Page 70 of Intersect
Jeff visibly struggles to control his temper. I wait impatiently, already knowing exactly what he will say. I’ve heard it so many times now that a part of me doesn’t feel capable of listening to it again. “I just want to know why you—” hebegins.
I can’t do it. I can’t listen to him even one more time. “I’mpregnant.”
He actually steps backward, as if he’s been struck. “Bullshit,” hewhispers.
I pull my T-shirt up just enough that he can see the swell of my stomach. A swell that’s never been there before. EvenIcan’t imagine why I’m showing so soon, but today it’s come in handy. Because I see, in his shock, that this is the one way to make Jeff giveup.
He stares so intently that Nick finally tugs my shirt back down. “Whose is it?” he asksmutinously.
“I think you know the answer to that,” I reply. It’s been months since we slepttogether.
The ugly words he wants to say are flashing across his face. But I know how he was raised—I’m going to be a mother, which creates a line he won’tcross.
He swallows. Holds his ground. Then marches past us without aword.
Nick stares him down until he’s in his car and driving away. “I think that’s the end of it,” I say, turning toward him. “Which is a good thing. You’ve got to be sick of getting in fights on mybehalf.”
He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close. “I will very happily fight for you and our family until my dying breath,” he replies, his mouth near my ear. “And if our daughters are anything like you, I’m guessing I’d better plan onit.”
37
QUINN
Nick is up bright and early the day after we get home, trying to get back onschedule.
I watch him pack his gym bag, smiling to myself. These tiny moments with him aren’t something ephemeral, they’re something I might get to live again and again. It seems like too much good fortune for one person. “We could have sixty more years likethis.”
He looks over and grins. “I was just thinking the same thing. Although it was mostly to convince myself I’ll have plenty of opportunities to climb back in bed withyou.”
I stretch my arms overhead. “You should totally climb back in bed with me,” I replythroatily.
His eyes move over me, linger on my curves under a single flat sheet, before he forces himself to look away. “You should be sleeping in while you can,” he says. “And you’re not eating enough either. Red Gatorade is notfood.”
The craving for Gatorade—and absolutely nothing else—is new. Maybe the twins are going to be athletes. “I feel like a million bucks. I’mpregnant, notdying.”
His eyes close and he smiles. “You’re going to be a complete pain in the ass about this, aren’tyou?”
I laugh. I was just thinking the exact same thing about him. “Fine. Go to work. I can’t wait to hear what your colleagues have to say when they find out you’re dating anundergrad.”
“I think the bigger news will be that Iknocked upan undergrad,” he mutters, knotting his tie. He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I hope you plan to rest today. You’ve been through a lot the past fewweeks.”
Argh. I suspect he will not approve of my plans for the day. “I was thinking I’d go by my mom’s place in Georgetown to see if she left any files. There may be someone I can contact to helpDarcy.”
He frowns. “I just get through suggesting you rest, and you respond by telling me you plan to break andenter?”
“It’s not breaking and entering if it’smyhome.”
He arches a brow. “The title wasn’t in the papers she left us. So do you have a single way to prove it’syours?”
“Yes,” I say, petulant as a child, “but I may need to break and enter to findit.”
His mouth twitches but he flattens it out just in time to look stern again. “Just wait,” he says. “I’ll leave early today and we’ll go over there together. I don’t need my pregnant girlfriend walking into another deadly trapalone.”
I climb to the edge of the bed with the sheet wrapped around my chest. “How can you still be so suspicious? I’mhealed.”
He sighs. “Look, it’s not that I don’t trust Sarah. But I don’t trust what we’ll find there. I don’t trust that there isn’t some new fucked-up thing that’s going to make shit gohaywire.”
“Likewhat?”