The Girl Next Door

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Cover Design by Emma Hart

CHAPTER ONE – IVY

Wet hair stuck between your thighs after a

shower.

If you’d asked me the worst part about being

a woman three weeks ago—hell, even three days
ago—that would have been my answer.

Now?
Now, my answer was very different.
The three minutes it took for a pregnancy

test to reach its determination about whether or not
you were about to spend the next eight months
incubating a tiny human?

Hands down the worst part about being a

woman.

Not to mention the scariest. Peeing on that

stick was simultaneously the most terrifying and
most awkward thing I had ever done.

And the messiest.
Look, I wasn’t winning any awards for my

aim with the pee, okay? My poor hand had been
scrubbed red raw in the last sixty seconds, and I
was sure as hell never going to yell at a man again
for missing the toilet.

As long as he cleaned it up himself.
Needless to say that if I ever had to do this

again, I was going to pee in a pot first. Less room
for error and all that.

I checked the timer on my phone.
Ninety seconds left.
Then I could pull the pee stick from the top

drawer of my bathroom dresser where I’d
unceremoniously dumped it to stop me from
torturing myself.

In reality, that hadn’t happened.
For one, I knew. You know how you get that

gut feeling that tells you someone is an asshole? Or
that the chicken is off? Or that your best friend
really did steal your blusher and isn’t giving it
back?

Yeah.
I knew.
My period was two weeks late. My boobs

were so tender they hurt when I looked at them,
and I could smell a coffee from a mile away.

Speaking of that, I couldn’t stand the smell of

coffee anymore.

So yeah, I knew. I knew what the test was

going to say, and I had no idea what I was going to
do about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t considering

anything other than keeping the little alien who was
almost certainly growing in my womb. I didn’t
believe in anything else, and weirdly enough, that
wasn’t the scariest part about this.

Nope. It would be telling my staunchly

Catholic, Jesus-loving grandmother that I was

pregnant. Unmarried. From a one-night stand.

That was going to go well.
Not.
Not to mention the fact I would have to tell

my next-door neighbor that our drunken, one-time
escapade a few weeks ago had knocked me up.

That was also not going to be fun. As far as I

knew, Kai Connors had absolutely no intention of
having children anytime soon. He’d spent weeks
avoiding Amanda, a single mom in the building who
had kids for no reason other than she had kids.

But that was fine. If he didn’t want kids, I

would move and figure it out by myself.

I checked my phone again.
Sixty seconds.
I had no idea how this had happened, either.

Sure, we hadn’t used a condom because we’d been
drunk  and  I’d  assured  him  it  was  fine,  but  I  never
ever  missed  a  pill.  It  never  crossed  my  mind  this
would  happen.  I  was  OCD  about  taking  my  pill.  I
took it out every single morning when I brushed my
teeth and took it immediately after, and I’d checked
the  package  every  single  day  for  a  week  while  I’d
built the confidence up to take this pregnancy test.

All the days were clear. I’d taken it every

day.

Forty-five seconds.
Oh, shit.
I knew.

The day my grandmother was rushed to the

ER. That was it. That was the day. She swore she
was dying but it turned out she was constipated. I’d
taken my pill out, but now that I thought about it, I
had no recollection whatsoever of taking it.

It was so normal for me to do it that it’d

never crossed my mind that I might have forgotten
that I had not, in fact, taken it.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
It was all on me.
Kai was going to kill me.
I couldn’t not tell him. No matter what he

did, he had the right to make a decision about what
he wanted to do. But I also had to admit this was
my fault. It was my mistake that had led to this.

Thirty seconds.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. I

couldn’t believe I’d been so damn stupid. I never
should have said it was fine to do it without a
condom. Such an idiot.

Fifteen seconds.
Really, by now, with our technology, it didn’t

need to take three minutes for a pregnancy test to
work its magic. Thirty seconds was all that was
needed.

I ran my fingers through my hair and paced

the length of my bathroom. I had no idea what I
was going to do. I didn’t know the first thing about
babies. I had no idea how to change diapers or

breastfeed or how to stop little humans running into
roads.

Oh, God, I was going to drop my baby,

wasn’t I?

My phone sprang to life. The high-pitched

chirping of the alarm ricocheted off the walls, and I
stopped the alarm that signified the end of the
worst three minutes of my life before it made my
headache any worse than it already was.

I set the phone on the dresser and stared at

the drawer that held the test. All I had to do was
open it, flip the test over, and I’d get my answer. I
would know one way or the other. I would know if
it was a baby or just stress.

After all, I’d read that sometimes the stress

of worrying about pregnancy would delay a period,
creating a vicious circle.

Closing my eyes, I drew in a deep breath and

tried to center myself. It didn’t work. My heart was
pounding at a thousand beats a minute, and I swore
I was going to faint.

I grabbed the test from the drawer and

perched on the edge of the bath.

I was going to do this. I was going to look. I

was going to find out.

Right now.
I opened my eyes and flipped the test.
Pregnant, +.
The answer blinked at me from the little

digital screen. A lump formed in my throat as I
stared down at the window.

Yeah. I was going to faint.
I sat on the floor instead and leaned against

the side of the tub. Pregnant. Definitely pregnant.
Six weeks, according to my calendar. Very
definitely pregnant.

Oh, shit.

***

Tori blinked at me. “You’re actually

pregnant?”

I nodded, running my hand through the soft

fur of her Ragdoll cat, Genevieve. “I took three
tests after. They all said the same thing. Definitely
pregnant.”

“Holy shit.” She dropped onto the sofa next

to me. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, but if you don’t get that

coffee away from me, I might throw up in it.”

“Noted.” She grabbed the mug from the table

and took it into the kitchen, even going so far as to
drain the cold coffee down the sink and rinse it.
“And it’s Kai’s?”

“Yep.” I looked down at the cat who was

happily purring under my methodical strokes. “And
no, before you ask, I haven’t told him yet. I
panicked and came here. Well, after I went to the

drugstore two towns away and bought three more
tests ‘for a friend.’”

She rejoined me on the sofa, handing me a

glass of ice water. “Are you okay, Ives?”

Shrugging, I sank back into the soft cushions.

“I really don’t know. I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet,
you know? It’s like I knew, because everything
added up, but it’s one thing to think it and another
thing entirely to have it spelled out in front of you.”

Tori squeezed my hand. “How did it happen?

You’re so anal about your pill. There’s no way
you’d forget. Did it fail?”

I shook my head. “You know when Grams

went to the hospital?”

“Yeah. When she couldn’t poop.”
“Yeah. I was doing my morning routine when

I got the call. I definitely popped the pill because it
wasn’t in the strip, but I must have knocked it into
the sink and down the drain when I rushed to leave.
Believe me, I got on my hands and knees this
morning to look for it, and I couldn’t.”

“Damn. Speaking of Grams…”
“Don’t.” I stopped stroking Genevieve, much

to  her  chagrin,  and  pressed  my  fingertips  against
my  temples.  “I  don’t  even  want  to  think  about
telling her. She’s going to flip her shit. I’ll probably
kill  her  with  this  news.  Not  only  is  her
granddaughter  having  a  baby,  but  it’s  from  a  one-
night stand outside of wedlock.”

“Okay, well, let’s not think about her.” Tori

patted my thigh. “You’ll just stress out, and you
can’t do that right now. Let’s think about this
methodically: have you called your doctor yet?”

I shook my head.
“Do you want me to make you an

appointment?”

Tears filled my eyes as I nodded. If I spoke, I

was going to burst into great hulking sobs that
would make Kim Kardashian’s crying face look
stunning. I just knew it.

“Okay.” Tori slid a box of tissues over to me

and grabbed her phone. “Let me call her now.”

Thank God we’d had the same doctor for

five years.

I wiped my eyes while she gave our doctor

the rundown and made me an appointment for
Thursday morning.

“Have you had any nausea yet? Vomiting?”

Tori asked, the phone still plastered to her ear.

“Bit of nausea, I think.”
She relayed that followed by a string of

“Mhmm,”  “Okay,”  “Yep,”  and  “No  problems,”
then hung up. “Right.” She turned back to me. “She
said  to  tell  you  not  to  take  ibuprofen,  only
paracetamol. Drink plenty of water, nap if you need
to,  and  she’ll  go  through  everything  with  you  on
Thursday. Do you want me to come with you?”

“If Kai doesn’t. Yeah.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You think he

won’t?”

“I don’t know, Tori. I haven’t spoken to him

in more than a week. In fact, I’ve actively avoided
him  because  I  didn’t  want  to  say  anything  until  I
knew  for  sure.”  I  pulled  Genevieve  onto  my  chest
and  cuddled  into  her  masses  of  soft,  white  fur.  “I
don’t know how he’s going to react.”

“You know it’s going to be okay, don’t you?”

She sat down next to me and stroked my hair
gently. “Kai isn’t a bad person, and I have no doubt
that he’s going to support you, Ivy. And if I’m
wrong and he doesn’t, then, well. You’re not alone.
You have me, and your parents, and my parents. It
will be fine.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have a tiny

alien growing in your uterus.”

“Fair point. But that’s no excuse to be a

bitch, you hear me? I’m not being your slave for
nine months.”

“Eight months, technically,” I replied. “And

growing an entire human gives me a great excuse to
be a bitch. It’s a fact.”

She grinned. “You look tired. Do you have to

work today?”

“No. Kelly’s childminder had something

come up so I switched shifts with her. I’m working
Wednesday night instead.”

“Are you sure you can do it?”

“I’m serving drinks behind a bar, Tori, not

moving rocks to build the pyramids. Besides, I’m
going to have to tell my parents tomorrow.”

“Does that mean you’re telling Kai today?”
“I don’t have a choice.” I sighed, rubbing my

cheek  against  the  cat’s  head.  “If  I’m  telling  my
parents  tomorrow,  it  means  Grams  will  find  out.
And when Grams finds out, if it doesn’t kill her on
the  spot,  she  will  happily  announce  to  the  entire
town  that  her  whore  of  a  granddaughter  got
knocked  up  out  of  wedlock,  and  he’ll  find  out
anyway.”

“If she does that, I’ll beat her with a bible. A

hardback one.”

“Thanks.”
“I got your back.” Tori grinned. “I have to go

run some errands, and you look exhausted. Do you
want to crash here for an hour while I go out?”

I didn’t want to bother her at all, but she was

right. If I looked exhausted, it wasn’t a patch on
how I felt. Physically, emotionally, mentally—I was
ruined.

“You don’t mind?”
“I didn’t mind before and I definitely don’t

mind now. Do you want anything? I can swing by
B’s and get sandwiches for lunch.”

“A meatball sub,” I murmured, cradling her

cat. “Extra cheese. Toasted. And salt and vinegar
chips with a double chocolate chip cookie.”

“Anything else?”
“Ice-cream works, too.”
“Let me guess, you’re eating for two now, so

I can’t say no.”

“No, I’m just a greedy bitch, but the state

I’m in, I’ll probably cry if you don’t bring it back.”

Tori shook her head, but her eyes sparkled.

“Noted. I got it.”

“Thanks. I’m taking Genevieve to bed.”
She laughed as she pulled her shoes on.

“Take her. She’s a snuggle whore. Just don’t steal
her side of the bed.” With a wink, she grabbed her
purse and left me alone in her apartment to take a
nap with her cat.

With any luck, how to tell Kai he was about

to be a father would come to me in my dreams,
because I was coming up empty.

CHAPTER TWO – IVY

Sadly, my dreams hadn’t given me any help

at all. Not a single one during my two-hour nap had
bothered to give me any tips for the conversation
with Kai.

A conversation that was rapidly approaching.

I knew he got home from work at five-thirty every
day, and it was now five-fifteen. I really didn’t have
a lot of time to get my shit together.

The first thing I did was open the food

delivery app on my phone and place a dinner order
for  us  both  from  the  Chinese  place  we’d  eaten  at
the  night  this  whole  thing  had  happened.  I
remembered  what  he  ordered,  so  after  I’d
confirmed that delivery for six p.m.—with an extra
side of crispy beef strips so he didn’t steal mine—I
sat back on the sofa to wait.

I figured it would be best if I just said it, then

handed him the food.

I still wasn’t sure it’d sunk in fully for me

yet.  Having  the  proof  right  in  front  of  me  was
weird,  and  so  was  having  to  throw  out  all  my
coffee.  I  could  smell  it  in  the  pods  and  I  just
couldn’t take it anymore.

I’d soothed that hurt somewhat by ordering

one hundred and twenty hot chocolate pods from
Amazon.

God bless two-day shipping.
Why one hundred and twenty? I had no idea.

It’d seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was going to be a long eight months. I

wasn’t even sure if I could bring a baby into these
apartments. The floors and ceilings weren’t the
best, and the last thing I wanted to do was interrupt
the lives of the crazy seniors who lived here.

While I was sure they’d coo all over a baby,

it was just another thing on my list that I’d
tentatively titled, “Now What The Fuck Do I Do?”

Time ticked by so slowly. I felt like a stalker

listening out for the opening and closing of his
apartment door, and when it came, signaling he was
home, my stomach lurched.

Thankfully, I wasn’t sick.
I wasn’t sure I could deal with that today,

too.

The Friends opening scene hit my TV, and I

recognized  it  immediately.  It  was  the  one  where
Rachel  told  Ross  she  was  pregnant.  I  grabbed  the
remote  and  turned  the  channel  with  a  derivative
snort.

The universe was just mocking me now, the

shady bitch.

There was nothing interesting on TV, so I

went to take a shower. The water was hot and
soothing, and some of my stress dissipated with the
steam as it curled up and out of the cubicle.

My phone alarm went off. That meant it was

ten  minutes  until  food  and  I’d  already  spent  too
long standing under this water, so I quickly got out
and  wrapped  myself  in  towels.  It  took  me  minutes
to  change  into  clean  leggings  and  a  slightly
oversized  sweatshirt  that  said,  “I’ve  got  a  good
heart, but this mouth…”

It was a personal favorite of mine to wear to

dinner with my grandmother.

I towel-dried my hair and brushed it up into a

topknot, securing it with a velvet scrunchie that
was something out of my childhood.

I was pretty sure it was Tori’s. I certainly had

no intention of reliving the questionable fashions of
the nineties.

I was done just in time. Five knocks sounded

at my door, and I answered it. Gratefully taking the
food from the delivery guy, I grabbed a few bills
from the bowl by the door and handed him his tip.

With a smile, he left.
Leaving me standing across from Kai’s door.
It was now or never. I didn’t have a choice. I

had to get this over and done with or I knew I’d
never tell him.

I grabbed my keys and shut the door behind

me, pausing to lock it. My heart was pounding
against my ribs, and I wasn’t sure if my nausea was
from nerves or hormones. Or the Chinese food.

God, please let it not be the Chinese food.

I was already giving up coffee. There was no

way I could give this up, too.

I closed my eyes and rapped my knuckles

against his door before I changed my mind.

Oh, God.
This was happening. I was really telling Kai

the truth.

I opened my eyes just in time for him to

answer the door.

He grinned, surprise lighting his blue eyes.

“Ivy. What’s up?”

“Can we talk?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Right now?”
I nodded, wrapping one arm around my

stomach as a comfort.

“I’m not—”
“I brought food.” I held up the bag lamely.

“Chinese.”

Kai glanced over his shoulder into his

apartment. “I can’t really—”

“I’m pregnant.” The words blurted out of me

before I could stop them.

His eyes widened. “What?”
“And it’s yours,” I finished in a softer tone.
“What?” came from a female voice inside his

apartment.

I inhaled sharply.
Right.
He wasn’t alone. He had a date in there.

That’s why he didn’t want to talk.
“Oh.” I took a step back, my cheeks burning

something fierce. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had
a date. I’ll just—go.”

“Ivy, wait—” He reached out for me, but I

turned and ran into my apartment, fumbling with
my keys for only a second before I stumbled inside
and slammed the door behind me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid Ivy.
Tears stung my eyes. I squeezed them shut to

stop myself from crying, but it was futile. The tears
spilled over my lower lids and onto my cheeks at a
rate of knots I couldn’t keep up with.

I didn’t even know why I was crying.
But here I was. Standing in the middle of my

living room, holding a bag of Chinese food, crying
my heart out. It was probably a crying session that
had been building ever since I’d seen the first
positive test this morning, but still.

Was this my life for the next eight months?

Random crying sessions?

I’d have to invest in waterproof mascara.
And now Kai had a date. A date I’d just

ruined because I couldn’t take a hint.

God, I was so dumb.
Dumb, pregnant, and alone.
That only made me cry harder.
I managed to get to the kitchen island, where

I set the food down on the counter and managed to

sit on a stool. Then I collapsed forward, burying my
face in my arms.

Two knocks rattled my door. “Ivy?”
I couldn’t have answered Kai even if I

wanted to. I was crying too hard to string two
words together.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to.
The door opened. “Oh, Jesus.” It swung shut

with a bang, and before I could even look up, Kai
was pulling me up off the stool and into his arms.

He tucked me tightly against his body,

cupping the back of my head and holding my face
against his chest. He didn’t say a word, he just let
me cry it out against his white shirt until I couldn’t
cry anymore.

At least I didn’t think I could cry anymore. I

wasn’t sure how anything worked now.

“I’m sorry I ruined your date,” I mumbled

into his chest.

“My date?” He paused, then laughed, his

whole body shaking. “That was my sister. Her
timing apparently leaves a lot to be desired,” he
said dryly.

His sister?
Oh.
Ohhh.
“She broke up with her boyfriend a couple of

weeks ago and needed a break so she’s staying with
me. I’m surprised you haven’t seen her.”

I swallowed. “I’ve been avoiding your

apartment.”

“Okay.” He slipped his hands up my body

and cupped my face. “I assume you haven’t eaten
if you got takeout?”

I shook my head.
“Okay. Then let’s eat before we talk.” He

released me and got to pulling all the cartons out of
the bag. “Are you hungry?”

“I have no idea.” I sat back down on the

stool. “All I know is that you smell like coffee and
it makes me want to throw up.”

He peered over at me, quirking one eyebrow.

“Coffee makes you sick?”

“I threw mine out and ordered one hundred

and twenty hot chocolate pods for my machine.”

“Why did you order one hundred and

twenty?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” I

sighed, echoing my thoughts from earlier. “And
they only came in packs of thirty.”

“You could have stopped at sixty. Or ninety.”
“I know, but there was an offer. Look, I

don’t have to explain my pregnant pre-nap
purchases, okay?”

He flashed me a look that said he was trying

desperately not to laugh at me. “Here. Eat this and
you’ll feel better.”

“Let’s hope,” I muttered, looking at my

chow mien with trepidation.

It was wild in my body today. Nothing was a

given.

“Why are you playing with your food?” Kai

sat down next to me.

I prodded some chicken with my fork. “I’m

trying to decide if it makes me feel sick or not.”

He nodded slowly. “That makes… sense.”
I sighed, setting my fork down. “Are you

mad?”

“What am I supposed to be mad at?”
I pointed at my pelvis with both hands.
“Your vagina?”
“Kai.”
He put down his own fork and took my hand.

“Am  I  mad  that  two  consenting  adults  got  drunk,
had sex, and you’re now pregnant? No. I think I’m
in  shock,  but  I’m  not  mad.  And  I’m  not  the  one
who has to consider if my food is going to make me
throw  up,  so  I’m  not  really  in  a  position  to  moan
about anything right now.”

“It was my fault,” I replied quietly, looking

down. “I missed a pill when my grandma went to
hospital, but I didn’t realize. I’m sorry. I popped it
out of the strip and—”

“Stop it.” He cupped my chin and lifted my

head  so  I  had  to  meet  his  eyes.  “Ivy,  we  both
decided  to  have  sex  without  a  condom.  We  knew
the  risks,  drunk  or  otherwise.  We’re  both  equally

responsible for this. Okay?”

I didn’t respond.
“Okay?”
“Okay,” I said softly. “You don’t have to

stay, you know.”

“You are not saying what I think you’re

saying, are you?”

“No, I’m just—” I paused. “You don’t have

to do anything.”

He pushed the food away from both of us

and spun me on the stool so we were fully face to
face.  He  planted  his  hands  on  my  knees  and  met
my  gaze  with  a  ferocity  that  made  my  heart  skip.
“Ivy,  if  you  think  for  a  second  I’m  going  to  walk
away and let you do this alone, you’re an absolute
idiot.”

My bottom lip quivered.
“I’m going to be there every single step of

the way. You’ll have to drag me away from you, do
you understand that? Nothing—nothing—matters
more than being there for you and this baby. Our
baby.”

“Okay.” I sniffed, trying not to cry again.
I didn’t know how badly I needed to hear

him say that.

“Come here.” He pulled me against him once

more. “Whatever you need, I’m there.”

“Good. Because when my grandmother finds

out, you might have to pretend to be my secret

husband.”

He laughed. “Do I get the perks as payment

for my pretense?”

“I was joking,” I mumbled.
“I wasn’t.”
Well, that stopped the tears.
I swatted his chest and sat back upright,

wiping my cheeks. “I think that’s gotten us in a
sticky enough situation, thank you very much.”

He grinned, and I shot him a look that said I

was not interested in whatever dirty comment he
was about to make.

“Eat,” he demanded, pushing the beef strips

toward me. “I’ll even let you have mine.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all…

CHAPTER THREE – KAI

I cupped Ivy’s face at her door. “If you need

anything—”

“You’re just across the hall, Kai, not in

Alaska,” she replied, pulling my hands away. “I
think I can manage to drag myself to bed.”

“Well, if you get lonely…”
“I’ll open my online dating app, read some

awful bios, and remember why I’m single.” Her
tone was dry. “I’m fine. I promise I’ll text you if I
need anything.”

“You sure?”
“If you’re gonna hover over me for the next

seven and a half months, at least bring ice-cream
next time.”

“Flavor?”
“Wow, you’re not kidding.”
I held up my hands. “I told you. Anything

you need.”

She tilted her head to the side, tucking a stray

bit of her blonde-brown hair behind her ear. “I
could so easily manipulate the hell out of you.”

“Are you going to?”
“Not today. I’m far too tired for that. It’s

been a long day.” To punctuate her point, she
yawned, clasping both hands over her mouth. “I
need to go to bed.”

“Okay. And you promise you’ll get a key cut

for me tomorrow so I can get to you quickly?”

She sighed. “I promise, Kai. I’ll even send

you a running commentary from the moment I step
outside the door to the moment I get back home.
Will that appease you?”

I grinned. I knew she was being cocky, but

yes, it would, and I told her as much.

What I didn’t tell her was that I wanted to

lean down and kiss her.

I had a feeling that wouldn’t go down too

well today.

“Okay. Goodnight,” Ivy said, stepping back.

“Before I start thinking you’ll never go.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“If you ask me that one more time, you

won’t be.” There was bite in her words, but her
eyes belied her amusement. “Now go. I think you
have to explain to your sister.”

“Yes. He does. He can start by introducing

us.”

I jerked around. Anna was standing in the

doorway,  leaning  against  the  frame,  with  her  arms
folded  across  her  chest.  Her  yellow  sweater  was  a
stark  contrast  to  her  scarlet  hair,  and  I  winced  at
the look she gave me.

“Anna, this is Ivy. Ivy, this is my big sister,

Anna.”

Anna waved. “I’ve come to rescue you, Ivy.

He likes to think he’s a big, fancy alpha male, but
he’s like a s’more—hard on the outside, gooey on
the inside.”

Ivy fought a smile.
“Get inside.” Anna jerked her head in the

direction of the apartment.

“What are you, Mom?”
“No, but I’ll call her if you don’t do as I say,”

she  sniped.  “Besides,  Ivy  is  clearly  exhausted.
Growing  a  human  is  no  joke.  Let  her  go  to  sleep
and  stop  fussing  over  her.  Nothing  is  going  to
happen to her in bed, Kai.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought four weeks ago,

and here we are,” Ivy muttered in response.

My sister burst out laughing. “I like her. Now

leave her alone.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked

back at Ivy. “Text me, okay?”

“Yes, I promise.” She huffed, but there was a

smile tugging at her lips. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” I replied, giving her a smile of my

own.

Ivy closed the door, and I waited until the I

heard the click of the lock before I went into my
own apartment.

Anna followed me in and shut the door

behind her.

“Don’t,” I said sharply, walking over to the

fridge and pulling out a beer. I uncapped it with the

magnet opener on the fridge and took a long pull of
the cold liquid.

Anna padded over barefoot and took her

wine  out  to  pour  herself  a  glass.  Silence  reigned
uncomfortably  for  a  long  moment  until  she  said,
“So.  You  knocked  up  the  girl  you’ve  got  a  raging
schoolboy crush on.”

“Oh, fuck off.” I grabbed the beer and took it

into the living room where I threw myself onto the
sofa.

I didn’t need her shit tonight.
I could barely wrap my head around the fact

Ivy was pregnant. I’d kept my shit together because
she was a mess, and the last thing she needed was
me freaking out all over her.

Ivy was pregnant.
With my baby.
The woman I’d had feelings for for weeks

was having my baby.

I was going to be a father.
Holy fuck.
I put down my beer and buried my head in

my hands.

“You look like shit,” Anna said brightly.

“Especially for someone who just got an in with the
girl he likes.”

“An in? Have you lost your fucking mind?” I

jerked my head up and looked at her. “She’s
fucking pregnant, Anna. The last thing I want to do

is use that as an excuse to get her to go out with
me. Fucking hell. What’s wrong with you?”

“A lot.” She sipped her wine, leaning against

the island without a care in the world. “How did
this even happen?”

I blew out a long breath. “We got together a

few weeks ago after a party and weren’t as careful
as we should have been. End of.”

“So she’s not trapping you?”
“Trapping me? What am I? A bear?” I

snorted. “If you don’t have anything useful to say,
shut up.”

“You’re gonna have to tell Mom and Dad.”
“Not. Useful.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, don’t!” I grabbed the beer and

finished it before retrieving another. “Can’t you see
I’m having a bit of a crisis right now?”

“You looked fine five minutes ago.”
“Yes, because Ivy is the one who can’t eat

her  dinner  without  poking  it  because  she’s  afraid
it’s  going  to  make  her  sick.  I’m  not  the  one  who
threw out all my coffee because the smell is gross,
Anna,  that  was  her.  She  doesn’t  need  me  losing  it
right now.”

“She’s a woman. She’s probably expecting

you to lose it.”

“Well, I am. She just doesn’t need to see it

happen.” I sat back on the sofa with my beer. “I

have no fucking idea about babies. Or pregnancy.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that

before you screwed her without a condom.”

I stared at her. I was getting really tired of

her shit. “Anna. That’s not helpful.”

“I’m not trying to be helpful,” she drawled.

“I’m  sorry,  were  you  expecting  me  to  coddle  you
and  tell  you  everything  is  going  to  be  okay?  That
nothing really changes? That’s it’s fine? Newsflash,
bro,  it’s  not  going  to  be  fucking  okay.  You’ve
knocked  up  a  girl  you’re  half  in  love  with.  You’re
going to have to hold her hair while she throws up,
rub her feet when they hurt, massage her shoulders,
make  sure  she  doesn’t  just  live  off  the  inevitable
fake craving of her favorite chocolate or chips, and
you’re going to have to literally hold her hand when
she pushes a baseball out of her vagina.”

I swallowed.
“Then, when she’s done all that, you’re going

to have to clean dirty diapers, mop up baby sick,
survive off three hours of sleep for at least a month,
and look after her while she’s recovering from the
most harrowing experience of a female’s life.”

“You are really, really not helping.”
“But before all that, you have to tell Mom.”
“Jesus, Anna, if you tell Mom and Dad—”
She held up her hands. “I’m not telling them

anything. But I want to be there when you do.”

I huffed out a breath and got up. “I’m going

to bed. I’m not listening to you anymore.”

“It’s not even eight-thirty.”
“So? Even going to bed before my elderly

neighbors is better than sitting here while you
aren’t helping me.”

Anna flipped me the bird and put her feet on

the coffee table. “Are you finishing that beer?”

I slid it over the coffee table to her, then

headed for my room. I pulled off my shirt and shoes
and lay down on my bed before I checked my
phone in case Ivy had text.

She had.

IVY: I safely made it to bed without the

monsters snapping at my ankles.

I smiled.

ME: Thanks for checking in. I’ll spray

under your bed tomorrow.

IVY: Maybe if you’d done that in the first

place, I wouldn’t be a walking incubator.

ME: On the bright side, you can’t get rid

of me now.

IVY: You and I have different opinions on

what a ‘bright side’ is.

ME: I know. I thought sleeping with you

was one, but I guess you disagree there, too.

IVY: I knew that was a bad idea.

ME: How are you feeling?

IVY: Like, am I feeling sick? Or am I

feeling like my world is spinning at a million
miles an hour and nothing makes sense
anymore?

ME: Do you need me to come over?

IVY: No. I need someone to pinch me. Or

just kill me so I don’t have to tell my
grandmother tomorrow, because she probably
will kill me.

ME: It’ll be fine. Do you want me there

when you tell her?

IVY: Do you WANT to die at the hands of

a constipated old woman?

ME: I can’t say that’s ever been on my

shortlist. I thought maybe bungee jumping.

IVY: If you go bungee jumping and die

and leave me to raise this baby alone, I’ll kill
you again.

ME: You can’t kill a dead person.

IVY: You just watch me, Kai. You just

watch me.

IVY: How are you feeling? You seemed

scarily calm when I told you.

ME: In my defense, you were crying so

hard I thought you might drown yourself. I
didn’t have much time to think about me.

IVY: Well, now you have. Are you sure

you’re not mad?

ME: I told you I’m not mad. We knew

what we were doing when we chose not to use a
condom.

ME: It’s sinking in. I’m a little shocked,

yeah, but I’m okay.

IVY: Are you sure?

ME: You’re not allowed to worry about

me.

IVY: I am. You can’t help me if you’re

dead.

ME: I have no imminent plans to die.

IVY: Then you’re definitely not coming to

tell my grandmother. In her eyes, the only
person worse than me will be you.

ME: …Does pizza make you feel sick?

IVY: If it does, I might just let my

grandmother kill me.

IVY: Why?

ME: I was going to get you pizza for after.

IVY: Oh. I have to work tomorrow night.

ME: In a bar? Is that safe?

IVY: OMG, I wish people would not ask

me that.

IVY: Yes, it’s safe. I’m serving people

cocktails, not glugging pure ethanol.

ME: Just checking.

IVY: Mm. I’m going to sleep now. I’ll talk

to you tomorrow.

ME: Check in when you’ve told your

grandma so I know if you’re still alive.

IVY: If she hasn’t broken all my fingers.

ME: I hope you’re joking.

IVY: So do I. Goodnight.

***

Anna’s gaze followed me as I walked across

the kitchen to put two slices of bread in the toaster.

“Spit it out,” I said, pushing the lever down.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
“Like I wish I’d never let you stay here.” I

grabbed the butter from the fridge. “How are you?”

“Wishing I’d drowned you when we were

younger,” she replied dryly. “Seriously, Kai, how
are you? You had a shock yesterday.”

I peered over my shoulder at her. She looked

genuinely concerned about me, so I blew out a long
breath and said, “It’s going to take me a few days
to fully come to terms with it, I think. But I’m fine,
sis, really. I just need to be there for Ivy right now.”

“I understand that.” She wrapped her hands

around her coffee mug and leaned forward on the
island. “You have to look after yourself, too.”

“I know, and I will.”
“You should ask her out, you know. When

this has settled.”

“Anna…” I sighed, flipping my toast and

pushing the lever back down for another minute. “I
said last night that wasn’t an option. Just because I
have feelings for her doesn’t mean I’m going to
take advantage of this situation. I regret ever telling
you that.”

“You only told me because I was setting you

up.”

“With your friend whom I hate.”
“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” She waved her hand

in the air dismissively. “I thought she wasn’t real
until yesterday, not gonna lie.”

I popped my toast and put the slices on the

cutting board. “I think your break-up has made you
go crazy.”

“No. I’m sane now. I was crazy when I dated

that wild motherfucker,” she asserted, blowing on
her coffee before she took a sip. “What are you
doing today?”

“Working.” I motioned to my outfit with the

buttery knife and took a big bite out of the toast.

“Wanna get dinner somewhere?”
I chewed. “We could go to Bronco’s bar?

That’s Ivy’s parents’ bar and she’s working

tonight.”

Anna wrinkled her face up. “You want to go

to her parents’ bar? After she’s told them you got
her pregnant?”

I shrugged, tearing off another bite of toast.

“Neutral venue and all that,” I said through a
mouthful of food.

“Fine, we’ll go there.” She rolled her eyes so

hard they almost took off and went into orbit. “But
if her dad punches you, I’m videoing it and putting
it on the internet.”

I shoved the last bit of toast in my mouth,

grabbed my keys and phone, and shook my head as
I headed for the door. “Try not to eat all my food!”

“No promises!” she sang as I shut the door

behind her.

I paused in the hallway, glancing at Ivy’s

door.  I  wanted  to  knock  and  see  if  she  was  okay,
but  I  also  didn’t  want  to  wake  her  up.  It  wasn’t
massively  early,  but  if  I  were  asleep  right  now,  I
wouldn’t want to be woken up.

