“So you keep saying.”
He lowered his head, narrowed his eyes, and grunted.
“Okay, caveman. I’ll be late if we don’t leave right now. We can finish not speaking later.”
“Oh, we’ll be speaking.”
He drove to the doctor’s office in mostly silence—until she criticized his music choice. He responded by turning his 80s rock up louder and singing along. She laughed until her sides hurt. When she gripped her ribs, he turned down the volume and asked if she was okay.
He drove faster to the appointment, even though she assured him that she was fine and he was overreacting.
She expected him to wait in the waiting room, but he came in as if he had every right to be there.
The doctor seemed to be working under the assumption that they were in a relationship. She supposed she didn’t have to straighten him out quite yet.
When he finished taking all of her medical history and doing a basic exam, he asked her to lift her shirt so he could check to see if he could pick up a heartbeat. He warned that it was still early and if they did pick up the sound, it would be faint.
She cringed when the cold jelly hit her belly. He used an ultrasound to pick up the sound waves, telling her it was the best way to hear at this stage.
Blobs formed on the screen, and she didn’t even try to figure them out. She knew better than to feel bad about her lack of ability to read these things.
“Hear that?”
She didn’t. Not really. Mostly it sounded like static.
She nodded anyway.
“That’s your baby’s heartbeat. It beats a lot faster than yours, and it’s very faint since it’s so early. But there it is, nice and healthy.”
Tears filled her eyes.
She looked at Ben, who looked as though a Martian had just walked into the room. His eyes were wide and moist. Starstruck.
“Hard to believe there’s a little person growing in there,” he said, stroking her arm.
And then she heard it. A vague little thump-thump-thump. Her little lentil’s heart beat.
The doctor pulled the wand away, and Karly wanted to beg for him to put it back.
The doctor handed Ben a cloth, directing him to wipe the jelly off Karly’s belly. Karly protested. Way too intimate.
But with a grin, Ben cleaned her off.
Heat flared in her gut.
Damn him.
As soon as the doctor left the room, Ben leaned down and kissed her.
His lips barely fluttered against hers, but the intimacy was more powerful than when he had been inside her.
She leaned into his kiss, probing his lips with her tongue, begging him to return the stroking. His hands moved to the side of her face, clutching her as if his life depended on her affection. She opened her eyes, mesmerized by his long lashes resting on his face. She closed her eyes again, wanting to feel every sensation he provoked in her.
The doctor knocked once, then entered again. Embarrassed, Karly tried to push Ben to the side, pretending they weren’t being intimate.
The doctor laughed.
“Nice to see the flame that created the little bundle of joy is still alive and well.”
She smiled, because what the hell else could she do?
“Sex is safe, I take it?” Ben asked.
She glared at him. Why was he asking such a thing? She wasn’t going to be sleeping around while she was pregnant. Those days were over. She’d never invite men into her house while her child slept in a room down the hall. Men like that tended to find their way to little girls’ rooms.
“Completely safe, as long as it’s comfortable.” The doctor went on to discuss the safety of oral sex and avoiding air embolisms, which had Karly mentally riding away on a spaceship to another planet.
She had always been able to discuss things frankly with her doctors, her girlfriends, whomever, but this kind of discussion with Ben in the room was too much.
The ride home was silent—a bitter contrast to the lively drive to the appointment.
He dropped her off, seemingly distracted. Didn’t even walk her to the door—not that she had expected him to.
He pulled out with barely a goodbye.
Guess the whole thing had finally registered. She had known he wouldn’t want to be a dad.
Chapter Eleven
It had taken a couple of weeks to arrange, but Ben was ready to discuss the living situation with Julia. Hearing his baby’s heartbeat was all the motivation he needed to finally have the conversation he had been putting off. He had to think like a father now, not like a single guy who could live how he pleased. He had to show Karly that he valued her above anyone or anything else.
Julia had been growing more and more sure of herself, and less and less afraid. Ben was still wary of her being alone, but Reed and Rogan had assured him that they would maintain her anonymity once she moved into one of the cottages at their place. Officer Jenkins, one of Healing Springs’ youngest and most effective cops, agreed to keep a close eye on her and to watch for anybody meeting the abuser’s description.
Ben would set her up with all the money she’d need. When it was time for her baby to be born, he’d hire help for her, too.
He sat her down and gave her a glass of her favorite peach lemonade.
“Thank you, Ben. Why do you look so serious?”
“I have to talk to you.”
“Oh boy.” Her eyes shuttered, closing off the way she often did when fear poisoned her mind.
“It’s a good kind of talk, I promise.”
She rubbed her belly. He smiled.
“I have a place all lined up for you. But only if you’re ready.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know it’s not easy living here in this bachelor pad.”
“Oh, is it because you don’t think you can bring girls over here? You don’t have to worry about me. I can hide out in my room with the TV.”
