by M. E. James
"Are you playing with me right now?" Mary Lou studied her. "You know, like that time when you said that you were going to take away my key to your apartment, even though you didn't?"
Emmy groaned. "I wish I was playing with you."
"How did this happen?" Mary Lou stared at her, flabbergasted.
She said drily, "Well, when a man likes a woman very much, sometimes he'll—"
"Not that, you ninny. I know enough about sex to write a textbook." Mary Lou waved away her words. "What I mean is, how the hell did this happen to you? Your legs couldn't be more firmly closed if somebody duct taped them together and then sealed the remaining cracks with concrete."
Was she that much of a prude? "Thanks…"
"You know what I mean," Mary Lou said. "Who's the father?"
She hung her head in shame. "You remember that guy who saved me from having my head smashed by the BMW?"
"The hero guy?" Mary Lou gasped.
She stared determinedly at the ceiling as her cheeks burned. "Well, there was more to the story than what I told you. Hero guy didn't just save me. Hero guy also took me to his place, and…"
"And you played hide the cannoli with him," Mary Lou said. "Oh, good grief. You finally get laid after a lifelong dry spell—"
Emmy fumed. "Hey!"
"And this is what happens to you?" Mary Lou shook her head. "You've got shit luck."
"It could be worse." Emmy winced.
Mary Lou sank down in the seat across from her. "How?"
"I could have crabs instead," she said.
"Psh." Mary Lou rolled her eyes. "All you need to do to treat crabs is use antilice shampoo."
"How the hell do you know that?"
The woman twiddled her thumbs innocently. "A friend told me."
"Uh-huh." Emmy didn't believe that for a second. "Fine. Then I could have HIV."
"That's true," Mary Lou said. "Or malaria."
Emmy nodded. "Or a flesh-eating fungus."
"Leprosy is one nasty-ass disease," Mary Lou said. "You could have leprosy."
"Or I could be married to Justin Bieber."
Both women shivered in horror.
"Now you went too damn far," Mary Lou said. "That's just morbid."
"Regardless, I'm saying that there are many, many things worse than this." Emmy placed her hand on her stomach. "I'm not ready to have a baby, but it's happening whether I like it or not."
"So you're keeping it, then?" Mary Lou asked. "You know, you could always give it up for adoption."
Emmy hesitated.
"What?" Mary Lou eyeballed her.
"It's just, I keep thinking…" Emmy paused.
Despite the lag in conversation, Mary Lou didn't speak. The woman just watched her.
"Why can't I do this?" Emmy straightened her shoulders. "Thanks to the success of my bakery, I've paid off all of my student loans. I can afford to buy a house. As for spending time with the baby, I can train someone to be a manager so I can be home more. Compared to a lot of women, I'm more than capable of raising a child."
Mary Lou nodded. "You'll also have a good babysitter who'll look after the kid for free while you're busting your ass making all of those cupcakes."
"Who?" She blinked.
"Duh." Mary Lou elbowed her. "Me."
"You'd really watch the baby while I'm at the bakery?" Emmy stared at her, eyes wide.
"Who else is going to teach the kid the really important things?" Mary Lou asked.
Emmy gave her a sour look.
"Well, besides you, of course," Mary Lou said quickly.
She was so touched tears welled in her eyes. "Thank you."
"Oh, jeez, don't you start crying." Mary Lou shook her head. "If you cry, then I'll start to cry too. Damn, look, I've started already."
Sure enough, the woman's dark brown eyes were looking a little red. Emmy sniffed and fought down her own overwhelming emotions. At least now she knew that she had an ally in all of this. After all, she had no way of knowing how angry her parents would be, but she knew they weren't going to be dancing for joy. And as for Sebastian…Well, she'd have to be a fool to even consider the fact that he'd try to help her.
"Thank you for being so cool about all of this." She took a deep breath. "I had no idea how I was going to handle this situation on my own."
