Check out this exclusive excerpt from Decidedly With Baby by Stina Lindenblatt, which is being released September 12!
About ‘Decidedly With Baby’ by Stina Lindenblatt:
One-Night Stand Rule #1: always check the condom’s expiry date.
Oops.
Career-orientated Holly Whittaker has a plan, and being a mom is not part of it. Her not-quite-a-fairytale childhood involved being brought up by thirty nannies (yes, thirty!), so what the heck does she know about being a mom anyway?
Playboy Josh Hoffer has no room in his life for a family or steady girlfriend. His hockey career comes first. Life is tough when you’re on the road more times than you’re not. Besides, what does he know about diapers and baby yoga and fairytale princesses?
After Holly receives some unexpected bad news, she’s looking to blow off a little steam, and hot sex with Mr. No Commitment himself fits the bill just fine. But sex is never without consequences, and this time it’s more than her heart that is at stake. This time, Mr. No Commitment and Ms. Career need to figure out what’s really important to them and find room in their heart for another—plus one.
Warning: Contains naughty texts, shower sex, and enough profanities to fill an oversized swear-word jar.
‘Decidedly With Baby’ by Stina Lindenblatt exclusive excerpt:
Holly
I spun around. Josh, Jyri, Mark, and Sean, along with their teammate Travis Hamilton, approached us with beer bottles in hand.
Mark swooped down and kissed the forehead of his sleeping son.
Sean was carrying his giggling one-year-old daughter. He kissed Bridget’s cheek, then asked her, “You four keeping out of trouble?”
“We could say the same to you,” she said, grinning up at her husband as Josh pulled me back against him, his hand possessively on my belly.
I looked over my shoulder and was awarded with a tender kiss that melted every part of me. Chocolate left in the sun had nothing on me.
I was vaguely aware of Travis grunting a God-you-guys-are-so-pussy-whipped groan. Laughing to myself, I pulled away from Josh, winked at his teammate, and turned my attention to Sierra, Bridget’s daughter.
“Who’s that?” I asked her, pointing at the large yellow toy fish in her arms.
Sierra grinned, revealing a few baby teeth.
“Is this Flounder?” Sean asked her, and she giggled again.
“Why did you call it Flounder?” Josh asked. Maybe it was just my hormones, but was I the only person who thought he looked adorable when confused?
Okay, definitely my hormones.
Sean’s eyes widened. “How can you not know who Flounder is? And you’re going to be a father?” He sounded indignantly wounded but the mischief in his eyes said otherwise.
Josh glanced at me for help. Hell if I knew who Flounder was—but I was hardly admitting that. They’d probably burn me at the stake for committing such a parenting faux pas.
“Men, it looks like we’ll have to stage an intervention,” Sean said to his sidekicks. The smirk? Yeah, I’d be worried about it too.
“What kind of intervention?” Josh asked, looking between the guys.
“The Disney princess kind.”
“But…we’re having a son.” Josh gently rubbed my belly, as if looking for further confirmation that Noah was indeed a boy. “Why would I have to know anything about Disney princesses?”
Travis cracked up.
Jyri waved it off. “That’s irrelevant. It’s essential you know who they all are. Like for example, who is the mermaid in The Little Mermaid?”
“You mean the hot one?” Josh glanced at me and I shrugged. The character’s name was sitting on the tip of my tongue—or not.
“I guess if you’re into animated characters,” Mark replied, “yes, the hot one. Her name is Ariel. Does that ring a bell?”
Josh shrugged and I sympathetically patted his hand on my stomach.
“Again, you seriously expect me to care about the Disney princesses when I’m having a son?” Josh asked, the corner of his mouth curled up in a What-the-fuck-happened-to-your-balls? smirk.
Pretty much the same one as Travis’s.
Sean turned to the two other men. “Quick, name the princess who lives with seven short men.”
“Christ, even I know that one,” Josh said. “Snow White.”
Judging from Travis’s expression, this was news to him.
“Okay…name the princess who falls in love with the Beast, who incidentally looks a lot better than in his true prince form in the animated version of the movie.”
Bridget, Kari, and Becca nodded in agreement. Josh rolled his eyes.
“That’s easy,” Mark said. “Belle.”
“Correct.” Sean threw Josh a look that said, “Even Mark—who has a son—knows the answer.”
Josh rolled his eyes again, and Travis burst out laughing once more.
Ignoring them, Sean said, “Next question. Name the two sisters who lived in the Scandinavian-like kingdom?”
“Princess Anna and Queen Elsa,” Jyri said, close to jumping on the spot like a kid who had to go to the loo, badly.
Sean beamed at him as if Jyri was his prized student. “Correct. And name Elsa’s magic powers.”
“She can turn things to ice with her hands.”
I snickered at Josh’s expression. The one that said he wanted to turn Sean to ice.
“And for the final question of the night, what is Sleeping Beauty’s real name?” Sean asked.
“Aurora,” both Mark and Jyri called out at the same time—a little too enthusiastically, waking Mark’s sleeping prince.
The baby stirred at first, then let out a pissed-off cry. He didn’t have a chance to protest for too long. Mark swept his son from Becca’s arms and cooed to the infant, settling him down.
Like magic.
“Wow, you’re good,” Josh said to his teammate.
Mark puffed out his chest. Becca snorted a laugh.
“What?” he said to her. “I am good.”
She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Of course you’re good, dear. No one would ever suggest otherwise.”
I smiled at the teasing between the men and their wives, and the men and their teammates. They were like a family. The family Josh never really had.
The family I did have—for the most part.
Decidedly With Baby by Stina Lindenblatt will be released on September 12! Pre-order now from iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads!