as she opened three of the boxes, got the sticks and read the directions to make sure she did it right. She’d never taken a pregnancy test before, had never had so much as a scare, so this was all new to her, too. But at least she knew you had to pee on the sticks and still couldn’t believe he hadn’t known that!
When she was finished, she set the sticks on the counter and got busy taking off her makeup and brushing her hair.
A soft knock on the door sounded through the room.
Smiling, she went to open it to him. He’d removed his suit coat and bow tie, released the top buttons of his dress shirt and had his arms propped over his head on the doorframe. He was devastatingly beautiful, and even though he knew it, she loved him anyway.
“I can’t believe you locked me out.”
“Really? You can’t?”
His playful scowl only made him cuter than he already was. “What’s the verdict?”
“I haven’t looked yet.” She took his hand. “How about we look together?”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “Let’s do it.”
“We already did it. That’s how we ended up in this boat.”
“No one I’d rather be in any boat with, as I proved to you very early on by paying for many a ride on your boat before you were even nice to me.”
They approached the vanity with trepidation, as if it might contain explosives that would detonate if they moved too quickly.
Kara looked down at the tests and saw three big plus signs.
“What’s that mean?”
“Plus means positive.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“So it would seem.”
Dan let out an earsplitting whoop, picked her right up and swung her around, hugging her so tightly, she gasped. “Oh shit, what am I doing? You’re pregnant, and I’m acting like Tarzan.”
“If you start beating your chest, I might leave you.”
He set her down gently, framed her face and gazed down at her. “You can’t ever leave me, because you’d wreck me and because you’re my whole world. You and our baby…”
She was stunned when she saw tears fill his eyes.
“You’ve made me so happy, Kara. You and baby Dylan.”
Kara curled her arms around his neck and went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “You’ve made me just as happy.”
“Let’s go to bed and celebrate.”
“Lead the way, my love.”
He surprised her once again when he lifted her into his arms and carried her to bed, setting her gently on the mattress and then propping himself on his arms to gaze down at her.
“What?”
“Just looking at my beautiful baby mama.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”
“Are you excited?”
She nodded. “And scared.”
“Why?”
“The whole pushing-a-pumpkin-out-of-my-body thing is a tad bit terrifying.”
“Ugh, do you gotta put it that way?”
“How else should I say it?”
He lowered himself to kiss her, brushing the hair back from her face. “Don’t be scared. We’ll get you the best drugs money can buy.”
“I won’t say no to that.”
“I’ll be right there with you. I have no doubt you’ll do great, and you’ll make the prettiest baby ever. He or she will be so lucky to have you as their mom.”
“And you as their dad.”
“This is the best day of my whole life, and not because Flynn Godfrey played me in a movie.”
Kara laughed and brought him all the way down on top of her.
“I don’t want to squish the baby.”
“The baby is fine.” She curled her legs around his hips and pressed against his hard cock. “But your wife could use some attention.”
“My wife has my undivided attention.”
Once upon a time, Kara had thought she would marry a man named Matt, before she found out he’d been secretly dating her sister at the same time he was leading her to believe they were headed toward marriage. Now Kelly was married to him, and Kara was thankful every day that they’d betrayed her, because they’d led her, indirectly, to this perfectly imperfect man.
“What’re you thinking?” he asked, studying her in the intent way he had of making her feel seen and adored.
“About the long and winding road that brought us together and how thankful I am for the people who stabbed me in the back and led me to you.”
“I’m thankful to them, too, even if I still want to stab them for hurting you the way they did.”
“No more stabbing. We’ve had enough of that.” She took hold of the hand that had been sliced open at their engagement party by a knife-wielding Jim Sturgil and kissed the pale white scar that ran