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  She laughs. “We’ll see. Who would’ve thought bad-ass Zachery Riff Oliver gets turned into a scaredy-cat when it comes to childbirth.”

  I smile. “It’ll be so much fun to tease him about this later.”

  The moment Aubrey steps into the room, Lane reaches for her and cries, “I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

  Aubrey pushes strands of loose hair away from Lane’s face. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss the birth of my Godson for anything.”

  Lane smiles and I sigh. It’s the first smile I’ve seen since her labor started ten hours ago. “I can’t wait until my son and your daughter can play together. Have you picked out a name?”

  A contraction hits Lane hard, and she closes her eyes and breathes through it. Aubrey holds her hand and counts down, watching the arc of the monitor come down. “Good job, girl. You did it.”

  Lane sighs and opens her eyes. “Keep talking. It distracts me. What’s her name going to be?”

  “We’re naming her Hailey Lauren after Zach’s sister and mom.”

  “That’s so sweet.”

  The nurse that’s been with us for the last five hours comes into the room. Her dark hair is pulled into a tight ponytail on top of her head, making her short stature seem a little taller. “How are we doing in here?”

  “In a lot of pain,” Lane says.

  “Means you’re getting close. I’m going to check you again. Hopefully you’re at ten centimeters and you can start pushing. I’m going to need everyone but Dad to clear the room,” the nurse orders.

  Aubrey kisses Lane’s forehead. “Be strong, sweetie. I’m so excited to meet him. I’ll be with Zach in the waiting room.” Aubrey steps to me and hugs me. “Take care of her, Dad.” We laugh and I promise I will before Aubrey leaves the room.

  The nurse washes her hands and slips on a pair of gloves before sitting on the edge of Lane’s bed and reaching under the sheet between her legs. After a couple seconds the nurse grins. “Good news. You’re ten. Let me go grab the doctor and you can have this baby.”

  The moment she leaves the room I drag my chair up to Lane’s bedside. “I can’t believe we’re going to meet our son today.”

  She sniffs as tears roll down her face. “Me neither. I can’t wait to hold James in my arms.”

  I wipe her tear away with my thumb. “Your dad would love that we named our son after him.”

  “I love that, too,” she whispers.

  The doctor and a team full of nurses come charging through the door, setting up equipment and putting blue gowns overtop their clothes. The doctor finally turns to us after his mask is in place and asks, “You two ready for this?”

  Lane nods. “We are so ready.”

  I grab Lane’s hand. “Let’s do this.”

  Everything happens so fast. Stirrups pop out of the sides of the bed and the nurse that’s been with us all day grabs one of Lane’s feet and instructs me to do the same with the other. My eyes widen as the physician uses his fingers to massage the opening between Lane’s legs as my son’s head begins to crown.

  Nervous energy fills every inch of me. I’ve never been so excited to see something so gross in my entire life.

  The minutes tick by and Lane’s yells out in agony as she pushes James’s head completely out. “Oh, my god, Lane. You’re doing it, baby. Almost there! Just a little more. I see his face. He’s so beautiful.”

  “Okay, Lanie. One more big push to get the shoulders out, sweetheart and we’ll be all done,” the nurse encourages my wife. “On the count of three—push with everything you got. One, two, three…push. Push. Push. Push.”

  She bears down and grits her teeth. James continues to slide out, and the doctor grabs him and begins to pull at the same time. The medical staff suction his nose and mouth as both of his shoulders pass through the birth canal and a moment later our baby is completely out.

  My entire body shakes as I watch them suction his mouth out completely and he begins to cry. I lean down and kiss my wife, who is just as caught up in the moment as I am.

  “Congratulations! It’s a boy,” The doctor announces as he wraps the baby up and lays him on Lane’s chest.

  “Hi, James,” Lane whispers. “Welcome to the world.”

  I lean down and kiss his little forehead. “Happy birthday, little man.”

  Instantly the need wish my son a happy birthday overwhelms me, so I open my mouth and begin singing the infamous birthday song.

  Everyone in the room joins in and I smile as my son stares up at me with dark blue eyes, taking in the room around him. As soon as we finish singing I kiss my wife on the top of her head and thank the heavens above for the most perfect life I’ve been given.

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank you to my dear readers for all the love for this series. It’s your constant stream of support that keeps this series alive. Thank you!

  Emily Snow, Kelli Maine, and Kristen Proby (aka, The Naughty Mafia) what can I say other than I flipping love you guys. You are my rocks and I love you hard.

  Holly Malgieri I firmly believe we are book soul mates. Thank you for EVERYTHING! I would list it all out, but we’d be here all day and well, we both know there are too many dirty books waiting on us for that.

  Jennifer Wolfel you are amazing! Thank you for the daily supporting and cracking the whip when it needs to be done.

  Christine Bezdenejnih Estevez and Ellie (Ellie lovenbooks) thank you for standing by me and my books! It means the world to me. P.S. one word…VEGAS! Thanks for joining the Naughty Mafia team!

  Ryn Hughes you rock my world, woman! Your edits kick ass. Thank you for all the red and I can’t wait for more of it in the future.

  My beautiful ladies in the Rock the Heart and Valentine’s Vixen’s Group, you all are the best. You guys always brighten my day.

  To romance blogging community. Thank you for always supporting me and my books. I can’t tell you how much every share, tweet, post and comment means to me. I read them all and every time I feel giddy. Almost to the point where I’m ready to breakout that old Sally Field speech, “You like me. You really like me,” because it amazes me every time the amount of love I feel from you guys. THANK YOU for everything you do. Blogging is not an easy job and I can tell you how much I appreciate what you do for indie authors like me. You totally make our world go round.

  Last, but never least the two men in my life, my husband and son. Thank you for putting up with me. I love you both more than words can express.

  About the Author

  New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author Michelle A. Valentine is a Central Ohio nurse turned author of erotic and New Adult romance of novels. Her love of hard-rock music, tattoos and sexy musicians inspires her sexy novels.

  Find her:

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  Table of Contents

  Rock My World

  Black Falcon Series Order

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter Two

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author