I nodded, mortified. Now everyone would know. The whole town. “I just found out.”
Jack hesitated, as if he didn’t know what to say.
“If you even think about asking her if it’s yours, I’ll kill you,” Vaughn warned.
“Of course it’s mine.” Jack bared his teeth at Vaughn like he was thinking of preempting the groom’s threat. He turned to me, his expression dark and foreboding … and worryingly satisfied. He held out his hand. “We need to talk. Now.”
Eyes wet with tears, I turned to Bailey, trying to ignore the hush beneath the band’s music. Everyone was watching us. “I’m so sorry, Bails.”
“Don’t be silly.” She pulled me into her embrace. “I’m sorry I outed you.” I shook my head and Bailey released me. “Are you going to be okay?”
Before I could answer, Jack’s strong hand wrapped around my wrist, gently pulling me away. “I’ll make damn sure of it,” he vowed.
It was as I’d feared.
On the one hand, Jack seemed awfully calm about the news of his impending fatherhood, which was a relief. On the other hand, he also seemed to have assumed that this baby meant he now had an in with me.
And I was not looking forward to dispelling him of the idea.
27
Jack
Emery was pregnant.
Em. His Em. With his kid.
Pregnant.
Jack didn’t know what emotion to grasp on to first. For the first time in his life, he was feeling a rush of many. It was overwhelming.
He was worried about Emery.
He was scared shitless.
He was strangely satisfied.
And grateful that an accidental pregnancy happened between him and the woman he loved and not some woman passing through town.
Angry at fucking Vaughn Tremaine for sticking his nose in, acting like he was Em’s protective big brother.
Thankful Cooper had asked if he was all right instead of shooting him condemning looks like so many of the wedding guests had, like he’d violated the town virgin.
And Jack was nervous. Nervous about the way Emery wouldn’t meet his eye as they sat across from one another in her beach house. She still wore her bridesmaid gown. It was a light pink that looked great against her skin and hair. Em’s lashes were dark with mascara, but that was all he could see of her eyes.
Look at me.
He wanted to gaze into those startlingly pale, beautiful blue eyes and attempt to work out what Em was thinking.
Was she scared?
Did she hate him?
Did she not want the baby?
Fuck, that didn’t even occur to him. What if she didn’t want the baby?
“Em, I’m going crazy over here. Talk to me.”
“I was going to tell you about the … the baby.” She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. There was so much anxiety and concern in her eyes, Jack couldn’t pin down if she was worried he thought she hadn’t planned to tell him, or she was freaked out about the whole thing. Probably both.
He sat forward on his seat. “I know that. You told me we’d talk later, remember?”
Relief flickered across her face. “Yeah. I just don’t want you to think I would keep this from you.” Anguish darkened her expression. “Now everyone will know.”
“Let’s forget about that for now. First … I’m sorry. I’m sorry for leaving that stupid note that—”
“Jack, don’t.” Emery stood, touching her temples like she had a headache. The pale-pink dress was the classiest bridesmaid dress Jack had ever seen. It was sleeveless with a high neckline, tied around the neck in a big bow that made a man’s fingers itch to pull it loose. The dress clung to her gorgeous figure, and all that was revealed of her skin was her arms and back. He wondered if those women realized when they picked this dress out for Em that it was sexy as fuck.
Her belly was flat. By Jack’s calculations, she was only seven weeks along. No sign of the baby yet.
Heat flushed through him. That possessive feeling he had about Em, the feelings he tried to stomp down because he didn’t want to act like a caveman dick, roared through him a hundredfold. When he saw her dancing with that preppy-looking asshole at the wedding, he wanted to rip the guy’s arms off.
If he’d known then that she was pregnant with his kid, Jack might have just done that.
And he didn’t know how to feel about it.
He didn’t like that side of himself.
But he couldn’t deny that Emery made him territorial as hell. Jack knew he had to work on softening the