Chapter 30
Thirty
Equal parts exasperated and amused, she took the bag from him and headed for their bedroom, kicking off her heels as she went.
Her feet were happy to be rid of them. Sky-high heels were so not her thing, but Tiffany had convinced her she couldn’t wear that dress without those shoes, along with the thong she also couldn’t wait to be rid of.
On second thought, she’d leave that on until Dan saw what she’d worn under the dress he liked so much.
Another thing Tiffany excelled at was getting her to buy racy underwear that her husband went wild over.
He was too funny and too sweet and too everything. Despite his over-the-top ego and ridiculous new habit of speaking of himself in the third person, she loved him more than life itself and couldn’t wait to give him a baby they’d name Dylan.
In the bathroom, she shut and locked the door, because she wouldn’t put it past him to come in there to watch her pee on the sticks.
Her heart gave a little lurch when she realized what she was about to do.
She’d suspected she might be pregnant when she missed her last period, but with the trip to LA and the premiere coming up, she’d planned to see Victoria, the island’s nurse practitioner-midwife, when she got back to Gansett to confirm it.
Leave it to her husband to beat her to the punch.
She shouldn’t be surprised. He didn’t miss much when it came to her, which was one of the things she loved best about him.
He paid attention to her, and he had from the start, noting things like the soda she preferred before she’d given him so much as the time of day.
Her hands shook a little with excitement and nervousness 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 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. You’d wreck me. You’re my whole world. You and our baby…”
She was stunned when tears filled 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.” He studied her in the intent way he had of making her feel seen and adored. “What’re you thinking?”
“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 the length of his palm.
“Are we really having a baby?” he asked, his expression still awestruck.
“It appears that way.”
“When can I tell people?”
“Not for a while. We want to make sure it’s going to take.”
He’d been rocking against her suggestively until she said that. “What’s that mean?”
“A lot of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Surely you must know that much.”
“Don’t even say that word. Nothing is going to happen to our baby.”
“Still… Let’s keep it between us for now.”
“Ugh, if I must.”
“You do know it takes, like, forty weeks to have a baby, right?”
“That’s a long-ass time.”
“Yes, it is, and you can’t be extra the entire time.”
He pushed against her suggestively again. “I’m always extra, baby. That’s one of the things you love best about me.”
She groaned and gave his hair a gentle tug. “How about less talk and more action?”
“Action is my middle name.” He slid a hand under her skirt, encountered the thong and froze. “Well, what have we here?”
“You’ll have to take a look and see.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He pushed himself up so he could help her out of the dress and then sat back on his heels to admire the skin-tone bra and thong Tiffany had chosen for her. “Could I please have a picture of how you look right now? I swear no one else will ever see it but me.”
Kara laughed to cover her nervousness. “Sure.”
Dan bounded off the bed to get his phone. “Don’t move.” When he returned to the room, he stopped short at the sight of her… hair loose around her shoulders, propped on her elbows, legs slightly apart.
Before him, she wouldn’t have had the courage to put herself on display that way. But he loved her so much and made her feel so desired that it was easy to do things with him that wouldn’t have happened with anyone else.
He took a couple of quick photos, tossed the phone aside and hastily undressed before rejoining her on the bed and kissing her with the kind of wild desire that had become part of her everyday life. “Want you so bad, sweet Kara, love of my life, mother of my baby.”
“I want you, too. Always.”
He was in such a rush, he didn’t bother to remove the thong, but rather moved it out of his way and took what they both needed. “Yes. God, I was dying for you all night.”
No one had ever said things like that to her before he did. He made love to her with urgency and reverence. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
She looked up at him.
“Tell me the truth.”
“About what?”
“You’re not picturing Flynn Godfrey right now, are you?”
Sputtering with laughter, Kara spanked his ass. “Shut up and finish what you started, will you?”
“Gladly.”
Back on Gansett Island, Dan’s practice was busier than ever.
He’d done everything from assisting Mac and Maddie with estate planning to guiding the McCarthy family in their purchase of the Wayfarer.
His latest situation was dealing with the biological father of Kyle and Jackson Chandler.
Jace Carson had only recently learned that his ex-wife had died and appointed her neighbors, Seamus and Carolina O’Grady, as their sons’ guardians.
Needless to say, Seamus was losing it as fears of the boys’ father upending their new family had him on the verge of an epic meltdown.
For most of a Monday, Dan had played phone tag with the attorney representing Kyle and Jackson’s father, Jace.
“Please try to understand,” the attorney said when they finally connected while Dan was at a party. “My client only recently learned that his sons’ mother had died. He wants to be sure the boys are being well cared for.”
Dan had walked away from the others to take the call, fearing that Seamus would actually have a stroke if they didn’t get this worked out soon.
“From all accounts, he was nowhere to be found when she was alive. The boys don’t even know him.
I assume that was by design on her part.
And not for nothing, a court saw fit to give her full custody.
I also assume there were good reasons for that. ”
“He had some difficulties and made mistakes he regrets.”
“If I run his record, what am I going to find?” Dan already knew the details, but wondered whether the lawyer would be honest with him.
“You’ll find he had some serious trouble earlier in his life, but he’s moved on from that.”