I hesitated for one more second before I

pulled out my phone and texted her to ask if she
was awake. Her reply came quicker than I
expected.

IVY: Yes. I apparently needed to pee three

times before six a.m. No more water in the
bedroom at night.

ME: I suppose this is the kind of TMI I

should get used to.

IVY: You betcha. ;)

ME: I’m in the hall about to leave for

work. Do you need anything?

IVY: Are you going to ask me every single

day?

ME: Probably. Get used to it.

IVY: That’s sweet.

I waited for her to text back, but the click of

her lock sounded instead of the ‘ding’ of my phone.

She appeared in the doorway, smiling. “I’m

fine, thank you. Next time, just knock instead of
standing out here like an awkward turtle.”

“I didn’t want to wake you if you were

asleep.”

“Don’t worry about it. If my bladder has any

say in the matter, I won’t sleep for the rest of my
life.”

“Are you sure you don’t need anything? A

breakfast

sandwich?

breakfast

burrito?

Lemonade? Coffee?”

Her face wrinkled at the mention of coffee

and she shuddered. “If you bring me coffee, I
swear to God, I’ll throw up all over your shoes.”

“Sorry.” I winced. “I forgot about the coffee

thing.”

“It’s fine.” She rubbed her hand down her

face. “Um, no, I’m good, honestly. Thank you. It’s
sweet of you to ask.”

“Well, I got you pregnant. I figure the least I

can do is get you food.”

Her lips tugged to one side. “I won’t argue

that. I do like free food.”

“Yeah, it’s the way to your heart. I

remember.” I winked. “Are you working tonight?
Me and Anna were going to come to the bar for
dinner.”

“I’m working if Grams doesn’t kill me, so

don’t count on it. Also, have you thought this
through? My parents know you, and when they find
out you put a bun in my oven, I’m not sure they’re
going to want to see you. Much less in their bar.”

“Don’t worry,” I replied dryly. “Anna has

already promised to video it if your dad punches
me.”

“Oh, well that’s okay.” She grinned. “I need

to take a shower and brace myself for Hurricane
Grandma. And yes, I promise to text you if I need
anything.”

I returned her smile. “All right. I believe

you.”

“Good. It’d be a long eighteen years if you

didn’t.” On that note, she shut the door, but that
didn’t stop me from hearing the ringing of her
laughter on the other side.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook

my head, laughing silently.

Something told me it was going to be a long

eighteen years anyway.

And I was all right with that.

CHAPTER FOUR – IVY

“You’re what?” Mom stared at me across the

living room, and Dad shot his arm out to stop her
from exploding from the sofa. “Ivy Rose Stuart!
Tell me it isn’t so!”

Well, this was going well.
Not.
“I’m pregnant,” I repeated. “Six weeks. Ish.”
“Ish? Ish? You don’t even know!” She

sagged back in the chair. “Have you told your sister
yet?”

“Why would I have told Holley? I only found

out this morning and I haven’t seen her in three
weeks! She’s busy getting the bookstore ready for
reopening.”

Grandma Rosie muttered the rosary under

her  breath,  rubbing  the  beads  that  were  ever-
present  around  her  body.  At  least  I  thought  it  was
the  rosary—for  all  I  knew,  she  was  speaking
genuine Latin and praying for me.

Both were equally feasible.
“Who did this to you?” Mom demanded.

“Oh, God, he left you, didn’t he? He doesn’t want a
child!”

“Why is that your first reaction?” I shot

back. “He did not, thank you very much! He’s
extremely supportive and intends to be there the

whole way.”

“You say this like you’re not in a

relationship!”

“Of course she isn’t!” Grams dropped her

beads and threw both her arms in the air with such
vigor  I  thought  she’d  throw  her  back  out.  “If  she
were,  don’t  you  think  we’d  know?  The  gossip  mill
in  this  silly  little  town  would  tell  us  everything!
Nothing is secret here, Jasmine, nothing!”

Oh, yay.
I’d awakened the beast.
“She’s twenty-six, single, and now she’s

pregnant! From a one night stand I’d bet! Or worse,
a Scientologist!”

“Where would I have met a Scientologist in

bumfuck, Montana?” I asked incredulously. “Now
you’re just being ridiculous.”

“And a little bit racist, Mother,” Mom said.
“Technically, it’s not racist. Prejudiced,

mostly.”

“You be quiet, Ivy,” Mom snapped. “You’re

not a part of this conversation.”

“Actually, I am the conversation!”
“Everyone needs to calm down.” Dad stood

up and held out his hands. “Rosie, that was highly
prejudiced. God would be ashamed of you. Be
quiet.”

Grams sat upright. “I’ll tell you who God

would be ashamed of! Your whore of a daughter!”

“Hey!” I shouted.
“Mother! Do not call her a whore!” Mom

said at the said time. “I will not have that in my
house!”

“She is a whore!”
I bristled. “Yeah, well, Jesus wasn’t even

Joseph’s son, so I guess I keep good company.”

“Why you little—”
“Ivy, do you have to agitate her? You know

she was just in the hospital,” Mom said, watching
as Dad restrained my grandmother from… well,
I’m not sure what she intended to do to me, but she
didn’t need much restraining.

She was old, after all.
“She was in the hospital because she

couldn’t poop. Which, incidentally, is the last time I
saw my sister,” I shot back. “How did we get from
me being pregnant to this? Does nobody care about
stressing me out? I’m only carrying your
grandchild.”

Mom clapped her hands to her cheeks. “Oh,

my gosh! That didn’t even cross my mind!”

Great.
She rushed over to me and wrapped me in

her  arms.  “Sweetheart,  are  you  okay?  Really?  Are
you  sick?  How  do  you  feel?  When  did  you  find
out?  Do  you  need  anything?  Oh,  my  gosh,  come
and sit down. Simon, get her some water.”

Wow.

Talk about whiplash.
I was bundled into a comfortable armchair as

my mother continued to pepper me with questions
—all the questions except the one I was waiting for.

Who’s the father?
I answered each one diligently, smiling at

Dad when he gave me the glass of water she’d
ordered.

Unsurprisingly, it was Grams who asked the

million-dollar question.

“Well? Who did this to you?” she demanded,

smacking her dark red lips together.

“First, he didn’t do this to me,” I replied. “It

was a consenting act between two people which
means we’re both responsible for this baby.”

She snorted.
Dad shot her a dark look. “Well? Are you

going to tell us?”

I took a deep breath. “Kai.”
Mom frowned. “Your neighbor?”
I nodded. “We’ve been seeing each other,” I

said, the lie spilling easily from my tongue. “It’s
serious.”

What was I saying?
Grams looked down to where I was fiddling

with my fingers. “Serious enough that he’d marry
you?”

I heard myself saying, “Yes,” before I knew

what I was saying.

Both of my parents looked at me with the

same shocked look. “You’re engaged?” Mom
asked. “To Kai? Your neighbor? And nobody
knew?”

“Tori knows,” I lied, crossing my toes inside

my boot in lieu of my fingers. Must text Tori. “But
that’s it. We were going to come clean soon, but it
never seemed like the right time. Until now.”

Grandma Rosie sniffed, her disdain clear to

see  in  the  wrinkles  of  her  nose  and  her  clenched
fingers.  “I  want  to  meet  him,”  she  demanded.  “I
want  to  meet  the  ruffian  who  defiled  my
granddaughter!”

“Not with that attitude you’re not.”
“Why you—”
“She’s right, Rosie,” Dad said, diffusing the

situation once again. “Perhaps you should calm
down before you meet the boy. Who, for what it’s
worth, I think is a very nice young man.”

“Even after he got your granddaughter up

the duff?”

“Even then,” he replied. “They’re clearly in

a relationship—” Whoops. “—And while we all
know you would have preferred her to get married
before she had a baby, sometimes things don’t work
out that way.”

“And, technically, it’s your fault,” I said to

Grams. “I missed my pill because you were
constipated but insisted you were dying.”

She balked at the suggestion, pressing her

perfectly manicured yet wrinkled hand to her red,
silk shirt. “Excuse me? Are you really blaming me
for this?”

“Yes,” Mom and I answered at the same

time.  “I  am,”  I  continued.  “It’s  not  my  fault  you
couldn’t  tell  the  difference  between  appendicitis
and  constipation.  Which,  I  know  from  experience,
are very different pains.”

Grams sniffed, clearly offended that I had

the gall to blame her for my current situation. “I’m
not talking to you until you’re married.”

“Good.

I’ll

postpone

wedding

indefinitely, then,” I drawled.

You know.
The wedding that wasn’t planned.
Or happening.
Not even close to happening.
Shouldn’t be too hard…
“Oh, no, you’re not.” She got up, glaring at

me.  “You’re  getting  married  before  you  have  that
baby.  No  grandchild  of  mine  will  be  a  bastard,  do
you  hear  me,  Ivy  Rose  Stuart?  No  bastards  in  this
family!”

I couldn’t not hear her.
The dead bodies six feet under in the

cemetery across town could hear her.

She shuffled off out of the living room,

leaving me with my parents. Both of whom were

eyeing me speculatively, as if they didn’t quite
know what to bring up first.

The pregnancy, or the fake engagement I’d

somehow talked myself into.

“Well? When is Kai going to grow a pair and

talk to us?” Dad finally asked.

“Actually, he offered to come with me right

now, but he has to work so I said no,” I replied,
setting that record straight. “He and his sister will
be in the bar tonight for dinner when I’m working.”

“So we’ll see him tonight?” Mom raised an

eyebrow.

“Yes, but please be nice to him. We only

found out yesterday and it was a shock for us both.
Don’t…go all Hulk on him.”

Dad’s eyes sparkled. “What makes you think

I’d do that?”

I pursed my lips. “Dad.”
Mom swatted at him. “Simon, you know full

well what she means. Remember Cory Jenkins? In
high school? You almost approached the poor boy
with a damn gun when he came to take her out.”

I sighed. “He never did ask me out again.

Not that it was a bad thing. He was a terrible date.”

Mom snorted and patted my hand.

“Sweetheart, we’ll wait until you bring Kai over to
us. You can take a break when he comes in, okay?”

“Hold on, Jasmine, she’s not having breaks

every ten minutes just because she’s pregnant. My

grandmother—”

“Helped a cow give birth to a calf while in

labor herself with Great Aunt Trudy,” I finished for
my dad. “Yes, yes, we all know about the miracle
that is Great Grandma Elizabeth.”

“Not to mention I never suggested she had a

break every ten minutes, neither did she,” Mom
said with a stern look in his direction. “But it’s very
early days and she will tire easily. If she needs five
minutes to sit down, she’ll get it, just like Wendy
did when she was pregnant last year.”

Dad looked between the two of us, and I

shrugged.  I  think  I’d  caused  enough  drama  in  my
family  today,  so  when  he  sighed  and  mumbled
something  about  hoping  the  baby  was  a  boy  so
some  testosterone  would  be  reintroduced  to  the
family, it was a relief to laugh.

All things considered, that could have gone

so much worse than it did.

“Are you coming to the bar with us?” Mom

asked, standing up. “You don’t have to work, but
your shift is soon, and you’re dressed for work.”

“I figured this would take longer to get

Grams to disappear than it did, so I came
prepared.” I grabbed my purse. “Is Hugo in the
kitchen yet? I’m hungry.”

“He’s there,” Dad said. “What do you want?

I’ll call him and see if he can start something for
you.”

“Ooh. Um…” It was hard to choose when I

didn’t know what would make me feel sick at the
drop of a hat. “Maybe just a burger and fries.”

“All right.” He pulled me into his side and

kissed the top of my head when I stood up. “Go
wait in the car. We’ll drive you. You can eat, then
take a nap in my office before your shift.”

I smiled weakly. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. I remember how

much your mother slept when she was pregnant
with you. And my God, she snored like a freight
train falling off a cliff.”

“I heard that!” Mom called, appearing in the

doorway while she fixed her earring. “If you aren’t
careful, Simon, I’ll put you on a freight train like
that.”

“No, you won’t.” He winked at her. “You

wouldn’t find anyone else who’d put up with your
bedroom kinks.”

I shoved my fingers in my ears. “La la la la

la!”

My dirty parents both laughed, and Mom

said, “You’ll get it in fifteen years. Go wait in the
car.”

I didn’t need to be told again. I took the car

keys from her and darted outside before they went
any deeper into their bedroom activities and slid
into the backseat of Dad’s Audi.

After a deep breath, I pulled my phone out of

my purse and moved into damage control mode.

ME: Tori, if anyone asks, me and Kai are

engaged and you’re the only person who knew
okay thanks LOVE YOU BYE

I flipped to my conversation with Kai.

ME: Heads up, my family thinks we’re

engaged and my grandmother is demanding we
get married by the time the baby comes

Unsurprisingly, Tori was the first to respond.

TORI: Gotcha. Let me know when you

figure how he proposed. I guess Holley doesn’t
know.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what best

friends were for.

Faking engagements and hiding bodies.
I confirmed that my sister—younger by only

ten months—did not know about the baby, and
Kai’s response followed only moments later.

KAI: I should have known you weren’t

joking last night when you said we might have to
pretend to be married

ME: Well, I wish I had been. You haven’t

dated anyone in, oh, the last six months have
you?

KAI: No. I was too busy avoiding Amanda

and trying to get you into bed.

ME: So romantic.

ME: So you proposed three weeks ago so

it doesn’t look like a knee-jerk reaction to the
pregnancy, okay

KAI: How far are we taking this? Like if

your grandmother wants us to get married, are
we eloping? Staging a fake wedding?

ME: I don’t know, I panicked, I couldn’t

think straight. She was calling me a whore.

KAI: Who? Your grandmother?

ME: Yes. She only stopped when I pointed

out Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s son. She almost beat
me.

KAI: I cannot wait for this wedding.

ME: THERE WON’T BE A WEDDING.

KAI: Ok, I can’t wait for our fun wedding

party to celebrate our totally fake marriage. It’s
gonna be a hoot.

KAI: By the way, I told my parents.

ME: You’ve been at work all day.

KAI: I know. Text messaging is great.

Oh, my God.
He did not text his parents to tell them he

was having a baby, and I replied as such.

KAI: I did. Now they want to see you, so

we better figure this fake marriage out fast.

ME: I agree, because my parents want to

talk to you tonight.

KAI: Really?

ME: Gotta go bye

CHAPTER FIVE – IVY

The

bar

was

packed

with

people.

Everywhere I looked, someone needed a beer or a
cocktail  or  a  glass  of  wine.  It  was  hot  and  sticky
and  overwhelming  on  the  best  day,  let  alone  right
now  when  I  had  to  avoid  the  coffee  machine  like
the plague.

Unfortunately, because of that, we’d had to

tell all tonight’s staff that I was pregnant and
couldn’t serve coffee unless any of the patrons
wanted their cappuccino with a side of vomit.

It was unanimously agreed that nobody

would, in fact, like a side of vomit with their coffee.

Thank God.
“Rach, I need some air. Can you cover me

for a few minutes?” I asked one of the servers who
also tended the bar.

“Sure, Ivy. Take as long as you need—my big

tables just left.” She smiled, tucked some blonde
hair behind her ear, and stepped behind the bar to
immediately serve some customers.

I slipped out the back, leaning against the

wall. The cool evening air was a welcome
distraction from the heat of inside, and I closed my
eyes to revel in it for a long moment.

Realizing I could no longer put it off, I

pushed off the wall and headed back inside just in

time to see Kai and his sister, Anna, take their seats
at an empty table. They’d seated themselves in an
empty table in Rachel’s section, so I motioned to
her that I had it and I’d be back in a moment.

“Hey,” I said, stepping up to their table with

two menus in hand.

Kai’s eyes sparked when they met mine.

“Hey. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing,” I replied, looking at Anna. “Hi.

Sorry we couldn’t talk much last night.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “You were

shattered. I’m surprised you’re working right now.
Are you not dying?”

“I’m used to it.” I adjusted my apron.

“Everyone is really understanding, and I have yet
to have anyone served a side of vomit with their
coffee, so it’s going well.”

She snorted. “That’s definitely a plus.”
Kai rolled his eyes at her. “Are you sure

you’re fine?”

“I’m fine,” I insisted. “Honestly. Can I get

you anything to drink?”

I took their orders and with a promise that

I’d be right back, I headed for the bar to grab Kai’s
beer and Anna’s wine. Rachel intercepted me and
took the order before she said, “It’s Kai’s, isn’t it?”

My cheers flared, answering for me. “Can I

have their drinks?”

She let out a low whistle as she set the glass

of wine next to two small square paper towels.
“Girrrrrl. That’s gonna be the hottest baby in
Montana, never mind White Peak.”

I pursed my lips. “Rach, I really don’t want

to have this conversation right now.”

“Right, right, sure.” She put Kai’s beer next

to the wine and slid the tray across the bar to me.
“I’m damn sad that one’s off the market.”

“Huh?”
“Your mom said you’re engaged. Isn’t that

true?”

“Oh, yeah, we are.”
She glanced at my left hand. “Never seen a

ring there.”

“I don’t wear it to work,” I lied, grabbing the

tray and turning away before she could question me
any further.

Shit. I really should have hammered out a

story earlier so I could at least try to make this fake
relationship believable.

Mom caught my eye from the other side of

the restaurant, nodded toward Kai, and mouthed
that I should take five with him.

I nodded that I understood and set their

drinks  down  on  the  table.  “Mom  said  I  could  take
five.  Probably  to  warn  you  that  they’re  going  to
want  you  to  hang  around  until  this  has  calmed
down.” I looked around for a spare chair.

“Here.” Kai got up and pushed his chair

toward me. “I’ll go and find one.”

“It’s fine, I—”
“Sit down, Ivy.”
I sat.
Anna chuckled when he disappeared in

search for another chair. “So, you’re engaged.”

“Oh, God, don’t.” I groaned, burying my

face in my hands. “My grandmother is a staunch
Catholic, and I panicked.”

“For what it’s worth, he’s not bothered at all.

I think he’s looking forward to pretending to be
your fiancée. Or husband. Whichever one.”

“Only because it keeps Amanda away from

him.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s the reason.” The sarcasm

in her tone made the hairs on the back of my neck
stand on end.

“What does that mean?”
“It means—” She stopped the moment Kai

came within earshot, carrying a chair.

He pushed the chair between us and sat

down. “What does what mean?”

“Nothing. We were just discussing your

totally real upcoming nuptials,” Anna said, leaning
back with a grin.

Kai glanced at me. “Right. How are we

handling that?”

“Very simply,” I said nonchalantly. “We’re

going to elope in my living room where my graphic

designer best friend will set up a green screen and
edit us into the local courthouse.”

“Seems reasonable,” he replied, taking a sip

of his beer. “Wait, does it bother you that I’m
drinking beer?”

“No. Weirdly enough, I quite like the smell

of beer.” I wrinkled my nose up. “Dear God. This is
going to be a long several months.”

Anna chuckled into her wine.
“Okay, when are we getting married?” Kai

asked, putting the bottle down.

“I don’t know. Do I have to organize

everything? I’m already growing a human. That’s a
lot of organizing going on down there.”

“Solid point,” Anna interjected. “All her

organs have to reorganize themselves.”

“Why don’t you go and order some food at

the bar?” Kai said, shoving menus at her. “It’ll give
Rachel something to do other than stare at us.”

I peered over my shoulder just in time to see

Rachel jerk her head away and pretend to wipe the
bar down. I sighed.

Anna took the hint and swiped the menus

from him. “You want a burger?”

“And a quiet life.” Kai smirked, ignoring her

when she flipped him the bird and headed for the
bar. “Would you believe she’s thirty?”

“I’d give you the finger, too,” I said without

hesitation. “We really have to figure this out, Kai.”

He leaned forward and set my hand in his.

“It’s not hard. You said this was a secret, right? We
just have to figure out minor details. So I proposed
three weeks ago. When was the last time you dated
someone?”

“It’s really not worth bringing up,” I

mumbled.

Laughing, he squeezed my fingers. “Well,

I’ve been single well over a year, so we could have
easily  been  dating  for  nine  months,  engaged  for
three weeks, and now you’re pregnant. It happens.
We’re  neighbors.  It  stands  to  reason  our
relationship would progress quickly because we see
each other all the time. It’s like those dumb reality
shows—how  people  on  things  like  Big  Brother  go
from strangers to being in love in two weeks.”

“You know that’s all for ratings, right?”
“Of course, but the point is still valid.”
I groaned. “Okay, fine. How did you

propose?”

“Over pizza?”
“Really? The only proposal I’ve ever gotten

is fake and over pizza?”

“Nobody has ever proposed to you?”
“Has someone proposed to you?”
“Like three times.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Have you ever said

yes?”

“That’s a trick question.”

“It’s really not.”
“I’ve never said yes.” He grinned. “Besides,

one doesn’t count.”

“How does a proposal not count?”
“It was my cousin.”
“Your cousin proposed to you?”
“Yeah, but she was drunk and thought I was

someone else, so it was totally reasonable.”

“What about the other two?”
“Does it matter?”
“As your fake future wife, it absolutely

matters. I demand to know your relationship history
before I push your watermelon-headed spawn out
of my vagina.”

He paused, rubbing his chin. “That’s as a

good an argument as I’m gonna hear, I reckon.”

“You reckon,” I drawled.
“Yeah, I do.” He grinned, stroking his thumb

across the back of my head.

I hated that I liked it.
Really, really hated it. Especially because it

sent goosebumps up my forearm, and the last time
I’d felt things for this man, I’d gotten pregnant.

I suppose it was a good thing that history

couldn’t repeat itself right now.

“All right. The first proposal was when I was

nineteen. We’d dated for six months and she was
taking it far more seriously than I was. I broke up
with her right after.”

“Ouch.”
“Yeah, but it was that or lead her on,” Kai

mused. “It seemed kinder to be honest with her.”

Ugh. I hated it when asshole moves had

totally real reasons behind them. How could you be
mad at that?

Cruel to be kind and all that.
“The second one?”
“Ah, that one was a little trickier.” He

paused. “We’d been going out a little over a year in
my senior year of college.”

“You went to college? And you’re a

builder?”

“I don’t like ties, offices, or business

hierarchies,” he said dryly. “May I continue?”

I waved for him to carry on.
“We were about to graduate, and she wanted

to move with me back here, but I didn’t want to
commit to anything so serious. She asked me to
marry her, and I said no. She…wasn’t happy about
it.”

I couldn’t imagine why.
“Well, aren’t you just a regular modern-day

Casanova.”

“Not really. I paid her credit card bill off as

an apology.”

“Oh, my God. Is there anything wrong with

you?”

He raised his eyebrow as if to say, You’ll

have to find out.

I wasn’t going to push it. I had enough on my

plate.

“Okay, well,” I said, moving on. “Now I’m

caught up and we’ve set the record straight, you
just have to deal with my parents.”

“And later your grandmother.”
“And later my grandmother,” I confirmed.

“Hopefully much, much later. Like when she’s
dead.”

“She can’t be that bad.”
“Is your grandmother the woman being

wrestled away from the bar right now?” Anna
asked, shuffling back to the table. “Because a man
who looks a bit like you is begging her to go to the
office and nobody is batting an eyelid.”

I turned around and sure as shit, my

grandmother was being accosted out of the bar by
my father, leaving my mother apologizing profusely
to the customers in the immediate area. For what it
was worth, none of them were bothered in the
slightest. They were all regulars and therefore, they
were used to my grandmother’s scenes.

“Well, at least she didn’t come dressed in a

feather boa this time,” I mused.

“What?” Anna asked.
“It’s a long story,” I replied, standing up. “I

need to get back to work. What can I get you to
eat?”

***

Two hours later, Grandma Rosie was safely

back  at  home  courtesy  of  one  of  our  kitchen  staff
who  had  finished  his  shift,  and  the  bar  was
resembling something that wasn’t a mosh pit. It was
the  lull  between  the  dinner  rush  and  the  evening
rush, and it meant we could all breathe for the next
hour.

Thank God.
Kai, bless him, had stayed the entire time,

even when Anna had taken his keys and said she’d
pick him up later because she was bored. He was
sitting at the bar with a glass of Pepsi even though
I’d told him a thousand times I didn’t care if he had
beer.

“I have to work tomorrow anyway,” he

insisted,  catching  a  droplet  of  condensation  on  the
side  of  his  glass  with  his  thumb.  “Besides,  you’ve
been staring at Sauvignon Blanc like it’s your long
lost  lover  all  night  and  I  don’t  want  to  make  this
change any harder for you.”

“Yes,” I said dryly. “Because missing wine is

the issue. Not the swollen boobs or the constant
tiredness or the severe aversion to coffee.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Your boobs are

swollen? I didn’t notice.”

“Bullshit. You’ve been staring at them for the

last thirty minutes.” I hiked my t-shirt up to cover
my brand new, extra as hell cleavage to make my
point.

“To be fair,” said a voice I recognized

immediately. “I’d be looking at them if you weren’t
my sister.”

I turned in Holley’s direction. Like me, she

was  on  the  shorter  side  of  life,  but  she  was  a  little
more disciplined in the exercise department, giving
her slim body a more toned look than my own. She
had  my  original  hair  color—dark  brown—and  the
same dark brown eyes as me. We were so alike that
we were often mistaken for twins and given that we
were  in  the  same  school  year,  it  was  an  easy
mistake to make.

She adjusted her wide-rimmed glasses. “Hey,

Kai. How are you?”

“I’m good, Holley, thanks.” He smiled.

“You?”

“Over the dewy decimal system,” she

replied.

“You have a degree in library science. How

can you be over that? Isn’t it like your lifeblood?” I
asked, pouring a glass of her favorite red wine.

“Ha, ha, ha.” She pushed some hair from her

face and gratefully accepted the wine. “Well?
What’s new?”

I shot her a look. “Don’t sit there and act like

you don’t know. I know Mom called you.”

“She did.” She grinned. “And she was

freaking the hell out. She was demanding to know
why I hadn’t told her you were in a serious
relationship with Kai.”

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.
Holley waved her hand. “Don’t. I told her I

had no idea what she was talking about, you were
obviously single—”

“Like you are, you mean.”
“—Then she yelled at me and told me she

knew it was a secret relationship. I figured out you
two clearly did the dance with no pants, fucked up,
and were lying to cover your ass with Grams.”

“Sounds about right,” Kai said brightly. “Did

you know we’re getting married?”

Holley snorted. “Anyway, I covered for

you.” She looked at me pointedly. “I apologized
and told her you’d sworn me to secrecy, and that I
had a missed call from you this morning that I
assumed was you telling me about the baby.”

Groaning, I slumped forward onto the bar.

“I’m sorry. I only found out yesterday, and Tori
knew I was late, so I told her, then Kai—”

“You didn’t tell me first?” He poked me in

the arm.

I swatted him away. “You were at work.”
“It’s fine,” Holley interjected. “I’m not that

stupid, Ives. I figured you’d call me when you’d
stopped panicking.”

It was scary how well she knew me.
“Here. I bought you something.” She dug in

her purse and pulled out two small packs with ear
plugs in.

“Ear plugs?” Kai picked up the one she’d

pushed in his direction. “We have to be able to hear
the baby, Holley.”

“I know.” She grinned, her eyes sparkling.

“But you’re gonna need them in three years when I
buy your kid, like, ten drum sets.”

“And you’re fired as an aunt,” I told her as

our parents approached. Both Mom and Dad
hugged her and kissed her cheek before turning
toward Kai.

Holley and I both froze.
“Well,” Dad said. “At least my grandchild

isn’t going to come out looking like Yoda with you
as the father.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you saying I look like

Yoda?”

“Have you seen your baby photos?”
“Mom!”
“Simon,” she scolded him, walking around to

see Kai. She wrapped her arms around him into a
huge hug and said, “Welcome to the family, Kai.”

Holley caught my gaze. “Welcome is a strong

word,” she muttered into her wine glass.

Dad flicked her ear, and she winced, shying

away and rubbing the same spot.

I agreed with her, but I stayed quiet.
That was the bonus of being the big sister; I

knew when to shut up.

“Thank you, Mrs. Stuart,” Kai replied,

returning my mother’s hug.

“Mrs. Stuart!” Mom laughed, pulling back

and holding him at arm’s length. “I’ve been
Jasmine for months, and now I’m Mrs. Stuart!”

A light flush actually colored Kai’s cheeks.
Holy wow.
Why was that hot?
“I thought it was more appropriate,” he said

after a moment, ignoring my sister’s amused, shit-
eating grin.

“Oh, nonsense!” Dad said, slapping him on

the back. “Jasmine and Simon, please. Unless you’d
like us to call you Mr. Connors?”

Kai froze.
“Oh, stop it,” I said to Dad, flicking a

dishcloth in his direction. “He’s winding you up,” I
added to Kai.

“Do you fish?” Dad asked, ignoring me.
“Uh, I haven’t in a while,” Kai said slowly.

“But I used to go with my dad.”

“Great.” He clapped Kai on the shoulder

again. “I’m going this weekend. Why don’t you and
your dad join me?”

My eyes bugged, and Holley choked on her

wine.

Kai ignored us entirely. “Sure. I know he had

a job booked this weekend, but it’s only a small
one. He should be able to pass it on to one of the
other guys. I’ll call him tonight and let you know.”

“Sure. C’mere, let me get you my number.”

Dad muscled him off to the back, muttering about
fishing and how he knew the best spots on the lake
for whatever fish it was he liked to catch.

Thank God we’d inherited a house on the

lake from his parents. I didn’t expect Dad, Kai, or
Kai’s dad to be home the same day.

“What just happened?” Holley asked, jerking

her head to look between me and Mom.

I grimaced, shaking my head.
Mom sighed. “He found someone other than

me to take fishing.”

And just like that, it seemed like my parents

had accepted Kai into our family.

It was going to be so awkward when I had to

tell them we’d broken up.

CHAPTER SIX – KAI

“My daughter is a terrible liar,” Simon said,

pouring whiskey into two small crystal tumblers.
“She likes to think she can fool me, but that ship
sailed when she was sixteen and swore the size six
boot prints on the porch roof weren’t hers.”

I said nothing. I had no idea where this

conversation was going, but I was already pretty
sure I wasn’t going to like it, so I accepted the
tumbler of whiskey without a word.

“Jasmine likes to keep the peace. You might

have  noticed  that  her  mother  is  what  I  would  call,
ah,  slightly  volatile,”  he  continued,  sitting  in  the
high-back  leather  chair  in  front  of  the  large,
mahogany  desk,  and  stroked  his  dark  gray  beard.
“She  also  has  a  tendency  to  ignore  the  obvious  in
the hope of keeping the peace.”

Ah. Now I knew where this was going.
“I know you’re not dating, much less

engaged,” Simon said, cutting to the chase. “I also
know it was Ivy’s knee-jerk reaction to her
grandmother yesterday. You do know you don’t
have to go along with it, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir. But if it makes it easier

for her right now, then I’m happy to.”

He raised one eyebrow. “You are? Don’t you

have a dating life of your own?”

“Not particularly,” I replied slowly. “But

even if I did, she and the baby would be my priority
anyway, making any dating life non-existent.”

He leaned back in his chair and spun his glass

so the amber liquid sloshed against the sides. “I’m
not sure what to think about you.”

“You can think what you like,” I said

honestly. “Just know that I care about your
daughter a great deal, sir, and if us pretending to be
in a relationship makes this easier for her, so be it.”

“I know.”
“Know what?”
“That you care about her,” he said, his eyes

never leaving mine. “That’s more than a little
obvious.”

I grimaced. Apparently, everyone knew I had

feelings for Ivy except Ivy.

“Regardless of how I feel, this isn’t about

me.” I kept my voice low. “It’s about her, and I’m
not going to use this situation to push her into
anything. I don’t want her to feel like this has to be
real just because we’re pretending.”

“I’m sure.” Simon scratched his chin. “Either

way, I won’t let it slip. Not even to my wife,
although I’m sure she’ll kill me if she ever finds out
that I know it’s not a real relationship.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, sipping the whiskey.
I wasn’t a whiskey guy, but it was the only

polite thing to do.

Three knocks sounded at the door, and Ivy

poked her head through. “Sorry, are you done?
Mom wants you,” she said to her dad. “Something
about that ‘goddamn Hillary and her toyboy’ being
in the bar.”

Simon sighed. “I’ve told her I can’t kick

them out just because her arch-nemesis is bringing
her new twenty-two-year-old lover in.”

“Ew. She actually has a toyboy? She’s, like,

fifty.”

“As is your mother,” he replied dryly.
“Yeah, but she’s not dating a college

graduate,” she replied with the same wry tone.
“Anyway, she wants you to get them out of her
damn sight, and she’s sent me home.”

“Why is she sending you home? You have

two hours left of your shift.”

“Because someone walked past me with

three cups of coffee, and I vomited on the bar.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, putting the

whiskey down.

“I’m fine,” she said brightly. “But I don’t

think I’m ever drinking coffee again, so I guess I
need to develop a taste for tea.”

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose. “This

is going to be a long few months.”

“You think you’ve got it bad,” Ivy said,

looking back at him. “You’re not the one who’s
going to get cankles.”

