Chapter 9
NINE
CLIFF
By the time I get to the airport, I think I’ve figured out why Sophie decided to come to Alaska and what she’s going to say.
She’s in love with me, and she thinks we should be together.
Okay, maybe love is too strong of a word. But she has to at least like me a lot. A woman doesn’t just get on a plane and fly to Alaska unless she has deep, serious feelings for you. Right?
A couple of weeks ago, the possibility of anyone having feelings for me would’ve sent me running. Now, knowing the person is Sophie… Maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all.
Not that we should jump into anything.
She lives in Seattle. I’m pretty set on my life here. Still, maybe, if we take our time and get to know each other a little better, we can have some kind of relationship.
But, first things first. I need to hear her out—like I promised Winter. And then, I need to do the grown-up thing and fill her in on some details of my past.
Fair is fair.
I pull up to the curb at the airport as Sophie steps outside. She’s wrapped in an oversized parka and wearing an adorable stocking cap with a pom-pom on the top, along with some heavy boots. Winter must have given her a few tips on wardrobe before she boarded the plane.
Good, I want her to be comfortable while she’s here. Hell, maybe she’ll fall in love with this place the same way I did. It would make any hopes of a future relationship a lot easier if she did.
Putting the car in park, I jump out and call her name.
She glances up, and the sight of her beautiful blue eyes focused on me sets my heart racing. Damn, I really do have it bad for this woman.
And it doesn’t suck.
Unable to resist, I jog toward her and scoop her into my arms. She stiffens slightly, but only for a second. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and squeezes me back, even as her booted feet dangle off the ground.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be happy to see me,” she murmurs into my chest.
Not bothering to lower her to the ground, I keep one arm wrapped around her waist and lift her chin so I can gaze into her eyes.
“Believe me, there isn’t anyone else I’d rather see right now.”
I lower my head to capture her lips in a kiss. I close my eyes and sigh deeply, feeling more at peace at this moment than I have since I left her behind. Yeah, this is right.
After swearing off love, I’ve found the one woman who could change my mind. No one could be more surprised—or happier—than me.
A car honks behind me, and with a reluctant groan, I break off the kiss and lower Sophie to the ground. “I suppose we should get out of here.”
She gives a breathy, “Yeah” and I can’t help but smirk smugly at how much she’s still affected by our kiss.
Keeping one of her hands tucked in mine, I grab her small suitcase and put it in the back of my truck. I help her up into the passenger seat.
And, because I can, I lean in to give her one more quick kiss, flipping the bird to the annoyed person still laying on their horn behind us at the curb.
Sophie’s lips curve into a grin against mine. Chuckling, I pull back and hurry around to the driver’s side. Not that I give a fuck what the pissed-off driver behind me thinks. I just don’t want to be away from Sophie now that she’s here.
Though I know I should probably ask what it is that’s brought her here, I realize I’m not in any rush. As we drive away from the airport, I point out little sights along the way.
We keep up a light conversation about all of the places we’ve been and where we’d like to go. Considering how little I talk with other people, and how little I want to, it’s easy to keep up a conversation with her.
That’s no surprise. She’s Sophie.
“Are you hungry?” I ask.
She gives a little grin. “I could eat.”
“Let’s stop in town.”
I slowly drive down Main Street, pointing out a couple of the shops. I pull into a free spot outside of the diner. “This isn’t anything fancy, but it’s good.”
She nods, twisting her fingers together in her lap. “Look, before we go inside, I should probably tell you why I’m here.”
I put the car in park and turn toward her, an easy grin on my lips. “If you like.”
She hesitates, and the desire to burst into a full smile grows. This is it. She’s going to tell me she wants a relationship. She’s going to tell me she’s crazy about me.
“I’m pregnant.”
The grin falls from my face. “What?”
“I… I went to the doctor a couple of days ago, and I’m pregnant.”
Hearing her say it for a second time doesn’t make the words make any more sense. I shake my head.
“You’re pregnant?”
She nods. “And you’re the father.”
I shake my head. “I can’t be.”