He laughed and shook his head. A few months ago, that would have been the issue.
“No, it’s not that. I’m going to be a father.”
“No way. Mr. Stud himself—Ben Knight, every woman’s fantasy of a Knight in Shining Armor, is settling down? Karly, right?”
“How did you know?”
“Oh, please. I’ve never seen you so enamored.”
“That’s ridiculous. It was an accident. Could have happened with anybody.”
“That may be true—I’ll have to take your word for it. But have you been dating anyone else since?”
Why did everyone say the same damn thing?
“Okay, discussion over. Let’s talk details about you and your situation.”
Though at first hesitant, Julia soon seemed excited to have a place of her own. She appreciated the extra security measures Ben had arranged, too. She even blushed when she admitted that she had met Officer Jenkins downtown once last week. He had helped her carry a stack of books from the library to her car.
“So you’re okay with all of this?” Ben asked, careful to empower her rather than taking over her life.
“I am so okay with this. Thank you, Ben. I will repay you for every single thing.”
“You already repaid me when you gave me a warm place to sleep back when I was alone in the world. I owe you.”
“That’s not how the world works.” She smiled and gasped at what she declared to be a big kick. “Feel it!”
“No thanks.”
“Still creeps you out, huh?”
“A little.”
“Better get used to it. You’ll want to feel it when it’s your baby.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” He cringed. Why the idea made him so queasy, he had no idea.
“If I had anything to wager, I’m sure I’d make a killing.” Julia smiled and twisted her hair into a knot, securing it with an elastic band she had kept around her wrist. “Would you mind if I went in for a nap? This sitting around all day creating a human life is exhausting.”
“You go right ahead. I have some things to do.”
“Karly sort of things?”
Ben smiled and winked and bolted for the door.
***
Ben gathered the four bags in his hands and trudged through the five inches of freshly-fallen snow to Karly’s front door.
If this didn’t make her happy, he would never understand.
She opened the door with a smile, almost as if she were actually happy to see him. His smile nearly cracked his cheeks.
Something had happened between them in the doctor’s office. Something he wanted to explore.
“What’s this?” She gestured to the heavy bags.
He shrugged and asked if he could come in.
She moved aside, allowing him to pass.
Would there always be sparks leaping from her body to his? He was familiar with the concept of lust—he had experienced it repeatedly. Not usually with the same person. Never by simply passing by in a small space.
If he started thinking he had butterflies in his stomach, he’d shoot himself.
He carried the bags to her kitchen table and began unpacking them.
“I don’t know what kind of cravings you’ve been having, so I brought a little of everything.”
“Looks like you brought the whole store.”
“Maybe. It’s a small store.”
He suddenly felt embarrassed under her perusal. Wasn’t this what men did when their females were pregnant?
He heard an intake of breath, and when he looked at Karly, her hands covered her mouth and her body shook. Tears poured out of her eyes.
“What’s the matter? Is something hurting?”
She nodded.
“What?” He dropped the box of cookies he held and rushed to her side. “Is it the baby?”
She shook her head.
“Let’s go sit on the couch.”
She wouldn’t allow him to lead her there. Instead she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and rushed to the bathroom to throw up.
He wet a paper towel at the kitchen sink and wiped it across her forehead.
“Feel better?”
She nodded.
“Want to tell me what made you so upset?”
She shook her head.
He sighed.
“Okay. Would you tell me if it was something I did?”
She nodded emphatically.
“Of course you would.” He smiled, leaning down to kiss her wet forehead.
She hiccupped.
“That was the baby,” she declared.
“A troublemaker already, huh? Guess he’s going to be just like his mommy.”
“You sound pretty certain that it’s a boy. Is that what you’re hoping for?”
“Isn’t it every guy’s dream to have a little quarterback?” Was he having this conversation? “Come on and have a snack.”
Tears welled in her eyes again.
“Okay, I give up. What now?”
“Don’t be such a jerk.”
“I was trying to be nice.” Ben threw his hands up in the air. “I brought all this food…”
“I know!” She sobbed. “And it’s so unselfish of you.”
“So why the tears?”
“Because you’re,” hiccup, “being so,” hiccup, “nice!”
“You just said I was a jerk.”
“You shouldn’t contradict a pregnant lady!”
Did her head spin in circles? Was she ready to stake him in the heart? What had happened here?
“I’m so out of my league,” he admitted.
“How do you think I feel?” Her voice squeaked as she tore a giant section of paper towel off the roll and blew her nose. “Hormones suck.”
“I can’t even imagine.” Didn’t want to imagine, either.
“Don’t you dare look at me with pity.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Yes you were.”
“Karly. Please. Eat some chocolate.”
“I think that might be the most insulting thing you’ve ever said to me.” Her eyes tightened as she glared at him, all the while ripping into the bag of Snickers.