With that, she flounced out of the office,

leaving the heavy wood door to swing shut behind
her.

Simon stared after her for a moment before

he shook his head. Looking at me, he said, “Good
luck. You’re gonna need it with her.”

I grinned. I’d take all the luck I could get as

far as Ivy Stuart was concerned.

***

“Are you sure you’re fine?”
Ivy froze, her lips puckered around the straw

of  her  McDonald’s  milkshake  I’d  driven  into  the
next  town  to  buy  her  at  her  request.  “Kai,  we’ve
gotten  a  cab  back  home,  then  driven  a  forty-five-
minute  round  trip  for  a  McDonald’s.  If  I  weren’t
fine, your dashboard would know about it.”

I grunted a noncommittal noise and pulled

into the apartment parking lot. I parked in my
designated spot, next to her car. “I know, but that
doesn’t mean I’m going to stop asking.”

She rolled her eyes as we got out. “What did

my dad say to you?”

“Talked about fishing,” I lied, juggling my

keys. “I think we’re going to figure out a trip soon.”

“Mm.” She sucked milkshake up the straw so

hard she got a mouthful of air if the gurgling from
the cup was anything to go by. “He knows this

relationship is fake.”

“What makes you say that?”
“I know my dad. He doesn’t miss anything,

but he wouldn’t dare tell Mom and Grams.”

I sighed. “Fine, yeah, he knows. He told me

he knew but he wouldn’t say anything.”

She shrugged and dug in her purse for her

keys when we reached our floor. “I figured.” She
paused. “Hey… Do you want to come in?”

I raised my eyebrows.
“I’m not asking you for sex,” she

deadpanned. “Just… you know. Baby stuff?”

“Really? You just threw up on your parents’

bar and you want to talk about baby stuff?”

She huffed, and I swear she stomped her

foot. “Fine. Tori’s on a date and my sister went to
her friend’s house. I’m a little afraid I might throw
up that cheeseburger and need someone to hold my
hair. Since you got me into this situation, you’re
up.”

I laughed and wrapped one arm around her,

pulling her into my side. “That’s as good a reason
as any. Come on, then. I suppose it’ll stop me
texting you in ten minutes.”

“There’s that,” she muttered, nudging me

with her elbow before she unlocked her door.

I followed her inside and kicked off my

shoes. “What do you want to do? Talk? Watch a
movie? Sit in never-ending silence and play games

on our phones?”

“Are you capable of silence?” she asked,

pulling two bottles of water from the fridge.
“Judging by your endless texts, I’d say no.”

I took the bottle she offered me. “Hey, if I

didn’t text you and check up on you, you’d
complain about that.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she mused, cracking

the seal on her water bottle. “I’m going to get
changed into my pajamas. I won’t be wearing a bra,
so don’t stare too hard when I come back.”

“Are we at that stage already? This moved

fast.”

“Yeah, well, in a few months you’re gonna

have a front-row seat to a human being exiting my
body, so my pajamas is child’s play.” She turned
and stalked off to her room, leaving me chuckling
at her.

And staring at her ass in her jeans.
Jesus, it was one hell of a nice ass.
“Stop staring at my ass!”
“It’s your ass or your boobs,” I shouted after

her. “You can’t expect me to ignore both!”

“Nobody can ignore my boobs!” she yelled.

“They doubled in size overnight! Pornstars are
jealous of me, damn it!”

“I’ll let you know in a minute!” I laughed to

myself and sat down on her sofa, grabbing the
remote on the way down. I loaded the Netflix app

and chuckled when I saw the two profiles named
Ivy and Holley.

Who was paying for Netflix here?
“I pay,” Ivy said, making me turn my

attention to her.

She was wearing a tiny pair of cotton shorts

with sheep on and a faded tank top that looked like
it came from some raving Noughties concert.

And she was not wrong.
Her boobs looked fucking great.
“How did you know I was wondering that?”
She shrugged, grabbing a blanket from a soft

ottoman and pulling it onto the sofa with her. “You
laughed. I pay for Netflix, she pays for Hulu. It
works.”

“Makes sense. I’d do that, but I wouldn’t put

it past Anna or Liam to change my login and lock
me out.”

“Liam?”
“My brother.”
“Oh, I remember. Does he live nearby?” She

snuggled down onto the sofa next to me, wrapping
herself up in the soft blanket that was adorned with
cartoon kittens.

“He’s at NYU,” I replied, selecting her

profile. “He comes back for the holidays and
school breaks.”

“What’s he studying?”
“Not a damn clue. He’s changed his major

three times. It’s why he’s twenty-four and still at
college trying to get a degree.”

She winced. “That’s some serious debt.”
“No kidding. I think he’s only there so he

doesn’t have to move back in with our parents.”

“Are your parents that bad?”
“No, they’re really great people, actually.

They just believe in us facing the consequences of
our actions without being mollycoddled.”

“Is that why you texted them to tell them

you’re having a baby?”

“Technically, I told them you’re having a

baby, but yes. It’s also why my sister is staying with
me and not them.” I scrolled through Netflix.
“What do you want to watch?”

“Nothing with blood,” she replied. “Why

isn’t she staying with them?”

“They told her that her ex-boyfriend was a

good-for-nothing asshole who was only using her
for her job, but she didn’t agree.”

“Was he? Using her?”
“Oh, yeah. He got a job at the law firm she

works at then screwed her secretary.”

“Do you mean his secretary?”
“Nope. Her secretary.” I hovered over a

movie. “This one?”

Ivy wrinkled her face up. “That looks like a

horror movie. I don’t need any help not sleeping,
thanks. It’s like that pregnancy test knocked down

the dam. I peed four times between midnight and
six a.m.”

“Nice.” I scrolled again. “You’re going to

make me watch one of those girly movies, aren’t
you?”

“Ooh, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days!” She

jerked and sat upright, hugging the blanket closer to
her. “I love that movie!”

Of course she did.
“What about this one? What To Expect When

You’re Expecting,” I said. “It looks fun and
educational.”

Slowly, she turned her head and stared a hole

in the side of mine. “It’s like you want me to punch
you.”

“How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days it is.” I

scrolled back to the movie.

“Yeah. It’s fun and educational,” she shot

back, eying me.

I peered over at her, noting how she was

trying to fight a smile. “I’d hate to burst your
bubble, but you’re pretty stuck with me now.”

“I know.” Sighing, she rested her head back.

“But a girl can dream.”

I shook my head and started the movie,

putting the remote on the coffee table before
getting comfortable on the sofa with her. Her thigh
was pressed up against mine, and thank fuck I was
wearing jeans.

The last thing I needed right now was to feel

her skin on mine.

If I did, she’d have no use for those pajamas.
I rubbed my hand down my face and tried to

focus on the movie. I had no fucking idea what was
going on and if I was completely honest, I really
didn’t give a shit at all.

Nor did I want to know what was going on. I

was pretty sure I’d watched this movie before at
some point in my life but I hadn’t understood it
then, either.

I glanced over at Ivy. At some point in the

last  twenty  minutes  of  this  mind-numbing  movie,
she’d  leaned  into  me  and  was  now  almost  sitting
with  her  head  on  my  shoulder.  In  fact,  five  more
minutes and I was sure she would be.

And judging by the way she’d wrapped

herself into a human burrito, she’d probably be fast
asleep, too.

I was proven right in ten minutes. Ivy’s head

was  right  on  my  shoulder,  and  she  was  breathing
heavily. Her eyelids flickered, making her eyelashes
brush  against  the  soft  skin  of  her  cheeks,  and  she
made  a  tiny  noise  that  was  somewhere  between  a
snore and a whimper.

Did I move her to tell her to go to bed?
She looked so peaceful, so relaxed, and she’d

had such a long day I didn’t know if I had the heart
to wake her. It wasn’t real early either—it was

already dark out.

I looked down at her.
She was so fucking beautiful.
I had no idea how I was going to make it

through the next few months without falling in love
with her.

It sounded crazy, but it was the truth. I

already had these wild feelings for her, ones that
just wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried.

Keeping those in check was going to be so

hard. Especially if she kept doing shit like falling
asleep on me.

I adjusted myself so I was almost lying on the

sofa and gently raised my arm. Ivy whimpered as
her head fell onto my chest, but it only took her
two seconds before she wriggled and snuggled into
me.

What the fuck was I doing? I needed to move

away from her, not lie on her sofa and hold her
against me like some lovesick fucking puppy.

It wasn’t about that, though, I told myself.

She was pregnant with my baby. She needed
someone to look after her, and right now, that was
me. I wasn’t so stupid that I assumed what she was
going through was easy.

In fact, I knew it wasn’t. I could use Google,

and I had used Google. I probably knew more than
I should about the early stages of pregnancy, but I
just wanted her to know that I really did care.

It was easy to say you cared.
It was a whole lot harder to show it.
I didn’t want Ivy to doubt me for a second.
I wrapped my arm around her and held her

close to me. Her heavy exhales were hot against my
chest, even through my t-shirt, and she nestled in
even closer to me.

There was no way I could move her.
I was officially stuck here until she woke up.
Judging by the way she was now drooling on

my shirt, it was going to be a while.

I reached out toward the coffee table. I was

just able to touch the remote, so I nudged it until I
could get a full grip of it to change the dumb girly
movie.

I still had no fucking idea what was

happening in it.

I flicked through Netflix until I found a

sports documentary that was more to my liking and
settled down to watch it.

Hopefully, Ivy would wake up soon.
If she didn’t, I sure as hell hoped she

wouldn’t notice my boner in the morning.

CHAPTER SEVEN – IVY

I was lying on Kai.
The sleepy—yet shocking—revelation was

enough to drag me out of the post-sleep haze, but it
was the tell-tale sign of drool on his t-shirt that
made this even worse.

Great.
Now he knew I was a drooler.
My bladder was also fit to burst.
Oh, God. I was going to have to wake him

up.

I tilted my head back, careful not to dislodge

his  arm  too  much.  He  was  completely  dead  to  the
world,  and  the  sunrise  that  was  creeping  through
the  windows  cast  golden  shadows  across  his  face
that  made  him  even  more  handsome  than  he  was
usually.

Good God, this baby was going to be a

beautiful one.

If it had even half of Kai’s good looks, that

was.  Maybe  it  would  have  his  bright  blue  eyes,  or
his  dark  brown  hair  that  had  hints  of  gold  in  the
sunlight.  If  it  was  a  boy,  would  it  grow  up  to  have
his  jaw?  His  smile?  Or  would  he  have  my  slightly
crooked nose?

What if the baby was a girl? Would she have

his unfairly long eyelashes or my thankfully well-

shaped eyebrows? Or would she have both?

Maybe she’d have neither.
That seemed to be how it worked.
Men got the beautiful eyelashes, and women

had to pay a beautician a pretty penny to get them.

I sighed.
“Ivy, if you need to move, then move,” Kai

muttered, not opening his eyes. “But stop staring at
me like I’m a jar of pickles.”

“I need to pee,” I whispered.
“Then go and pee,” he whispered right back.

“What time is it?”

“Sunrise.”
“I was hoping for a more exact time.”
“Too fucking early?” I offered, moving so

that I was no longer lying on him.

He twisted his body so I had room to stand.

“Does that mean I can finish my sleep in your bed?
Don’t get me wrong, you’re a great hot water
bottle, but your sofa is about as comfortable as a
slab of rock.”

I wrinkled my face up. “I suppose it wouldn’t

be fair to say no, since you’ve been my pillow all
night. But keep your pants on.”

“Negative.” He got up, following me through

the apartment. “I’ve already worn them for too
long tonight.”

“Technically, it’s the morning.” I shut myself

in the bathroom, cutting off whatever response he

had, and peed like my life depended on it.

It damn well felt like it did.
God, pregnancy was so dramatic, and I was

only a couple of weeks in.

I was going to be unbearable at the end,

wasn’t I?

Ugh. Get ahold of yourself, Ivy. You’re not

the first woman to ever be pregnant.

But seriously, the first pee of the day was so

good.

Now three liters lighter, I washed my hands

and quickly scrubbed my teeth with my toothbrush,
then headed for my bedroom. As I’d suspected, Kai
hadn’t listened to me at all, and I had to avoid
stepping on his clothes as I moved to my side of the
bed.

He was in his underwear, wasn’t he?
I crawled into bed. Immediately, I wrapped

myself in the covers and curled up on my side.

The bed squeaked when Kai rolled over. He

plastered his body against mine and threw one of
his arms over me, locking me in place.

“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?”

I muttered, not even bothering to open my eyes.

“Snuggling. Shh.” He moved in further.
“Kai.”
“Shh.”
I supposed I didn’t really have a leg to stand

on here. I had, after all, been sleeping on him all

night on the sofa.

And, God, it felt good. His body was large

and hot, and there was something so comforting
about having his arm wrapped around me. The last
couple of days had been insane and uncertain, but
now, lying here…

I shook off those thoughts. The last thing I

needed to do right now was think about Kai like
that. I couldn’t trust my thoughts right now. Was it
hormones? Was it real? I certainly wasn’t about to
pay any attention to post-pee, early-morning, half-
asleep thoughts.

Nope.
Not a single one.
Not even if it was about how comfortable it

was to be tucked against his strong body and
wrapped up like a burrito in my blankets.

No.
Most definitely, absolutely, positively not.
Shit.

***

“What is that goddamn noise?”
Kai rolled over, leaving me noticeably cold,

and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. “My
alarm.

“Your alarm? I’ve been asleep for five

minutes!”

“I know. You snore.”
“I do not snore!” I rolled over with a huff

and glared at him. “If I snored, it’s because you
were crushing me with your fat arms!”

Kai side-eyed me, but he was fighting a smile

if the twitching of his lips was anything to go by.
“Some of us start work early.”

“Ugh.” I rolled over and pulled the blankets

over my head. “Sorry, we’re going to have to fake
break up. This marriage already isn’t working for
me.”

“We’re not fake married yet,” he reminded

me, knocking his foot against mine before he got
up. “We need to organize that, by the way.”

“Ugh. I don’t wanna.”
“What? You don’t want to be the fake Mrs.

Kai Connors? My heart bleeds.”

I yanked the blankets down and glared at

him, ignoring the fact he was shirtless and his abs
were just begging me to touch them.

No, really, they were.
I could hear them.
Ivy. Touch us. Touch usssssssss.
See? Totally begging.
“I don’t need to be Mrs. Kai Connors, fake

or  otherwise,”  I  said,  sitting  up  so  the  blankets
pooled  at  my  waist.  “I’m  already  going  to  have
your  baby  and  that’s  a  longer  sentence  than  a
marriage.”

“A sentence? You make it sound like I’m

going to imprison you in a nursery and force you to
raise the baby alone.”

“I’d probably get a shorter sentence if I

killed you.”

“This conversation took an unexpected

turn.” He chuckled, pulling his shirt on. The action
made his biceps flex, and the elaborate phoenix
tattoo seemed to fly across his skin. “That’s the last
time I creep into your bed.”

“I bet it’s not,” I muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” I smiled, gripping the blankets.

“Nothing at all.”

“Mm.” He tugged out some wrinkles in his t-

shirt,  then  climbed  back  onto  the  bed.  He  leaned
right  over  so  that  his  face  was  inches  from  mine.
His  gaze  locked  onto  mine,  and  for  a  moment,
everything  else  in  the  room  melted  away.  “You’re
right,” he said in a low voice. “I doubt it will be the
last time I creep into your bed.”

With a wink, he pulled back and grabbed his

socks from the floor.

“If you insist on waking up at this ungodly

hour,” I said, lying back down. “I’m hungry.”

He laughed from his perch on the end of the

bed. “I see how this fake marriage is going to
work.”

“If you wake me up early, you have to feed

me. Besides, the baby is hungry. It told me.”

“Ivy, the baby is the size of a pea. I doubt it’s

telling you anything.”

“How do you know how big it is?”
“It’s this novel idea called the Internet—you

can search and find out anything you want to know.
And some things you don’t.”

“Very funny. I want some toast. Please. On

setting three with lots of butter.”

“Setting three? So you want it toasted for

three minutes?”

I frowned. “Is that what the numbers are

for?”

“Yeah. They’re a timer.”
“Huh. I never knew that,” I mused. Which

was ridiculous, because wasn’t it so obvious?

“I read it on the internet,” Kai said flippantly.

“You should try it sometime.”

Scoffing, I said, “I use the internet. Mostly to

diagnose myself with deadly diseases and watch cat
videos, but I use it.”

“Seems like a productive use of your time.”
“Oh, it was. I diagnosed myself with four

different deadly illnesses before I gave up and
finally admitted that I was pregnant.”

He peered over his shoulder from the

doorway and raised an eyebrow. “A deadly disease
was preferable to being pregnant?”

“No. But it would have been an easier

conversation with my grandmother.”

“Hard to argue with that.” He shrugged and

left, hopefully to make his way to my kitchen to
make my toast.

If he left, we were going to have our first

fight as a fake married couple.

I rolled over and felt for my phone. It was on

the nightstand where I’d plugged it in to charge last
night, so I pulled out the cable and pulled up my
texts to Tori.

ME: I need to get fake married. Help a

girl out.

Her response was immediate, as I’d

expected.  Unlike  me,  she  actually  was  a  morning
person.  Something  about  her  being  able  to  get
graphic  work  to  her  clients  before  they  were  even
in the office.

TORI: What’s up?

ME: I need you to photoshop pictures of

me and Kai “getting married” so Grams doesn’t
end up back in the ER.

TORI: I can’t see how you being pregnant

outside marriage will constipate her, but okay

TORI: What do you want and when do

you want it?

ME: Us looking like we just got married at

the town hall, maybe a gratuitous shot of us
kissing

TORI: I’m gonna need a photo of you

kissing.

ME: What???

TORI: I’m not a fucking painter, Ivy. It’s

no big deal to move your heads onto someone
else’s body, but I need you kissing in order to be
able to do that

ME: I knew this was a terrible idea

TORI: Relax. It’s not like I’m asking for a

sex tape.

ME: Oh, well that’s relaxing.

TORI: It just needs to be a peck. That’s it.

Two seconds. Do a burst shot if you have to to get
a good one. Just kiss the guy.

TORI: It’s not like you haven’t done worse

ME: Oh, shut up

TORI: Careful, or I’ll tell Grams you’re

faking it

ME: You wouldn’t dare.

TORI: No, probably not. I don’t want her

wrath either.

ME: Gotta go. My toast is coming.

TORI: *kissing emoji*

TORI: Don’t forget! Smoochy smoochy

smooch!

Ugh.
She was insufferable. I had no idea how I’d

lasted twenty-three years of friendship without
killing her.

“Your toast, Your Highness.” Kai produced a

baking tray with a glass of water, glass of orange
juice, and a plate with two slices of hot, buttered
toast.

“Why are you using a baking tray?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t find a real tray and

I only have two hands. It’s clean, don’t worry. I
scrubbed it.”

“You scrubbed it?”
“It was that or face your pregnant wrath for

getting grease all over your bed.”

That was a fair point.
I smiled. Really smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled right back, his

eyes crinkling. “I have to shower and change
quickly before work. Do you need anything else?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks.” I bit into the toast

and moaned. “So good.”

He blinked at me. “Are you working

tonight?”

I nodded. “Five ‘til eleven. As long as I

don’t, you know, again.” I held two fingers up to
my mouth and mimed throwing up. “Fingers
crossed!”

“You have such a weird outlook on life,” he

muttered. “All right, text me if you nee anything.”

“I will.”
He hovered.
“Why are you hovering? You’re not a bird.

Stop it.”

“I know. Never mind.” He waved his hand

and turned away from the bedroom. “I’ll talk to
you later.”

He was gone before I had a chance to say

goodbye.

That was weird.
I bit into my toast as the front door closed.

This  was  officially  the  weirdest  relationship  I’d
ever  had  with  anybody,  and  I  didn’t  even  know
what  kind  of  relationship  it  was.  It  went  without
saying  that  we  were  attracted  to  each  other,  but
were there feelings?

At times like this, when I was alone, I didn’t

think there were.

Then he hugged me or fussed over me or

pulled me against him in my bed when I told him to
go away and I wondered if I was losing my mind.

I really didn’t think I could trust myself right

now, though.

It’d only been, what? Two days? Since I’d

seen the little thing on the pregnancy test, and that
meant my doctor’s appointment was tomorrow.

I had no idea what to expect from it, and

honestly, I was a little scared.

Except I wasn’t sure what I was scared of

anymore.

Was it the baby? Of having this baby?
Or was it the fear that this could still all go

wrong?

Was this it? Had it sunk in? Had I really

accepted that I was going to be a mom this quickly?

I stuffed the last piece of toast in my mouth

and  pushed  the  baking  tray  away.  I  wasn’t
interested  in  either  the  orange  juice  or  the  other
slice  of  toast—one  slice  and  some  water  was
pushing it this morning, apparently—and lay down

on my back.

Nausea rolled through my stomach.
I closed my eyes.
Yes, I had. I’d accepted it. This was

happening. It was real. I was having a baby.

I slid my hand over my stomach, resting it at

the very bottom so my fingertips brushed my hip.

Somewhere, under my hand, through the

layers of the skin and tissue and muscle that made
up my body, there was a growing baby.

My baby.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.

CHAPTER EIGHT – IVY

“Well, that wasn’t a waste of time at all.” I

slid into the only empty booth at Bronco’s and
sagged against the plush back.

Kai moved the empty coffee cups to a

nearby table and sat opposite me. “What did you
expect?”

“I don’t know. Something more than the pee

test I did myself?” I huffed, dropping my hands on
the  table.  “I  didn’t  need  my  doctor  to  tell  me  I’m
pregnant,  Kai.  I  know  I’m  pregnant.  So  help  me,
Sophie, take that coffee around those tables before
I vomit half a gallon of water over the floor,” I said
to  one  of  our  servers  who  always  worked  the
lunchtime shift.

As a mother of six, Sophie was more than

acquainted with the symptoms of pregnancy, so she
simply laughed and diverted around a table. “I’ll
tell everyone the volcano has landed.”

“The volcano?” Kai quirked a brow.
I sighed. “Because I’ll erupt at the barest

scent of coffee. They coined it last night. I was so
mad I cried for five minutes.”

He looked like he didn’t know whether he

wanted to laugh or not. “I’m… sorry?”

“No, you’re not,” I said dryly. “You’re trying

not to laugh, you asshole.”

“It is kind of funny.”
“It’s not funny.”
“It is.”
“It really isn’t,” I insisted, grabbing a menu

to read. Like I didn’t already know it off by heart.

Kai picked up a menu with far less fervor

than I had and perused it. I glanced over the top of
mine, but he had his gaze firmly focused on the
card in front of him.

That was so annoying.
God, I was so annoyed.
With a huff, I slammed my menu card down

and stormed off to the restroom where I knew I
could be irrationally annoyed by myself in a toilet
stall.

I shoved the door open and let it slam behind

me then locked myself into a stall. The clink of the
toilet seat reverberated off the empty restroom
when I shut it, and I dropped myself onto it with a
heavy sigh.

And buried my face into my hands.
I couldn’t believe I’d just paid my doctor to

tell me I was pregnant.

Seriously.
I’d already dropped, like, forty bucks on

pregnancy  tests  that  had  done  just  that.  It  really
was  a  waste  of  my  time,  because  she’d  admitted
that  she  couldn’t  do  anything  right  now  because  it
was  too  soon,  so  bye,  and  she’d  see  me  in  three

weeks.

Of course, she’d sent me home with a whole

list of things I couldn’t eat, like sushi, and things I
couldn’t do, like use a hot tub—as if those were
available in our apartment building—and probably
a whole bunch of other stuff that would just piss me
off right now.

I buried my face in my hands and took a

deep breath. I knew this was irrational, but I was
tired, I was hungry, and my head was aching like
crazy.

All I wanted to do was go home and curl up

into my bed and wake up tomorrow morning.

I had to get a handle of this. It wasn’t going

to happen overnight, and I was going through so
many changes, but that was no excuse to be a
raging bitch.

Especially to Kai.
I mean, this was partially his fault, but still.

He wasn’t the one who was making me tired,
though. It was something out of everyone’s control,
and if I was going to make it through the next few
months, I had to deal with the frustration.

In related news, I had to get some tissues

ordered on next day delivery.

After another moment of silence, I took a

deep breath and stood up. While I was here, I took
control of business in the stall, then headed out to
wash my hands and fix myself up.

Leaning on the edge of the counter, I peered

at  myself  in  the  huge,  glaringly  lit  mirrors.  I  not
only  felt  exhausted,  but  I  looked  it,  too.  Shallow
bags  had  taken  up  residence  under  my  eyes,  my
cheeks  were  extra  flushed,  and  there  was  a  huge
pimple  forming  on  the  most  awkward  spot  on  my
chin.

Great.
I had to deal with teenage acne again, too.
I wiped under my eyes, washed my hands,

and  escaped  the  confines  of  the  bathroom.  It  was
getting  warm  in  there,  and  I  was  thankful  for  the
cool  blast  of  air  conditioning  as  I  stepped  into  the
bar.

It wasn’t like June in Montana was blazing

hot, but it still felt good.

I slipped back to the booth. Kai had switched

from the menu to his phone, and two tall glasses of
ice water were sitting on coasters in the middle of
the table.

He glanced up for a second before he

resumed tapping. “You looked like you could use
some water.”

I was thirsty, actually. “Thank you.” I slid the

water to me, pulled the paper wrapper off the straw,
and put it in the glass so I could take a long drink.

He didn’t look up, and I trained my gaze on

the ice cubes in the glass in front of me.

“Sorry,” I said softly, still looking into the

cup.

“What for?”
“Being a miserable bitch.”
He chuckled lightly, putting his phone screen

down on the table. “You’re annoyed. I get it. I’d be
annoyed, too, if I were you.”

“Oh, stop it!” I threw a napkin at him.
It failed miserably, flopping to the table

immediately in front of me.

His eyebrows shot up.
“No, don’t look at me like that!” I gripped

my cup tightly. “Being annoyed or tired or
hormonal doesn’t give me the right to be a bitch to
you.”

“I see why they call you the volcano.”
“I’m trying to be nice here.”
Kai reached over and picked up the napkin

I’d attempted to throw at him. He laid it out flat
between us, flattening his hands over it until it was
all but straightened again.

“I ordered for you,” he said, focusing on

ripping his own straw open. “Sophie said you like
the grilled cheese, and you look a little tired so she
recommended a side of tomato soup. I was going to
wait, but you were in there a while. Is that okay?
She said you can change it if you want.”

I swallowed, fiddling with another napkin.

“That’s fine. I’m not massively hungry anyway.”

“You haven’t eaten anything today.”

I didn’t reply.
He didn’t say anything either.
“Why aren’t you talking to me?” I asked

after a moment, staring at him. “And why won’t
you look at me? Did I do something to make you
mad?”

Finally, he dragged his gaze to me. “No. I

wish you’d stop thinking that you did. It feels like
you’ve spent the whole week wondering if you’ve
upset me.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Need to stop it.” Kai reached over and

squeezed my fingers. “Okay? Just stop, Ivy. You’re
allowed  to  be  annoyed.  You’re  allowed  to  be  mad
over  little  things.  You’re  allowed  to  run  off  to  the
restroom  and  take  ten  minutes  to  breathe  if  that’s
what you need.”

“But I—”
“Need to stop arguing,” he repeated, lightly

squeezing  my  hand  again.  “We  have  to  figure  out
how  to  get  through  this  pregnancy  together,  okay?
We  might  not  be  a  real  relationship,”  he  said  in  a
lower voice, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going
to be there. I’ve shown you that, haven’t I?”

I nodded.
“Right. Trust me, if you piss me off, I’m

going  to  tell  you.  If  I  think  you’re  being  irrational,
I’m  going  to  tell  you.  But  there  are  bigger  things
right  now,  like  you  adjusting  to  this  new  reality  of

how you’re changing.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask me

that.” He scowled. “You’re right. This appointment
with  your  doctor  was  pointless,  but  she  did  more
than  have  you  take  a  pregnancy  test,  Ivy.  She
checked  your  blood  pressure  and  pulse  and  asked
about your symptoms and gave you a general once-
over in your health.”

Damn it, he was right.
“You’re healthy,” Kai said, rubbing his thumb

over the back of my hand. “So that appointment
wasn’t a waste of time to me.”

He had a point. Knowing that I was as

normal as six-week-pregnant woman could be was
reassuring, especially when she’d laughed after
learning about my escapades with coffee.

Apparently, she’d developed a dairy allergy

during her first and only pregnancy. She claimed it
was the reason she only had one child—she liked
cheese too much to go nine months without it all
over again.

“You’re right,” I agreed, tapping my thumb

against his hand. “Honestly, this feels like PMS on
crack. I swear the positive test made everything so
much more noticeable.”

“I’m sure it did. But for now, if you’re done

complaining

about

how

expensive

today’s

pregnancy test was, can you go back to being your

usual feisty self? It’s easier to talk to you like that.”

“How did you know I was moaning about the

price of today?”

“You were muttering to yourself for five

minutes  in  the  car.”  He  finally  put  his  straw  in  the
cup  and,  after  releasing  my  hand,  drank  some
water.  “You’re  not  the  quietest  mutterer  in  the
world.”

That was a fair point. In fact, I wasn’t even

sure I could mutter at the volume most other people
did.

“How did the appointment go?” Mom set

two plates down in front of us—mine the tomato
soup and grilled cheese, and Kai’s a steak with
fries, onion rings, mushrooms, peas, and two grilled
tomatoes.

The onions rings looked so good, and I didn’t

even like onion rings.

What was happening to me?
“It

was

exceptionally

expensive

pregnancy test,” Kai answered for me. “Eat,” he
ordered. “You haven’t eaten today.”

Mom shot me a glare. “You haven’t eaten

today?”

I gave Kai a flat look that I was sure relayed

my  thanks  for  him  letting  that  slip  to  my  mom.  “I
felt  sick  before  I  left  so  only  had  some  water,  and
Dr.  Watson  was  delayed  by  half  an  hour  so  we
didn’t  get  brunch  like  we’d  planned.  It’s  not  my

fault.”

“Okay.” She looked unconvinced. “But you

really do need to try to eat something if you know
you’re going to be out, Ivy. Even if it’s a slice of
toast or a banana.”

“Yes, Mom,” I replied, deadpanning.
“You’re drinking plenty, aren’t you?”
“Mom. I’m hungry. I can’t eat if you’re

talking to me.”

“Okay, honey.” She touched the back of my

head. “Oh, shit.”

“What? What’s ‘oh, shit?’”
Mom’s head jerked from the doorway to me.

“Your grandmother is here.”

Oh, shit? That wasn’t quite strong enough for

the way I was feeling.

It was like the people in this family didn’t

want me to eat at all.

“Eat.” Kai looked at me. “And I’ll let you

have the onion rings you keep staring at.”

I tore a bite out of one triangle of my grilled

cheese.

“Is this him? Is this the hooligan who

knocked up my granddaughter?” Grandma Rosie
shuffled over to the table, her cane tapping
ominously against the floor. “Well?”

“Mother, they’re trying to eat,” Mom said,

reaching out for her.

“No, Jasmine, you had me out of here the

other night but I won’t let you do it again!” Grams’
voice raised. “I want to meet the ruffian who
impregnated my only grandchild!”

“You have three,” I replied around a

mouthful of grilled cheese. “Me, Holley, and
London.”

“London?” Kai asked. “Doesn’t that mess

with the flower theme you’ve got going on here?”

“Darn it,” Grams said. “Daisy always was a

rebel.”

“My aunt,” I mouthed, switching the grilled

cheese for the spoon for my soup.

“Oh,” he mouthed back.
“Because you named me Jasmine and her

after a duck,” Mom drawled. “Mother, Ivy needs to
eat. Let them eat in peace and you can speak with
them after.”

“Please,” I added.
“I did not name my daughter after a duck,”

Grandma insisted, motioning for Kai to move over.

He did, taking his plate and water with him.
“Now, Jasmine, I’d like a gin and tonic and

whatever this ruffian is eating for his lunch. It looks
delicious.”

“I’m not serving you alcohol at lunchtime,

Mother.”

“Please do,” I said, reaching for my water.

“She’ll be asleep in an hour if you do.”

“A double gin and tonic it is,” Mom said,

turning on her heel. “Mother, be nice.”

I snorted.
Grandma Rosie wouldn’t know nice if it

slapped her ass, bent her over, and painted a
bullseye on her back.

Kai glanced at me, holding my gaze for a

moment before he turned back to eating his lunch.

“So,” Grams said, staring at me with a laser-

like gaze. “How is my great-grandchild?”

Well, I wasn’t expecting her to start like that.
“About as well as a pea-sized fetus can be,” I

replied. “How are you, Grams?”

“Still alive,” she retorted smartly, then turned

to Kai. “I suppose you’re the one responsible for
this situation.”

Kai wiped the corner of his mouth with a

napkin. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire!
“No, it’s not,” Grams replied. “Nobody ever

gets any pleasure out of meeting me.”

