“I brought you Diet Mountain Dew. Do you know how hard that is to find on Gansett Island?”
“Answer the question, Counselor. Did you or did you not make a complete ass of yourself?”
“I refuse to answer the question on the grounds of self-incrimination.”
“Save your legal mumbo jumbo for someone who doesn’t know all your BS.”
“My ‘legal mumbo jumbo’ is in hot demand. In case you missed it, Oscar-winner Flynn Godfrey just played me in a movie. And if I may add, he did a good job, but he couldn’t quite capture the sexy devil Dan Torrington really is.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Kara muttered. “Do you ever get tired of listening to yourself talk?”
“Nope, not really, and neither do you.”
“Yes, I do. I’m officially tired of hearing you talk about what a sexy devil you are and how Flynn Godfrey played you in the movie.”
“I can’t help that they had to get the handsomest guy in Hollywood to play me in order to do me justice.”
“Shut up, Dan.”
“Make me, Kara.”
Thankfully, they arrived at the house, and she was saved from having to take drastic measures to shut him up while he was driving. He came around to give her a hand out of the low-slung car and steadied her when she wobbled on the ridiculous heels she’d bought for the premiere.
“In case I forgot to tell you earlier, you were a total smoke show tonight, babe. That dress is fire.”
“This old thing?” Kara said, glancing back at him as he followed her up the stairs to the door. Their friend Tiffany Taylor had helped her find the perfect dress for the premiere, and Kara had never felt sexier than she did in the clingy black dress that was far more daring than she normally would’ve chosen for herself. Tiffany had that effect on her—and many others.
“That old thing has had me sporting wood all night.”
“Honestly, Dan.”
“Honestly, Kara.” He put his arm around her from behind and pressed his hard cock to her back to make his point. “Been dealing with that since the first second I saw you in that dress.”
“That long?”
“That long, so hurry up and go pee on a stick so we can do something about my stick.”
She didn’t want to laugh at that, because God forbid she should encourage his juvenile humor, but she couldn’t contain the laughter.
He thrust the bag of pregnancy tests at her. “Do at least three of them. I want to be sure.”
She took the bag from him, rolled her eyes and headed for the master 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, after the adored brother he’d lost in Afghanistan.
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 Vic when she got back to the island to confirm it. Leave it to her hotshot lawyer 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 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.”