“I promise, you are.”
“But it wasn’t even two weeks ago.”
“The doctors have really sensitive tests.”
“But we used condoms.”
“They don’t always work.”
We fall silent as I struggle to make sense of what she’s said. Sophie is… pregnant. She says I’m the father. That protection doesn’t work. That the doctors have really sensitive tests.
Tests you would probably only take if you had a reason to think you might be pregnant.
That’s when it hits me. The bag in the backseat of her car. The prenatal vitamins. The baby shoes.
They weren’t for her friend. They were for her.
“Were you trying to get pregnant?”
She releases a shaky breath. “Yes and no.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Yes, I was trying to get pregnant. But, no. I wasn’t trying to get pregnant with you.”
I clamp my eyes shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m sorry, I’m going to need you to explain that to me.”
“Well… a few months ago, I decided I wanted to have a baby. Dating hasn’t been going well. It’s never gone well. And one day I figured I should stop waiting for the right guy and just go ahead and have a baby. So, I made plans to be… artificially inseminated.”
My eyes fly open then, and my hand falls to my side.
“I went in for my appointment a few days ago.” She’s still clasping her fingers together in her lap. “As part of the pre-insemination check-up they ran some tests, and, well, I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant.”
She nods. “I know it’s a lot to process. I’ve known for a couple of days and I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. I know this isn’t something you were planning. And… you don’t have to be involved unless you want. Though, I’d love it if you were. You have no idea how long I’ve…”
She shakes her head. “Well, I just thought you should know.”
“You’re pregnant,” I say again. It feels like a hand is squeezing my lungs, making it impossible for me to breathe. “I’m sorry, how am I supposed to believe you didn’t plan on this?”
She sucks in a breath, and I wince. I really shouldn’t have said that. I may have been thinking it. But I shouldn’t have said that.
“You really think I would trick you into… getting me pregnant? Why? So I could force you to marry me or something?”
“You wouldn’t be the first woman to do that.” Again, I’ve said something I shouldn’t. I clamp my mouth shut before I can say anything else incredibly stupid.
“How… dare you.” She unbuckles her seatbelt. “The fact that you think I would ever do something like that—to you or anyone…” She shakes her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll find my own way back to the airport.”
Sophie throws open the door, jumps out of the truck, and stalks off. I’m torn between going after her and apologizing and staying where I am to process the bomb she’s just dropped on me.
In my shock, I choose the coward’s path. I stay exactly where I am, playing our conversation over in my head over and over.
Sophie is… pregnant. With my child. A baby we conceived during one of the most incredible nights of my life.
“She’s pregnant,” I say out loud, trying the words for myself. Nearly choking on them as I do. “She’s having my baby.”
The horror I expect to feel doesn’t come. Instead, as I say the words again, the fear that has been threatening to strangle me from the moment she told me loosens its hold.
I say it for a third time, and an unexpected warmth spreads through my chest.
“Sophie is pregnant. She’s having my baby.”
A slow grin spreads across my face.
Then, I remember what I said when she told me. I remember the look on her face as she got out of the truck and the smile falls away.
“Fuck. I mean shit.” I wince because that’s not much better. I really need to work on my language before the baby gets here. You’re not supposed to swear around babies. Right?
Hell, what do I know? You could take everything I know about raising a baby, and it wouldn’t even fill the dirty coffee mug still sitting in my kitchen sink.
Luckily, I had the world’s best dad growing up. If I do even half as good of a job as he did, I might not screw up this whole fatherhood thing.
That is if Sophie will forgive me. I’ll probably have to do some groveling. And… I’ll have to explain a couple of things about my past. It won’t make up for the way I just treated her. But maybe, if she understands, she’ll give me another chance.
A chance to be a father to a baby. A chance to be a partner to her.
I glance down the sidewalk looking for a glimpse of her and frown. She must have gone into one of the stores.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll stop at each one and even—sigh—talk to the townies until I find her. I’d do even more, because… Well, because I’m falling for Sophie.
And I want to have a life with her.