“You can say that again,” I muttered.
“I heard that.”
“You were supposed to.”
“Shut up and eat your food, you hussy.”
“If you weren’t old and I weren’t hungry, I’d

throw this sandwich at your head.”

“Why can’t you be more like your sister?

Holley would never threaten me.”

I stared at her flatly. “You didn’t even

remember I had a sister ten minutes ago.”

“Yes, well, I’m old.” She shuffled in her seat.

“Where’s your mother with my steak? I’m turning
into skin and bones here.”

Spoiler alert: she was not. The only thing skin

and bones about my grandmother was her ability to
talk people to death.

Or, you know. Make them wish they were.
“What’s your name?” she demanded of Kai.
“Kai, ma’am.”
“Are you going to marry my granddaughter?”
I choked on my water.
He glanced at me. “Well, she wanted to wait

to tell you, but…”

What was he doing?
Kai, stop it!
“Are you married?” Grams demanded,

looking at me.

I froze. “I, uh, um.”
“Yes,” Kai said quickly, drawing her

attention back to him. “We are. This morning,
before her doctor’s appointment,” he lied.

He didn’t even twitch.
I was both impressed by his ability and

absolutely fucking horrified that we were now
married.

Apparently.
Grams looked between us. “Why the devil

did nobody invite me?”

Because you are the devil.
“It was a last-minute thing,” Kai continued.

“We thought we would have a blessing and party
when Ivy is feeling better.”

“Feeling better? She’s just inhaled that grilled

cheese. She looks fine to me.”

“Watch it,” I warned her. “Or I’ll ask Sophie

to bring me a coffee so I can throw up on your
shoes.”

“You will leave my Crocs alone, Ivy Rose

Stuart.”

“I’m not Stuart anymore,” I ground out,

glaring at Kai. “Am I, darling?”

He grinned, looking every inch as if he were

enjoying my extreme discomfort in our newfound
level in our fake relationship. “That’s right,
sweetums.”

Sweetums?
Gross.
“Where’s

the

wedding

ring?”

Grams

demanded, pointing her finger at my hand. “If
you’re married, where’s the ring?”

“Getting sized,” I said quickly. “It’s

gorgeous, Grams, you’ll love it. Big and shiny and
sparkly.” I sent a look in Kai’s direction as a
challenge. “We’ll have it back in a few days.”

His jaw twitched, but his eyes shone with

laughter.

“What ring?” Mom asked, setting down

Grams’ gin and tonic.

“Jasmine! Did you know they’re married?

This morning? Before they saw the doctor?” Grams
asked.

Mom clapped her hands to her cheeks. “Ivy!

Is that why you didn’t eat breakfast? Why didn’t
you tell me? Why weren’t we invited? Simon!
Siiiiimonnnnnn!” she hollered in the direction of the
bar. “Your daughter is married!”

I swear, every single person in the bar turned

to look at me.

I was going to kill Kai.

CHAPTER NINE – IVY

“I cannot believe you. I cannot believe you

told my grandmother we got secretly married this
morning.” I tossed my purse on the sofa and
stomped into my kitchen.

Kai closed the door behind him. “You’re the

one who started this fake relationship thing because
it was easier for you, remember?”

“Yes, but I didn’t think we’d actually have to

get fake married! It was to buy myself some time!”
I stopped and fisted my hair. “Jesus Christ!”

“I don’t think he’s going to help you.”
“You’re gonna need him to help you,” I

warned him. “Now what do we do? How the hell
are we supposed to fake a blessing and wedding in
front of my family?”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck. “All right,

that was a little far.”

“You think?”
He held out his hands, palms up, and

shrugged.

Like that was a real response.
I sighed and leaned against the sink, folding

my arms across my chest. “Well, now we’re in too
deep. What do you propose we do now?”

“Well, we have to go with it, don’t we?”
“Oh, come on.”

“You started it, Ivy.”
“So you’ve said, but I didn’t expect that it

would go this far. God.” I groaned, bending over.
“This is a nightmare.”

“It’s not that bad.”
“Kai, my grandmother thinks we’re married.

Shit, the entire town thinks we’re married. How is
this not bad?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but quickly

shut it again.

Uh-huh.
“Well, I guess we have to get married.”
“Be realistic!” I snapped, putting my hands

on my hips.

“Date for real?”
“I said realistic, Kai!”
“That is realistic! Everyone thinks we’re

married, is actually dating that wild?”

I stared at him. I had no idea if he was being

serious or not, but I wasn’t going to date him just to
make this all easier. That wasn’t the right reason—
just like I wasn’t going to let myself get carried
away with how good it felt to sleep next to him.

The only reason he’d spent the night a couple

of days ago was because I was pregnant.

If I weren’t, I doubted we’d spend this much

time together in a month.

“Yes,” I said after a long month. “We’d be

doing it because I’m pregnant. No other reason. We

wouldn’t even be in the same room right now if I
weren’t pregnant, and you can’t tell me I’m
wrong.”

He raised his shoulders before dropping them

in a defeated shrug, complete with a heavy sigh. “I
guess you’re right.”

“I am, and you know it. Until… that night…

we didn’t actually spend time together outside of
stupid apartment building parties and—”

I was cut off by a knock on my door.
I shared a look with Kai. Who the hell was

that?

He walked over to the door and opened it.

“Mrs. Valentino. What a surprise.”

“I’ll say!” Isabella Valentino said. “I’ve

heard you’re married and having a baby! My, you
kept that a secret!”

Oh, Jesus, no.
“They’re relatively recent developments,”

Kai replied slowly.

“Well, congratulations! I baked you a cake!”

She held up a big, square cake in a silver foil tray. It
was  covered  in  pink,  white,  and  blue  icing,  and
there  was  both  a  bride  and  groom  statue  and
various  baby  things  in  pink  and  blue  like  booties
and pacifiers and—was that a diaper?

I stared at Kai with my eyes wide.
“Thank you, Mrs. Valentino,” Kai said,

taking the cake from her. “That’s very kind of

you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing!” She rushed past him and

over to me where she cupped my face in a
grandmotherly way. “Ivy! How are you? When is
the baby due? Do you need anything? I can help!”

“I, uh—”
“Does this mean you’re moving in together?

Oh,  silly  me,  of  course  you  are!  We  should  throw
you  a  party!  Oh,  yes!  A  joint  wedding  and  baby
shower!  How  lovely!  Vincent  will  be  delighted.
Amanda not so much, but it’ll be fun!”

“Actually, Mrs. Valentino,” Kai said, moving

into my apartment and putting the cake down.
“We’ve had a long day so far, and Ivy was just
telling me how she was going to take a lie down.”

I yawned to prove his point.
“Oh, of course!” The elderly woman flapped

her hands and turned, heading back for the door.
“I’m sorry. We’ll talk soon. Have a nice nap, Ivy!”

Like the whirlwind she was, she disappeared

as quickly as she came, and Kai locked the door
behind her.

The cake smelled divine.
Like sugar and candy and vanilla and—
“You’re drooling over the cake.”
I wasn’t, technically, but whatever. “It smells

so good.”

“It smells like cake,” Kai said, approaching

the island. “Just cake.”

“It’s vanilla,” I said. “With strawberry jam

and fresh cream.”

“How the hell do you know that?”
“I can smell it.”
“What are you, a police dog?”
I grabbed a fork from the drawer and dug

into the cake. I pulled out a huge chunk of the cake
and held it up so he could see. “Fresh cream and
strawberry jam,” I said triumphantly.

Then shoved the entire bite in my mouth.
“For someone who doesn’t want to be fake

married, you have no issue eating our fake wedding
cake.”

“As it turns out, yes,” I said around a

mouthful of said cake. “It’s good cake.”

“You’re so weird,” Kai mumbled, walking

over to the island. He stole the fork from me and
scooped up a big bite from the tray. His eyes closed
the second he put the cake into his mouth, and he
moaned. “That’s so good.”

“Told you.” I snagged the fork back. “Get

your own.”

“I thought you were gonna take a nap.”
“You made that up.” I pulled another forkful

from the tray. “And I was actually considering it,
but a sugar coma seems like a far better use of my
time.”

Kai stuck his own fork into the tray. “Too

much sugar isn’t good for the baby.”

“I had fruit for lunch.”
“You had grilled cheese and soup.”
“Tomato soup. What do you think tomatoes

are? Fruit.”

“They’re salad vegetables.”
“Hah!” I pointed my cake-coated fork in his

direction. “Wrong! They’re fruit! Now who needs
to use the internet?”

He frowned for a moment, then set down his

fork to pull his phone from his pocket.

All right, apparently Kai did.
“Huh, how about that? You’re right.” He

swapped the phone for his fork and dug into the
cake again.

“Of course I’m right. I thought everyone

knew a tomato was a fruit.” I shrugged a shoulder.

“Why would anyone know that?”
“Because it’s more obvious than what the

little numbers on the toaster are for?”

“I thought everyone knew that.”
“You only know it because you used

Google.”

“Technically, it was on one those of those

stupid ass memes on Facebook.” He scraped some
frosting from the side of the tray. “You know those
‘I was this many years old when I found out’
bullshit things?”

“And you took a meme’s world as gospel?”
“No. I googled it after that and the general

consensus is that it is true.”

“Hmm,” I mused. “I’m going to time my

toast tomorrow.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Unless you forget to eat

breakfast again.”

“I don’t forget to eat breakfast,” I argued. “I

just don’t eat it. This morning because I might
throw up.”

“Yet here you are, mid-afternoon, eating half

your body weight in cake.”

“Well, I’m a woman, and we’re known for

being unpredictable. What can I say?”

He grinned, his entire face lighting up. Even

his blue eyes sparkled, and I looked away before
my stomach flipped—in a good way.

I didn’t need Kai Connors getting me all

worked up right now, thank you very much.

Not before a nap, anyway. Nobody liked

taking a nap when they were turned on.

I yawned and pressed my hand to my mouth.
Kai put down his fork. “Why don’t you lie

down, and I’ll put the cake in the fridge?”

Another yawn answered for me. “I’ll lie

down on the sofa.”

“That’s not a real nap.”
“Sure it is. Sofas are made for napping.”
Kai stared at me as I walked over to the sofa,

but he didn’t say anything. “Are we done talking
about our fake marriage then?”

“It was less talking, more arguing,” I replied,

curling up under a freshly laundered, fluffy blanket.
I nestled a throw pillow under my head and peered
over at him. “ And yes, we’re done for now. I had a
lot of cake and I’m tired.”

“So you’re just going to go to sleep.”
“Yes, I’m going to go to sleep. Like you said,

it’s  been  a  long  day,  and  I  still  have  to  go  to  work
tonight.  There’s  no  way  I’m  getting  through  a  six
hour  shift  of  serving  drunk  people  alcohol  on
Ladies’ Night without a nap, okay?”

“Ladies’ Night? That’s a thing?”
“Kai.”
“Sorry, sorry.” He held up his hands.
I snuggled back down and closed my eyes.

“You’re not going to stand there and watch me
sleep, are you?”

“I have no idea,” he admitted. “Now that

Mrs. V is going to be going from door to door to tell
the entire building we’re married and having a
baby, I’m not sure I want to leave your apartment
right now.”

I sighed. “Fine. You can stay here.”
“In a few months, you’ll be begging me to

stay so you can get some sleep.”

“Yes, but there isn’t a crying baby here right

now,” I argued. “But there will be if you don’t let
me take a nap.”

“I told you to go to bed.”

“I told you I don’t want to.”
“Aw, look. We’re already arguing like a

married couple.”

I opened my eyes to see him grinning. “Fuck

off.”

“Come here.” He put down his cup and

turned to the sink. He pulled down the blind, then
crossed into the living room where he closed all the
curtains, darkening the room substantially.

Damn it. I hated it when he did nice things

like that.

It was harder to stay mad at him when he

did.

“Thank you.”
“Scoot up a little.” He motioned for me to

move, and I scrunched up my face, but did it
anyway. He sat down in the spot where my head
had just been and patted his lap.

I rested my head on there, still with the

cushion, and wriggled until I was comfortable.
“Why am I sleeping on you?”

“Because you won’t nap in your room and I

want to watch TV if I’m being held hostage here for
an hour,” he replied simply. “Don’t worry, it’ll be
on super low volume.”

I harrumphed and rolled over.
Big mistake.
My face was right in front of his abs, and my

movement had caused his t-shirt to rise up,

exposing the soft skin of his lower stomach.
Including a hint of ab.

“That didn’t go well for you, did you?” Kai

asked, amused.

“Not particularly.” I rolled back over and

closed my eyes with another humph of annoyance.

He shifted the tiniest bit. His fingertips

brushed over my hair, more than once. He ran his
fingers through my loose locks, brushing it all away
from my face, stroking my hair in a rhythmic
motion that was completely hypnotic.

A shiver ran down my spine when he brushed

a sensitive spot behind my ear, and he paused for
the briefest second before he went back to the
previous rhythm.

It felt good—too good. It was the kind of

gentle,  casual  touch  that  was  designed  only  to  be
comforting,  yet  it  was  filled  with  the  type  of
heaviness  where  you  knew  there  was  more  than  a
simple caring feeling behind it.

But I was too tired to dwell on my half-

asleep thoughts.

So I gave in and fell asleep to Kai stroking

my hair.

***

“You are so stupid,” Tori said, sipping on a

margarita.

Unlike everyone else in my life, my best

friend had no qualms about drinking in front of me.
Apparently, neither did my sister and her best
friends.

They were lucky I was working, or I might

have drowned all four of the bitches in their drinks.

“I am not stupid,” I insisted, wiping down the

bar next to Tori.

“I don’t know,” Saylor, one of Holley’s best

friends and bookstore co-owners replied. “It’s
pretty obvious.”

Kinsley, the final member of their trio,

nodded emphatically. “I wouldn’t know a chat up
line if it slapped my ass and asked for my number,
but I have to agree here.”

I turned to Holley. “I suppose you agree with

them all, too.”

My sister shrugged. “I can’t say I care, if I’m

honest.”

“How can you not care?” Tori asked, leaning

forward so she could see past Kinsley. “It’s so
obvious. Men don’t just stroke people’s hair and let
them sleep on their laps. Not to mention he stayed
over the other night and literally cuddled her until
morning.”

I paused. Well, she wasn’t supposed to bring

that up. “I fell asleep on him and he didn’t want to
wake me,” I said quickly. “When we woke up it
was easier for him to crash at my place and not

wake his sister.”

“That makes it a little harder to agree with

you,” Holley admitted. “But I think I do.”

“What? How?” Saylor asked. “How can you

know all this stuff and not think for a second that
he has feelings for her? This isn’t normal.”

My sister shrugged. “I don’t know. This is

hardly a normal situation. I mean, she’s so scared of
our grandmother—”

“Rightfully,” Kinsley added with a shudder.
“—That she lied about being married. Plus,

they’re neighbors. They’re friends, or they were
friends before all this. Friends care about each
other.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking her empty glass

to refill it with her favorite Merlot. I wouldn’t
drown my sister today. “That’s all it is.”

“You’re insane.” Tori shook her head.

“Absolutely insane. He’s clearly got feelings for
her.”

I didn’t have to listen to this.
“You’re insane,” I shot back, handing Holley

her wine. “Do you hear yourselves? My sister is the
only one talking sense, and that’s something I never
thought I’d say.”

“Thanks,” Holley said.
“You’re welcome.”
Saylor snorted. “Sure, okay, let’s assume that

it’s completely platonic between Kai and Ivy.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”
“There’s one big issue with that assumption.”
Tori grinned.
Saylor looked at me. “You’re pregnant.

Platonic relationships don’t get people pregnant.”

Shit.
That was a good argument.
“One night stands happen in platonic

relationships,” I started.

Tori held up a finger. “I am here to

corroborate that. They do.”

“Fine, but it’s still valid to my point,” Saylor

continued. “The relationship obviously isn’t
completely platonic.”

“She has a point,” Kinsley added, stirring a

cherry around her glass with her straw. “I mean, my
relationship with Holley is platonic, but we’re not
accidentally having sex.”

“Why did you have to use me?” Holley

muttered.

Kinsley rolled her eyes, tucking her dark

brown hair behind her ear. “I’m just saying that
there’s obviously something going on between you
two even if you don’t want to admit it.”

“No, I don’t,” I said, putting another pitcher

of margaritas in front of them. “My life is crazy
enough right now without adding anything else into
it.”

“You can’t use the baby as an excuse for

everything,”  Tori  scolded  me.  “The  baby  has
nothing  to  do  with  your  inability  to  admit  there’s
something  going  on  between  you  and  Kai.  You
swore blind you weren’t going to have sex with him
that  night  and  low  and  behold,  you’re  incubating
his spawn.”

“Do you have to put it like that?”
“Yes.”
“Great.”
“Stop fighting,” Holley interjected. “Yes, we

all know Ivy has an issue with speaking the truth
and being totally blind to what’s in front of her, but
I don’t want to stress her out. Or make her cry.
That happens way too easily now.”

Yeah. She was here when I was dubbed the

Volcano for my instant vomit response to coffee.

I was a bit of a crier anyway, so now it was

like, whoosh. Waterfalls. Over a butter commercial.

I wish I were joking.
“But she’s right,” Holley continued. “If she

truly believes there’s nothing going on between her
and Kai, then I believe her.”

“You’re so full of shit even dung beetles

aren’t interested.” Tori finished her margarita.

Well, I wasn’t going to disagree with that,

either.

A customer at the other end of the bar

motioned for my attention and I walked over to
take their order.

The truth was that I didn’t know what was

going on between me and Kai. The more I thought
about it, the more confused I got. All I knew was
that he didn’t treat me like a friend, but he treated
me as more than just someone who was carrying his
baby.

That was a giant gray area where a thousand

edges all muddled together, and it was just too
much for me to deal with right now.

So I was going to be a grown up and ignore it

until I really, really had to deal with it.

CHAPTER TEN – KAI

“Whoa,” Josh said, potting the yellow striped

ball. “It’s true, then.”

“You’re insane,” Colton replied, chalking the

top of his pool cue.

We were hanging out in the basement of

Josh’s  newly  purchased  house.  He’d  instantly
turned  it  into  a  man  cave,  complete  with  a
homemade  pallet  bar  that  desperately  needed
painting,  a  sixty-inch  TV  on  the  wall,  and  a  pool
table.

And a sign that said no women were allowed.
Never mind that he was still finding his

cutlery out of the boxes in his kitchen—as long as
this was sorted, it was all good in his eyes.

We usually spent Friday nights in a bar, but

we knew that Ivy, Tori, Holley, Saylor, and Colton’s
sister Kinsley were hanging out in town again
tonight.

Last I knew, Ivy was not happy she’d been

defaulted to the designated driver.

I sipped from my beer bottle and shrugged.

“Yeah, well, it happened.”

“What are you doing about Ivy?” Colton

asked as Josh missed his next shot.

“What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m

hardly leaving her to fend for herself.”

“No, are you dating?” Josh leaned against the

pallet bar and grabbed his beer. “Because the
gossip grapevine says you’re getting married.”

I sighed and explained the whole situation.

“Now we’re stuck in this fuckin’ weird carousel
where nothing moves forward and nothing moves
back.”

“Have you considered telling her you

actually like her?” Colton questioned, potting his
ball and flipping Josh the bird. “That might get you
somewhere.”

“I casually mentioned us dating earlier and

she brushed it off.”

“Ouch,” he muttered.
Yeah, no fucking kidding.
“She was in a bad mood,” I said. “I might

have told her grandmother we got married
yesterday morning.”

Both of my best friends burst out laughing.

“Fucking hell,” Josh said. “Why did you do that?”

“It slipped out.”
“Maybe you should have tried that a few

weeks ago.”

Colton hit him with the pool cue. “You’re

welcome, man,” he said to me. “What are you
doing now? You two?”

“Winging it, I think. Mrs. V came over

yesterday when we were fighting and dropped off a
cake that was a cross between a wedding cake and

a  baby  shower  cake.  Ivy  got  distracted,  ate  a  shit
ton  of  cake,  then  took  a  nap  before  work,”  I
explained.  “I  haven’t  seen  her  since  she  left  for
work last night.”

“I don’t get why you don’t just tell her,” Josh

said, like he wasn’t harboring a crush on his best
friend’s little sister.

One that Colton knew nothing about, for

what it was worth, and I wasn’t going to be the one
who told him about it, either.

“Because she’s gone fucking crazy,” Colton

answered, potting the final ball of the game. “She’s
pregnant, Josh. You don’t tell pregnant women
anything. You feed them, pet their hair, and let
them sleep.”

That sounded pretty accurate.
“What do you know about pregnant

women?” Josh retorted. “You’ve been dating
Amber for five years, haven’t proposed, and
haven’t discussed a baby despite her telling you she
wants one.”

An excellent point.
If Josh was making those, we were in trouble.
“I don’t know,” Colton said, putting down

the  pool  cue  so  he  could  rescue  a  beer  from  the
fridge.  “She  can’t  ask  me  for  a  baby  if  she  won’t
move in with me. I told her I’m not proposing until
we  live  together  and  know  we  won’t  kill  each
other.”

“Didn’t you have to move out because

Kinsley nearly killed you?”

“Yeah, but she was a teenager, and I’m

pretty sure she slipped while she was holding that
knife.”

“There’s a story I haven’t heard.” I laughed.
Colton popped the cap of the beer and said,

“When Kins was seventeen, I told the guy she liked
she  had  a  crush  on  him.  Turned  out,  she’d  already
told him, and he’d turned her down because he was
dating  someone  else.  She  was  so  fucking  pissed  at
me  that  when  I  got  home,  she  was  cooking  and
waved the knife in my direction.”

“Then she slipped and nearly cut off his toe,”

Josh finished. “Or so she says. I think she was
aiming for his tiny cock.”

It was hard to believe we would all be thirty

by the end of next year.

No, really.
We would be. And I was the only one even

remotely grown up with my birthday coming in a
few days—not that it made me the oldest. That was
Colton.

“Why don’t you move into Amber’s place?”

I grabbed Colton’s pool cue and chalked it while
Josh set up the table. “She lives in town.”

“It’s smaller than mine,” he replied. “There’d

be no point moving into her two-bedroom
apartment when we’d ultimately end up moving

into a three-bed place, which is what mine is.”

He had a point.
“Makes sense.”
“What are you and Ivy doing? Who’s moving

across the hall?”

Josh chuckled.
“Don’t go there.” I lined up the white ball

and  hit  it  into  the  pack,  breaking  it  and  sending
balls  across  the  table.  “Eventually  I  assume  we’ll
have  to  either  come  clean  or  fake  break  up.  If
anyone  asks  right  now,  my  sister  is  staying  at  my
place so I’m keeping my apartment for her.”

“I think you’re doing the right thing,” Colton

said, perching on a barrel that was narrowly passing
as a bar stool right now. “You need to find your
new normal before you tell her you have feelings
for her.”

Josh shot him a look. “I think you should just

lay your cards on the table. That’s what I’d want if
I were her. It’s the easiest option.”

“How is it the easiest?”
“Because if it goes well, their relationship

isn’t fake. Just the marriage. And if they break up
for real, then they get their fake divorce and move
on.”

“Bullshit.”
I hated to admit it, but as they descended

into the pros and cons of me telling Ivy I had
feelings for her, Josh had a point.

Ivy was the one who’d told me that women

didn’t like hints, and after that, I had actually told
Amanda straight up that I wasn’t interested. She’d
still tried it a few times, but she’d mostly given up.

Maybe I needed to take her advice again and

tell her straight.

We moved onto other topics of conversation,

finished  two  more  games  of  pool  and  at  least  four
beers each before Colton and I split a cab fare and
went  home.  I  wasn’t  quite  drunk  but  not  quite
sober,  and  thank  fuck  I  didn’t  have  to  work
tomorrow, because the best place for me to go right
now was bed.

Until lunchtime tomorrow.
By some stroke of a miracle, I managed to

make my way up to my apartment without running
into any of my neighbors. The conversation from
last night filtered through my mind, but I brushed it
away.

That wasn’t a conversation that could be had

right now. I needed the clearest head possible for
that.

I unlocked my door and froze. My sister was

sitting on the sofa, glaring at me in a way that made
her look uncomfortably like our mother. “What?”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
I frowned, shutting the door. “What do you

mean?”

“I’ve called you twenty times and you didn’t

answer.”

I dug my phone out of my pocket. “Fuck. It’s

dead. What happened?

“What happened?” Anna hissed, her eyes

flashing.  “What  happened  is  that  your  pregnant
fake  wife  had  to  leave  her  night  with  her  friends
because  she  felt  unwell.  She  then  came  home,
threw  up  for  half  an  hour  straight,  then  came  over
here  practically  on  her  knees  because  you  weren’t
replying to her texts and she was too busy throwing
up to talk on the phone.”

Guilt shot through my body. “Is she okay?”
“Sure, after I called her doctor’s emergency

number  and  was  reassured  it  was  likely  just
pregnancy  sickness  because  the  name  ‘morning
sickness’  is  a  joke,”  Anna  spat.  “After  I  held  back
her  hair  and  got  her  not  throwing  up  long  enough
that she could take a shower, I quite literally force
fed her some saltine crackers and put her to sleep in
your bed so I could keep an eye on her because you
were fucking missing.”

“Shit.” I rushed through the apartment and

into  my  room  where,  as  Anna  had  said,  there  was
an  Ivy-shaped  lump  on  one  side  of  my  bed.  Her
hair was fanned out across the pillows, and she was
fast  asleep,  but  she  was  paler  than  I’d  ever  seen
her.

I watched her for a moment, as her chest

rose and fell, making the blankets move with each

breath.

Anna grabbed my shirt and pulled me back

from the room, pulling the door over. “Don’t you
dare wake her up,” she hissed. “It took her an hour
to get to sleep because she felt so awful.”

I pushed past her into the living room where I

tossed my phone on the sofa. “Fuck. I’m a dick.”

“Well, I won’t argue that,” she replied.

“You’re  allowed  to  go  out  with  your  friends,  Kai.
But you have  to  make  sure  your  phone  is  charged
so she can reach you if she needs to. Regardless of
your  relationship  that  you  really  need  to  sort  out,
physically  speaking,  you’re  the  person  closest  to
her.  If  she  needs  someone,  you  have  to  be
accessible for her. She’s clearly struggling right now
and you need to be responsible about that.”

I perched on the arm of the sofa and ran my

fingers through my hair. I couldn’t describe how
fucking guilty I felt right now. I couldn’t believe I’d
been laughing and drinking with my friends while
Ivy had been sick back in my own apartment while
my sister looked after her.

And all because I’d forgotten to charge my

phone.

Anna slapped the back of my head. “Don’t

be a fucking baby. You can’t change it now, and
you’re not gonna sit there feeling sorry for yourself
when she’s been throwing up all night. Go to her
apartment, take a shower, then bring your sorry ass

back here. I’ll make a bed on the sofa for you.”

“The sofa?”
“Kai William Connors, if you think your

sorry ass is going into your bed and disturbing her,
you can think again.” She shoved some keys into
my hand and shoved me off the sofa. “You can feel
miserable when you’re done showering. Now fuck
off.”

Fighting with her was futile, so I left without

a word and let myself into Ivy’s apartment. It was
weird being here without her, but I brushed off
those thoughts and headed for her bathroom.

Shit. I hadn’t grabbed any clothes.
Hopefully Ivy had clean towels that weren’t

pink.

After a detour to her linen closet to retrieve a

towel that thankfully was not pink, I stepped into
her bathroom.

The thick stench of vomit filled the air, and I

felt too guilty to even revolt at it. Instead of getting
in the shower, I went back to the kitchen for some
cleaning products and a cloth, then set to cleaning
her bathroom.

By the time I was done, the smell was all but

gone, and both her toilet and her sink sparkled.

It was the least I could do.
With that done, I quickly showered. I felt ten

times better in general after doing so, although the
heaviness of my dead phone still weighed down on

me.

It’d been a long, rough week with Ivy. We’d

been forced together faster than either of us had
ever imagined we would be, and it was easy to
forget that as my life moved forward as normal, she
couldn’t even have a night with her friends without
feeling unwell.

I dried myself off and changed back into my

dirty clothes. It didn’t feel good, but it was all I
had, and I wasn’t going to wander across the hall in
a towel.

There were enough people in this little town

talking about me and Ivy right now.

I made sure I locked up behind me and her

apartment was secure, then let myself back into
mine. The only light that was on was the kitchen, so
that meant Anna had gone to bed.

Thank God.
As she’d promised, she’d put a pillow and

blanket on the sofa for me, and she’d even added a
phone charger.

Great.
I was never living this one down as far as she

was concerned.

I had a clean basket of laundry that I hadn’t

put away, so I quickly changed into some clean
boxers and some shorts and retreated to my
makeshift bed for the night.

In related news, I really fucking needed a

new sofa.

It was total shit.
I didn’t bother charging my phone. Everyone

who needed me was in this apartment, so I spent
the next twenty minutes tossing and turning on the
sofa, trying to get comfortable.

I couldn’t.
I lay on my back and threw my arm over my

eyes. I was going to sleep in my truck if I couldn’t
get comfortable. This sofa simply wasn’t long
enough for someone who was over sex feet tall.

“Kai?” A croaky voice that sounded

suspiciously like Ivy floated in my direction.

I jerked up. “Ivy?”
She rubbed her left eye with her fist, and a

gentle light from my bedroom illuminated her
figure. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders,
and her body was swamped by a Montana Bears
hockey t-shirt that had to be at least ten years old.

Jesus Christ, why did she have to wear one

of my shirts?

I knew she wasn’t feeling great, but she

looked so fucking hot.

“Why are you on the sofa?” she asked, sleep

making her voice thick.

“You were asleep, and I didn’t want to wake

you. I didn’t, did I?”

She shook her head. “I just—I just wanted

some water.”

“I got it.” I threw the blankets aside and

stalked into the kitchen. “Do you want it cold?”

She nodded, stifling a yawn.
I grabbed a bottle from the fridge and

cracked the top for her. She took it gratefully, and I
got a bottle for myself before I closed the door.

Ivy took several small sips, and I didn’t miss

how she winced between each one as if she was
waiting to throw up again.

“Are you all right?” My tone was hesitant,

but I wasn’t sure how she was feeling. Sure, she
was tired, but she was probably really mad at me.

And she deserved to be.
Ivy nodded, screwing the cap back on her

water bottle. “Just thirsty.” She glanced over her
shoulder. “I can go back to my place if you want.”

“No, don’t be stupid. Stay here. It’s fine,

honestly.” The apology sat on the tip of my tongue,
almost vibrating with the need to be spoken, but
she looked so exhausted I couldn’t bring myself to
say anything other than I needed to.

“Okay. Thank you.” She turned back to my

room, holding tight to her bottle.

I went to the sofa again and perched on the

edge, reaching for the remote.

“What are you doing?”
I peered over at her. “I can turn it off if it’ll

disturb you,” I said, motioning to the TV.

“No, I meant why are you sleeping there? On

the sofa?”

“I didn’t want to wake you up. Also, Anna

threatened me.”

Ivy’s lips tugged sadly to one side. “I’m not

going to kick you out of your bed, Kai. Besides, I’m
already awake.”

“Well, I think you should stay here tonight,

so I’m happy to sleep here.”

She dropped the arm holding her bottle and

walked over to me. Her fingers curled around mine,
and she dragged me across the living room toward
my bedroom. “Don’t get any ideas,” she muttered,
letting go of my hand as we reached the door.

“Are you sure?”
“Damn it, Kai. I’m too tired to fight with you

right now and my throat feels like someone’s
slashed it with a razorblade,” she said tiredly.
“Either you sleep in here with me or I go home.”

I stepped into my bedroom and closed the

door.

“Thank you.” She returned to the bed. “I

really didn’t want to walk across the hall. This bed
is closer.” She put the bottle of water on the
nightstand and crawled under the covers, wrapping
herself up like a burrito.

I hesitated. “Do you want me to put on a

shirt?”

“I really don’t care,” she murmured. “Wear a

hot dog suit if you want. Just be quiet.”

Well, all right then.
I pulled off my shorts and climbed in the

other  side  of  the  bed,  lying  on  my  back.  Ivy
reached  out  and  turned  off  the  lamp  on  the
nightstand, swamping the room in darkness. It took
a  long  moment  for  my  eyes  to  adjust,  and  I  traced
the shape of the curtains with my gaze.

This was fucking awkward.
I wanted to apologize to her so badly, but the

words wouldn’t leave my tongue. They were stuck
there, and I hated that I couldn’t just spit it out right
now.

Ivy rolled over so she was in the middle of

the bed. I looked down at her only to meet her
eyes. They were black in the darkness, but there
was still a little glint in them.

She nudged my arm.
“What?” I whispered.
She did it again, except this one wasn’t so

much a nudge as it was a light punch, and she
combined it with shuffling closer to me.

Right.
I lifted my arm so she could snuggle into me.

She moved so I could loop it around her body, and
she rested her head against my chest. Her arm fell
gently over my waist, and I shifted my legs so one
of hers could rest between them.

After one more wriggle, she stilled.
I bent my arm so I could stroke her hair. It

was soft, and my fingers easily glided through it. I
kept it up until her breathing became slow and low
and I was pretty sure she was asleep.

