by Taryn Quinn
“It’s not the first time I’ve seen you like this.”
I pushed at him weakly. “I know, which makes it even worse. How am I supposed to look at you now?”
“Well, I’d appreciate you brushing your teeth, but otherwise, I’m good. I have a kid, remember? I’ve had projectile vomit hit me in places I don’t want to talk about.”
“Oh, God.” I heaved again and he sighed. “All right, c’mon. Let’s get you into your apartment.”
“No. I mean, yes. I’ll go, but you don’t need to come.” I sagged against the wall. I had to get ready for the shower. If I could even go to the shower now. Tears burned the back of my eyes. Dammit, I’d been fine all day.
“I don’t know what kind of an asshole you think I am, but I’m not gonna leave you like this.”
I closed my eyes. This so wasn’t happening to me.
Suddenly, I was scooped up into Dare’s arms, and then he headed toward the front entrance of my apartment building.
“Dare!”
“I like it when you say my name, but maybe keep it down so everyone isn’t staring at us, huh?”
I gripped his arm as I noticed Joey giving us a look before shaking his head and going back to his unpacking.
“Got your key thing?”
I sighed. “Yes, but I can walk.”
“Don’t argue with me, Kel.”
I tried not to shiver at the shortened version of my name. I was usually called Kelsey or Kels by most people. But the way his voice rumbled around that one syllable was just…guh.
I dug my keys out of my pocket and waved them over the security panel. Dare juggled me enough to open the door and took the stairs two at a time. With me. I was tall and my weight was evenly distributed, but did I mention the tall part?
I wasn’t a petite little thing.
He carried me like I was nothing.
“You’re not going to yak on me, are you?”
And there went the romantic part. “I’m going to try really hard not to.”
When he got to my door, he set me on my feet.
“I can take it from here.”
He pushed open the door without saying another word.
I sighed and followed him inside. “Honestly, I’m good.”
“Yeah. You seem it. Which is why I’m still here.”
And actually, I did feel a lot better. The shakes were gone and I was actually ravenous. Which just didn’t make any sense at all.
I stalked across the apartment to my tiny bathroom. “I really appreciate you helping me out and I’m sorry I ruined the…moment.” I just wanted my toothbrush. Maybe I could wash the taste away and my memory at the same time.
Oral B probably didn’t have this scenario in their marketing repertoire.
I heard the quick pop of bone and tendon and winced as Dare cracked his knuckles outside my door. “Do you want to watch me brush my teeth too?” I rinsed my mouth out with water, then a quick shot of Listerine before I loaded up my electric toothbrush.
When he didn’t answer me, I went ahead and started brushing. He’d already witnessed me in the worst situation ever, so what did it matter if he saw me foaming at the mouth too?
I did the full two minutes that was directed and then attacked my tongue to get the rest of the awful taste out of my mouth. And still, he paced outside. I finally rinsed and patted my face. My color was back and I felt fine.
Weirdest freaking stomach flu of my life.
I shut off the light and frowned when he jammed his fingers into his short hair until it spiked up.
“Honestly, I’m fine. I feel much better.”
“Yeah, I bet you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I put my hands on my hips.
He tipped his head back. “You sure you have the stomach flu?”
“I told you it was going around in my class.”
“Most people with the stomach flu are on their ass with a fever and begging to die a merciful death.”
“I guess I’m just lucky.”
He stopped in front of me. “Yeah, or you’re pregnant.”
Ten
The way her face went ashen made me feel a little better. Not the paleness. I stepped forward just in case she did something crazy like pass out on me. But because obviously, she hadn’t thought about her flu possibly being a nine-month affliction.
There wasn’t a calculating bone in her gorgeous body.
And the way those huge doe eyes got just a bit wider told me everything I needed to know.
I gentled my voice. “Pregnant.”
“No. We used…” She held her hand out. I grasped it, relieved when her fingers curled around mine. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until she latched onto me.
Katherine had shot a beer bottle at my head when she’d told me she was having my baby. Helluva way to start our happily ever after. No wonder she walked away when Wes was barely more than a toddler. Amazing she’d lasted that long.
“Nothing’s one hundred percent.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That can’t be it.”
“Can’t it?”
She shook her head, her gaze darting all over her room without landing on me. “I wasn’t sick in the morning. I…” Her words drifted off as she tried to come to terms with the idea of it. Denial was spinning her eyes like a slot machine.
No spinning lights with jackpot there.
Even as my gut spun just the same, I wanted to drag her closer. I couldn’t even figure out why. The same kind of crazy emotion that bombarded me the minute she got close to me. Now it was growing. Like a tangled bougainvillea vine I’d tried to unlace from my fence at my house.
But it kept coming back.
No matter how many days I put between us, she was the vine I couldn’t get off my skin, out of my senses, out of my damn brain. I laced our fingers. Maybe I didn’t want to fight it anymore.
“Hey.” I cupped her jaw and turned her face toward me.
She frowned and shook her head. “I wasn’t sick in the morning.”
I laughed. “Morning sickness is relative, darlin’. It can happen anytime. My cousin had it at ten in the evening every night for a month.”
