It was enough to have him stepping away, his gut churning.
He realized she was having second thoughts.
“You can’t answer that, can you?”
Bristol swallowed, licked her lips, still looking uncertain. “It’s just … too soon, don’t you think?”
Too soon? She really wanted to play that card? After they’d spent a fucking year chasing after her, she thought that the future was too soon?
“I thought we were havin’ fun,” Bristol stated.
Kaden nodded because his throat was closing up now. No words could escape because he realized he’d done it again. He had leaped too far ahead, found himself in the deep end of the pool. This time by his damn self.
“You two all right?”
Kaden looked over at his brother, back to Bristol. Without a word, he turned and walked toward the front door, then continued right out into the night.
*
“What’d you say to him?” Keegan asked, his gaze cautious as he approached her.
“Nothing,” she lied easily. “One minute we were…”
Okay, so she couldn’t lie to Keegan. For one, there was nothing she could say that would rationalize the conversation that had just taken place. Kaden had taken her completely off guard.
Her move in with them?
How had they gone from this intense sexual relationship that was just starting up to … moving in together? She could count on one hand the number of times they’d had sex. Okay, maybe two hands. And one foot.
Whatever.
It was so … sudden.
Sure, they were having a baby together, but … well, women had babies all the time. A lot of them were single women. Having a spouse wasn’t a requirement for the role of mom. They weren’t ready for that sort of commitment. Merging their lives into one, that was ludicrous, right?
“Bristol?”
She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted… Bristol wanted to go to sleep and wake up so she could do this day all over again. It was not going the way she would’ve expected. Not by a long shot.
It’d only been a week since they’d started talking again. And fine, they’d spent the night together a few nights, and yes, Bristol enjoyed those moments. But she hadn’t been expecting things to progress quite so quickly.
“Bristol?”
“Hmm?” She looked up, met Keegan’s concerned gaze.
“Where’s my brother goin’?”
“I don’t know.” And that much was true.
“What happened?”
“We were talkin’.” More like arguing, but whatever. “Then he mentioned me movin’ in and I might’ve reacted badly, but it doesn’t change anything. I mean, he’s movin’ too fast, right? Don’t you think?”
Keegan didn’t look away and she saw it in his eyes. It was the same thing she’d seen in Kaden’s. They were on the same page. They were thinking about a future but neither of them had bothered to clue her in on it?
“I don’t understand how we got here,” she said softly, holding his gaze. “I thought … I thought we were goin’ slow.”
“Any slower, Bristol, and we’re goin’ in reverse.” There was heat in his tone now, frustration, maybe anger. “Is this temporary for you, Bristol?”
She frowned. “What? No. I … I don’t know.”
His dark eyebrows shot upward, his surprise obvious.
Move in with them? Then what? Would they want to get married? How the heck did that even work? Polygamy was illegal in Texas, right? Maybe everywhere? How had they gotten here? How—
A wave of heat hit her, but not the sensual kind. It was enough to have her stepping back, leaning against the wall, trying to draw in breath although her lungs felt constricted.
“Bristol? What’s wrong?”
“There’s not enough air,” she said. “It’s too hot in here.”
The next thing she knew, Keegan was leading her down the hallway, into the kitchen. He urged her into one of the kitchen chairs, put his hand on her shoulder, and rubbed gently.
When the hot flash faded, Bristol breathed through the queasiness, her hand to her stomach.
Keegan squatted down, put his hand on her knee. “Is it the baby?” There was real concern in his voice.
She didn’t want him panicking, so she attempted a smile. “Yes and no. Just morning sickness. But, you know, it’s not relegated to only the morning. At least not for me. It happens all the time. Day, night…”
She realized she was rambling, so she stopped.
Keegan stood, walked away. When he returned, he passed over a bottle of water. “Here. It’s cold.”
She took it from him, took a sip, let the chill soothe down her throat then rolled the bottle along her wrists. It took a few minutes, and the nauseous feeling subsided.
“When’s the last time