I guess the fact my heart had been thumping

at her closeness hadn’t bothered her at all.

If she’d even noticed.
I sighed softly and turned my head so my lips

were brushing the top of hers. After a few more
minutes, when I was certain she was asleep, the
words I’d been dying to say to her fell from my lips.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured against her hair,

still stroking it. “I hate that I wasn’t here for you. I
should have been. I promised you, and I’ve already
broken it.”

She said nothing. Not that I was expecting

her to.

She was asleep, after all.
“I’m so damn sorry,” I repeated on another

whisper. “I know you can’t hear me right now, and
I’ll have to apologize again in the morning.”

Still nothing, just the steady in and out of her

deep breaths as she slept on me.

I closed my eyes, my lips still pressing

against the top of her head. “I just fucking wish you
knew how much I really cared about you. I wish
you knew how crazy I am about you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN – KAI

What did you feed a pregnant woman who

may or may not want to throw up in the morning?

Google was no help, and Anna had merely

glared at me before stomping out of the apartment.

Probably to go tell Mom how terrible I was

already.

Like she hadn’t spent her entire life moaning

about how annoying her siblings were.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big breakfast eater,

so I didn’t have a lot of food that would pass for
breakfast. Fortunately, I was an early riser thanks to
having to be up for work early every day, so I’d
already been to the store and stocked up.

I had pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage,

eggs, various syrups, and a range of pastries. I’d
also added orange juice, apple juice, three different
smoothies, and a protein shake.

Like I said, I had no idea what to feed a

potentially nauseous pregnant woman. But after my
accidental disappearing act last night, I felt like I
had to do something.

Ivy had slept soundly all night, eventually

rolling away from me and freeing up my arm. At
some point during the night, after that, I’d followed
her, and I’d woken up to me spooning her.

I didn’t know if she was awake right now, but

I didn’t want to disturb her, so I left what most
hotels would call a continental breakfast on the
kitchen island and walked into the living room.

I lay down on the sofa and opened my news

app while I waited. Not that there was anything
particularly happy in the news these days, but it
was always good to keep yourself grounded.

I snorted at my own thoughts.
My current situation was pretty grounding.
Not only did I have to apologize to Ivy, but

how she responded to it would determine if I was
going to come clean to her or not about how I felt.

If she took it well, I’d admit that I had

feelings for her.

If she took it badly, I’d take the verbal

beating I knew I deserved and keep the truth to
myself.

My phone buzzed with a message from an

unknown number.

UNKNOWN: Have you spoken to Ivy?

She’s not answering my texts.

ME: Who is this?

UNKNOWN: It’s Tori. Colton gave me

your number.

ME: Oh. She’s fine. She’s at my place,

sleeping.

TORI: What happened? She went home

because she was feeling shit.

ME: She had a rough night. It’s a long

story. I’ll tell her to text you when she wakes up.

TORI: Thanks. I should have left with her

last night but she said she was just tired and a
little nauseous.

Yeah, well, she could add herself to the list of

people who were on a guilt trip. She’d have to wait
for her ticket.

“What’s this? Hotel Connors? Do I have to

pay extra for the breakfast?”

I craned my neck back to see Ivy as she

walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eye just like
she had been last night. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty.
How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been hit with a freight train.” She

picked up a smoothie and examined the label.
“Where did this all come from?”

I got up and joined her in the kitchen. “It’s

my way of apologizing for last night,” I said,
motioning to it all. “And I didn’t know what you
might want to eat. Or if you’d want to eat at all.”

She picked up the protein shake. “I assume

that’s what this is for?”

I offered a weak smile and shrugged. “Yep.

I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you last night. My
phone died.”

“It’s fine.” She looked down and busied

herself reading the labels on all the pastries. “You
don’t need to be at my beck and call every second
of the day, Kai.”

“I know, but you should at least be able to

get hold of me if you need to. Especially like last
night. What if you’d needed to go to the ER and I
wasn’t here?”

“I was fine. Anna called my doctor and she

said  that  it’s  okay  unless  I  go  twenty-four  hours
without being able to keep water down, then I need
to go. But I can keep water down now, so I guess I
just  ate  something  that  didn’t  agree  with  me.”  She
shrugged  a  shoulder  and  opened  a  plain  croissant.
She tore a little off the top and put it in her mouth,
chewing it thoughtfully for a moment.

“Ivy—”
“Leave it.”
“I just—"
She put the pastry down and looked at me. “I

know you’re sorry, Kai,” she said softly, finally
looking at me. “I heard your apology last night.”

Shit.
I rubbed my hand down my face.
I suppose I didn’t have to worry about telling

her how I felt anymore.

“So I guess you’re not the only one who has

to apologize,” she said, turning and opening a
cupboard.

“What do you mean?”
Ivy continued searching my cupboards. “The

other day, after the doctor’s appointment. You
brought up us dating for real and I brushed you off.
I’m sorry.” She stood up and brandished a frying
pan. “Do you want eggs?”

Talk about whiplash.
“You don’t have to apologize for that. I

understand why you brushed it off. Besides, if you
knew how I felt, I know you wouldn’t have said it
like that.” I handed her some oil for the pan. “What
were you planning on cooking?”

“That doesn’t matter. Do you know that I

spent  two  hours  arguing  with  my  sister  and  our
friends on Thursday night? I insisted that there was
nothing  going  on  between  us,  and  now  I  have  to
admit that I was wrong. And you should know that
I’m never going to live it down.” She flashed a look
over  her  shoulder.  “And  I  was  going  to  make
cheesy  scrambled  eggs  with  sausage  and  bacon  on
the side. If you’re hungry. But if I don’t eat in the
next  twenty  minutes,  I’m  going  to  collapse  into  a
starving pool of crying pregnant lady.”

I took everything she needed for breakfast

over to the counter where she was standing,

including  grabbing  cheese,  butter,  and  milk  from
the  fridge  for  the  eggs  and  another  pan  to  fry  the
sausage  and  bacon.  “Ivy,  I  said  that  last  night  for
completely selfish reasons. I needed to get it off my
chest,  and  I  was  going  to  tell  you  how  I  felt  this
morning if you didn’t yell at me. I understand how
you feel about us dating just because of the baby.” I
opened  the  bacon.  “I’ll  cook  the  bacon  and
sausage.”

She retrieved a jug from the cupboard and

opened the egg carton. “Honestly, I don’t know
how I feel. Do I think we’d date if I wasn’t
pregnant? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean I’m
necessarily against the idea, I just don’t want us to
be together because we feel like we should be.”

“Ah, as opposed to the fake marriage you

cooked up because your grandmother made you
feel like you should be.”

Ivy pouted, looking over at me. “Do you

have to keep bringing it up?”

“Only when it works in my favor.”
She wrinkled up her face. “Yes, fine, just like

the fake marriage I cooked up for both of us.”

I grinned, catching her eye. “It’s fine. I know

you like me really.”

“And just how do you know that?”
“Because you’re the one who rolled over and

demanded cuddles last night.”

“I did not demand anything.”

“You punched me in the arm.”
She paused for a moment, holding the whisk

still in the jug. “I suppose I did punch you in the
arm. In my defense, you deserved it.”

“I deserved a harder punch.”
“I can arrange it.”
“I’ll pass,” I replied, flipping the sausage

patties. “Maybe hit me with it when I least expect
it.”

“I’ll take that as permission.” She poured the

whisked egg mixture into her pan.

I turned the bacon, staying silent, neither

denying nor confirming that it was permission.

It didn’t escape my notice that we hadn’t

finished our conversation about anything between
us.

That was becoming more and more normal

for us—we’d start a conversation and never finish
it.

Our poor baby was never going to have a

name, was it?

Jesus.
We finished cooking, scarily coordinated,

and I pulled two plates down from the cupboard for
us. Ivy served both meals up while I poured two
glasses of orange juice, and we both sat down at the
small, circle table passed as my dining table.

Well, it passed as long as my mother wasn’t

here.

According to her, it was a glorified side table.
We ate in companionable silence. It was nice

—comfortable, the kind of thing I could see myself
doing on a regular basis.

And we still had to finish that conversation.
When we were done, I cleared the table and

put everything in the sink. “So, are we going on a
date?”

Ivy blinked at me. “What?”
“Are we going on a date?” I asked, holding

out my hands. “I have feelings for you, ones that
existed before this pregnancy.”

Her mouth formed a small ‘o.’
“So you should know that I’m not going to

stop asking you out until you say yes just one
time.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “So it’s

kind of like how you got me to sleep with you.”

“I remember you being a fully willing

participant in that.”

“After you wore me down.”
“So I’ll wear you down again.”
She pursed her lips, but her smile was in her

eyes. “Then I suppose I’ll just save us both some
time and say yes. Better we find out what a disaster
it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

“Really?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I was prepared to have to wear you down,

to be honest. This one is a shocker.”

She leaned against the side of the island, a

shy smile toying with her lips. “It’s not like I can
get rid of you. And you did go out to the store just
to buy all this stuff for breakfast to apologize, so I
guess one date isn’t going to kill me. Although
childbirth might.”

“Works for me. It means I have seven

months of you before you die. I’ll be sure to make
the most of it.”

Ivy shook her head, pushing off the island. “I

can see this going terribly already.”

“How about mini golf?” I called after her.
She stuck her middle finger up over her

shoulder.

I was taking that as a yes.

CHAPTER TWELVE – IVY

I stared at the clothes in my closet.
Eighty percent of them weren’t going to fit

me in six months, maybe ever again, and that was a
bit of a travesty.

So was Kai suggesting mini freaking golf for

a date.

Mini golf. I couldn’t play golf. The last time

I’d tried, I almost hit myself in the head with the
club.

I know.
I didn’t know how I’d done it, either.
It wasn’t looking promising for this date.
Mostly because I really, really didn’t know

how I felt about it all. While I would lie to my sister
and my best friends about how I was feeling, I
couldn’t lie to myself, and so I wasn’t going to.

I was feeling things for Kai, things I wasn’t

sure I was supposed to feel right now.

Although he teased me about being the

person  who’d  started  this  whole  fake  relationship
thing,  the  one  thing  I  didn’t  want  to  feel  in  a  real
relationship  was  obligation.  I  didn’t  want  anyone
else  to  feel  it,  and  no  matter  what  he  said,  I
couldn’t  stop  the  thoughts  that  he  was  only
interested in dating me because of the baby.

Which is why I was a little pissed Anna had

spilled the beans entirely about last night and about
how upset I’d been that I couldn’t get hold of him.
He had no obligation to drop everything every
single time I felt unwell, especially not time with his
friends.

He had his own life, and not every second of

it had to revolve around me.

Not now, not ever.
Another check in the ‘dating obligation’

checkbox.

But still, nobody else was knocking down my

door, and I really did like Kai. Too much, I thought
sometimes. And he really was the best cuddler I’d
ever met in my life. Curling up against him at night
wasn’t exactly a hardship, especially last night.

When he’d thought I was asleep.
When he’d whispered how sorry he was.
When he’d whispered how much he cared.
When he’d whispered how crazy he was

about me.

I dropped down to my bed. Sometimes, it felt

like it was all too much. Like my life had been
twisted and turned upside down in the space of a
week.

How long had he been hiding those feelings?
As long as I’d been hiding my own attraction

to him?

Was that possible? Had we really lived

opposite each other for this long without either of

us ever coming clean?

Was Vincent’s party, the night we slept

together, the night he wanted things to change?

Who was I kidding? Of course it was. That

was obvious. He’d even had a conversation with
the old man about asking me out, and I’d brushed it
off like it was nothing.

Why wouldn’t I? I’d seen Kai flirt with tons

of women—after all, our friends were in similar
circles—and I had no reason to believe his interest
in me was anything more than superficial.

Until now.
Until last night when he’d whispered into my

hair right before he’d kissed the top of my head.

Three times.
You didn’t kiss someone’s head three times

unless you really cared about them.

But for now, I had to figure out what to wear

to a mini golf date.

Oh, fuck me. This was so stupid. It didn’t

matter  what  I  wore.  We’d  cooked  breakfast
together  while  I  was  wearing  an  old  hockey  t-shirt
of  his,  for  goodness  sake,  and  that  had  only
happened a few hours ago.

That t-shirt was now mine.
At least it was in my laundry basket, so that

meant it was mine.

I wasn’t going to give it back willingly. It was

soft and large enough that it would cover my

stomach at the grocery store. A fact that was
surprisingly important—I didn’t want all the
pensioners in town cooing over me.

If they couldn’t see my growing stomach,

they couldn’t coo.

Not that it was growing right now. I liked to

kid myself it was, but it was really just bloating.

That was what I got for eating seven slices of

bacon at breakfast.

I didn’t see anything wrong with that, for

what it was worth.

Sighing, I moved to my dresser and pulled

out some skinny jeans. I probably wasn’t going to
fit into these for much longer so I was going to
make the most of it while I still could.

I combined them with a loose, flowy shirt

and some white ballet flats, then brushed my hair so
it resembled something a little less than a rat’s nest.

But only a little, so I pulled it up into a

ponytail before twisting it into a loose bun.

There.
That was better.
I hesitated over makeup before applying a

little mascara. It had the desired effect, and I
nodded at my reflection.

At least my complexion no longer resembled

that of a ghost.

Three knocks sounded at my door before it

opened, and I walked out to see Kai letting himself

in.

“Come on in,” I teased, brushing a few

wayward baby hairs from my eyes.

He looked up with a grin. “Thanks. I thought

I would. Are you ready?”

“Do I look ready?”
“I don’t know. I’m not a fashion expert.” He

hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his own jeans.
“So are you?”

“Ready to get stopped by every single person

in town to be asked endless questions like, “When’s
the baby due?” or, “I didn’t know you were
dating!” or, “Where’s your wedding ring, Ivy?”” I
wrinkled my nose. “Sure. Can’t wait.”

“Well, I can’t help you with the first two, but

I have a solution for the last one.”

“If you propose to me, I’m going to whack

you with a cucumber.”

“A cucumber?”
I pulled one out of the fridge. “Yes, a

cucumber.”

He blinked at me for a moment before he

shook his head. “You’re so weird.”

“Thank you.” Grinning, I put it back in the

fridge and closed the door. “Well? What’s your
solution, Sherlock?”

“Sherlock investigates things.”
“Well, my lack of a fake wedding ring

warrants investigation, so I’ll ask you again: What’s

your solution, Sherlock?”

“So, so fucking weird,” Kai muttered. “This

is my solution.” He put his hand in his pocket and
pulled out a small box that looked scarily like a ring
box.”

I took a step back. “If you bought that—”
“I didn’t,” he said quickly. “I promise.”
I held my hand to my chest and blew out a

breath. “This is pretty heavy for a first date,
Connors.”

His laugh filled the room—and sent

goosebumps dancing over my skin. “Well, we
already skipped a few steps.” He looked pointedly
at my lower stomach. “One more won’t hurt.”

I cupped my hands over my nose and mouth.

“All right, hit me. Show me what you did.”

“Anna helped.” He walked over to me and

dropped to one knee. “Will you be my fake wife,
Ivy?”

I glanced down at the box. “Is that a gummy

ring?”

Kai laughed and reached into his back

pocket. “It is, but this isn’t.” He produced another
ring that was gorgeous—white gold with one simple
stone set in the middle.

It was small, classy, and completely

beautiful.

“Where did you get that?”
“Family ring. It probably won’t fit perfectly,

but you know.” He waved his hand dismissively.
“You can borrow it for this…experiment.”

“Experiment.”
“Experiment,” he confirmed.
I laughed. “Okay, yes, I’ll be your fake

wife.”

“Phew.” He stood up and handed me the

ring. “Here you go.”

“Here you go?” I took the ring from him.

“Wow. My first proposal is fake, and you don’t
even put the ring on me.”

With a huff, he wrestled the ring from my

fingers and took my left hand. I laughed when he
selected my ring finger and slipped the ring onto it.

We both froze.
It fit perfectly.
Swallowing, I jerked my hand back. “Well, at

least it solves that question.”

I wasn’t going to think about the fact that

ring sat on my finger like it was made for it.

Co. In. Ci. Dence.
That was my story. And I was going to stick

to it like glue.

“Shall we go?” Kai asked, motioning toward

the door.

I nodded and grabbed my purse. “You should

know that I am awful at mini golf.”

“You can’t be that bad.”
“I almost hit myself in the head with the club

once.”

“All right, you can be that bad.”
I swatted him and followed him out. I

stopped to lock the door before we turned to the
stairs. “I don’t have great aim. I’m a bit like the
giants in Harry Potter where they swing their clubs
around aimlessly hoping to hit someone with it.”

“Ah, a bit like teenage boys and their

penises.”

“I sure hope teenage boys aren’t waving

their penises around in the hopes it’ll hit someone.”

“You’d be surprised.”
I highly doubted it. And even if I could, I’d

had enough surprises for one week, thank you very
much.

I said that, too.
Kai chuckled and held open the apartment

building door for me. “I’ll give you that one. Don’t
worry. I promise not to swing my penis around in
the hopes it’ll hit you.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” I muttered, pressing

my hand against my lower stomach.

He laughed and dropped his arm over my

shoulders. “All right, Jesus, you win that one, too.”

I rolled my eyes and waited for him to pull

his keys from his pocket. He unlocked his truck,
but before I could open the door, he grabbed the
handle and did it for me.

“Look at you being a gentleman,” I teased,

climbing in.

“I am capable of it. Sometimes.” He winked

and pushed the door closed.

I watched as he rounded the front of the

truck and got in the other side. I tried to train my
gaze to stay away from him, but it just wouldn’t
comply with my brain.

Not as he started the engine, not as he put

the car in reverse, and not as he pulled out of his
parking spot.

Definitely not as he put it back into gear and

pulled away from the parking lot entirely.

He really was handsome. Dark hair, blue

eyes, lips that could seduce a slab of granite—
honestly, it was so unfair. God must have been
working overtime the day he created Kai Connors.

“Why are you staring at me?”
“Why a phoenix tattoo?” I asked, poking his

upper arm where the tail was on show beneath the
arm of his t-shirt.

“Random,” he said, turning on the blinker. “I

don’t know. I liked it, I guess. I wish I could tell
you there was some great explanation or meaning
behind it, but nope.”

“Fair enough.” I finally dragged my gaze

away from him and peered out of the window. “Do
you have any others?”

“You should know. You’ve seen me naked.”
“Yes, but every time I’ve seen you without

your clothes, I’ve either been tired, pissed, or too
busy to search your body for other works of art.”

“How many times have you seen me without

my clothes?”

“Too many,” I shot back.
“I’d argue not nearly enough times. Shall we

fix that?”

“Kai, just drive.”
He laughed, making another turn. “Oh, come

on. It’s not like sleeping together on the first date
even matters here.”

“Well, I guess there’s no risk of me getting

pregnant if we did.”

He peered over at me, eyes sparking with

amusement. “That is a bonus. And we both know
the sex would be good.”

“Is this how this is going to work? You’re

going to make the most of this fake marriage by
getting sex out of me?”

“I can’t sleep with anyone else. I don’t want

anyone thinking I’m unfaithful.”

“Really. Is that so?”
“No. I’d just really rather have sex with you

again.” He flashed me a grin. “Is that really that
bad?”

“I don’t know. You told me I’d feel your

cock inside me for a week, and you lied.”

“Technically, I did leave something inside

you, so it wasn’t a total lie.”

Smartass. “Do you always start your first

dates with sex?”

“No. I usually cover the basics of what you

do, where you work, what kind of movies you like,
your favorite music,” he said, pulling into the mini
golf place. “But if I ask you that in public, we
might get some funny looks, considering we’re
supposed to be married. I wouldn’t look like a very
good husband if I did that.”

“So it’s all about how you look. Are you

shopping for a real future wife?”

“Depends. Are you for sale?”
I stared at him for a moment, then got out of

the truck without answering. I knew he was joking
—hell, his laugh was so loud aliens could probably
hear it without straining too hard.

He locked the truck and once again looped

his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his
side. “Too heavy for a first date?” he whispered in
my ear.

“I think we’re past that, really,” I said, once

again touching my stomach. “Just stay away from
my golf club before I accidentally hit you.”

“Warning taken.” He got the door for me and

we walked into the building that housed the
spacious entry hall.

It had three other exits, one that lead to the

staff quarters, one that lead to the on-site restaurant
that was really a glorified high school cafeteria, and

the mini golf course. The golf course itself lead to a
large indoor arcade that was full of slot machines
and games and grabbers.

You know, the ones where you spent twenty

bucks for a soft toy that would cost you five from
the internet?

I’m pretty sure those machines were why my

parents charged me and Holley rent as soon as we
got jobs. And since the bar was our first job, it
came out of our wages. Like taxes.

Hmm. I had to check my paycheck just in

case they were still doing that…

We joined the short queue for tickets to the

mini golf. It took us only a few minutes to get the
front, and Kai paid while I took the tokens we
could use to exchange for the clubs and balls at the
kiosk outside.

It was a sprawling area, complete with a

playground for kids, and since it was Sunday, it was
packed.

“Oh no,” I said quietly. “Screaming kids.”
Kai chuckled to himself. “Get used to it.”
I thumped him in the arm.
Just because the arrival of my own screaming

child was imminent didn’t mean I wanted to hear
other people’s.

He switched our tokens for clubs and balls at

the kiosk, and we waited until the couple in front of
us was on the third hole before we started.

“Should I go first? In case of a wayward

club?” He raised an eyebrow.

“You can try, but I bet I’d hit you either way.

By accident, of course.”

Grinning, he stepped aside and let me go

first.

I lined up my ball and got into position.
“Your ass looks great in those jeans.”
“Looks better out of them,” I retorted, then

hit the ball.

I missed it.
“See, if you weren’t making a snarky

comment, you’d have hit it.”

“It wasn’t snark; it was truth.” I swung the

club and this time, hit the ball. “And careful, or I’ll
hit you.”

“You keep promising to hit me but I don’t

see it happened. I’m a little disappointed.”

“Welcome to marriage,” I said, tapping the

ball into the hole. “It’s full of disappointments.”

“Hmm. I want a divorce.”
“Me, too.”
Our eyes met, and we both smiled.
Maybe this wouldn’t be the worst idea in the

world, to try and make this fake relationship real.
He made me laugh, and I liked spending time with
him—mostly—and yeah, he was too attractive for
his own good.

Which was why I knew there was something

more than just a little crush I was feeling for him.

Because all the women around us were

staring at him unabashedly, and I wanted to gauge
out their eyeballs.

Women were weird.
“How many hits did it take you?” I asked,

looking at the sheet. “A hole in one? You did it in
one?”

“I did,” he replied smugly. “And you’d know

it if you were paying attention instead of staring
daggers at all the other women around here.”

I shoved the sheet and mini pencil back at

him. “Oh, shut up.”

“It’s fine. You’re my wife. You’re allowed to

glare at other women if they eye me up. I don’t
mind.” His eyes sparkled. “In fact, I’m rather
enjoying it.”

“Enjoying what? The endless ogling from

strangers?”

“No. Your obvious jealousy.”
“I am not jealous.” I put the ball down way

too  hard  and  swung  my  club  even  harder.  “I  have
nothing  to  be  jealous  about.  I  just  happen  to  think
it’s  incredibly  rude  to  stare  at  someone  when  he’s
obviously here with another woman.”

“You’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous,” I repeated, making a

connection with the ball. Unfortunately for me, the
connection was far too strong, and the ball went

flying into the next hole, almost knocking
someone’s ball out of the way. I winced. “Sorry.”

Smirking, Kai went to retrieve my ball from

the laughing couple and handed it back to me.
“Maybe you don’t try to take someone’s eye out
with it this time.”

“I’ll take your eye out with it.”
“Or just aim for the women you’re glaring

at.”

“Shut. Up.” I retook my shot and needed

three tries to get it in the hole.

“Four,” Kai said, taking my score.
“Four? That was three!”
“No. The first one counts, too.”
“Ugh.” I picked my ball out of the hole and,

after taking the paper and pencil from him, said in a
low voice, “If we were really married, you so
would not be getting laid tonight.”

“Then there’s no need to worry about sex on

the first date, is there?” He chucked me under the
chin with a wink and moved to take his turn.

Ugh.
I knew mini golf was a bad idea. I should

have guessed it would be super busy here, and I
knew all too well it was one of the local hangout
places for first dates and groups of single friends.

Sigh.
Not that I had any right to really be this

annoyed about all the women who were now not

trying to be so obvious in their staring.

Did I?
Huh. Maybe I did have a right. This was a

date. All the people in town did think we were
married.

I wasn’t against using those two things to my

advantage.

All right, maybe I was jealous.
Whatever.
“Three,” Kai said, joining me at the start of

the next hole.

“Three what?”
“Hits,” he said slowly. “My God, you’re

really not paying attention, are you?”

“No, I’m not, and it’s making me play

badly.”

“You told me in the car that you almost hit

yourself in the head with a club, Ivy. I don’t think
you being distracted has anything to do with it.”

“Yes, it does, so ignore what I’m about to do

so I can kick your ass at this game.” I cupped the
side of his neck with my left hand and rose up onto
my tiptoes so my lips touched his.

No, I hadn’t thought this through.
Yes, I might regret this later.
The kiss only served to draw us both deeper

into our lie, but it was hard to care about that when
Kai wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me
against him, and kissed me back like he didn’t give

a damn who saw.

He probably didn’t care.
And for a moment, neither did I.
Because all that mattered was his warm, soft

lips that were pressed against mine, and that my
heart dared skip a beat at the touch.

I pulled back. “Now move so I can take my

shot.”

He laughed under his breath, stepping away

so I had the room I needed to hit it.

It took four tries.
“Yeah, that worked,” he snarked as I took

the paper away from him.

“Oh, shut up.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – IVY

“You’re thirty dollars deep. It’s ridiculous.

You can buy like five bears for that in any normal
store.”

“I know, but I want this one.”
“It’s just a stuffed bear.”
“It’s a cute stuffed bear.”
“I think you’ve lost your mind.”
“I think you’ve lost yours.”
“I have. That’s why I’m still standing here

waiting for you to attempt to win this thirty-dollar
bear,” I said, leaning against the next machine.

Kai ran out of turns and put more coins in the

slot. I shook my head. I had no idea why he was so
desperate for this bear, but I was getting tired.

Although it was funny to see him lose so

miserably after he’d totally kicked my ass at golf.

I sighed. “I’m tired and hungry. That took a

lot out of me. Can we go if you don’t win this
time?”

He looked between me and the bear he was

desperately trying to win. “I suppose.”

That was better than ‘no,’ I guess.
I watched as he tried two more times to no

avail. Gritting his teeth, he maneuvered the grabber
for his one final try. I didn’t know why he was
trying so hard—it was just a bear, just a stupid

freaking bear from a grabber that probably cost the
owners of this place fifty cents in some mass
purchase from China.

Look, just because I’d spent all my

allowance here when I was a kid didn’t mean I
couldn’t be a hypocrite now, okay?

The grabber claws closed around the bear

and lifted it up.

I raised my eyebrows. This had happened

like fifteen times already, and not a single one had
made it into the tub.

So shock jolted through me when this bear

not only made it to the edge of the machine, but
into the chute that meant Kai had won it.

“Ha!” He punched the air and bent down.
He stuck his arm through the flap and

retrieved the cream bear with a red tartan ribbon
tied around its neck in a bow. I had to admit that it
looked softer outside of the glass than in, and it was
kind of cute in a lopsided-eyes kind of way.

He held it out to me. “Here.”
“You spent thirty-five dollars on this bear for

me?” I raised my eyebrows.

His lips pulled to one side. “No. I just spent

thirty-five dollars and ten minutes of my life trying
to win this bear for the baby.”

My lips parted, and I reached out to take the

bear from him. It was ugly as hell with its lopsided
eyes and its loosely stitched nose, and its bow

looked like something out of Scotland in the
seventeen hundreds, but oh, my God.

I didn’t know if I’d ever loved a bear more

than this one.

“Are you going to cry?”
I swallowed. “Maybe. Can I?”
He choked back a laugh and wrapped me in

his arms, squishing the bear between us. I hugged it
tightly as Kai did the same to me, and thankfully, I
didn’t actually cry.

Phew.
Thank God for small mercies.
I pulled back and shrugged off any lingering

emotional moments. “I’m just hungry.”

“Of course you are,” Kai said, wrapping his

arm around me. “What do you want to eat?
Chinese?”

I shook my head.
“Thai food?”
“Ugh, no. I don’t like Thai on a normal day.”
“A burger?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Two pints of ice-cream?”
I paused. “That’s not really dinner, is it?”
“Why don’t we get pizza on the way back?

The pizza place is just up the street from the
grocery store. I’ll run in and get you ice-cream if
you can wait for the pizza.”

“God, talk dirty to me.”

“Hot, gooey, cheesy pizza.” He leaned in, his

lips brushing against my hair. “With a cheesy
stuffed crust and crispy pepperoni, followed by all
the ice-cream you eat without any judgement from
anyone.”

“Yep, now I’m turned on.”
Kai snorted and unlocked his truck. “Get in,

you lunatic.”

“Hey, you started the dirty talk. It’s not my

fault if pizza and ice-cream is sexy right now.”

Yep. I was definitely not going to fit into my

skinny jeans in a few months. Sigh.

I got into the truck, once again with him

opening  and  closing  the  door  for  me.  He  followed
suit and we pulled out of the golf complex’s parking
lot.  The  traffic  was  light  for  a  Sunday,  so  it  didn’t
take  us  long  to  get  across  town  to  Hot  Stone
Pizzeria.

Armed with the order, I went inside to order

while he went to the grocery store for the ice-
cream. Thankfully, it wasn’t busy in the pizza place
and it didn’t take as long as usual to get our order.

I also had potato wedges and a side of cheesy

garlic bread because, well, Kai was paying.

And if he was smart, he’d remember that the

way to my heart was through free food.

And my grandma. But she wasn’t here right

now. So it was food.

I took my carb-heavy loot back to the truck.

Kai was already waiting for me in the front seat,
and he looked up from his phone when I opened
the door.

“That didn’t take long.”
“Nope. They weren’t busy.” I set the boxes

on my seat, and he picked them up to put them in
the back.

“Christ, Ivy, what did you buy? The entire

pizzeria?”

“Maybe. I think my eyes are bigger than my

stomach.” I grimaced when he tilted the pizza
boxes. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t manhandle my
food like that!”

He dropped his head and straightened the

box.

I hopped into the truck, buckled in, and

motioned for him to put the food on my lap. He
handed it over, and I nestled our dinner snug on my
thighs. The traffic was still quiet so it literally took
us mere minutes to get to our building and park up.

Thank God.
I really, really needed to pee.
We got out of Kai’s truck, and I was

bouncing by the time my feet touched the ground. I
was also pretty sure I was making some weird little
squeaking noises that were more in place in a forest
full of squirrels, but holy hell, I needed to go.

“Are you all right?” Kai asked, fumbling with

his keys.

“No! I gotta go!”
“Go where?”
“To pee!” I squeezed my thighs shut. “Damn

it, here!” I shoved the food at him and pulled my
keys out of my purse. I didn’t have nearly as many
keyrings as he did so I was able to find my key and
slip it into the main door within seconds.

Honestly.
You’d think the man was a hotel school

janitor, not a builder.

“Put your janitor’s keys away,” I said,

rushing through the door. “I gotta go.”

His laughter followed me up the stairwell. I

took the stairs two at a time. I was as close to
sprinting as I ever would be in my life—I was not a
runner—and even rushed past Vincent as the
slushie I’d had at mini golf finally caught up to me.

I vaguely heard Kai apologize to one of our

elderly neighbors, probably Vincent, but I didn’t
stop on my mission to the bathroom.

My apartment door came into view and I

shoved my key into the hole, unlocking the door. I
left the door wide open as I rushed into my
apartment and locked myself in the bathroom.

I swear to God, I was going to buy this

bathroom a lordship by the time this pregnancy was
over.

No, don’t look at me like that.
Scott Disick did it.

I could buy my porcelain throne one for sure.
I washed my hands when I was done and let

myself out of the bathroom. Kai was standing by
the island with the food laid out, and I paused in the
hall.

“What are you doing?” he asked.
“That’s a lot of food,” I mused. “It’s not

made for skinny jeans.”

He sighed. “Go and put on your pajamas.”
Oh, God, this was the best first date ever.
“Remember this when you say you don’t

want to date me for real,” he called after me.

I couldn’t stop the laugh that barked out of

me. He wasn’t wrong—this was officially the only
date I’d ever had where I was actually told to put
pajamas on.

I didn’t disappoint. I switched my cute shirt

and skinny jeans for pajama shorts with a banana
print and an old tank top with a penguin on it. Both
were loose and comfortable, and when I reentered
the kitchen, Kai had everything open and ready to
serve.

Including plates.
Oh, God.
This was so hot.
Pajamas and pizza.
Drool.
Best. Date. Ever.
I put a little of everything—aka one hundred

slices of pizza—on my plate and curled up in the
corner of the sofa. I wasn’t as fancy as Kai was
with his so-called dining table.