"But what about the father, Mr. Hero?" Mary Lou was still fanning her face, trying to blow away the tears. "He did help you out that day. Who's to say that he won't help you now?"
"He might want to help a bit, but I can't see him being overly committed," she said. "Saving a woman from being hit by a car and raising a baby are two completely different things. I don't even want to think about counting on his help."
"You are going to tell him, though, right?" Mary Lou asked.
She chewed her bottom lip. "Well, yeah."
"You don't sound like you're really going to do it." Mary Lou gave her a scolding look. "You sound like you're going to puss out."
"I'll tell him," she said. "I just don't know when yet."
"What's there to question? Tell him right away." Mary Lou asked. "The longer you wait, the harder it'll be. All you've got to do is march down to that man's place, knock on his door, and say, 'Surprise, you're going to be a father.'"
She winced. "Shouldn't I be a little more diplomatic about it? It's not as though I'm telling him that he's won a free trip to the car wash. I'm telling a man that he's going to be a father."
"It's better if you do it fast." Mary Lou patted her hand. "That's how I always told Henry I was pregnant."
Henry was Mary Lou's now-deceased husband. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Mary Lou had gotten pregnant several times, she'd always miscarried.
"You didn't get pregnant until you were married," she said, exasperated. Despite Mary Lou's exotic behavior, she'd been married for fifty years to the same man.
"A pregnant woman is a pregnant woman." Mary Lou shrugged. "It still means there's an extra mouth to feed. The first time I ended up pregnant, my husband was in college. He about crapped his pants in horror when he heard."
The color drained out of her face.
Mary Lou winced when she saw her expression. "I'm not helping at all, am I?"
"Not really, no." She shook her head.
"I was always about as comforting as the plague," Mary Lou said. "Still, I stand by what I said. You need to go to that man's place as soon as possible and tell him the news. What he does after that you have no control over."
Emmy batted her eyes hopefully. "Think you can do it for me?"
"Ha-ha. You wish." Mary Lou smirked. "No way would I want to be in your shoes."
"You really are as comforting as the plague." Emmy stood up, prepared to leave.
"Told you so," Mary Lou said.
Still, when Emmy left Mary Lou's place, she was feeling a little better—but only a little.
****
That night, Emmy lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. She'd tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was Sebastian's face. She guessed that wasn't so surprising, considering the fact that she planned to tell him about the baby the very next day. Unfortunately, she was so shaken by the thought that she was more restless than she'd been the night before her final college exam. There were so many ways that he could react, and as she lay in bed, she pictured every one of them.
"Sebastian, I'm pregnant," she said.
"Pregnant?" Sebastian stared at her blankly. "How could you let this happen? You told me that you were on birth control."
"I'm sorry," she said. "I was so drunk I didn't understand your question. It was the dumbest mistake I've ever made."
"Get out." Sebastian pointed at the door. "I don't want to see you ever again."
A chill ran down her spine. No, she didn't think that Sebastian would throw her out, despite the fact that she was to blame for her pregnancy. The situation would probably go something more like this:
"Sebastian, I'm pregnant," she said.<
br />
"Pregnant?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
"Uh-huh."
"Um, Emmy, are you sure it's mine?" he asked. "We only had one night together."
"I'm not the type of person who sleeps around," she said.
"How could this happen?" He groaned, clutching his head.
"It was just an accident," she said. "I don't expect anything from you."
"Good." Sebastian nodded.
Yeah, that may be a little closer to the truth. Not quite get-out-of-my-apartment-and-never-come-back, yet not all warm fuzziness either. Finally, there was the last scenario, the one she allowed herself to think about the least just because she knew it was the one less likely to come true.
"Sebastian, I'm pregnant," she said.
"You are?" Sebastian's eyes lit up.
"Uh-huh," she said. "But I don't expect anything from you. I can raise the baby myself."
"No, this is my child." He stepped forward to hug her. "I'm going to take responsibility."
