“I’ve always wanted kids. At least one kid,” Jane amends. “I didn’t think about it in detail, though. I figured it would be something I would do after I graduated and established my career.”

My heart beats faster. “Did something change?”

“Yeah. I met you.” She smiles at me, her dark eyes warm and loving. “Now, when I think about having a baby, it’s your baby. And I think about bringing our baby back to our house. This house. It’s not abstract anymore.”

“But you still want to wait until after you graduate.” I keep my tone neutral, because I don’t want her to know how badly I want this. How badly I want to fill her with my seed until she’s pregnant. To see her belly grow larger with our baby. To have a family with her.

Jane thinks about it for a minute. “I think… the timing is the least important part. I know I want to have your babies. If that happens before I get a degree, then…” She shrugs. “I would be happy. But… maybe you wouldn’t.”

“What?”

“Maybe you’d be less happy, I mean. Do you want kids?”

I run my fingers through her hair. She’s so goddamn earnest. So hopeful.

Jane Mendoza has always been hopeful, even when I was a grumpy asshole who told her to take care of a kitten or I’d fire her. I’m still a grumpy asshole, but I love her. I love her so much that I want more of her in the world.

“I never did. And then I met you.”

The corner of her mouth quirks up. “And now?”

“Now I do.” The urge strengthens. Predictably, it makes my dick hard. “Right now, actually.”

Her eyes widen. “You want me to be pregnant right now?”

Yes. I do. As soon as the words cross her lips, I can see it. Jane, resting her hands on top of her belly. Me, feeling a baby kick, my palm against bare skin.

“Yes,” I admit. “But I don’t want to push you. It’s an asshole thing for me to want.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re young. You’re deciding on college. You’ve got all that ahead of you. It’s not right for me to want to get you pregnant right now, on this porch.”

“Beau,” she scolds, laughing.

“What? Nobody’s here. They wouldn’t see. But it would disrupt all your college plans. That would make me feel guilty as hell.”

Jane traces a fingertip across the collar of my shirt. “You still want it, though.”

“Yeah. I still want it.”

She climbs into my lap and straddles me. “Are you sure?”

I put my hands on her hips. “I’m damn sure.”