I was pretty sure it was just a tall coffee

table, to be honest.

I moaned as the mix of hot cheese and sauce

hit my tongue. It was such good pizza. Hot Stone
Pizzeria was literally the best in the state of
Montana, and I’d fight anyone who tried to me tell
me otherwise.

Which meant I’d win, because nobody would

fight a pregnant lady.

Boom.
I took control of the remote and switched the

TV to the Amazon app. I could barely remember a
time that my life wasn’t made easier by technology,
and that was pretty sad.

Then again, I couldn’t remember a time

when pizza didn’t make me happy, so there was
that.

I scrolled to the HBO app and browsed until

I found True Blood. A click of the remote told me it
was  where  I’d  left  off  a  week  ago  before  my  life
had  done  a  Fresh  Prince  of  Bel  Air  and  flipped
upside  down,  and  that  was  also  something  that
made me happy.

“Vampires? Really?” Kai carried the food

over to the coffee table, unperturbed by me already
shoving pizza into my mouth.

“And werewolves and faeries and witches,” I

confirmed. “And shifters.”

“Aren’t werewolves shifters?”
“You need to read more.”
He glanced at the TV. “I don’t want to read

what you’re reading.”

“You’re missing out.”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Calm down, Judgey McJudgerson.” I

shoved the last bit of the crust into my mouth.
“There’s a lot of sex in this show.”

His skeptical gaze turned in my direction.

“So what is it? Vampire porn?”

“It’s not porn,” I said slowly. “But there’s a

lot of boobs.”

He raised an eyebrow.
“Then again, if I was Anna Paquin, I’d have

no issue showing my boobs off, either.”

“I don’t really know how to respond to that.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t need to, huh?” I

grinned.

A low noise rumbled in this throat that

sounded  like  enough  of  an  agreement  that  I  was
placated.  Thankfully,  a  half-naked  Anna  Paquin
appeared  on  the  screen  and  distracted  him  long
enough for me to funnel more food into my mouth,
ending the conversation.

I knew she’d get him hooked.
Hell, I had a girl crush on her myself.

“Oh, shit, he bit her.”
I snorted. “He’s a vampire. What did you

think he was going to do? Tickle her?”

Kai shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t read

vampire porn.”

“I’ll beat you over the head with the books if

you keep calling it vampire porn.”

“There are books?”
“It’s based off a book series and I own all

thirteen, so that’s a lot of books to beat you with.” I
paused. “The books are so much better than the
show.”

“I don’t believe you.”
“What? That the source material is so much

better  and  descriptive  and  compelling  than  a  TV
show  that,  by  a  lack  of  narration,  cannot  possibly
compete  with?  Literally  half  the  story  is  missing
because  there’s  no  narration.  There  is  no  screen
adaptation of a book that has ever been better than
the book.”

“Harry Potter?”
“Don’t swear in my apartment.”
“Lord of the Rings?”
“Kai, you can shoot an entire library of

books at me and not a single movie or TV show will
be  better  than  the  original  books.  It  just  won’t.”  I
put my empty plate down on the coffee table. “It’s
impossible.  And  if  you  really  want  to  argue  it,  I’ll
call  my  sister  and  three  best  friends  right  now  to

prove you wrong.”

“Let me think about that for a moment,” he

said, staring at me. “Would I like to argue with five
women over something I know I’m going to lose?
That’s a tough one.”

“Aw.” I touched his arm and got up. “You’re

so smart.”

“If I’m going to argue, I’d rather it be over

something I actually care about. Like pineapple
belonging on pizza.”

“Okay, now you’ve lost me. That’s a fruit,

Kai.”

“And? It’s great on pizza.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Look, if I’m eating

pizza, it’s not to be healthy. It’s like people who put
all those weird veggies on their pizza.”

“Weird veggies?”
“Yes, like onion or pepper or—” I shuddered.

“Mushrooms.”

He smirked, looking over at me in the

kitchen. “All perfectly good vegetables.”

“No.” I pointed my spoon at him. “No.

Mushrooms are not perfectly good anything.
They’re gross and slimy and should only be used
for locating fairies.”

One of his eyebrows curved up. “Locating

fairies?”

“Yes.” I pulled one of the cartons of ice

cream from my freezer. “Everyone knows that if

you see a ring of mushrooms, it means fairies live
there.”

“God, I hope I’m around long enough to

teach our child some logic.”

I sat back on the sofa, cross-legged, and

cracked open the carton. “As long as you teach
them to always use a condom, I’ll forget you ever
said.”

“What? You don’t want to be a grandma?”
I scowled. “It’s like you don’t want to make

it to fatherhood, never mind being a grandparent.”

He grinned, shoving a potato wedge in his

mouth. Clearly finished, he set his empty plate on
top of mine, then sorted out all the food. He put the
pizza into one box and secured all the others before
stacking them up neatly in the corner.

Wow.
That was kind of hot.
I liked neatness in a guy.
In anyone, really.
It was a trait I kind of lacked, for the most

part. I wasn’t against a sock on the floor or a bra
over the nightstand. It added character. You know,
made the place look lived in.

The way a comfy blanket or wonky cushion

would.

Whatever.
“Did you bring a spoon for me?”
“Why would I bring you a spoon?” I asked

around a mouthful of ice cream. “This is my ice
cream.”

He sighed and leaned back into the cushions.

“You just can’t get the staff these days.”

Leaning over, I slapped his forearm with my

spoon.

“Ouch. That kind of hurt.”
“Well, that was the point.”
He laughed, dropping his head back. “I

bought you dinner and ice cream and you won’t
share. I see how it is.”

I closed my lips around the spoon and

nodded.

Kai rolled his head to look at me. “Is it

working?”

Frowning, I replied, “Is what working?”
“You told me free food is the way to your

heart. Is it working?”

My cheeks burned and I looked down into

the carton of ice cream.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said smugly.
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered. “You already

wormed your way into my uterus. My heart is
pretty inconsequential at this point.”

Kai shuffled along the sofa until he was right

against me. He took the carton and the spoon from
me, then grabbed my ankles so that my legs were
resting over his lap. He stretched out his arm on the
back of the sofa and leaned into me, using this

other to cup my chin.

He brushed his thumb along my lower lip,

and his gaze caught mine, holding mine in place.
My breath hitched as he leaned in, and I knew he
was going to kiss me.

I was still surprised when he did.
His lips were warm, a stark contrast to the

chill of my own thanks to my ice cream. It made
the kiss feel even more intense even though it was
just the barest of touches.

God, that felt like an understatement.
I felt it everywhere, right down to my bones,

and his skin pebbled beneath my touch as I
wrapped my fingers around his bicep to lean up into
the kiss.

It was magic.
For a moment, one magical, wonderful

moment, I forgot everything that was going on and
just enjoyed being kissed by him.

And honestly, I could have let him kiss me all

night. I could have stayed here, on the sofa,
wrapped up in him, just letting his lips roam over
mine without a care in the world.

But we didn’t.
After a moment, he pulled away and adjusted

himself on the sofa so we were curled up together.

And we watched two hours of True Blood,

only stopping when I started to fall asleep and he
told me to go to bed with another soft kiss.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – KAI

“Happy birthday tooooo yooouuuuu!”
“Fuck off.” I rolled over and put the pillow

over my head. Not that it blocked out Anna’s awful
singing, but it muffled it somewhat.

Not enough…
“Wake up! It’s your birthday!”
“Anna, you’re thirty, not three. Go away.” I

kicked my leg out from under the covers.

She grabbed them.
“I’m naked,” I warned her, right as the

covers were yanked off my body, exposing me to
the cool air of my bedroom.

“Oh, Jesus, Kai!”
The sheets fell to the floor in whoosh, and I

chuckled at the sound of my bedroom door
slamming. In my defense, I’d warned her. Probably
not in enough time, I admit, but she should have
known better than to pull the covers off me.

She’d been staying here for nearly three

weeks. It wasn’t exactly the first time my sister had
accidentally seen my balls in recent days.

Note to self: lock the bathroom door before

showering.

Now that I was cold and awake and my balls

were probably the size of marbles, I rolled over
with a groan and sat up.

This was not the start to my birthday I had in

mind. In fact, all I had in mind was going to work,
getting dinner, checking in on Ivy, and going to bed.
I’d gotten bored of my birthday a long time before
now, and all I had to celebrate at twenty-nine was
the fact I only had one year left until I was
officially thirty.

Something about thirty sounded a hell of a lot

older than twenty-nine.

Not in terms of age, per se, but in terms of

maturity. Like I should be married with kids in a
cute little house and have a Labrador.

Not a fake marriage with my next-door

neighbor, a baby conceived in a drunken one-night
stand, a rented apartment, and no pets.

Unless my sister counted because she was

sure as shit starting to feel like one.

I dragged myself out of bed and tugged on

some boxers and shorts before I left the room and
walked into the living room.

I froze.
There was a huge banner strung up at the

window  that  screamed  happy  birthday,  and  there
were  at  least  twenty  balloons  scattered  across  the
floor. Streamers hung from the light fixtures, giving
the  room  a  very  happy-first-birthday  look  as
opposed to… happy twenty-ninth time of doing this
bullshit.

“What,” I said slowly, “Have you done to my

poor apartment?”

Anna stood in front of me and slowly,

purposefully, blew out one of those little horn
tooter things.

“I’m going to work,” I muttered, turning

away from the birthday explosion in front of me.

She dropped the tooty horn and stared at me.

“It’s six-thirty, Kai. That’s too early.”

“I’ll walk,” I replied dryly.
“I baked you a cake.” Her tone was bright.

“With sprinkles.”

I rubbed my hand down my face and turned

around, meeting her gaze. “Anna, don’t take this
the wrong way, but I think it’s time you went
home.”

My sister sighed. “I had a feeling you were

going to say that. You’re right. I’ve been thinking
that for a few days, but you’ve been so busy…”

“If you want to go, go.” My lips twitched.

“You don’t need to stay here because you feel
some misguided sense of needing to look after me.”

“Okay, good. ‘Cause I was gonna leave a

week ago, but Mom was worried you’d have a
breakdown.”

“What am I breaking down about? The fact I

still can’t get some peace and quiet from my
siblings eleven years after leaving home?”

She swatted me with her tooty party horn.

“The baby.”

“I’m not having a breakdown about the

baby.”

“Ivy told me you spent thirty dollars on a

bear from a claw machine.”

“In what world is that a breakdown?” I

detoured to the kitchen and hit the button to turn
on the coffee machine. “I saw Dad spend more
than that on stuffed animals you wanted.”

She paused. “That’s not the same thing. I was

an annoying little kid.”

“You’re still an annoying little kid.”
“I’m older than you.”
“Then act like it.”
“I don’t wanna,” she shot back, grinning.

“What are you doing today?”

I side-eyed her, pulling a mug down from the

cupboard. “I’m going to go take a shower, go to
work, check in with Ivy, then go to bed. Just like
any other day.”

“But it’s your birthday!”
“If you like my birthday so much, why don’t

you have it?”

“I have my own and it’s better than yours.”
“Are you sure you’re thirty?”
“You’re only as young as the man you feel,

Kai, and I plan to find me a younger man.”

I grimaced. “Then by all means, please go

and find him.”

My sister grinned again. “Can I bring him

back here?”

“You just said you were going home.”
“Yeah, but back home is, uh, Mom’s house.”
I raised my eyebrows as I cradled my coffee

cup. “You said he was moving out.”

Anna sighed and perched on the arm of the

sofa. “He was, but our landlord was his dad’s
friend. He flipped the script on him, told him I was
the cheater, and he took me off the lease. All my
stuff is in storage right now.”

Well, shit.
“Well, shit.” My mouth echoed my brain.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m a single, homeless thirty-year-

old  woman?  I  don’t  want  to  move  back  into  our
parents’  place,  but  I  don’t  have  the  savings  to  get
my  own  apartment  right  now.  It  went  on  our
vacation  that  I  can’t  cancel  because  travel
insurance doesn’t cover cheating scumbags.”

“Well, I’d imagine they do put that in the

small print.”

“Not helping.”
I walked over and lightly knocked my fist

into her arm. “You don’t have to go anywhere.”

“Really?”
“You’ve gotta pay rent,” I warned her.

“We’re splitting all the utilities, too, and you’re
responsible for your own food.”

“Obviously. Although I did finish your

Doritos last night.”

“Then you owe me a bag of Doritos.”
“Seems fair.”
“And you’ll stop barging in on me when I’m

naked.”

“Hey, you should start locking your doors.”
“Fair point,” I acquiesced. “How about we

both agree to knock?”

“Done.”
We shook on it because we were, you know,

adults.

Although I did think she was going to spit in

her hand there for a little while…

“I’m gonna take a shower,” I said, finishing

my coffee. “And I’ll lock the door.”

Anna clicked her tongue and pointed a finger

gun at me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her
and headed to the bathroom for my shower. It was
hot and quick, and only a few minutes had passed
when I was done.

I locked myself in my bedroom and checked

my phone. There were three unread messages, all
from Ivy. Panic flashed through me, and I rushed to
unlock my phone and read them.

IVY: Do you know why there are

streamers in the hall?

IVY: Oh, I just saw your sister. Never

mind.

IVY: I didn’t know it was your birthday.

I had a lot of ways I could answer those

texts, so I went for the one that avoided my
birthday entirely.

ME: Why are you awake so early? And in

the hall?

IVY: …Funny story.

ME: I got time.

IVY: I woke up to pee and felt sick.

I knew where this was going.

IVY: Went to get water and the trash can

was the nearest safe place, so I had to take the
bag out.

ME: Are you okay?

IVY: No.

ME: Why? What’s wrong? Do you need

me to come over?

IVY: I’m mad you didn’t tell me it was

your birthday.

I sagged back onto the bed. What was it with

women and birthdays? Was it a general female
thing, or had I merely surrounded myself with
birthday lovers?

ME: I don’t really celebrate my birthday.

IVY:

HOW

CAN

YOU

NOT

CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY?

ME: I just… don’t. And no, before you

ask, there’s no unresolved childhood trauma
there. I just think it’s pointless, and I don’t need
to hear about how I kept my mother in labor for
thirty-nine hours before my fat head made its
entrance into the world.

IVY: You don’t have a fat head.

ME: I thought you would focus on the

thirty-nine hours of labor thing.

IVY: If you mention that again, this will be

your last birthday.

IVY: Actually, if that happens, this will be

your last birthday.

I snorted and sat back up, quickly

exchanging my towel for some boxers.

ME: Duly noted. I’ll be sure to have words

with the baby.

IVY: I doubt it’ll listen to. It’s a girl.

ME: You don’t know that.

IVY: I absolutely know it.

ME: How do you know that?

IVY: *taps temple with finger*

ME: If you say so.

IVY: I do.

IVY: Now why didn’t you tell me it was

your birthday?

ME: I just told you. I don’t celebrate it. It

seemed ridiculous to tell you.

IVY: Hmph.

IVY: I just put it in my calendar. Now I

won’t forget.

ME: Great. I can’t wait until next year.

IVY: I’m not sure I can top your sister.

Judging by the hall, I bet your apartment looks
fun.

ME: It looks like a party store threw up.

It’s awful. I hate it.

IVY: LOL she’s just trying to be nice.

ME: It doesn’t suit her. And now she’s

living here forever, I’d rather she didn’t.

IVY: She’s moved in?

ME: Long story. I’ll tell you later. Want to

get dinner tonight?

IVY: Like a date?

ME: If you want it to be.

IVY: It’s your birthday. It’s up to you.

ME: …Then it’s a date.

IVY: See? You just coerced a date out of

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - KAI

I put the truck into park in the lot outside

Bronco’s  and  got  out.  The  bar  was  lively,  with
music  pounding  out  through  the  windows,  and  the
chatter  and  laughter  of  everyone  inside  screamed
into  the  evening  as  the  door  swung  open  and  a
family left.

I caught the door before it closed over and

stepped inside. The atmosphere was warm and
welcoming, and the rich scent of the amazing food
filtered through the air and assaulted my nostrils.

Oh, God. I was so fucking hungry.
I scanned the room for Ivy. I knew she was

here because she’d been working, but her shift was
over at seven-thirty and it was a little past that
already.

I jolted as someone pressed their body to my

back. Two small hands reached up and covered my
eyes, and the second the scent of strawberry
shampoo hit me, I knew it was Ivy.

“Guess who!”
“Santa?”
She giggled. “Nope.”
“Tooth fairy?”
“Nope.”
“Someone who’s going to get kissed very

publicly if she doesn’t let me go?”

She quickly dropped her hands and stepped

back.

I laughed and turned around. “Wow. Way to

give a guy a complex.”

She jutted out her lower lip. “I wasn’t

expecting you to say that.”

I took a step closer to her and dipped my

head. “Well, since everyone here thinks we’re
married…” I pulled her against me and closed my
lips over hers.

She squeaked, but she softened against me in

a second.

“Hello, darling,” I muttered.
“Hello, sugarplum,” she shot back dryly,

moving away. “Happy birthday!” she added, extra
loudly.

Two seconds. That was all it took for

everyone  in  the  immediate  vicinity  to  turn  to  me
and begin the rigamarole that was birthday wishes.
Before  I  knew  it,  I  had  half  the  damn  bar  offering
me  them,  and  I  was  half  expecting  a  rendition  of
the song to break out.

“If there’s a cake, I’m going to kill you,” I

said under my breath.

Ivy laughed as her parents joined us and

repeated  the  whole  happy  birthday  thing.  By  the
time  her  mom  had  kissed  my  cheek  and  her  dad
clapped  me  on  the  back  and  they’d  both  been
called  back  to  work,  I  was  so  tired  I  was  ready  to

turn around, walk out, and go to bed.

“Come on.” Ivy grabbed my hand and tugged

me through the bar.

“Did you have to tell everyone it’s my

birthday?”

“Yes.” She threw a grin over her shoulder.

“Ta-da!”

I stared at the huge group in front of me.

Anna, Josh, Colton, Tori, Kinsley, and Holley were
sitting at the table, all of them grinning and wearing
party hats. Holley tugged on a string of a balloon,
diverting my gaze up.

Yep.
Two huge foil balloons—one a two, one a

nine.

I turned to Ivy. “My sister put you up to this,

didn’t she?”

“I did not!” Anna protested.
Ivy shook her head to agree with her. “Nope.

I did it. It’s punishment for not telling me when
your birthday was.”

I ran my tongue over my lower lip. I really

did hate birthdays, and while I knew she’d
definitely done a part of this to punish me,
something about the look in her eye told me she’d
done it because she genuinely cared.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and

tucked her into my side. “Well, it’s not the worst
thing a guy could do on his birthday.”

Ivy rolled her eyes and sat down. “You

changed your tune.”

I took the empty chair next to her. “I’m

trying to be grateful.”

Josh snorted. “Yeah, you’re doing a shit job.

Hey—ow!” He reached down under the table, and I
glanced at Kinsley who was smirking.

Tori laughed and grabbed a menu. “Yeah,

yeah, can we do this in a minute? I’m fucking
starving, and I’m about to waste away.”

Colton looked her up and down. “No, you’re

not. Ow!” He did the same as Josh had a moment
ago, and I looked at Kinsley again, but it was Tori
herself wearing the smug smile.

“Whoops,” she said through gritted teeth, a

fake smile plastered on her face. “I guess I didn’t
see your shin there.”

“Your toes found it just fine.”
Holley rolled her eyes. “I hate to break up

the inappropriate hate foreplay going on here, but I
agree with Tori. I’m hungry. I’ve been at the store
taking stock with Saylor all day.”

Kinsley looked at her. “I’ve been there, too,

you know.”

“Where is Saylor?” I asked, turning to Ivy so

they could continue their conversation.

She shrugged one shoulder. “She said

something about a date, and since I organized this
last minute, she couldn’t change her plans.”

“Something about a date?” Josh asked,

peering over the top of the menu. “She tells you
everything. She wasn’t more specific?”

Holley shook her head. “No, she was weirdly

cagey  about  it.  We  thought  she  might  be  meeting
her  ex,  but  we  saw  him  in  the  store  when  we
bought  the  balloons.”  She  motioned  unnecessarily
to the monstrosities that were bobbing against each
other at the end of the table. “We asked him if he’d
seen her lately, but he said they hadn’t spoken since
they broke up.”

Kinsley nodded in agreement. “I tried getting

it out of her and she didn’t say a word.”

“Weird,” Colton muttered.
I met Ivy’s gaze and shrugged. Of all of

them, I knew Saylor the least. She was probably the
most introverted of them all, which meant you
rarely saw her outside the bookstore unless she was
with everyone else.

We all placed our orders within a few

minutes. After a moment of arguing about whether
Ivy cared about anyone drinking or not, of course.
She finally won the argument, forcing everyone but
me to order alcohol. I was driving after all, and
while I knew she thought that argument was
complete bullshit, she didn’t push the issue.

Anna was the only one not to order—she

said she had an early meeting in the morning and
left after bidding everyone goodbye and telling me

to be home by dark with a wink. Since her calendar
was now pinned to the front of my fridge, I knew
she was telling the truth.

The conversation swiftly drifted to the news

of  the  day—updates  on  everyone’s  lives,  a
discussion  about  sports  that  ended  in  threats  of
more  under  the  table  kicking  if  we  didn’t  shut  up,
and  an  eventual  peace  was  called  when  our  food
was brought over.

We ate to the tune of local gossip, and

neither me or Ivy were surprised to find out that we
were it. The whole town was alight with the news
that we were supposedly married and having a
baby.

“If one more person mentions it in the store,

I’m going to gauge my eyeballs out with a pencil,”
Holley said, dipping her fries in ketchup. “Honestly,
I’m over it.”

“Eyeballs won’t help,” Kinsley pointed out.

“You’ll still be able to hear them.”

“Fine. I’ll shove the pencils so far into my

ears that the drums will burst.”

“That’s not dramatic at all,” Ivy drawled.
I chuckled into my glass. Given Ivy’s own

propensity for the dramatic, I wasn’t entirely
surprised that Holley had it, too. I would bet my life
savings that that particular gene came directly from
their grandmother.

If only that were a thing, I’d be rich as hell.

Or maybe not, knowing how those betting

websites worked.

“Don’t Stop Believin’,” Kinsley argued.
Holley shook her head. “Oops I Did It

Again.”

“Really?” Tori said. “That’s what you’re

going for? Britney? Over Journey? Dear God,
what’s happening here?”

“Ladies.” Josh held out his hands. “You’re

all wrong.”

“Really,” Kinsley drawled, her tone the

audible embodiment of Holley and Tori’s raised
eyebrows.

It was freaky.
Adam nodded. “Bohemian Rhapsody is

obviously the best option for karaoke.”

At some point when I’d been in my head, this

conversation had taken one hell of a weird turn.

“Who’s doing karaoke?” I asked.
Ivy sighed. “Mom and Dad set up karaoke

every  now  and  then.  There’s  this  weird  little  stage
area  over  there.”  She  pointed  to  the  other  side  of
the  bar.  “We  don’t  use  it  often  because  we  don’t
have a need for it, but sometimes they get a bee in
their bonnet and the next thing you know, there’s a
huge screen set up and Mom is standing there with
a  clipboard  coordinating  sign-ups  for  drunk  people
to sing cheesy songs.”

“Huh,” I said, tilting my head to one side.

“Reminds me of Spain.”

“Spain? How on Earth does that remind you

of Spain?”

“Move!” Kinsley flicked her hands in our

direction for us to get out of the large, circular
booth we were sitting in. “I’m not singing
Bohemian-freakin’-Rhapsody!”

We moved.
“And thank God for that,” Ivy muttered.

“She doesn’t know the words.”

I chuckled and sat back down. “How does

she not know the words?”

“God knows. But get her drunk enough and

she’ll rap you half of Kanye’s backlist.”

“Can we do that when we get married for

real?”

Her glare was intense.
“Kidding. Maybe.” I grinned.
“Tell me about Spain.”
“Ah, okay. So one of my cousins is British—

he  actually  lives  in  the  Florida  Keys  now.  He
mostly  grew  up  in  London,  and  so  we  spent  a  few
summers  in  Europe.  One  year  I  remember  we  all
went to this place in Spain where the hotel was all-
inclusive, but the entertainment was pretty tacky.”

“Karaoke?”
“Karaoke,” I confirmed. “Not that it’s—”
“No, it’s totally tacky,” Ivy interrupted.

“That’s why those idiots like it.”

I looked in the direction of our friends. It was

a  relatively  newly  formed  group  given  our  current
circumstances,  but  it  worked.  Not  that  Adam  was
too  thrilled  about  hanging  out  with  his  sister,  but
that was his problem.

“You can’t sing?” I asked.
Ivy shook her head. “I don’t sing,” she

corrected. “I can sing, I just choose not to.”

“Why not?”
“It’s a bit of a spoiler alerpt for the next few

hours.”

“Are you going to last for a few more

hours?”

She tilted her phone and checked the time.

“Doubtful. I’m tired.”

“Then it’s not a spoiler alert, it’s a warning

that I should ask your dad for the security tapes of
this mess so I can see it for myself. I bet it’s a
fucking shitshow.”

“Fair enough.” She finished the last of her

water and leaned forward so she could see around
me. “Okay, here’s how this will go: Holley will win.
They’ll start with Britney, move onto Journey, and
probably throw some Christina Aguilera in there for
good measure.”

“Really?”
“Oh, just hold on.” She tucked her hair

behind her ear and held up one finger. “Dad will
kick them off the stage at this point, where they’ll

all head to the bar and Tori will order two rounds of
shots.”

“I like my odds here.”
“Yeah, well, settle down because nobody bet

against you.” She stole my water and sucked on the
straw at the corner of her mouth. “Adam and Josh
will take the stage not long after and sing their
absolutely freaking gut-wrenching rendition of the
rhapsody where Tori will ultimately join to sing the
high bits, then they’ll take a break.”

“What do they do then?”
“Kinsley raps Gold Digger by Kanye, but

only if she’s drunk out of her mind.”

“Does she actually rap it? Like proper rap,

not the talk-singing thing most rappers think they
can do?”

“Oh, she can rap. It’s one hell of a weird

talent,” Ivy mused, playing with the straw. “I have
no idea where she picked that up, but I think she’s
able to do it because she can read Latin.”

“On what world do Latin and rap go

together?”

“One where bookworms sit on thrones and

demand their subjects be fluent in ancient poetry?”

“That sounds… terrifying.”
“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “If

bookworms ruled the world, I might like people
more.”

“Why?”

“Because everyone knows bookworms aren’t

interested in talking to people.”

“But in what world would bookworms take

control?”

“Have you ever been hit by a book? That shit

hurts, and these bitches live in bookstores and
libraries. They have an entire arsenal of weapons at
their disposal and we take that for granted. If they
could stop reading long enough to build supersonic
catapults, we’d be in trouble.”

“I guess it’s a good thing they always need to

read the next chapter, then.”

“Exactly.” She grinned. “Between that and

drunk singing awful pop songs at karaoke, they just
don’t have the time for technological advancements
to launch books at people.”

“Aren’t you a bookworm?”
“Yes, and since I can’t drunk sing karaoke

now, you’d better watch out.”

“You just said you don’t drunk sing

karaoke.”

“Semantics.” She waved her hand, finishing

my water.

“It’s fine, I didn’t want that.”
“I know.” She nudged me with her elbow and

grinned. “How long do you want to stay? To see
Britney or go all the way through to Kanye?”

“Is Kanye a definite? Because that might

sway me.”

Ivy grimaced. “No. There’s probably a fifty-

fifty chance of it, to be honest. Nothing that I’d say
is certain.”

“Hmm. Maybe we stay until Bohemian

Rhapsody and then get ice cream.”

Her face lit up with her mouth forming an

excited small. “Really?”

“I’m starting to think ice cream is your weak

spot.”

She bit the corner of her lip, still smiling.

“Little bit.”

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and

touched my lips to her ear. “Then ice cream we’ll
have.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – KAI

Ivy moaned, dragging the spoon out of her

mouth slowly.

My eyes followed her tongue as it flicked out

against the plastic spoon and darted back between
her lips.

This hadn’t been the best idea in the world.
“Do you have to make that noise?”
She glanced over at me coyly. “What noise?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” I turned

away from her and looked out at the trail.

The Waffle Cone, our ice cream parlor, was

nestled  at  the  base  of  one  of  White  Peak’s  many
trails. It was the perfect spot for Helena and Charlie
Daniels  to  set  up  shop  because  of  the  heavy  foot
traffic  from  tourists  during  the  warmer  months,
especially on evenings like this.

Evenings when the sky was painted intricate

shades of gold and blue and peppered with the light
fluffiness  of  the  clouds,  when  the  sun  had  no
intention  of  fully  disappearing  and  merely  toyed
with the horizon. It kept it warm enough to stay out
late  without  a  chill,  but  cool  enough  that  it  wasn’t
stiflingly hot.

I had no idea how people survived in Florida.
“What did you think of their singing?” she

asked after a moment.

“I think it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard,”

I admitted, shaking my head. “I’m almost glad we
didn’t stay long enough to see if Kanye happened.”

Ivy’s head bobbed in agreement. “Same.

They were particularly bad tonight. Tori was getting
ready to bust out some Aguilera, and that’s when I
knew it was time to go.”

“What does she sing?”
“What do you think she sings? Dirrty.”
“Oh, fucking hell.”
“You said it. For an introvert, all she needs is

a few shots of vodka and she’s insane.” She paused.
“Mind you, I think that’s just her personality. She
always tells me she’s an introvert in the streets and
an extrovert in the sheets.”

“That’s far more information than I ever

needed to know about your best friend.”

“Speak for yourself. That’s nothing.”
I laughed and got up to put my empty bowl in

the trashcan. It was only a few feet away, and when
I got back, Ivy grinned and held out hers. Fighting a
smile, I took it and threw it out for her, then joined
her back on the bench.

“Have you enjoyed your birthday?” She

peered over at me, pushing hair from her eyes.

I reached out and tucked it behind her ear,

letting my fingertips linger on her soft skin. “It was
fun. Thank you for this evening.”

“Does that mean I can throw you a party

next year?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“I didn’t hear a no in there.”
“Ivy.”
She grinned. “What? You didn’t say no. I

was merely pointing that out.”

“Fine. No. No, you cannot throw me a party

next year.”

“Okay, the baby will.”
“Babies can’t throw parties, Ivy.”
“Try me.”
I shook my head at her. At least she’d given

me a years’ warning—I would have to be
inexplicably out of the country this time next year.
Probably with the baby, since they wouldn’t be able
to pull off such a feat without her help.

“I’m not kidding,” she continued. “You’ll be

thirty.  I’m  going  to  make  you  sick  with  how  I’ll
decorate  the  bar.  Streamers  everywhere,  balloons
on  all  the  tables,  party  hats  for  everyone,  massive
balloon arches at the doorway—”

“Ivy, be quiet.”
“No, I can see it now.” She waved her hands

in front of her in a ta-da motion. “Fairy cakes with
your face on them, cookies in the shape of a K,
confetti absolutely everywhere—”

I tugged her into me and clapped my hand

over her mouth. “Stop it. You’re caring me.”

She laughed into my palm. “A four-tier

birthday cake!”

“Shhh.”
“With sparklers,” she said, muffled by my

hand.

“No.”
“And thirty candles for you to make a wish

on.”

“I wish you’d be quiet.”
She collapsed into peals of laughter, falling

right  into  me.  I  fell  back  onto  the  grass,  and  the
movement  dislodged  my  hand  from  her  mouth  so
that her laughter rang out through the small clearing
we  were  sitting  in.  She  collapsed  on  top  on  me,
pressing  her  face  into  my  chest  as  her  entire  body
shook with laughter.

I let my arm settle around her body and

peered  down  at  her.  She  was  so  fucking  beautiful
anyway, but when she laughed, it was a whole other
story.  Her  eyes  lit  up  like  magic,  and  the  flush  of
her  cheeks  was  too  adorable,  but  it  was  the  smile
that came with the laugh that punched me in the gut
and made my heart squeeze.

She had the kind of smile you couldn’t help

but smile back at. It was infectious, and the more I
saw it, the more I wanted to see it.

The more I wanted to be the reason for it.
I wanted to be the reason Ivy smiled.
Every single day.
She tilted her head back and looked up at

me. “What?”

“I was just thinking that there’s nowhere I’d

rather be right now than right here with you.”

Something flashed in her gaze. “Really?”
“Really.” I brushed her hair out of her eyes

and let my hand rest against the side of her face.

Hesitantly, she said, “That night. At Vincent’s

party. When you were talking about us going out.”

“Mm.”
“Were you being serious?”
“Do you need me to answer that question?

Really?”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Can I

tell you something?”

“Always.”
“I’m really glad I brushed you off.” She

rolled onto her stomach and looked at me earnestly.
“Like, really glad I thought it was all a big joke.”

My eyebrows raised. “That’s a weird thing to

tell a guy you’re cuddling on the grass.”

Her lips twitched. “Well, if I’d said yes, none

of this would be happening, would it?”

“What do you mean?”
“If I’d agreed to go out with you on a date,

that’s where the night would have ended. You
wouldn’t have kept pursuing me, we never would
have slept together—”

“Which would have been a shame because

that was fucking great sex.”