“I don’t even make it to ten o’clock.”
My gaze sharpened on her. “Tired all the time?”
She pulled away. “I’m a teacher. Of course I’m tired all the time.” She paced away from me and back, her long fingers making fists, then releasing before she tapped her thumb along the pads of each finger.
“Counting?”
She pushed her long reddish-gold hair away from her face. “What?”
“Fingers.”
She fished her hand again. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Afraid it doesn’t work like that.”
She dug her phone out of her ass pocket.
Those damn shorts were going to be the death of me. Ancient, frayed in all the right places. The wear mark riding high on the sides where her endless legs met her hips. Christ, the dreams I had about those legs. I wanted them wrapped around my head again. She was surprisingly toned and firm and when she was lost, screaming my name, she forgot how strong she was. In my dreams, I’d happily suffocate with her taste on my tongue.
I sucked back a groan and dragged my shirt down over my work pants. She didn’t need to see the proof of what planted that baby inside her. Maybe a baby. I crossed my arms over my chest. “We’ll go get a test.” Or seven. Needed to be sure.
“No.”
My arms dropped to my sides. “What do you mean no?”
“Not now. I have Sage’s baby shower in…” She swiped her hair out of her eyes again. “I have to go. I have to get ready.” She paced her postage stamp-sized living room and then quickly rerouted herself to the bedroom.
I followed her, standing in the doorway. The last time I’d stood in this exact spot, she’d been splayed out on the bed recovering from what we’d done. I tried not to think about the way I’d rolled her over an
d slammed into her like a careless asshole.
I’d tried to keep myself in check, but Christ, she fit me in every damn way. As willowy as she was, I hadn’t felt like I was fucking a skeleton. She’d cushioned me in the best ways and when she pushed back against me for more...
Fuck, she’d come so hard.
Swallowing a groan, I gripped the doorjamb and willed my dick to behave.
She started to lift her shirt. “Do you mind?”
“Nope.”
“Get out.”
I jammed my fists into my pockets. “We need to talk about this.”
“Later.” She dug through her closet before returning to her bed with a dress covered in huge red flowers. “I have over fifty people that will be descending on Ally’s place in ninety minutes.”
“A test takes five minutes.”
“Dare.” She swung around to face me. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Damn that teacher voice. It fucked me up all the time. I crossed to her in two strides and pulled her up against me. “You’re not putting this off.”
“It’s just—”
“You know it’s not a stomach bug.”
She dug her fingers into my chest. I resisted the urge to back up and away from her. I was dirty and she was so fucking clean. Hell, I’d been working under Stu Jerico’s Camaro for hours to pay for a heating and A/C unit on my house.
A baby? How the hell was I going to afford that?
And still, I couldn’t resist the urge to drag her even closer. I didn’t want to let her drive off and push the idea of it away.
Maybe she wouldn’t want it.
The thought hadn’t occurred to me before this very second and I tightened my hold on her. Instead of flinching, she tipped her head up at me defiantly. “My…” She swallowed then her short nails dug into my skin. It felt good. Raw and real. “My period is never timely. It’s probably nothing.”
“Then you won’t mind taking a test.”
“Why are you pushing so hard?”
“Why are you playing ostrich?”
She frowned. “Why do you know that?”
“What?” My brows snapped down to mirror hers. “Oh. Animal Planet. Getting off topic.” She did that a lot. She wasn’t exactly a scatterbrain, but she did have her own thought process, that was for damn sure.
“Dare.” She sighed and dropped her head against my chest.
I arrowed my hand up and under her hair to massage the nape of her neck. Her firelight hair twisted and flowed around my skin. Her scent floated up, so clean and bright with that sharp tang of citrus that always threw me off. I dropped my chin on the top of her bent head. “Better to know,” I whispered.
“After,” she said again and pulled back, turning toward her bed and the garden party dress that didn’t fit it my grease monkey world. I backed out of the room without another word and left her apartment.
I couldn’t stop the slam of the door.
What the hell was I thinking with pushing on this? She was bright with her career ahead of her. What would she want with me? I was a good lay. A great lay when it came to Kelsey. And she fucking fit me like no other woman had. But in the end, it was just sex.
I slammed out the front door of the building. The truck had moved. Finally.
It was a damn good time to take the Camaro out for a test drive.
I climbed behind the beast of a muscle car. My fingers knew the gauges and the familiar shape of the stick shift set in my palm.
Like my racing days.
The motor growled around me, reminding me of the days before I was a dad. Before Katherine had ripped open my life with the belligerent news that she was pregnant.
The day my life changed.
After that day, I no longer looked at the endless track in front of me and saw the bumper of a car as my greatest obstacle to overtake. Speed and my periphery were no longer the only things I had to worry about.
I had someone to take care of. Two someones. But Katherine had never been happy in the crappy apartment I’d scraped together my savings to afford. My money had gone into the cars, into the fees, into the training to be the best racer on the course.
It had taken time to save money for a house. But formula and diapers, doctors’ visits and prenatal classes had dented the savings train. Weston had been worth it. Even if Katherine had never quite fit me, Wes had from the moment the nurse had put him in my arms.