She stared up at him in shock. "Really?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "That's what a man should do."
Yeah, she needed to stop picturing a helpful Sebastian. It wasn't that she doubted that he was a good guy. It was just that she didn't want to get her hopes up. If she dreamed for even a second that she'd have Sebastian at her side, then she would be crushed if he sent her packing when he heard the news.
She shuddered at the thought.
No, she wouldn't let herself count on Sebastian. Tomorrow morning she was going to show up at his place to tell him the news, and, come what may, she would leave with her heart intact.
Chapter Two
Emmy climbed out of the car and had to grip the hood for support because she was shaking so hard. As she gritted her teeth, she glanced at Sebastian's building and took a deep, calming breath. Okay, she could handle this. It wasn't like his words could hurt her in any way.
Yeah, right.
She stamped her foot, wanting to run away as fast as she could.
Why are you acting like this, Emmy? she told herself. Aren't you the woman who started her own bakery right out of college, even though your parents told you it was a risky thing to do? Yeah, she was right. She had started a bakery straight out of college. And that wasn't all she'd done. She'd braved high school, even though she was the quiet geek. She'd also lived through it when her parents fought constantly after her mom had been caught having an affair. She was a tough, strong, independent woman. The baby inside of her would be golden, even if she was the only one taking care of it.
But if that was the case, then why did she feel so unnerved?
She shook off her unease, then marched up to Sebastian's apartment. It was amazing how just six weeks earlier she'd been immersed in a sea of sheets. As she tried hard not to think about legs intertwining, she raised her hand to knock, then paused. What if she was making a massive mistake? What if he was smacked her? No, that wouldn't happen. But what if…if…Oh, she didn't know. She didn't have any more excuses to put this off.
Before she could hesitate any longer, she knocked. A few excruciatingly long minutes went by as she stared at the front door. And to think, of all the painful situations she'd imagined, having Sebastian not be home had not been one of them. She pressed her head against the door and heard footsteps. She took a step back, and the door opened.
There was a man standing at the threshold, but that man was not Sebastian. Still he looked just like him. He had the same auburn hair and gorgeous figure. The only major difference was that his eyes were green instead of gray. At that moment, she knew that this person was Sebastian's brother.
"Hello," Sebastian's brother said, examining her curiously.
She scratched the back of her neck. "I'm here to see Sebastian."
"Come in," the man said.
The gorgeous Sebastian look-alike took a step back, allowing her into the apartment. She walked around him, certain that her intestines were tied into the world's most complicated knots.
"Jake is dangerous," somebody was saying inside of the apartment. "He has to be stopped. The man has been targeting everyone close to us—mates, children, parents."
"I know he has to be stopped, damn it," Sebastian snapped. "Why do you think I've been working so hard?"
She had no idea what was going on, but Sebastian sounded pissed already. Not good. Time to flee.
Emmy whirled around. "You know what, I think I'll come back a different day and—"
"Sebastian, there's a woman here for you," Sebastian's brother boomed.
Damn him to hell. If he wasn't so tall, she would have throttled him.
The sofa made a crunching sound. "Woman?"
Sebastian stepped into the hall and met her eyes.
Time was a funny thing. It could either ooze by, or it could rush past in a crushing waterfall. Now was no different. Time oozed. In fact, it oozed so damn much she half thought it had stopped completely. Sebastian met her eyes and his mouth thinned. Not a good sign. She had no idea why he was pissed, but she had a feeling there would be no warm, fuzzy, "I'll help you take care of the baby!" today. She took a step back in nervousness and accidentally trod on his brother's foot.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed. "You."
She let out a nervous laugh. "Um, long time no see."
To this, Sebastian said nothing. Holy crap, she was in trouble.
"Who's this?" Sebastian's brother examined her.
"Emmy," he said.
"Oh." His brother's eyes widened. "You know what, I think I'll go."
"I think everyone should go," Sebastian said.
