are getting i
n the car this minute to—

  “No need, Mom. I’m actually going to come down this weekend to visit.”

  “Oh, honey, are you sure?”

  “Positive. And, Mom?”

  “Yes, hon?”

  “Remember when I told you that you’d be the first to know? Well, I won’t be coming home alone. You’ll need to defrost a pot roast.”

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  “It’s not fair. We’ve been out here all of thirty minutes and you already look like some golden god, while I’m going to end up like a fried green tomato.” It was Jenna’s first time ever in Hawaii, and the sun was just as strong, if not stronger than in Florida.

  Lying in the beach chair next to her, Ben chuckled as he lifted his sunglasses. He gave her a long head-to-toe look that ended in a frown. “Maybe if there was more green,” he said referring to the color of her bikini, “you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

  “You’re not going to be one of those husbands, are you? I’ve worn this bikini plenty of times and you never once complained that it was too skimpy.”

  “I’m going to be the kind of husband who makes sure his wife doesn’t get sunstroke.” He stood to rearrange the angle of their umbrella so that she would be better shaded, then picked up the tube of sunscreen. “Turn around.”

  She did as instructed. “Make sure to get the hard to reach places and not just the skin around the fun bits.”

  “But the fun bits are what I live for.”

  Jenna smiled. It was day two of their honeymoon. The first day had been spent making the eleven plus hour plane ride it took to get to Hawaii, trying to acclimate themselves to the time change and sleeping (well, mostly sleeping). Tomorrow, Ben had arranged for them to be taken up to the top of a volcano where they would see the sunrise then bicycle their way down.

  But today was a day for sun and relaxation and Jenna was determined to return to Whispering Bay with a healthy glow. Despite the fact that she lived in a beach town, the past months had been spent in a whirlwind of work, arranging a wedding and overseeing the construction of the new house Steve Pappas’ company was building them. It was a five bedroom five bath home just a block from the beach, complete with his and hers offices, a playroom, swimming pool and an outdoor kitchen.

  Jenna had thought the whole thing was a bit too much. “Do we really need all this?” she’d asked when they’d first gone over the blueprints.

  “Think about where we’re going to put everyone over the Thanksgiving holiday,” Ben had said. “There’s my mom and Carl, your parents, Eric and Amy and the girls, Rachel, and of course the rest of the kids we’re going to have. I’m planning on making two turkeys and you have to make your nana’s panettone.”

  “The rest of the kids?” Jenna had teased. “Exactly how many do you want?”

  “As many as it takes to get one with red hair.”

  “That could be one or four, or who knows how many genetic combinations there are!”

  In the end, Jenna had agreed that yes, it was best to go ahead and have all those rooms. Just in case.

  Ben’s cell phone pinged. “Who the hell is calling us on our honeymoon?”

  “Maybe it’s Rachel.” Although they’d talked to her just last night.

  Ben looked at his screen with a resigned expression on his face. “It’s Tyler.”

  Now that Gavin was CEO of Roar, he’d needed his own assistant. He’d gone through four of them in the first two months before settling in with Tyler. As far as Jenna could tell, Tyler was doing a bang up job. He was also adorably friendly. Even though technically he answered to Gavin, and it wasn’t in his job description, he’d insisted on helping Jenna with some of the wedding details.

  “Please put him on speaker,” Jenna said.

  “Aloha!” Tyler’s friendly voice boomed. “Good morning! Or should I say, good afternoon, sir?”

  “The first one,” Ben said. “What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to see how everything’s going. Hotel okay? Please tell me the champagne and roses were waiting for you in your room when you arrived.”

  “Everything was perfect,” Jenna said. “Thank you so much!”

  “Oh! Mrs. Harrison, you’re there too. I hope Maui is all you expected it to be. The hotel assured me that the penthouse was the very finest in accommodations.”

  Jenna was about to answer when Ben gave her a look that stopped her. “Tyler,” he said, “unless it’s an emergency or something has gone wrong, then there’s no need to call.”

  “I know, it’s just… I really want to please Gavin. He selected me out of sixty applicants and I would hate for him to think that he made a mistake hiring me over any one of them.”

  “Sixty?” Jenna mouthed to Ben, who nodded back in response.

  “He said one of the reasons he hired me was because I reminded him of himself. So whenever I’m not sure if I should call or not I just ask myself ‘What would Gavin do?’ and I really think he’d want me to follow up and make sure everything was going according to plan.”