I downshifted into fourth and opened up the engine as I got out onto the highway. It purred and hummed for me, the growl so like the beast I’d driven all those years ago. I raced away from the dark thoughts of Katherine and all the disappointments she’d voiced nearly every day of our marriage.
Signs for a drugstore and gas station at the next exit had me downshifting and pulling off the highway. I glanced down at the gas gauge. First, I’d refill Stu’s tank.
Unfortunately, the beast of a car came with a similar tank for the gas. I winced as the dollars on the pump kept clicking higher and higher. Worth it for the few minutes of freedom.
I tipped my head up to catch the apple cider scent across the street. Even the food trucks were decked out for fall. My stomach rumbled at the fried churros and hot cider being passed around to the line of people.
It was a bright fall day with the perfect crispness to the air that reminded me of orchards and fat pumpkins. Maybe I’d take Wes to Happy Acres next weekend. It was the perfect time for all of that. Let him run off some steam in the corn maze they put together in Turnbull.
But first, I had a test to buy.
I maneuvered my way over to the drugstore with only a few grumbles and swear words. There was a reason I liked my little town. This traffic and bullshit made my pressure rise. Add in the female aisle and I was twitchy as fuck. Pads, tampons, and creams. Christ. But at the end of it were the condoms.
“Thanks, condoms,” I muttered.
And the all-important tests.
Four shelves of them.
“Jesus.” I grabbed tests from each shelf until my arms were full. How to know which ones worked the best? I didn’t want to cheap out at the worst possible time.
On the way down the back aisle, I grabbed a huge-ass water. Evidently, she’d be doing a lot of peeing.
After another dent made in my credit card, I was heading back to Crescent Cove. I could be jumping the gun, but I’d listened to my gut for most of my life. The times I hadn’t, I’d ended up spinning out on the track, or marrying a woman meaner than a half-skinned snake.
I wasn’t wrong about this.
Ignoring the tug this crazy woman had on me? Yeah, that was the part that was driving me insane. Not Kelsey. When I had her in my space, it felt more perfect than anything I had a right to feel. Add in the strings of a baby. They were as delicate as a spiderweb, but I felt them already.
Part of me wanted to hack at them with the same machete I used to try and kill the vines trying to take over my backyard. As I pulled into the land of babies and pink and blue balloons, I knew how useless it was to try.
I fisted the bag and strode into Ally and Seth’s house. I’d been here before on the nights Seth and I had hung out, so I was used to strolling in. The door had a big welcome sign on it and directions to go into the backyard for the baby shower.
Christ, I hadn’t even changed or brought the car back to the shop. I went right to her. Maybe that spiderweb idea was more of a bullseye than I’d thought.
“Fuck it,” I muttered as I pushed through the door and into paper bird land.
Already my balls were shrinking. Perfect.
Women were zooming around the kitchen. Most of the party was in the backyard where I could see through the window that even more paper birds were plunked on every table and floating from the trees.
In the center of it all was Sage Hamilton with her huge smile. People kept bringing her food and trying to get her to put her feet up.
“What are you doing here?”
I turned toward the whispered fury of
the woman of my dreams. Probably a few nightmares in there, but mostly hot and sweaty naked dreams. I took the huge punch bowl out of her hands. “What are you doing?”
“Me? This is not a Jack and Jill party.”
“I don’t know what that means. Where do you want this?”
She frowned at me and started doing that thing with her fingers again. Maybe it wasn’t a counting thing. Nervous? About me?
Hmm. I wasn’t sure if I liked that idea or not. Hell, maybe it was about the drugstore bag in my hand.
I pushed it at her and lifted my other hand to keep the large bowl of ice cream and foamy soda from tipping over.
She peeked in the bag then quickly shut it. “Oh, crap. What…I, oh my God.”
“A reasonable facsimile of what got us in this situation, but I like the breathy moans you add in.”
She blushed right up to the roots of her golden hair. She turned me around and aimed me toward the backyard. “Put it on that table over there.” She glanced down at me. “You still don’t have a shirt on.”
I glanced down at my tank. “I do.”
She huffed out a breath. Though it did seem a little more strangled than a moment ago.
I navigated around clusters of laughing women and deposited the punch bowl on the table. As soon as I had, Kelsey steered me back inside. “You have to go.”
“Ashamed of me, Kel?”
“What? No. No boys allowed, that’s all.”
“Then I’ll get out of your way. Just as soon as you go upstairs and take a test.”
“I saw about five in there.”
I reached for the bag she still carried and pulled out the large bottle of water. “I’m prepared.” I frowned. “What’s in the punch?”
She rolled her eyes. “Pregnant lady here. It’s non-alcoholic.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Not this lady.”
“You sure?”
She swallowed. “I’ve only had…maybe water? I don’t know. I’ve been running around.”
I took the cap off the water and handed it to her. “Drink.”
“Thank you. Though, hi, I can hydrate myself just fine.” After taking a quick sip, she took the cap from me to close the bottle.
“Gonna need more than that, darlin’. You’ve got some peeing to do.”