"Well, that's good. I have things to do anyway." She took a step toward the door. "People to see, cupcakes to frost."
Sebastian grabbed her arm and dragged her back. "I meant everyone except you."
"Don't be too harsh on her." His brother chuckled.
"Zeb, go order a pizza or something." Sebastian waved him away.
As Emmy chewed her bottom lip, Sebastian guided her—though perhaps dragged her would have been a better word—down the short hall and into the living room. Already the group of men he'd been talking to were standing up. She noted that most of them eyeballed her, likely wondering about her identity. She would have been wondering about theirs as well had she not been sure that a tyrannosaurus rex was starting a rampage in her intestines.
While Sebastian's fingers dug into her arm, the men left the room, leaving the two of them in complete silence. Unfortunately, silence had never been more horrifying.
"So…" How the hell was she supposed to go about this?
Sebastian took the lead first. "Where did you go?"
"Huh?" She blinked.
"That morning, I woke up and you'd disappeared," he said. "No note, no phone number, no nothing. I didn't even know your last name. How was I supposed to find you?"
That was why he was mad? She wouldn't have been more surprised if he'd cut off her thumb with a butter knife. "I didn't think you'd want to find me."
"After a night like we had, you thought I wouldn't want to find you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah."
"Why not?" he asked.
"Look, I was ashamed of myself, okay?" She wrung her hands. "And besides, I didn't know that you'd want to hear from me again. I thought you'd want to be rid of me."
"Of course not." His shoulders slumped. "In fact, I've been looking for you."
Her eyes widened. "You have?"
"Yes. And do you know how many Emmy's there are in the phonebook?" he asked. "Four hundred and ninety-seven. And I called every single one of them. I was just about to start calling bakeries to see if you were there."
She was flabbergasted. "Why would you go to that much trouble to contact a one-night stand?"
"You're special." He stared into her eyes. "I couldn't find another you, even if I lived for a thousand years."
"Oh, Sebastian." Her cheeks warmed, but then she remembered why she was there.
"I can't believe you came
back." He paused. "No, I'm so glad you came back."
"About that…" Oh God, was there an elephant sitting on her chest?
Sebastian made eye contact with her. "Yeah?"
"You may need to sit down." Or maybe he should pop a Valium.
Instead of sitting, Sebastian just stared at her. "What is it?"
"You probably aren't going to like this," she said quickly. "No, you definitely aren't going to like this."
Sebastian didn't speak.
"Um, well, here's the thing." She swallowed. "When I drink a lot, my logic goes out the window."
"I think that happens to everyone," he said gently.
"Yeah, but I did something really, really stupid." Oh man, she was floundering in a sea of her own babbling. "You know how you asked me if I was on something?"
It took Sebastian a moment to understand what she meant, but then he did. "Oh God."
"When you asked me that, I misunderstood what you'd said." Her bottom lip wobbled. "The thing is, I wasn't on birth control."
Finally, the man had the sense of mind to take her advice. He sunk onto the sofa.
"I-I'm pregnant." She couldn't catch her breath. "I'm so sorry."
Though she was certain Sebastian had heard the words and understood, he didn't speak. He seemed to be stuck in some sort of oh-my-God-I-just-found-out-I'm-going-to-be-a-father trance. If the situation wasn't so serious, she would have marveled at how gorgeous he looked even while bug-eyed.
"I don't expect anything from you." Her fists clenched at her sides. "As you know, I've managed to support myself for many years. I think I have what it takes to raise this baby on my own."
Finally, Sebastian's eyes fluttered as he came back to reality.
"No," he said.
"No, what?"
"No, you don't have to raise it on your own." He stood up again, his fists clenched at his sides. "Two people did this, not one. You can't take all the responsibility yourself."
"Need I remind you that I'm the idiot who told you I was on birth control when I wasn't?" She let out a defeated sigh. "I think the responsibility for this is mine."
"I'm not sure that I would have stopped even if I had known you weren't on anything," he said.
