The Sheriff's Nine-Month Surprise

by Brenda Harlen

  She could feel the press of his erection against her belly, and the answering heat spread through her veins, making her eyes cross. “I hope it’s half as much as I want you.”

  His eyes, hot and dark, locked on hers.

  “If you’re going to tell me to stop, you better say it now,” he warned.

  She could only shake her head. “I don’t want you to stop.” She slid a hand between their bodies, stroking him through denim. “I want you.”

  He sucked in a breath. “You’re killing me here, Katelyn.”

  “Don’t tell the sheriff.” She tugged on his belt. “He’ll lock me up.”

  “That scenario does hold some appeal,” he admitted.

  She nibbled on his bottom lip. “Let’s get you out of these clothes,” she suggested, carefully working the straining zipper over the bulge of his erection.

  “And you out of yours,” he agreed.

  Of course, she was just wearing yoga pants, so he had the easier task. He hooked his thumbs in the waistband and slid them over her hips and down her legs.

  “You said you didn’t want to go near my bedroom,” he reminded her.

  “And I wouldn’t want to be accused of lying,” she said, tumbling with him onto the sofa.

  There was laughter and frustration as he tried to wriggle out of his clothes with her body draped over his, but eventually they were both naked and panting, desperate for one another.

  “Katelyn—”

  She didn’t know what else he was going to say, but she suspected she didn’t want to hear it, so she took a page out of his book and silenced his words with her mouth. She kissed him long and slow and deep, and while she was kissing him, she positioned her knees on either side of his hips, then eased her lips from his and pulled back so that his erection was poised at the juncture of her thighs.

  She was hot and wet for him, her insides trembling with the anticipation of taking his hard length deep inside her, but apparently she still had a few working brain cells because she hesitated. “I know there’s no point in worrying about birth control but—”

  “I haven’t been with anyone else since we were together,” he told her. “I haven’t wanted anyone but you. But I do have condoms in the—”

  He stopped talking when she tilted her hips. She took the tip of him inside her...then a little bit more. Deliberately drawing out his pleasure...and her own. Until he was finally...completely...deeply...inside her.

  She closed her eyes, relishing the sensations that were zinging through her system like a thousand tiny little balls inside an out-of-control pinball machine.

  Reid gave her a minute to adjust to his size and presence, then he lifted his hips, moving inside her. Slowly at first, establishing an even and steady rhythm...then faster...harder. And those erotic sensations continued to build and multiply until...it was too much.

  And everything inside her shattered.

  Chapter Seven

  Reid woke up naked and alone.

  He was sprawled on the flowered sofa with his clothes strewn around the floor, proof that his recollection of the previous evening was more than a dream.

  If he’d had any doubts that his memories were hotter than the reality of getting naked with Katelyn, last night’s sofa sex had laid them to rest.

  Unfortunately, waking up and finding her gone suggested that they still had some issues to resolve. Remembering that she was pregnant multiplied those issues and amplified the importance of finding a resolution.

  He made his way to the bathroom, cranking up the hot water in the shower in the hope that it would help clear some of the cobwebs from his brain. He braced his forearms on the ceramic tile as the spray pounded against his back, and he acknowledged that nothing could change the simple and basic facts:

  Katelyn was pregnant.

  And he was the father of her baby.

  Since the idea of drinking himself into oblivion hadn’t succeeded, he needed a plan B.

  Unfortunately, the only possible fix he could see for this impossible situation was marriage. He vaguely recalled mentioning the idea to Katelyn last night—and that she’d responded with little enthusiasm.

  He wasn’t exactly thrilled by the prospect, either, but he didn’t see any other choice. He’d been taught to take responsibility for his actions, even—and especially—when the consequences were uncomfortable. And marrying the mother of his child was the right thing to do.

  He was still freaked out about the idea of being a father—a job for which he had no skills and even less experience—but he could see only one path forward. Maybe it was old-fashioned to want his son or daughter to grow up with two parents, but that was what Reid wanted for his child. The very thing he himself had been denied.

  Which meant that he had a major task ahead: convincing Katelyn to marry him.

  * * *

  Kate woke up in her own bed and wanting coffee—desperately.

  Dr. Amaro had assured her that she didn’t need to give up caffeine completely but had suggested that she cut back to twelve ounces a day. Kate honestly didn’t know how much she usually drank—she’d never worried about keeping track before. Her first cup was always at home in the morning, to help kick her brain into gear as she got ready for work, and throughout the day, there was usually a cup within arm’s reach on her desk. If she was in court, recess meant a quick trip to the courthouse café for a vanilla latte.

  But since she’d vowed to reduce her caffeine intake, she’d been starting her mornings with a cup of herbal tea instead. She had yet to find a flavor that put her in a good mood to start the day. Today’s pick—lemon ginger—was supposed to help combat nausea, but it had a distinctly medicinal taste that wasn’t at all appealing. She took another sip and made a mental note to pick up some decaf coffee later. She’d never understood why anyone would drink decaf—what was the point of coffee without caffeine?—but under the circumstances, she thought she might give it a try.

  In the meantime, she was going to have to sort out the mess she’d made of her life without the boost of caffeine.

  Every decision she made from now on had to take into account not only what she wanted but what was best for the baby she was carrying. She had no idea how sex with Reid fit into that equation. Obviously getting naked with him had been a mistake, even if it had felt really good at the time.

  Which wasn’t something she should be thinking about right now, so when Sky walked in, Kate was so grateful for the distraction that she didn’t think to wonder what her sister was doing in town on a Saturday morning.

  Completely at home in Kate’s apartment, Sky took a mug from the cupboard and set it under the spout of the coffee maker, then selected a coffee pod and dropped it into the machine. “Is he here?” she asked.

  “Is who here?” Kate wondered.

  Her sister grinned. “Sheriff Hottie.”

  She shook her head. “No. Of course he’s not here.”

  “I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed,” her sister admitted.

  “Relieved,” Kate decided for her.

  “There are times when I wish I could be more like you—every aspect of my life ordered and compartmentalized,” Sky said. “But there are other times that I worry because your life is so ordered and compartmentalized.”

  Maybe that had been true before, but her impulsive actions in Boulder City had changed everything. “It’s too early in the morning for deep philosophical musings,” she protested.

  “You need a guy who will shake up your life.”

  Reid Davidson had undeniably done that, but she still felt compelled to take issue with her sister’s phraseology. “I don’t need a guy at all.”

  “You’re right.” Sky nodded in acknowledgment even as her lips curved. “But you want him.”

  Since her sister would see right through any effort to deny it, sh
e didn’t even try. “Only because I always want what isn’t good for me—like Sweet Caroline’s caramel fudge brownie cheesecake.”

  “Mmm,” Sky agreed, stirring sugar into her mug. “And why isn’t that good for you?”

  Kate breathed in deeply, as if the scent of her sister’s coffee might be enough to jolt her sluggish brain. “Because one little slice has about a gazillion calories.”

  “Calories you could burn off with Sheriff Hottie,” Sky suggested, taking a seat at the island.

  Kate just shook her head. “Not going to happen.”

  Not again.

  Of course, she hadn’t intended for it to happen last night, either, but something happened whenever Reid touched her. A hormonal surge that short-circuited her brain, making her body spark like a live wire, humming and crackling with the electricity zipping through it.

  She reached into the bread bag, retrieved two slices and slid them into the toaster, focusing intently on the task so she didn’t have to look at her sister. Because just the memory of Reid’s touch caused her blood to heat and pulse in her veins, and she could feel the warmth spread into her cheeks. “Do you want toast?”

  “No, thanks, I ate at home. Martina made huevos rancheros this morning,” she said, referring to the Circle G’s longtime housekeeper.

  “Lucky you.” Though just the thought of eggs and chorizo sausage smothered in spicy salsa was enough to make Kate’s stomach pitch.

  “So,” Sky said, when she realized her sister was watching her bread crisp, “are you going to explain to me what that whole ‘I’m going to marry your sister’ thing was about?”

  Kate reached into the cupboard for a plate as the toast popped up. “It was clearly the rambling of a drunk man.”

  Sky seemed to consider the explanation as she sipped her coffee. “I can believe that alcohol was a factor in causing him to blurt out the declaration, but I suspect he had a reason to be hearing wedding bells. Which leads me to believe that either the new sheriff doesn’t always live in the land of sane people or he’s the guy you got naked with at that conference in Boulder City.”

  One of the best things about having a sister was that she could tell her anything. One of the worst things about having a sister was that she told her—and her best friend, Emerson—everything. And they forgot nothing.

  “He’s the guy I got naked with in Boulder City,” she admitted, nibbling on the edge of a piece of toast.

  And last night.

  But there was no way she was going to share that information. It was one thing to confide that she’d had earth-moving sex with a guy her sister didn’t know and was never expected to meet, and something entirely different to admit she’d done the deed with the man who was the new sheriff in town.

  “And he immediately fell so head over heels in love with you that he decided to apply for Jed Traynor’s job so that he could convince you to marry him?” Sky suggested dubiously.

  “No. He applied for the position before we met. And I didn’t know he was the new sheriff until I went to his office yesterday to discuss a case.”

  “How’s Aiden doing?” Sky asked, proving that Kate’s efforts to honor her client’s confidentiality were for naught in a town where everyone knew everyone else’s business.

  “You know I can’t talk to you about a client—or even confirm the identity of a client.”

  “You don’t need to confirm it—his dad was overheard talking to Glenn Davis at the hardware store, and he said that you’re the reason his son isn’t stuck in a jail cell this weekend.”

  She sighed. “How am I supposed to maintain solicitor-client privilege if my clients—or clients’ parents—don’t keep their own mouths shut?”

  “Okay, I won’t ask any more questions about Aiden,” Sky promised. “Which brings us back to the new sheriff, his proposal and your baby.”

  Kate sucked in a breath, then sputtered and coughed on the toast crumbs lodged in her throat.

  Sky started to rise, but Kate held up a hand—holding her sister off—and swallowed a mouthful of lukewarm tea.