“—And I wouldn’t be pregnant. Which

means we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“I guess that makes sense.” I traced little

circles on her back with my finger. “Although I’m
an optimist and I like to think we would have made
it here eventually.”

“You really think that?”
“Why wouldn’t I? We’re having a baby and

I’m trying to date you for real, Ivy. It would say a
lot about me if, when faced with an alternative
scenario, I didn’t think this would happen.”

“I suppose,” she said softly. “I’ve just been

thinking a lot today, that’s all.”

“Thinking? Oh, Jesus, no. Nothing good

comes of a woman thinking a lot.”

She swatted my chest. “Oh, shut up.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Everything.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
Her lips twitched. “Stop it. I’m trying to be

serious here and you keep making me laugh.”

“I’m not great at serious.”
“You’re better than I am. I’m not good with

feelings. Unless I’m hungry or tired, then I have no
issues vocalizing those.”

“Yes, I have to admit that I have noticed

that.”

“Oh, go away.” She tried to get up, but I

wrapped my arms around her and locked her

against me, even hooking my leg over both of hers
to make sure she couldn’t move.

If anyone walked past, they’d probably

report us to the police.

“Kai, let me go.”
“No. Never.” I met her gaze. “Tell me what

you thought about.”

Her blue eyes shone, and a myriad of

emotions flashed through them. Apprehension,
hope, hesitance—one by one they zipped past, each
one barely lasting a second before it was replaced
with something else.

“Tell me,” I encouraged her softly. “Tell me

what you thought about, Ivy.”

“You.”
The spark that single word sent through me

had the hair on the back of my neck standing on
end. “Me?”

“You,” she confirmed quietly. “Me. Us. This

whole  situation.  What  if  it  is  all  because  of  the
baby?  You  said  you  had  feelings  for  me  before,
okay, fine, but what if mine are just because this is
happening? Because I’m scared and vulnerable and
lost and confused and you’re the one person who’s
there  through  it  all?  What  if  I  just  think  I  have  all
these  grand,  amazing  feelings  for  you  but  I  really
don’t?”

“Do you really believe that?”
“I don’t know. I don’t trust myself to eat

before nine a.m., never mind make any decisions
like this.”

My lips twitched at that. “Sorry. I shouldn’t

laugh at that.”

“No, you shouldn’t, or I’ll start vomiting in

your bathroom instead. It’s a bitch to get rid of the
smell.”

I carefully untangled myself from her. She

rolled  onto  her  back  and  looked  up  at  the  sky
where  the  stars  were  just  beginning  to  peek
through,  and  I  propped  my  head  on  my  hand  so  I
could look down at her.

At the way her eyelashes cast shadows over

her skin, and the little mole that hid itself at the
crease of her nose, and the tiny scar that was
reminiscent of a pimple at the corner of the lip.

At the little things you only saw when you

really, truly looked at someone.

The little things that made them even more

perfect to you.

“Tell me what you’re really afraid of, Ivy.”
“That all my doubts come true.” Her voice

was barely a whisper, and her gaze stayed fixated
on the stars. “That in a year I’ll realize this was all
situational, that I only feel this way because of the
baby. That I’ll have to hurt you, and you’ll have
wasted your time on waiting for me.”

I waited for her to continue, and when she

didn’t, I spoke. “If that’s how you feel, that’s how

you feel. I’ll never begrudge you for your feelings,
all right? Besides, I already told you that none of
that matters. You and the baby are my priority.”

“But that’s a long time. A long time where

you could be happy with—”

I pressed my finger to her lips. “Don’t you

dare even say it,” I said in a low voice. “There is
not a single person in this world who will ever make
me happier than our baby.”

“But I don’t want you to waste—”
“Any time spent with you isn’t time wasted.

There’s no other way I’d rather spend my time,
okay?”

“I—”
“Okay?”
She swallowed and nodded, then slowly

brought her hand up to mine. Her fingers wrapped
around my wrist, the soft pads of her fingertips
landing on my pulse point.

My pulse was racing, and if she didn’t know

how I felt before, she definitely knew how she
made me feel right now.

“It’s okay for you to be afraid of everything.

I’m scared, too. I don’t know a thing about babies.
All I know is that it’s almost the size of a raspberry
right now.”

“How do you know that? Google again?”
“No. I downloaded an app to my phone so I

don’t look like a total idiot the next time we see

your doctor.”

Her lips twitched. “You downloaded an

app?”

“Yeah, it’s great. Sends me a notification to

tell me how big the baby is and what it’s doing this
week.”

“What it’s doing? It’s a fetus, Kai. It’s not

like it has a roaring social life in my uterus.”

“How it’s growing,” I clarified. “And turning

from a little alien blob into a baby.”

“Go on, then. I’ll humor you.”
“You don’t have an app on your phone that

tells you that?”

“No. I know I’m pregnant. My boobs,

stomach, and bladder tell me at least twenty-five
times a day. Why do I need an app?”

I grinned and sat up, still looking down at

her. “You’re basically eight weeks, so…” I thought
back to the information I’d read yesterday. “It’s
just over a centimeter in size and the facial features
are forming. The little alien tail is almost gone, and
its legs are getting longer.”

“So it’s starting to look like a real baby?”
“I guess so. I mean, you can’t see it yet

really, but yeah. Sounds like it.”

“Wow. No wonder I’m so tired all the time.”
That did make sense when it was laid out like

that. “Are you tired now?”

“I’m never not tired. I get a random burst of

energy  where  I  feel  like  Sonic  the  Hedgehog,  then
I’m  a  zombie  for  the  rest  of  the  day.”  She  sat  up,
leaning  on  her  hands.  “And  I  think  I’m  hungry
again.”

“Something else that makes sense.” I stood

up and grabbed her hands, pulling her up after me.
She made an “oof” noise as she got to her feet and
stumbled right into me, almost knocking the wind
out of me, too.

“Sorry,” she muttered, tugging on her dress

so it fell correctly down to her knees.

“If you’re that sorry, can you get off my

foot?”

She darted back with a snort. “Sorry. Again.

Damn it.”

“It’s fine.” I smirked and took her hand to

help her down the rest of the trail. Not that she was
fragile or anything, but it was getting dark in
earnest now and the trail was uneven in places. She
was tired, too, and I wanted to make sure she made
it down and back to the truck safely.

Thankfully, we did. Neither of us said a word

as I got the truck door for her and helped her climb
in.

I didn’t know what to say to her. I knew this

was hard for her, and I’d meant every word I’d said
when she’d voiced her worries earlier. There was
no way that any of my time spent with Ivy would
be wasted, even if a relationship did go nowhere. I

wasn’t going to start dating now, not when she
needed me.

Of course, that could have easily been my

own feelings talking for me, but I didn’t think so.

I was going to be there every day she needed

me, for as long as she needed me.

The idea of anyone else being there for her

gutted me. Literally made me want to tear out my
own eyeballs and eat them.

I couldn’t bear the thought of it.
Shit, if I was honest, I was falling for her.
I had been for a while, just wrapped it up

under nonsense and bullshit because it was hard to
admit that I was falling in love with someone who
didn’t even know.

I rolled my shoulders as I turned toward our

building. I wanted to tell her that everything would
be okay, but I’d said that a thousand times already.
I knew her fears were real and rational, and I
accepted them.

I just wished that I wasn’t a part of any of

them, even if it was her doubting her own feelings
and not mine.

The funny thing was that I didn’t doubt her

feelings. I really, truly fucking believed they were
real. I believed she felt the things she did, whatever
they were, because they were real and honest and
true, and I wasn’t going to change my mind on that.

I wish I knew how to make her believe it.

I pulled into the parking lot and then my

space.  We  sat  for  a  moment  after  I  killed  the
engine.  Ivy  stared  straight  ahead,  and  just  when  I
thought  she  was  going  to  break  the  seemingly
never-ending silence, she popped the door open and
jumped out of the truck.

With a sigh, I did the same and followed her

into the building. The elevator was working after a
few days’ maintenance, and she’d already called it
by the time I joined her.

The silver doors whirred open, revealing the

empty  interior,  and  I  put  my  hand  on  the  doors  to
let  her  step  in  first.  I  followed  her  in  and  hit  the
button  for  our  floor,  staring  as  the  doors  slid  shut
again.

Still silence.
It stretched forever between us, and the

worst  part  was  that  I  knew  that  the  longer  it  went
on,  the  harder  it  would  be  to  break.  And  I  didn’t
mean  break  by  just  saying  goodnight,  I  meant  by
actually finishing the discussion from earlier.

Because it wasn’t finished. I knew that. She

knew that. And it had to be finished at some point
—sooner rather than later was my preference.

Yet I could see how tired she was. I could see

it in the small dark circles that were forming under
her eyes, how the spark had diminished in them just
a little. She carried her shoulders slightly hunched
over, and she had her arms wrapped around her

waist as if she were hugging herself for comfort.

No matter how badly I wanted to finish it,

she needed to sleep right now.

The elevator stopped on our floor, and I once

again put my hand out so Ivy could get out safely.
She dug in her purse for her keys as I pulled mine
from my pocket. Once she’d unlocked her door she
paused and turned back to me.

Her tired eyes met mine. “Sorry for finishing

your birthday on a downer.”

“Don’t worry. Get some sleep and text me in

the morning, okay?”

She nodded and stepped inside. All I wanted

to do was wrap her in my arms and drag her to my
room where I could fall asleep with her curled up
next to me.

I sighed and let myself into my apartment as

soon as she was safely inside hers. It was a jolt,
given that it still looked like a party store had
thrown up in here.

“Oh, you’re back.” Anna strolled into the

kitchen. “How was your night?”

“Fine.” I tossed my keys onto the coffee

table and joined her, gratefully accepting the water
she offered.

“Fine? Ooh, that doesn’t sound good.” She

closed the fridge and leaned over the island, toying
with the bottle. “What happened?”

I waved my hand as I uncapped my water.

“It’s nothing. It’s fine.”

“Did Ivy get hit on?”
“No. And that doesn’t help.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
She wasn’t going to give this up.
I briefly recapped the conversation I’d had

with Ivy not so long ago.

“And you’re bummed? Over that?” Anna

raised an eyebrow.

“Forget it.” I pushed off from the island and

headed for my room. “Forget I said anything.”

“You’re so dumb.”
I stopped and dropped my head back. “Now

what am I doing wrong?”

“Why don’t you fight it?”
“Fight what? Her feelings?” I turned back to

her. “Her feelings are valid, Anna. I can’t force her
to feel things she’s not sure about.”

“She is sure. She knows how she feels, Kai,

it’s everything else that’s muddling it for her. It’s
only been two weeks since you found out she was
pregnant. Just go and tell her she’s fucking insane
and you know she has feelings for you.”

“Yeah? And how would you react if someone

said that to you?”

“I’d punch them in the dick.”
“Exactly. And I like my dick how it is,

thanks.”

“Oh, you deserve the dick punch,” Anna

mused, reaching up and tying her hair in a messy
knot with the hair tie from her wrist. “I just…
Don’t want to see you hurt because you didn’t have
the balls to fight for her.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?”
“I knew Kyle was cheating on me,” she said,

glancing  down.  “I  didn’t  have  proof  or  anything,
but  I  knew.  The  signs  were  there.  The  relationship
was over a long time, and he’d stopped fighting. If I
did  something  that  annoyed  him,  he  ignored  it,
whereas before he would have told me to quit it. If
something

went

wrong

there

was

miscommunication, he wouldn’t try to fix it. There
was no fight for the relationship or for me. It was
only me fighting. I would have given anything for
him to have told me the truth, whether that was him
fighting for me or him moving on.”

“You think Ivy wants me to fight for her?”
“I think she wants you to fight for her

feelings,” Anna clarified. “Because she’s so busy
fighting her own body right now, she probably
doesn’t have a lot of fight left for her heart.”

“So I have to prove to her that what she feels

for me is real?”

“It wouldn’t hurt. I mean, if you went over

there and kissed her right now and told her that you
know what she feels for you is real, I bet she
wouldn’t put up too much of a fight.”

Well, that seemed as good an idea as any.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN –

IVY

I tied the strings of my pajama shorts and

peered at myself in the mirror. A chill ran across my
skin as I lifted my tank top and looked at my
stomach.

It didn’t look any different.
Not sure why I thought it would. The baby

was a raspberry, not a damn watermelon.

My boobs, though, were another story. Blue

veins painted roadmaps across my light skin, and
my areolas were darkening, becoming larger by the
day, it seemed.

It was weird.
I tugged my shirt back down.
Tonight had been weird. Really, really weird,

I thought as I grabbed a face wipe to remove my
makeup. It’d started off fun, then gentle, then I’d
ruined it by letting my mouth run away with me.

The truth was that I had feelings for Kai.

Crazy,  intense  feelings  that  scared  me  the  most
about  all  of  this.  They’d  appeared  quickly  and
fiercely,  and  my  own  subconscious  was  rapidly
becoming my worst enemy.

I was just so, so tired. All the time. Every

second of the day. Loading the dishwasher was a

mammoth task, not to mention carrying laundry up
and down the stairs to and from the laundry room
in the basement while the elevator had been out of
order for maintenance.

Fuck. That. Shit.
I was so tired of everything else that when it

came to my feelings, I really didn’t have any
energy left to figure them out.

And it was always easier to push someone

away, wasn’t it? Easier to push them away than let
them in. If you let them in, that meant there was no
turning back. They’d always have a piece of you,
and I didn’t know if I could give any more of me
away right now.

Maybe that was unfair and selfish but I was a

little past caring. I was too tired. I wished someone
could  make  the  decision  for  me,  that  someone
could  just  tell  me  what  to  do.  That  someone,
somewhere,  knew  what  the  best  choice  was  and
could  promise  me  it  was  the  best  thing  to  do  right
now.

Was that weak? Maybe. Childish and

pathetic? Probably.

I wished I could untangle all the things that

confused me. Lay them all out like strings in front
of me, untie and untangle and straighten them until
they all made sense again.

Of course, now that I was alone in my

apartment, all I really wanted was to bury myself

under some warm covers in a warm bed and
snuggle up against Kai’s strong body.

You fucked that one up, Ivy, girl.
A thump came from the living room,

followed by the sound of my door being unlocked.

What the fuck?
I dropped the face wipe, leaving one eye still

covered in makeup and grabbed the nearest heavy
item which happened to be my hairdryer—
thankfully unplugged for once. I held it out in front
of me the way one would wield a frying pan.

I was not nearly armed enough for someone

breaking into my apartment.

“Ivy?”
It was Kai.
Of course it was Kai.
“Ivy?”
Kai had a key.
“Where are you?”
Why was Kai letting himself into my

apartment? This wasn’t an emergency.

“Don’t ever do that again!” I snapped,

rounding the corner into the kitchen with my
weapon now at my side. “I—”

He closed the distance between us and kissed

me before I could finish my sentence. His large
hands cupped the sides of my face and held me still
as his lips captured mine and took control of me.

My entire body lit on fire.

From head to toe, I was burning.
I leaned into his body, gripping his shirt with

one hand as I tried not to drop my hairdryer with
the other.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.
He looked down and tugged the hairdryer

from  my  grasp,  then  set  it  on  the  sofa  before  he
came  back  to  me.  His  hands  rested  either  side  of
my  face  again,  and  his  blue  gaze  bore  into  mine
with an intensity that made my knees weak.

“Don’t think,” he said quietly but firmly.

“Don’t think about anything. Just feel, okay?”

Before I could respond, he kissed me again.

This one was deeper and hungrier than the last, and
it stoked a fire deep inside me. Desire trickled
through my body, spread by my racing heart, and
my clit throbbed between my legs.

His kiss was a masterclass in seduction.

Long, powerful strokes of his tongue combined
with gentle nibbles against my lower lip drove my
body wild, and I was completely helpless.

It was a good thing he didn’t want me to

think. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to think
for a week after this.

The kiss deepened further than I thought

possible, and I wrapped my arms around his neck,
pressing myself against him as firmly as my tender
breasts would allow me to. As if he understood, he
didn’t pull me closer when he slid his hands down

my body.

He never let up on the kiss, though. Not as I

whimpered against his lips or dug my fingers into
his shoulders. Not as we staggered back against the
island and another whimper left my lips as déjà vu
hit me hard.

I just… I wanted to forget everything except

Kai. Except the way he kissed me and the way he
touched me and the way I felt when he did both of
those things. Like I was more than alive, like I was
flying, like I didn’t have my feet on the ground at
all.

Like nothing really mattered except this.
“We’re good together,” he murmured

between kisses. “And you know it.”

I did know it.
“So tell me to stop now, or I’m going to

remind you just how good we are together.”

I said nothing.
Not a damn word.
“Ivy?”
“Do it,” I whispered, grabbing the collar of

his shirt. “Remind me.”

If his kiss was my kryptonite, those words

were his. He wasted no time at all before he pulled
off my tank top, then his t-shirt. I ran my fingers
over his body as we kissed again. His muscles were
all tense and taut, meaning there were a thousand
dips and crevices for my fingertips to explore.

He moved his lips to my neck and slipped his

hands down to my shorts. I dipped my head back as
he hooked his thumbs inside the waistband and
tugged them down over my ass to the point both the
shorts and my panties fell to the floor in a puddle at
my feet.

I knew exactly what was coming next.
“Up,” he demanded, whispering into my ear.
I obliged, hauling myself up onto the counter,

and opened my legs.

The last time I was in this position, I’d gotten

pregnant.

On the bright side, that least that couldn’t

happen again right now.
I  shoved  some  paperwork  out  of  the  way  with  a
light  push  of  my  fingers.  It  scattered  off  the  side
and  onto  the  floor,  showering  the  laminate  with
sheets  and  envelopes  of  stuff  that  I’d  studiously
ignored for at least three weeks.

Kai glanced down at it. “Just like in the

movies.”

I laughed, dropping my head back. He parted

my thighs and stepped between my legs, silencing
my laughter with one kiss to the pulse point of my
neck. His breath was hot and heavy as he dragged
his mouth over the curves of my breasts, dropping
gentle kisses there.

My nipples were tender as hell, but he

treated them like crystal that could break with the

slightest heavy touch. Every stroke of his tongue
over my sensitive skin was torturous, and I was
more turned on than I’d ever been from that.

He moved down my body, leaving my nipples

pebbled and so taut they almost hurt, but I didn’t
have a second to think about that. Kai’s tongue was
on my clit in a second, and he lowered his body so
he could tug my hips forward.

My entire pussy was exposed to him. Like

the  rest  of  me,  it  was  tender  and  aching,  and  he
used his tongue masterfully. Every lick was a tease
that  promised  more,  and  I  was  completely  at  his
mercy  as  he  worked  to  bring  me  to  the  brink  of
orgasm.

I glanced down as a moan escaped me. There

was something so hot about seeing his head
between my legs and his tongue teasing my clit that
it pushed me over the edge. The pleasure rocketed
through my body, and I cried out as he covered my
pussy with his mouth and pulsed his tongue against
my opening.

I rode it out, bucking against his face, and his

fingers  dug  into  my  thighs  tightly.  The  orgasm  was
long and intense and completely overwhelming, and
by  the  time  my  muscles  relaxed  from  the  knots
they’d worked themselves into it in the middle of it,
Kai  was  already  pulling  my  limp  body  from  the
countertop and holding me against him.

“Can’t walk,” I muttered.

Laughing, he pulled me over to the sofa and

dropped me down to sit on it. He straightened up
and stripped naked, stepping out of his jeans and
kicking them to the side. After he sat next to me, I
climbed on top of him, almost sending the vase on
my coffee table flying to the floor with my lack of
coordination.

I straddled him, nestling my knees either side

of his hips. It was easy to kiss him, and from here, I
was in control. I rested my hands either side of his
neck and lowered my lips onto his. He reached
between us and wrapped his hand around his cock,
using his other to guide my hips until he could push
inside me.

I moaned as the sensation of him filling me

rolled through my body. A shiver ran down my
spine, and Kai placed his hand on my back with his
fingers splayed. I rocked my hips as I moved on
him, still kissing him, reveling in every single touch
we shared.

It was good.
So good.
Every inch of me came alive as I fucked him.

His groans were like music to my ears, and I
bounced on him, rocking my hips every time I came
down and took him fully inside me.

Kai’s grip got tighter. His fingers dug into me,

branding me with his touch, and my pleasure rose
to the point I could no longer kiss him while I

fucked him. I could barely breathe, and every
single exhale seemed to come out with a moan
attached to him.

Round and round and round my pleasure

went, swirling through my body, driving me utterly
insane.

He moved his grip to my ass. He held me in

place and shifted us so we were flatter, then thrust
into me. He took over completely, fucking me so
hard I was barely a decibel from a scream by the
time my orgasm hit.

Not that it stopped him. He fucked me

through  it,  never  relenting,  even  when  my  body
went rigid as a second one spread through me. My
muscles  ached  with  the  endless  clenching,  and  I
sagged  against  Kai  as  he  came  inside  me  with  a
guttural grunt against the side of my neck.

The vibrations danced across my skin, and a

sigh escaped my lips as I came down from the
ultimate high.

He slid his arms around me and held me

tight. I moved so my boobs weren’t pressed flat
against his chest and making me wince, and he
whispered a, “Sorry,” into my ear, complete with a
kiss to the lobe.

After a minute or so, I moved up and off him

and onto the sofa. “I guess I’m cleaning the sofa
tomorrow.”

He rolled in my direction and kissed my

cheek. “I’ll take off the cushion covers and wash
them.”

“Aw, how domestic of you.”
Chuckling, he got up with a groan that was a

whole lot less sexy than a few minutes before.

I held my boobs and forced myself to get up.

There was no way I was going to sit here on the
sofa and get it all messy, even if Kai had offered to
launder the cushions for me.

And by launder, I was sure he meant put

them in with his boxers.

I got up and followed him into the bathroom.

He was standing somewhat forlornly in front of the
sink, staring at the little cup that held my
toothbrush.

All right, it was a mug that said, ‘Fuck Off,

I’m Reading.’

We’re not all perfect, okay?
“That’s an interesting toothbrush holder.”
I grabbed a towel and shoved it between my

legs before I sat on top of the toilet seat. “It was all
I had in here at the time. And I never got around to
buying a proper toothbrush holder. Is that really
why you’re staring at it?”

“No. I’m thinking I need to bring a

toothbrush over here.”

I pointed to the cabinet under the sink.

“There are some spares in there.”

Kai bent down and pulled out a small tub

containing eight brand new toothbrushes. He tilted
the box my way with a raised eyebrow.

“They were on sale,” I said breezily, standing

up with the towel still wedged between my legs. I
hobbled over to the shower and turned it on to heat
up.

“Do you know you still have mascara on one

eye?”

I yanked the towel out from between my legs

and shoved him over from the mirror to look.

Shit. He was right. I’d only managed to

remove half my makeup before I’d heard him
letting himself into the apartment.

“That’s your fault,” I said, reaching under

the sink for a new packet of wipes. “You’re the one
who let yourself into my apartment on your alpha
male tirade when I was cleaning my face. And you
could have mentioned this before.”

“Why would I do that?” he said around an

orange toothbrush that I assumed was now his.

There was nothing like having your ninety-

nine cent toothbrushes stolen.

I finished removing my makeup and threw

the wipe in the trashcan that desperately needed
emptying and huffed on my way into the shower.
Kai’s muffled chuckle followed me in, but I closed
the door and that blocked him out completely.

Thank God.
I let the hot water run over me, soaking me

from head to toe. It was a pain in the ass to keep
the spray from beating my nipples, so I covered my
boobs with my arm and reached for my shampoo as
soon as I was soaked through.

Cold air slammed into my back, and I

squealed.

“Sorry.” Kai pressed his front against my

back and shuffled me over.

“What the hell? First you steal a toothbrush,

now you steal my shower?”

“I borrowed your toothbrush, and now I’m

sharing your shower,” he said. “Semantics.”

“Semantics my ass.”
“Shh. I need a shower. You came all over

me.”

“You’re the one who barged in here like Fred

Flintstone.  That’s  your  fault,  not  mine.”  I  lathered
shampoo  into  my  hair.  “If  you  think  sharing  a
shower  is  going  to  be  a  regular  thing,  you’re
deluded.”

“Here I was, planning our future of endless

showers with some shower sex thrown in.”

I snorted and rinsed off my hands. “Still

deluded.”

He grabbed my left hand and took my ring

finger between his finger and thumb. “Still wearing
a fake wedding ring, I see.”

I pursed my lips. I’d forgotten I was wearing

that. I had gotten into a habit of removing it when I

got home from work, but I hadn’t done it today
because of Kai’s birthday.

“I forgot to take it off,” I said, muscling in

under the water to rinse my hair.

He stepped back and grabbed my soap, using

it to wash both his body and his hair. “Don’t bother.
I bought it because it suited you.”

“You bought it? You said it was a family

ring.”

He shoved his head under the water,

unperturbed that I was put out. “Yeah, well, I
couldn’t tell you I’d bought it, could I?”

“Why not?”
“Because I knew you’d freak out about it.”
“Yeah, you can’t take it back now!” I rinsed

the last of the shampoo from my hair and nearly
took his eye out with my elbow. “Damn it, Kai.”

“I don’t want to take it back.” He opened the

shower door and stepped out, apparently done with
his shower in less than three minutes, and trapped
me and the steam back inside.

What did he mean, he didn’t want to take it

back?

Why had he bought it?
Why the hell was this day such a

rollercoaster? Was it Friday the fucking thirteenth
or something?

I still had to finish my shower so I raced

through conditioning my hair and washing my body

in record time. I apologized to the stubble under my
arms that really needed a trim and told myself
shaving could wait until tomorrow.

I’d been telling my legs that for a week, mind

you.

I turned off the shower and froze.
I didn’t have clean towels.
I’d jumped straight in without thinking.
Ah, shit.
I braced myself for the rush of freezing air

that would come at me when I stepped out of the
shower cubicle. A shudder wracked my body when
it came, and I twisted my hair around my finger so
it didn’t drip all over my body, but I didn’t need to
worry.

There were two towels sitting on top of the

closed toilet seat.

A smile crept over my face despite my best

efforts, and I gratefully wrapped myself in the
fluffy towels before I left the bathroom.

Noises came from the direction of the

kitchen, and I padded across the floor while
adjusting my towel, careful not to slip on the wet
floor.

“I know what you did with the towels. We’re

still talking about the ring.”

“Nothing to talk about,” he said, scooping ice

cream into two bowls at the island. “Yes, I cleaned
it before you ask.”

I bit back a giggle. “Of course there’s

something to talk about.”

“There really isn’t, Ivy. It’s quite simple.”
“Explain it, then.”
“If we don’t make this fake marriage real—

which, for the record, I am wholeheartedly against
—then  it’s  a  gift  to  you  for  the  baby.  If  it’s  a  girl,
she  can  keep  it.  If  it’s  a  boy,  he  can  use  it  to
propose  to  his  future  wife  if  he  wants.”  He
shrugged  as  he  put  the  ice  cream  back  in  the
freezer. “Like I said. Simple.”

That… was hard to argue with.
Ugh.
Rational points.
I hated it when people made those.
I approached the island. “Damn it. Stop

making rational arguments,” I said. “I can’t yell at
you when you do that.”

“Would you like to yell at me?”
I dropped my gaze when he slid the ice

cream across the counter at me. “I can’t shout at
you now, can I? You just gave me ice cream. That
would be a cardinal sin.”

“A cardinal sin? Do you swear like that in

front of your grandmother?”

I froze. “Shit, my grandmother.”
“What?”
“She wants us to go to bingo with her

tomorrow.”

“Bingo? With your grandmother?”
Grimacing, I nodded. “And there’s absolutely

no way to get out of it. She knows you’re working
at the school this week building the new special
education resource building so if you don’t come,
she’s going to show up there.”

Kai sighed. “Okay, fine. Do I need to bring

my own bingo markers, or…?”

“Seriously? Just like that? You agree?”
“What else do you want me to say? No?” He

dug his spoon into his ice cream. “I’ve decided that
you  obviously  have  feelings  for  me,  so  now  we’re
dating,  which  means  I  have  to  entertain  your
eccentric grandma. Now, are you going to eat your
ice  cream,  or  are  you  going  to  leave  it  to  melt?  I
don’t want you waking me up at three a.m. bleating
about  being  hungry  because  you  didn’t  get  a
midnight snack.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I could see

it was futile.

Well, it wasn’t. I knew if I opened my mouth

right  now  and  told  Kai  I  didn’t  want  to  officially
date  under  the  guise  of  our  fake  marriage,  he’d
accept that. That was the kind of person he was…
even  if  he  had  had  a  Fred  Flintstone  moment
tonight.

But what would I be fighting? The

inevitable? The obvious? The thing I really wanted?

“Stop looking at me like you’re trying to

decide whether or not to fight with me,” he said,
turning and searching through my fridge. “Ooh,
chocolate sauce.”

I took that right out of his hand and lathered

my ice cream in it before handing it back. “You
can’t have sex with me and demand I be your
girlfriend.”

“Ivy, I had sex with you and made you the

mother of my child. A girlfriend seems like a
relatively low commitment compared to that.”

“Ugh!” I grabbed my bowl and spun around,

losing my towel in the process. I ignored it
completely and sat on the sofa totally naked, with
my bowl of chocolate sauce covered ice cream and
my hair twisted in a striped towel.

“Are you just going to eat that ice cream

naked?”

“Yes. Yes, I am, Kai, and I’m going to enjoy

every minute.”

“Does that mean I win?”
“It means you need to sleep with one eye

open, motherfucker.”

He grinned.
Jerk.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – IVY

“Bingo!” Grandma Rosie jumped out of her

seat with far too much energy for her age. “I call
bingo!”

Unfortunately for her, Agatha Cates also

called bingo at the same time.

“No!” Grams yelled. “That’s mine!”
“Rosie! I yelled it first!”
Mumbles erupted across the bingo hall.
Well, I said mumbles. Elderly people weren’t

so great at the whole quiet thing.

“Susanna!” Grams yelled in the direction of

the regular bingo caller, waving her card in the air.
“It was me!”

“It was me!” Agatha shouted, doing the same

with her card. “Susanna!”

“Shut it, Hagatha!” Grams spat, grabbing her

cane so she could get to the front quicker than her
longtime rival.

Kai leaned over and whispered, “Did she just

call her Hagatha?”

I nodded.
“Genius,” he murmured.
“No,”

replied.

“Agatha

Tori’s

grandmother. It’s a point of contention that both
our moms and us are best friends.”

“Do they really hate each other?”

I pointed in the direction of poor Susanna

who’d never quite gotten used to their ruckus at the
weekly bingo sessions. They were currently jostling
for position in front of her which, for two women of
their age, was really quite concerning.

They’d break a hip if they fell over.
Naturally, nobody helped.
Apparently old people liked a cat fight as

much as everyone else.

They were only human.
“Shouldn’t someone stop them?” Kai asked,

eying the way they were jostling each other.

I shook my head. “They’ll call the orderlies

soon.”

“The orderlies?”
“Well, I think they’re technically the nurses,

but there’s two of them who always keep the
peace. They work every bingo night for this reason
right here.”

“They both live in the old people’s home?”
“Grandma splits her time,” I said slowly.

“But officially, yes. Tori is all Agatha’s got in town
since her parents moved to Florida, but she’s
allergic to cats and Tori won’t give up Genevieve.”

“That feels somewhat strategic.”
“Totally strategic,” I agreed, reaching for my

glass of water. “Also, Gen is the sweetest cat, and
I’d take her over Agatha, too.”

“Cats are better than people.”

“Can we get a cat?”
“This morning you cried over a dog rescue

commercial and tearfully swore to rescue all the
dogs and let them live in my spare room. Now you
want a cat?” Kai raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t be held responsible for what my

hormones make me say.” I snorted. “Besides, if you
hadn’t burned my toast, I wouldn’t have wanted to
cry in the first place.”

“Oh dear, are they at it again?” Randy,

Kinsley’s grandfather, rejoined our table.

I pursed my lips and nodded. “Simultaneous

bingo.”

“Are the order keepers here yet?”
“I think they feel the ripples in the cosmos,”

Mabel, Saylor’s grandma, interjected. “Then go on
their break.”

“I don’t blame them.” Kai was watching the

fight with a little too much interest.

Mabel elbowed Randy. “Well? Go and sort it

out, Randy. One of them will put their hip our, and
it’s not like Agatha has any hips left!”

Well, that was up for debate. She was still

telling her doctor she needed her hips replaced but
since he kept refusing, that told me Agatha had a
little more hip than she’d let off.

The weekly bingo fights didn’t help her cause

much, either.

“Go,” I said to Kai, waving my hand in their

direction. “Go and help him! He’s eighty!”

Kai did as I said, following Randy up to the

front where Susanna was desperately speaking into
a radio. I swore I heard her call mayday at one
point, but Randy and Kai each grabbed a grandma
and wrestled them away from each other.

They didn’t stand a chance with Kai, to be

honest.

He probably could have hauled both

grandmas over his shoulder and ran with them
without breaking a sweat, but Randy was
inordinately fit for his age.