Mouth full, she said, “You have to go now. I have a date.”
“A what?”
White hot rage flowed through his body at her statement. He suddenly noticed that she had changed from what she was wearing earlier. Her breasts practically fell out of the top of her low-cut shirt, and her dark pants hugged every curve.
“You’re kidding, right?”
She shook her head.
“Thank you for bringing all these treats. I think I’m craving every single thing on this table.”
His hands tightened into fists as her words played in his head over and over.
He rearranged his entire life for her, and she was going on a date?
He couldn’t risk leaving another hole in her wall.
He stormed out without saying goodbye.
***
If Ben hadn’t already lost his mind, he was on the right track.
He had managed to busy himself for a few hours with an emergency meeting at work. When he drove by Karly’s house, gift bags in tow, everything was dark (except the porch light), and her car was still gone.
Okay, so she had driven herself. How serious could this date thing be?
Though he was tempted to camp out on her front porch and await her return, the tiny fragment of sanity that remained told him he needed to go home.
He didn’t own her.
She had made it quite clear that they weren’t even dating.
He placed the gift bag on the knob of her front door, closing the storm door over it. He wanted to see her face when she opened the little onesie with his company’s logo and bold-faced CEO printed on the front, but he also liked the idea of surprising her with this first gift.
A gift for his son.
Or daughter.
He shook his head to clear it of the fog swamping his brain at the thought of him being a parent.
Moving around from foster home to foster home had been bad. He hadn’t bonded with any parents after the third home or so—he learned fast that if he liked them, the caseworker removed him faster.
Once he returned home, still caught up in a past he didn’t often give much thought to, he looked around at the wealth of stuff he owned.
As a kid, everything he owned could fit into a backpack when he was lucky enough to have one, or more commonly, a trash bag. Accumulating “stuff” when he was old enough to do so became a source of pride for him. At first this need to be surrounded with possessions had created some debt trouble for him, but with enough sweat and hard work, he built himself a little empire. His partnership with Cole had made him quite wealthy.
Fancy cars, nice clothes, top of the line electronics and furnishings. He loved it all.
His child would have everything. He’d make sure of it.
He resisted the urge all night to text Karly to be sure she made it home safely. And alone.
But he couldn’t.
It wasn’t his right.
He drove by the next morning.
Her car was still gone. The porch light was still on. And the gift bag still hung on the doorknob, mocking him.
Chapter Twelve
“Karly, you have to call him. He’s going absolutely ballistic thinking you’ve been on a date this whole time.” Ava’s words matched her tense and urgent tone.
“Why should he care? He’s engaged.”
“Not for real,” Ava countered.
“And I’m not really on a date, am I?”
Karly bit into the chocolate-covered strawberry, relishing every bite as she lounged on the hotel bed in the luxurious robe.
“Are you eating strawberries? I think my baby wants some, too.”
“Sorry, I’m on a date.”
“Karly. It’s not funny. He’s seriously going crazy. Like, driving by your house crazy.”
Ava’s words thrilled Karly more than they should have.
She had swept herself away for some time in a hotel with high thread count sheets, room service, and an in-room Jacuzzi. She had to go to a ski resort to get this kind of room without driving to the city, but it was worth every pretty penny she had taken from her meager savings account.
If she had to grow a baby, she was going to be refreshed.
“Okay, okay. I’ll let him know where I am.”
“That’s all I ask. Thank you.”
Karly smiled to herself.
Ava caught on much too fast.
“Wait! You can’t let him know you’re at a hotel. You have to make sure to specify that you’re alone.”
“You take away all the fun.”
“And that you’ve been alone the whole time. That there was no date.”
“You’re mean.” Karly bit into another strawberry and purposely slurped it as an affront to her friend.
“And you’re cruel. On all accounts. Now get back to your relaxation. I have to call Cole to tell him to bring me home some chocolate-covered strawberries.”
“I’m sure he will. He probably caters to your every whim.”
Ava sighed through the phone.
“He sure does.”
Karly said her goodbyes before she could puke at the sappiness.
She smiled to herself as she inhaled another strawberry.
Ben going crazy. Jealous. Who would have thought?
As she mentally prepared a text to him, the phone rang. Though she wasn’t sure she was ready to speak to him—she didn’t want to rip the Band-Aid off his imaginary wound so soon—she forced herself to answer with a smile.
“I’ve been trying to reach you. I thought you were dead.”
Not even a hello.
She smiled at his urgency.
“Oh, no. I’m very much alive.” She may have drawled the words a little. She rubbed her freshly waxed legs together, enjoying the absence of stubble.
This was the first time she had felt sexy since the puking had begun.
“Are you still with him?”
She could cut a diamond with his hard tone.
“With whom?” Innocent enough?
He growled in response. Man, he was gone.
Two Is a Lonely Number Page 10