  “Are you okay?” Sky asked.

  She cleared her throat and nodded. “Yeah, you just... Where did that that idea about a baby come from?”

  “It comes from knowing you, Kate. You’re not drinking coffee, you’re nibbling on dry toast—and you look like you’re having trouble even keeping that down. Not to mention that most guys don’t propose after a single weekend with a woman, so I figured Sheriff Hottie had to have a pretty good reason for doing so.”

  “Okay, you’re right,” she finally acknowledged. “I’m pregnant.”

  “You’re going to be a mom,” Sky said quietly, almost reverently. Then she grinned. “And I’m going to be an auntie.” She hopped off her seat and embraced her sister. “I’m going to be the best auntie in the world—I promise.”

  “You can start by not telling anyone else about my pregnancy,” Kate told her.

  “I won’t tell anyone,” Sky assured her. “But how long do you think you can keep it a secret?”

  “I don’t know, but I just found out myself last week,” she admitted.

  “And told the sheriff last night—before he wandered into Diggers’,” her sister guessed.

  She nodded.

  “Are you going to say yes?”

  “He didn’t actually ask me to marry him, Sky.”

  “But he will.”

  “How can you possibly know something like that?” Kate challenged.

  “I study human behavior,” Sky reminded her. “And the new sheriff is the type of man who truly believes it’s his duty to serve and protect, and that sense of responsibility extends not just to the residents of his town but even more so to the people he cares about. He’s honorable, upstanding and just traditional enough to believe that marrying the mother of his child is the right thing to do.”

  “No one rushes to the altar because of an unplanned pregnancy in this day and age,” Kate reasoned.

  “I’m going to offer you a piece of advice, anyway.”

  “What’s that?” she asked warily.

  “If you decide to marry him, let Dad walk you down the aisle—don’t run off to Vegas like Caleb and Brielle did,” Sky cautioned.

  Their brother’s impulsive and short-lived marriage was rarely discussed—and never within earshot of their father.

  “Dad wasn’t mad that they went to Vegas to get married—he was furious that his son had knocked up a Blake.” Although technically Brielle was a Channing, her mother was a Blake, which meant, for all intents and purposes, she was a Blake, too—and, therefore, an enemy of the Gilmores.

  “But I promise that I won’t run off to Vegas to get married,” Kate said to her sister now. “Because I have no intention of getting married.”

  “Maybe you don’t,” Sky acknowledged. “But I wouldn’t bet against Sheriff Hottie on anything.”

  * * *

  Reid wanted to respect Katelyn’s request for space, but considering that she’d asked for time before he’d left her apartment Friday night—and before they’d gotten naked together again, he figured that action wiped the slate clean.

  Recalling her grandmother’s mention of Saturday appointments, he tried her office first.

  He walked in just as Katelyn was escorting a client to the door. There was no one else waiting in the reception area and the desk that he assumed belonged to a secretary or assistant was vacant.

  Still, she didn’t acknowledge him until her client had gone. “Did we have a meeting scheduled, Sheriff Davidson?”

  “Nothing definite, Lawyer Gilmore.”

  She smiled at that, just a little.

  He held up the manila envelope in his hand. “I have the discovery documents in the Johansen case for you.”

  She frowned as she took the envelope and lifted the flap. “T
he Johansen case?” She pulled out the sheaf of blank papers, then looked at him.

  He shrugged. “I figured I should have a pretext to justify my presence at your office.”

  “Very clever,” she said.

  “Was that your last appointment?” he asked.

  “It was,” she confirmed.

  “Do you want to grab some lunch?”

  “I appreciate the invitation,” she said. “But I thought you were going to take some time to think about the situation.”

  “I’ve done nothing else since you told me that you’re having my baby,” he said.

  “Why are you suddenly so willing to believe the baby’s yours?”

  “I wasn’t disbelieving so much as stunned,” he told her. “When you invited me to your place for dinner, the last thing I expected was for you to say that you were pregnant. And we weren’t careless. I’ve never been careless.”

  “Neither have I,” she said.

  “I guess it’s true that condoms are only ninety-eight percent effective.”

  “I could have lived a happy and fulfilling life without ever being proof of that statistic.”

  “And yet, here we are,” he said.

  “Here we are,” she agreed. “And while I appreciate your willingness to charge full speed ahead, I’m not sure the revelation of my pregnancy has fully registered. I only told you about the baby—” she glanced at the watch on her wrist, did a quick mental calculation “—eighteen hours ago, and you were drunk for several of those.”

  His lips curved in a slow smile as his gaze skimmed over her. “We both know I wasn’t drunk last night, Katelyn.”

  She turned away from him and slid the “documents” he’d given her into the paper tray of the printer beside the reception desk.

  “But you’re right,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t take the news well at first. On the other hand, it was the first time a woman’s ever told me that she was going to have my baby, so I’m sorry I didn’t know the right thing to say or do.”

  “It was the first time I’ve ever told a man he was the father of my child, so I might not have handled it the best way, either.”

  “But when I woke up this morning—alone and naked,” he said, with another pointed look at her, “I was resolved.”