Then again, I think he’d been a weightlifter.
Mabel shivered from across the table. “Isn’t

it sexy, Ivy? Seeing two strapping young men being
all strong?”

I pouted and tilted my head to the side.

Strapping… that could apply to them both. Young?
Eh… not so much. “Sure,” I replied anyway, not
wanting to offend her.

I knew Mabel was touchy about her age.
“How are you, dear?” she asked, touching

my hand without looking at me. Her gaze was
firmly fixed on Randy and how he was wrestling
Agatha away from poor Susanna.

“I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
“No, I mean how’s the baby?”
“Making me throw up on a semi-regular basis

and giving me a valid excuse to eat my body weight

in ice cream.” I smiled tightly and looked down at
my bingo card.

I had no idea why I came. I never won.
“You should be careful with that, you know.

My  Olivia  gained  forty  pounds  when  she  was
pregnant  with  her  Saylor,”  Mabel  said.  “Took  her
three  years  to  lose  the  weight,  and  even  then,  I
think  she  adopted  another  ten  back.  Hasn’t  been
able to get rid of it since.”

Olivia had gained more than ten pounds—

and happily, I would add—but I didn’t say that out
loud. “I will keep that in mind, Mabel, thanks.”

“You should. You’re very pretty and far too

young to lose your figure.”

Again. Why did I come here?
“Did you use protection?”
“Oookay,” Kai said, slipping into his chair

next  to  me.  “A  very  nice  nurse  named  Cordelia  is
taking  your  grandmother  back  to  her  room,  and
Randy is taking Agatha to hers. Your grandma said
we  should  leave  now  before  anyone  gossips  about
her.”

Thank God for small mercies.
“It was lovely seeing you, Mabel,” I lied.

“I’ll keep your advice in mind.”

“You do that, honey.” She saluted me, and I

let Kai drag me out of the hall and into the cooler
air outside.

I hooked my arm through his and leaned into

him. “Thank God for that.”

“What advice did she give you?”
I relayed her words.
“Nice,” he drawled. “She’s a real peach.”
“Oh, you have no idea. Have you ever

watched Mean Girls?”

“No. I don’t watch girly films.”
“You watch True Blood with me.”
“Yeah, but is that girly? There’s a lot of

violence in that. If there’s romance, I need some
violence.”

“Don’t say that again.” I patted his arm.

“People will get the wrong idea.”

It took him a moment before he got it. “In

my TV shows.”

“Maybe add that on to the real sentence?”
“Good idea,” he agreed, waiting for the road

to clear before we crossed it. “It’s still early. Do
you want ice cream?”

I shook my head.
“Don’t tell me Mabel got to you.”
“No, but I bought two more cartons this

morning, and it seems frivolous to buy some from
The Waffle Cone when I can go home, take off
these pants, and eat it half-naked on my sofa.”

“Can I eat ice cream half naked on your

sofa?”

“No. You have to be totally naked.”
“Can I eat you after?”

“Depends. Is there chocolate sauce for that,

too?”

Kai burst out laughing and wrapped his arm

around me. He tucked me right into his side, and he
was still shaking from his chuckles. “Do you want
me to trickle chocolate sauce all over you? Don’t
you think that’s a little kinky for this early on?”

“Yes, and the night I got pregnant was oh-so-

vanilla.” My tone was as dry as dry could be as I
referred to the night when he’d first spread my legs
on the counter to lick my pussy, then bent me over
said counter to fuck me before taking me into the
bedroom to finish the night there.

See?
So, so vanilla.
“Point well made,” Kai mused. “I guess it’s

not so kinky after all then.”

“Do we have to discuss this in public?”
“You mentioned the chocolate sauce.”
“Eh.” I guess I did. “No, sorry, I’m out of it.”
“How? There was like half a bottle last

night.”

“Well, see, that’s a long story.”
Kai glanced at his watch. “We’ve got a long

time.”

I guess I wasn’t getting out of this one. Shit.

“After I was done throwing up this morning—”

“You stopped this morning? I’m impressed.

You were really going for it at one point.”

I elbowed him. “You brought coffee over

from your apartment! What did you expect? Me to
start singing and dancing in delight? Gross!”

“I’m going to remember you said that when

there’s a crying newborn and you want a coffee to
keep you awake.”

“Whatever. Anyway, when I stopped, I took

a nap, and when I woke up, I was hungry. Since I
need to go grocery shopping—”

“I did notice.”
“—Shut up,” I added. “I went to the bakery

and got some pre-made pancakes.”

“How many?”
“I don’t really want to answer that question.”

I sniffed.

“Ivy.”
“Fine. Four. I got four large ones and I ate

them all!”

Kai chuckled. “Go on.”
“I had strawberries and bananas so I ate four

large pancakes with fruit and chocolate sauce and
whipped cream and I don’t regret a thing.”

“In what world is that a remedy for nausea?”
I shrugged. “I really don’t know, but they

tasted good. I was going to save you one, but then I
remembered you woke me up at six-fifteen this
morning so you didn’t deserve a giant pancake.”

“What if I promise not to wake you up

tomorrow morning? Can I have pancakes then?”

“Yes. It’s your day off so you can get them.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“I don’t really care what you meant,” I said

honestly. “Next time don’t offer to get pancakes on
your day off if you don’t want to get them.”

“I didn’t offer.”
“You absolutely did offer.”
“She’s right,” Tori said from behind us. “I

heard it. You offered.”

“Where the hell did you come from?” Kai

asked, grabbing the door to Bronco’s and opening
it.

Tori flicked her dark hair over her shoulder.

“Oh, I often follow Ivy around town for fun. Make
sure no strange men are trying to attack her, you
know?”

“And what would you do? Beat them with a

book?”

“Yes.” Tori slipped inside before I could.
I shrugged and looked at Kai. “I told you.

Books are underrated weapons.”

He shook his head and followed me inside. It

was quiet for a Saturday night, but that wasn’t too
surprising considering there was a local band
playing in one of the bed and breakfasts on the
other side of town.

Yes, my parents had the monopoly on bars in

White Peak, but not hotels.

“How did she know we’d be here?” he asked

me as we approached the bar.

“She didn’t,” I said brightly. “But she’s

always here at this time on a Saturday night
because I’m usually working and she likes my
margaritas.”

“Why aren’t you working?” Tori asked when

we joined her.

“Bingo.”
“Ah, shit. Did they fight again?”
Kai nodded. “Do you mean Rosie and

Agatha?”

Tori grinned. “Did she call her Hagatha

again?”

I snorted. “Agatha went crazy. It was

hilarious.  They  were  trying  to  fight  but  their  canes
kept getting in the way. I honestly don’t know why
they  let  them  play  together.  They  have  more  than
one  session  and  they  really  need  to  get  it  sorted
out.”

“Preach that,” she muttered. “Are you going

to make me a margarita or what?”

I sighed and got behind the bar, sharing a

knowing look with Sophie. “Is this how you felt
when I just told you that you had to get the
pancakes on your day off tomorrow?” I asked Kai.

He grinned. “I’ll have a beer, please,

sweetie.”

“I’ll sweetie you,” I muttered under my

breath. I handed Kai his beer before I set to fixing

Tori’s cocktail.

“I see the marriage is going well.”
“I see you need to be quiet,” I said, shaking

her margarita. “How’s your dating life?”

“Non-existent, just the way I like it,” she

replied. “My sex life, however…”

“Is something I don’t need to know about,”

Kai finished for her. “Trust me. Save that for your
texts, would you?”

Grinning, I poured the cocktail into a glass

and passed it over the bar. I rang the orders up on a
tab under Sophie’s card and, after grabbing a bottle
of water for myself, rejoined Tori and Kai on the
other side.

“I’ll have a beer, Sophie, thanks.”
I craned my neck at Colton’s voice.

“Alone?”

He looked past me and caught Kai’s gaze.

“Disagreement with Amber.”

Kai’s lips thinned.
“What?” I asked. “You can’t have a silent

conversation over me. I’ll cry.”

“Are you really using your hormones to get

your own way?” Tori raised her eyebrows.

“I threw up for an hour this morning. You bet

your ass I’m using my hormones to get what I
want.”

Kai shrugged.
“Same old,” Colton said, taking his beer from

Sophie. He downed a good third of the bottle
before setting it on the bar. “She wants me to move
in and doesn’t see the issue in us downsizing if she
wants to have a baby. I think you guys gave her
super baby fever.”

Tori shuddered.
I rolled my eyes. “Why does she want you to

move in with her? It doesn’t make sense when your
place is bigger.”

“That’s the point,” he said, grabbing a stool

that had just been vacated before someone else
could snag it. “She doesn’t want to move out, but
neither do I. We’ve reached a stalemate of sorts.”

“Sorry, man,” Kai said. “I know it’s been an

issue for a while.”

Colton shrugged. “I’ve been saving, too, for

a house. Josh’s wasn’t too badly priced and there’s
one for sale down the street, so I was thinking
about making an offer. But if she won’t move, I
don’t think there’s a point.”

“Why isn’t there a point?” Tori asked. “If

she’s not going to move but she’s going to demand
you do all this shit, tell her where to go.”

Yup. Tactful as always.
“Tori,” I muttered.
Kai looked between us. “I have to agree with

her.”

Well, shit. I was in trouble.
“What?” he asked me. “She’s not wrong.

Amber wants him to propose and have a baby on
her terms, and all he wants is to be stable before he
does that. Is that a bad thing?”

“I’ve told you about these rational

arguments,” I huffed. “I can’t argue them.”

“That’s the point.”
Colton finished his beer and got up, throwing

a five-dollar bill onto the bar. “I’m going for a
walk.”

“You want company?” Kai asked.
“Nah, stay here.” Colton waved him off at

the same time he waved goodbye to me and Tori
and headed for the door.

Kai put his half-finished beer down on the

bar. “I’m going after him. Are you okay to get
home if I’m not back in an hour?”

I stared at him. “I’m pregnant, not legless.”
Tori grinned.
“Okay, okay.” He leaned down and kissed

me square on the lips.

A blush rose up my cheeks, and I knew it

was the kind of blush everyone within a square mile
would see.

“See you later.” He winked before he turned

and rushed off after Colton.

Tori wiggled her eyebrows. “Ooh, look at

you. Are you making that fake marriage real?”

I pressed my finger to my lips and gave her a

wink of my own. “Maybe one day.”

EPILOGUE – IVY

Six Months Later

“Daisy?”
Holley shook her head. “Too Disney. And

our aunt’s name.”

That was true. “Lily?”
She nodded slowly. “I like Lily. It’s cute.”
Okay.
I wrote it in the ‘maybe’ column. “What

about Poppy?”

“Oh, that’s cute!” Kinsley yelled from atop

her ladder. “My vote goes to Poppy!”

We’d been holed up in their bookstore,

Bookworm’s Books, for the last hour talking baby
stuff.

“Nooo,” my sister argued. “That’s the name

of the troll in the movie!”

“Great. If we call her Poppy, you’ll call her a

troll all the time.” I scratched out Poppy. “What
about Marigold?”

“What are you giving birth to? A baby or a

seventy-year-old grandma?” Saylor asked, putting
two books down in front of me. “Here. If I have to
listen to this painful baby naming session one more
time, I’m going to tear out my hair.”

I took the baby name book from her and

stared at it. “I don’t know how this will help.
Grandma is insisting on another flower name if I
want to keep my inheritance.”

“What is your inheritance?” Kinsley asked,

stepping down from the ladder. “Has she ever told
you?”

“No.” Holley picked up the other name book

and flicked to the introduction page. “It’s either
going to be something grand or something like an
allotment for us to never grow vegetables in.”

I nodded along in agreement. “That is the

general consensus. Problem is, neither me or Kai
can find a flower name that we agree on. Lily is the
only one, really, but I’m not sure I really like it.”

“What does he like?” Kinsley asked, pulling

up a chair to join us. She peered over at my
notebook. “Ah. Does he really like Tegan?”

“It’s actually the frontrunner,” I admitted.

“We both love Tegan, but when we tried bringing
up not using a flower name, Grams about had a
stroke. A fake stroke, but a stroke nonetheless.”

“It’s true,” Holley piped up. “She even tried

to faint. It would have been far more dramatic if
she hadn’t been sitting on the sofa at the same
time.”

Saylor snorted. “Why don’t you call her

Tegan Rose? That’s close enough, and it’s your
grandma’s name, so it’s not like she can complain
too much. Just say you chose it after it.”

Ding. Ding. Ding.
“Saylor, you’re a fucking genius.”
“That is the word on the street.” She touched

two fingers to her temples and disappeared between
the shelves, her blonde hair flowing behind her.

I pulled out my phone and texted Kai.

ME: Tegan Rose????

KAI: If that’s someone off one of those

reality shows you’ve been binging while on an
ice cream high, I don’t know who it is.

ME: For the baby. Saylor suggested it.

KAI: Hang on.

ME: Don’t tell me to hang on. I can’t hang

on to my pee, never mind anything else.

I wished that was a lie. A tiny body part was

currently using my bladder as punching bag
practice.

If it was her head, I was sooooo getting the

epidural.

The bell above the door rang, and we all

turned to look. Kai stepped inside with two bags
from the sandwich place down the street and lifted
them in triumph.

“I brought food,” he said brightly. “Anyone

hungry?”

Holley pointed in my directly not so

discreetly. “We’re hungry. She’s hangry.”

“If I didn’t have to get up to punch you, I’d

punch you.” I tossed a pencil in her direction.

She stuck her middle finger in my direction

as Kinsley called out for Saylor to come join us
again.

“What are you doing for your birthday next

week?” Kai asked Kinsley, handing her her food.

She wrinkled her nose up. “I don’t know.

Nothing special, probably just some drinks and stuff
with everyone.”

“Yay,” I deadpanned.
She laughed into her hand. “You can video

me drunk rapping Kanye songs to blackmail me
with.”

I held out my hand. “Done.”
She shook on it.
“Who’s drunk rapping Kanye?” Saylor

asked, reappearing. “Oh, God, is that the theme for
Kinsley’s birthday? I’m not dressing up as Kim
Kardashian again.”

Kai grinned. “How did you pull off the ass?”
“About fifty dollars’ worth of bubble wrap,”

she replied dryly, sitting down.

“She popped every time she sat down.” I

unwrapped my sandwich with a giggle. “It was

funny.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, no, thankfully not,” Holley said. “You

said low key, right?”

Kinsley nodded. “I’m getting too old to party

all night.”

“No, you can’t say that when you just

promised me rapping videos,” I said, moving the
books into the middle of the table so they didn’t get
damaged.

“She’s right,” Saylor said around a mouthful

of tuna sandwich. “You can’t do that, Kins.”

“Fine. We’ll see.”
“I’ll bring the tequila,” I said brightly, then

looked  at  Kai.  “But  you’ll  have  to  buy  it,  ‘cause
you know. People look at me weird.” I motioned to
the  beachball  currently  attached  to  my  front  and
preventing  me  from  tucking  my  chair  under  the
table.

He grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Done.”
“When you two are done eye-fucking each

other,” Holley said. “We need to get back to work.
Have you figured out her name?”

“I like Tegan Rose,” Kai agreed. “I think it

suits her, and your grandma can’t complain too
much.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I bit into my

sandwich.

Kinsley glanced at me, fighting a smile.

“Hey, where’s Tori?”

“Meeting with a new client.” Holley wiped

her fingers with the napkin. “Some big website
redesign or something like that. She said she’d stop
by later with the mockups for our new logo.”

“Thank God.” Saylor mirrored Holley’s

movements. “I was starting to think she’d
forgotten.”

“My fault.” Kai held up his hands. “I had to

pay  her  a  hundred  bucks  to  doctor  some  stock
video  clips  to  show  Rosie  our  so-called  wedding
video.  She  was  about  to  riot  on  the  imaginary
videographer Ivy made up.”

I grimaced.
“I still can’t believe you haven’t told her,”

Kinsley said, gathering the trash from her lunch. “Is
she really never going to find out?”

I shrugged. “My mom still believes it, too.”
“Does she?”
“Yep,” Holley said. “It’s kinda sad, really.”
Well, we could both agree on that. “I don’t

see  that  they  need  to  find  out.  We  already  played
the  narrative  that  we’d  have  a  party  when  the
baby’s  born,  so  we  figure  we’ll  just  go  off,  get
married quietly somewhere, then actually celebrate
with everyone.”

Kai shuffled uncomfortably. “We were going

to tell them, but we just never did. It’s been six
months and it seems unfair to tell them the truth

when we know we’re going to get married for real
eventually.”

Saylor frowned and looked between us.

“Have you actually asked her for real? Or are you
both just assuming this is going to happen?”

We looked at each other. “Assuming,” we

both said at the same time.

“We never considered that it wouldn’t,” I

said. “After a few wobbly conversations and a Fred
Flintstone moment.”

“A Fred Flintstone moment?” Kinsley

questioned.

Holley shook her head. “Please do—”
“I made her bed rock,” Kai replied with a

grin, like he did every single time I brought up the
Flintstone thing.

Kinsley and Holley both shook their heads in

despair  while  Saylor  roared  with  laughter.  She
didn’t  even  say  goodbye  as  she  once  again
disappeared  between  the  rows  of  bookshelves,  but
we could hear her laughing for ages.

“Awful,” Holley said, getting up and

grabbing a pile of books. “So bad.”

Kinsley sighed. “You two are a match made

in a romance novel, aren’t you?”

Kai winked at me, and I blushed.
“Maybe. Now we all know Tori’s against

dating, but which one of you three is next?”

“Nope!” Holley shouted, echoed somewhere

by Saylor.

“That leaves you, Kins,” Kai said.
“Oh, please.” She rearranged some books.

“I’m  not  a  big  dater.  I  can’t  stand  the  online  stuff
where  nobody  looks  like  their  profile  pictures.
Besides, I am the worst at small talk, so unless one
of  you  can  find  me  a  romance-loving,  muscular
man with a great smile, I’m shit out of luck.”

“Seems reasonable,” Kai assured her. “I’ll

see what I can do.”

He said as if he had a catalog of men stashed

away just to pull out for random dating purposes for
my friends.

“Put those books on the counter when you’re

done, Ives, I’ll put them away.”

“Thanks,

Kins.”

watched

she

disappeared.

Kai scooted his chair over to me. “So. Tegan

Rose, huh?”

“Tegan Rose.” I smiled, letting him take my

hands in his.

“That’s pretty perfect.”
“I agree.”
He grinned, then leaned forward and kissed

me.

And it was.
Somehow, everything was perfect.
Who would have thought that the guy next

door would turn out to be my happily ever after?

THE BOOKWORM’S GUIDE

TO DATING

What I wanted for my birthday: Books.
What I got for my birthday: my brother’s

best friend playing matchmaker.

Let it be known that I, Kinsley Lane, am one

hundred percent against being set up with
somebody.

And I’m one thousand percent sure that Josh

Carter is not the man to find me a boyfriend.

I mean, if I’m so great, why isn’t he the one

dating me? (For the record, I don’t know the
answer. That’s just what the guy on the internet
asked.)

Still, I’ll humor him. If I go on his little dates,

he’ll teach my bookish, introverted self how not to
be totally, completely, utterly, unforgivably
awkward on every single one of them.

And all I have to do is fall in love with one of

the lovely gentlemen he’s serving up for me on a
silver platter—all of whom fit my very specific
guidelines.

Simple, right?
It would be.
If only I could stop falling for Josh.

CHAPTER ONE – HALLEY

Nobody Needs An Orange Jumpsuit

Sometimes, I just have to tell myself that it

isn’t worth the jail time.

It’s something I’ve told myself a lot over the

years, especially during high school. There was that
time Lindsay Rinna paid her younger brother to put
a snake in my locker just because she knew I was
deathly afraid of them and she thought I had a
crush on her boyfriend.

I totally did have a crush on him, but was it

worth the panic attack I had after?

No. No, it was not. And, just like she wasn’t

now, Lindsay was not worth any jail time, no matter
how many times I imagined pushing her in front of
a bus.

Look. We’ve all done it, okay?
There’s also the time when I was seventeen

and having a bitch of a period, and my stepbrother
had eaten my ice cream.

That was the closest I’d actually come to

committing murder. It was a hormone-induced rage,
for what it was worth, and my memory of the event
was now somewhat blurry. That said, I do
remember throwing a spoon at him. I might have
cut open his forehead.

He ate my ice cream.

On my period.
Actually, that’s one situation that would have

been worth the jail time.

Also, my stepbrother is an asshole, so he

deserved that shit.

Now, I was standing in the middle of the

park, looking at the kissing booth that would be my
home  for  next  week.  As  of  Monday,  between  the
hours  of  midday  and  seven  p.m.,  my  ass  would  be
parked  in  this  glorified  tent,  and  my  lips  would  be
offered up as free game to anyone who was willing
to put two dollars in my bucket.

I, Halley Dawson, was the Creek Falls

Kissing Booth Champion. This year was my fifth
year in the contest, and I had no intentions of losing
my crown anytime soon.

I took my role as resident kisser very

seriously. Seriously—I just about had stock in
toothpaste companies at this point. My dentist was
probably the best-paid dentist in town, and I had an
ashamedly large collection of mints and gum in my
apartment waiting for this moment.

As for being the reigning champion, well, it

wasn’t like it had any kind of effect on my life in
general. I was woefully single to the point that the
only date I had was with the raccoons who lived in
the woods behind my house.

Hey, they were reliable. They showed up

every night on my back porch at ten p.m. sharp for

their peanut butter sandwiches.

We had a bit of a deal. I left them

sandwiches every night, and they’d leave my trash
can alone.

Well, I think we had a deal. Since raccoons

didn’t speak English, it was purely speculation on
my part since they hadn’t knocked the trash can
over for a few weeks.

Of course, this weird little relationship played

into  me  being  single.  Thanks  to  my  eccentric
grandmother,  I  was  now  known  as  the  Racoon
Lady  of  Creek  Falls.  Not  that  anyone  ever  said
anything  about  it  to  my  face,  given  that  my  father
was the mayor.

Yep. Between that and being the kissing

booth champion, there was no way I was getting
married anytime soon.

Or dated, for that matter.
It was fine. I liked being single. I had the

entire king-size bed to myself, and nobody was
going to eat my chocolate.

Also, thanks to the invention of porn

websites and sex toys, I could happily handle my
own needs. Shoot, I didn’t even need the toy.

I had fingers.
Ahem.
Moving on.
Upkeep of the kissing booth was solely my

responsibility—and that of my competitor’s when

they showed up. It was our job to ensure that the
money was kept safe so it could all be donated to a
local charity at the end of the summer fair.

The winner would be the person who raised

the most money—whoever kissed the most people.

Last year my competition had been easy. It

was old Mr. Hawkins who owned the bait shop on
the town square, and he’d gotten impetigo on his
lower lip halfway through the week.

It had seriously damaged his ability to kiss

anyone, but he’d made it work. He’d purchased a
lip-shaped stamp and some ink and stamped
everyone’s hand instead.

The kids had loved it.
I was almost a little sad he hadn’t won just

because of that, but he’d stopped by the library last
week and left the stamp with me.

Now, the kids could choose a kiss on the

cheek or a stamp on the hand.

I just wished I could give the pensioners the

same option. Most of those insisted on a genuine
peck.

It was the worst thing about doing this.
I shuddered at the thought of it. I had some

serious mental preparation to do, just in case
Horace Peters decided he wanted to stop by on a
daily basis again.

Last year, he’d almost been arrested for

harassment.

I really had to call my dad and make sure

there was someone stationed by the booth at all
times…

I stepped forward and gripped the gaudy,

purple curtains that were tied together by a huge,
gold rope. If you didn’t know this was the booth,
you’d think it was the home of a psychic or a palm
reader. Tarot, maybe.

But, no. It was where the kissing happened.
I untied the heavy knot and let the rope fall

to the sides. The thick ends hit the grass with a
thud, and I only just got my foot out of the way
before one hit my toes. I’d made that mistake once
before.

It’d sprained my toe.
It wasn’t an experience I was keen to repeat.
I pulled open the curtains and coughed. They

were musty, and the inside of the tent smelled like
mothballs.  It  was  hard  to  believe  that  it  was  taken
down  at  the  end  of  each  summer  and  put  up  just
before—they  had  to  be  storing  this  stuff  in  a  one-
hundred-year-old  clothing  trunk  and  then  putting
the trunk in a deserted cellar or attic somewhere.

I batted at the air in front of my nose and

looked around. The wooden stage toward the back
of  the  tent  was  set  up,  but  that  was  all  that  had
been  done.  Setting  chairs  and  everything  else  out
would be my job, but the first thing that had to be
done  was  to  air  out  these  horrible  velvet  curtains

and clean everything up.

“Jesus Christ, this smells like my grandma’s

house.”

Laughing, I turned at the sound of the voice

of one of my best friends. Reagan’s face was
scrunched up in disgust as she looked around.

“Yep,” I replied, adjusting my bright red

glasses. “They still haven’t bothered to wash the
fabric. Where’s Ava?”

“Looking for food. As always.” Reagan

grinned and tucked her bright purple hair behind
her ear. “I told her the stalls won’t be open yet, but
she didn’t listen to me.”

I snorted. “You know she’s been seeing

Butler Ferris on and off. His dad has the barbecue
stall this year. She’ll just head over there twirling
her hair, smile a little, and she’ll show up with half
a brisket, three hamburgers, six hot dogs, and three
pulled pork sandwiches. Plus coleslaw and salad.”

“Huh. You’re right. Ten bucks says she

shows up with food.”

“Why do you get that bet? I called it. You’re

just jumping in.”

“Fine. Ten bucks says she doesn’t.”
“You’re on.”
Reagan rolled her eyes. “Hey, the Ferris

stall… They’ll be cooking for the volunteers,
right?”

“Yep. We all got a note that they’re hosting

for us at seven tonight. We can all bring a guest, so
come along with me.” I pulled a hair tie from my
wrist and pulled my short, shoulder-length blond
hair back into a tiny ponytail. “Do you wanna give
me a hand here?”

“Not really.”
“Please? I don’t know who my competitor is

this year, so I’m stuck here alone. And I’m getting
you barbecue for free tonight.”

Reagan sighed. “Fine, but I’m not painting

that sign again. That was a nightmare.” She pointed
at the broken sign from last year.

“Only because you have the artistic ability of

a sack of potatoes.” I rolled my eyes and pulled my
car keys from my pocket. “Here.” I tossed them to
her. “There’s a bucket full of cleaning stuff in the
trunk of my car, and another one with paint stuff
for the sign. I’ll do it.”

She sighed, throwing my keys in the air and

catching them again. “I don’t even work here. I
don’t even volunteer. Yet every year I’m roped into
it.”

“Volunteer, then.”
“One year, I’m going to be your

competition.”

“I look forward to it.” I grinned, grabbing the

brush that was standing in the corner. “But bitching
at me this year isn’t going to make that happen any
sooner.”

“Whatever. I’ll be back in a minute.” She

ducked as she left the tent.

I stepped up onto the old wooden stage and

paused. The wood creaked, but it felt as strong as it
always did. That wasn’t saying a lot since it really
wasn’t that sturdy, but hey, if a floorboard gave out,
it wasn’t me that would be getting sued.

Not that I liked it, but I couldn’t do anything

about it. I was neither a builder nor rich.

The stage was covered in dust and dirt

despite the fact it’d only been erected last night,
and I pulled the curtain that separated the two
“booths” back so I could sweep right across it.

The boards creaked beneath my feet, and

one was a little too bouncy for my liking. It was
right by the back of the booth, so it was easily
covered by a plant or something like that.

Look at that.
I was making this place homey already.
God only knew I’d be spending enough time

here over the next week.

“In the blue corner is Halley with a broom,

and in the red corner is Ava with not one, not two,
but three of Creek Falls’ finest pulled pork
sammichs!”

I turned and shot my raven-haired best friend

a withering look. “Sandwich. It’s called a sandwich.
You’re not an internet meme.”

She widened her bright blue eyes, put on an

over-exaggerated smile, and waved one of the
sandwiches in my direction. “Sammiiiiicccchhhhh!”

I needed new friends.
I put the broom down and jumped down from

the stage. “You flirted with Butler, didn’t you?”

She pursed hot-pink lips and blinked

innocently from behind her yellow-framed glasses.
“Just a little.”

“Reagan owes me ten bucks.” I took my

sandwich from her. “If this carries on like this, I’m
gonna be rich by the end of the fair.”

Ava put Reagan’s sandwich on one of the

small tables that were dotted around. “Are you
betting on me? I’m not a fan of that.”

“We always bet on you. I always win. I’m

like five hundred bucks richer at this point.”

Ava rolled her eyes as she unpackaged her

sandwich. “Who’s your competition this year? Do
you know yet?”

I shook my head, sitting on the edge of the

stage. “No. They were supposed to meet me here,
but I doubt that’s going to happen now. Nobody
likes to set this place up.”

“Do you think you’ll find out tonight at the

cookout?”

“I hope so. I need to arrange a schedule for

getting this booth set up. I’m not going to do it all.”

She snorted. “Come on, Hals. You know

what will happen. You’ll set up a schedule, but

nobody will organize it the way you want, so you’ll
end up doing it anyway.”

I paused. “Shut up.”
“Umph!” Reagan dumped the stuff from my

car down on the grass. “Shit me, that stuff is
heavy.” She looked up at us. “Sandwiches?”

“Yep. And you owe me ten bucks.” I

grinned.

Ava frowned as Reagan stuck her hand into

the back pocket of her shorts. “Gotta stop making
these bets,” she muttered, pulling apart some bills
to find a ten.

“I agree,” Ava added. “You should stop!”
“Thank you.” I plucked the ten dollars from

Reagan’s hand. “I’m not stopping. I keep winning.”

“Whatever. We’re putting a bet on you.”

Reagan grabbed her sandwich. “I bet you’ll lose the
kissing contest this year.”

“No way!” Ava shook her head. “Nuh-uh.

The only way she’ll lose is if she retires.”

“I’m calling it. Halley is going to lose the title

this year.”

“No. It’s all she has. Except for her

raccoons, but they’re technically not even hers.”

“Hey!” I chimed in. “Leave the trash pandas

out of this. And I’m with Ava—there’s no way I’m
losing my crown this year. Unless a Hemsworth
brother shows up. Or Nick Jonas. Then I’d willingly
lose, to be honest. I’d be in their line myself.”

Reagan laughed, then looked to Ava. “Fifty

bucks says she loses.”

“Fifty?” Ava squealed. “I don’t have fifty

bucks!”

“Neither do I. Halley won all my money, and

since all our bets are about you and your love life,
you owe me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ava, just make the bet.

I’m not going to lose. I have never lost.”

She looked between us for a second. “Fine.”

She shook Reagan’s hand. “But if you lose, you
owe me fifty bucks.”

Snorting, I stood up and grabbed the bucket

with the paint stuff for the sign. “Nice try. This isn’t
my bet.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emma Hart is the New York Times and USA TODAY

bestselling author of over thirty novels and has been translated
into several different languages.

She is a mother, wife, lover of wine, Pink Goddess, and

valiant rescuer of wild baby hedgehogs.

Emma prides herself on her realistic, snarky smut, with

comebacks that would make a PMS-ing teenage girl proud.

Yes, really. She’s that sarcastic.

You can find her online at:
www.emmahart.org
www.facebook.com/emmahartbooks
www.instagram.com/EmmaHartAuthor
www.pinterest.com/authoremmahart

Alternatively, you can join her reader group at

http://bit.ly/EmmaHartsHartbreakers.

You can also get all things Emma to your email inbox by

signing up for Emma Alerts*. www.emmahart.net/newsletter

*Emails sent for sales, new releases, pre-order

availability, and cover reveals. Each cover reveal contains an
exclusive excerpt.

BOOKS BY EMMA HART

Standalones:

Being Brooke

Catching Carly

Casanova

Mixed Up

Miss Fix-It

Miss Mechanic

The Upside to Being Single

The Hook-Up Experiment

The Dating Experiment

Four Day Fling

Best Served Cold

Tequila Tequila

Catastrophe Queen

The Roommate Agreement

The Accidental Girlfriend

Kiss Me Not

Kiss Me Tonight

Kiss Me Again

Frenemies

Number Neighbors

Hot Mess

The Girl Next Door:

The One-Night Stand Next Door

The Girl Next Door

The Vegas Nights series:

Sin

Lust

Stripped series:

Stripped Bare

Stripped Down

The Burke Brothers:

Dirty Secret

Dirty Past

Dirty Lies

Dirty Tricks

Dirty Little Rendezvous

The Holly Woods Files:

Twisted Bond

Tangled Bond

Tethered Bond

Tied Bond

Twirled Bond

Burning Bond

Twined Bond

Tricky Bond

By His Game series:

Blindsided

Sidelined

Intercepted

Call series:

Late Call

Final Call

His Call

Wild series:

Wild Attraction

Wild Temptation

Wild Addiction

Wild: The Complete Series

The Game series:

The Love Game

Playing for Keeps

The Right Moves

Worth the Risk

Memories series:

Never Forget

Always Remember

Document Outline