  “I see,” Ben answered dryly. “You can put your mind at ease because everything is fine.”

  “Excellent, sir! Very good. You have my number if you need anything. Just call, twenty-four seven. No worries about the time difference.”

  “Great,” Ben said then hung up.

  “You shouldn’t be so hard on poor Tyler. He’s just trying to please Gavin.”

  “Since I’m Gavin’s boss, then the one he should be trying to please is me. And calling me on my honeymoon while I’m—”

  The phone pinged again. “Now what?” he growled. One look at the screen and Ben’s face completely softened. “It’s Rachel.”

  Jenna sat up in her chair. “Oh! Keep the speaker on.”

  The sound of little girl giggling melted Jenna’s heart. “Daddy Ben! Guess what? Grandma and I are making chocolate chip pancakes for dinner!”

  “Hello, you two!” said Pat. “Sorry to interrupt but Rachel insisted we call and let you know.”

  “Not a problem, Mom. Call whenever you like,” said Ben.

  “Rachel, when we get back from Hawaii we’ll make pancakes with coconut syrup,” said Jenna. “You’ll love them.”

  “Can we put whipped cream on ’em too?”

  “Of course!”

  “Oh! Mommy Jenna, I got the part of the mushroom in the school play!”

  “That’s fabulous, sweetheart! We’re so proud of you!”

  “Grandma says I gotta go now. Bye!”

  “Bye! We love you!” Jenna said.

  Ben scowled. “The mushroom? My daughter is going to play the part of a fungus in the preschool play?”

  “Don’t you dare say anything, Ben Harrison. For all we know, the mushroom is the star of the whole production. And if it isn’t, then we’ll just have to make sure it gets the most applause, that’s all.”

  He grinned. “You’re a terrific mom, you know that?”

  Jenna smiled wistfully. “Do you think she’ll ever just call us mommy and daddy?”

  “Yes,” he said quietly. “She already does sometimes. We’ll just have to make sure she always remembers Jake and Cindy.”

  Jenna nodded solemnly. Raising Rachel was a privilege that Ben never took for granted. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

  She leaned back in her chair. “What should we bring Rachel back from Hawaii? I saw the most adorable little sarong in the gift shop. There’s also this cute hula doll. Or maybe we’ll do both. But I don’t want to spoil her. What do you think? The sarong or the doll?”

  “What? As a souvenir from our honeymoon? Rachel already asked me for something else.”

  “Really? What?”

  He turned to look at her. “A baby brother or sister.”

  Jenna laughed. Then she noticed he wasn’t smiling at all.

  “Seriously?”

  He sat up and took her left hand in his then lightly kissed her knuckles. “I love you. And
I can’t think of anything more spectacular than the two of us having a baby. Or two or three or four. Or as many as you’d like. But, if it’s just you me and Rachel, I’ll still be the happiest guy in the world. Whenever you’re ready, or if you’re never ready, it’s completely your call.”

  Leave it to Ben to make her all weepy on their honeymoon.

  Looking into those chocolate-make-me-want-to-melt eyes of his combined with that little speech was nearly her undoing. The past six months had been filled with challenges, but it had taught her one thing. There was no one on earth she’d rather have a baby with than with the man lying next to her. He was funny, kind, loyal and most importantly, family was everything to him. Once Ben gave you his heart, he was yours forever.

  “Well, Mr. Harrison, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go make a baby.”

  THE END

  More from Maria Geraci

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Jenna and Ben’s story as much as I loved writing it. For news on upcoming books, click here to sign up for my newsletter.

  Whispering Bay Romance Series

  That Thing You Do

  Then He Kissed Me

  That Man of Mine

  The Best For Last

  This Can’t Be Love

  Can’t Stop the Feeling

  Other Books by Maria Geraci

  Barefoot Bay: Hold On To Forever

  Bunco Babes Tell All

  Bunco Babes Gone Wild

  The Boyfriend of the Month Club

  A Girl Like You

  Acknowledgements

  First, I’d like to thank my papi, who passed away shortly after I began writing this book. He practiced law for over forty years and patiently answered all my questions about probate law and undue influence. Any legal mistakes I may have made are strictly mine alone. This book will always have a special place in my heart because of him. I love you, papi.