Where the hell had these curves come from?
Casey didn’t even look up from her phone. “I hate it when skinny people talk about being fat. You can wear anything.”
“Just look up.”
Her friend did as asked…and smiled. “About time you finally grew up and got an ass and some hips.”
“Casey! Come on. I’m freaking out here. What’s happening to me?”
Her friend stood, put one hand under her chin, and gave Bennett a once over. “There’s no delicate way to say this, but are you hitting the Chunky Monkey a little hard?”
“No,” Bennett said. “I don’t even like ice cream.”
“No reason to get so snippy. Maybe you’re just on your period. God knows I gain like five pounds whenever mine comes.”
Period? Bennett’s stomach sank to her toes as she choked down a gasp. She’d been so busy with work, she hadn’t thought about that. When was the last time she had her period? She counted on her fingers.
Five weeks… Six weeks… Nine weeks…
Too long. It’d been too long. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
“What?” Casey dumped her phone into her giant purse.
Bennett’s head felt light and fuzzy as stars spotted her vision. She sat on the floor before she could pass out. “This is a size bigger than I normally wear, and it’s still tight.”
Casey shrugged. “Hell, I can go up a size overnight. And you’re going from a zero to a two. It’s not really a travesty.”
Bennett’s head dropped between her knees, and she forced herself to take deep breaths. “Oh God.”
Casey grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Honey, I’m sorry. You’re beautiful and still super skinny. I was just giving you a hard time.”
How could it have been so long? Maybe she’d miscounted. Or maybe it was just a fluke. Or maybe…
She counted back again. Shortly before Casey’s wedding. Just in time for her to go after that hunk on a stick fashion designer—
No. It couldn’t be.
“It’s not that.” Her voice was hoarse with unshed tears. “Ten weeks.”
“Ten weeks what?” Casey knelt beside her.
“Since my period.”
“Oh. Ohhh. Wow. Okay. Well, that is, um… So you’re late. That can be caused by a lot of things. So can the weight gain. And you told me it’s been forever since you’ve been with a guy.”
Except for that one time.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
“You know how I thought I had the flu last week?” she croaked.
“But you got over it,” Casey said hopefully. “You don’t get over morning sickness that fast. And the flu can also cause your body to go out of whack. Any kind of sickness can.”
Her body was definitely out of whack, but could it be so simple? Never in her life had she wanted so much to just be sick.
She shrugged, her head still down. “But I’m not really over it. I’ve been sticking with soup and crackers for the last eight days, because it’s the only thing that sounds good. That’s why I was surprised my jeans were so tight.”
“Okay, but you haven’t been with a guy in ages, so unless this is immaculate conception…”
Bennett winced and picked at her fraying socks. Maybe soup and crackers for breakfast wasn’t as safe as she thought.
“Oh God. Look at me,” Casey ordered. “Bennett, what are you not telling me?”
She sighed. “At the wedding…”
“At the wedding?”
“There was this guy…”
“No,” Casey said. “You didn’t… Did you?”
Bennett peeked up at Casey. She didn’t have to say it. The not-so-celibate truth was written all over her face.
“Well, that does it,” Casey said. “We aren’t going to find any answers sitting on the floor of this dressing room. Get out of those jeans. We’re going to the drug store.”
Forty-five minutes later they were at Casey and Nick’s penthouse apartment, staring at six pink sticks lined up on the bathroom counter.
All of them positive.
Not for nothing, but she was still waiting to see what the seventh stick revealed.
Come on. Give me just a little hope…
“I’m going to make a terrible mother,” Bennett whispered. “Remember that time we were doing that campaign for the organic baby food company? Those kids howled every time I came near them.”
“It’s different when it’s yours.” Casey pulled her into the living room and onto the couch. “At least that’s what people say.”
Bennett stared out the floor to ceiling windows. God. How could she have been so stupid? One stinking night. One. And she could have sworn they’d used a condom. They’d been buzzed and excited about getting a taste of each other, but she’d never have a one-night stand without one…
“Thanks for not asking questions right now,” Bennett said. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but I need a day or two to figure things out.”
She’d never planned on kids. Ever. It hurt her to her core knowing her parents had split before she’d been born. Whenever she asked about her dad, her mother said he didn’t exist. Even before the cancer took her, she refused to give Bennett his name. Eventually, Bennett had stopped caring.
As far as she was concerned, she owed her parents a big thank you for splitting up. They’d taught her she could take care of herself. Hell, that she had to take care of herself. Asking someone else to take on a portion of that responsibility was just asking to be let down.
But this was something else.
She’d promised herself long ago she’d never put her own kids through the kind of torment she’d gone through. That was easy to say when she was childless. But now? How the hell was she supposed to live up to that promise when—assuming this last pregnancy test didn’t give her a sliver of hope—she was already ten weeks pregnant?
A baby. What the fuck was she going to do with a baby?
Casey peeked at the seventh stick. “Positive.”
Bennett groaned and covered her face with her hands. This was a nightmare. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. “What am I going to do?”
Her friend hugged her. “I’m here for you. No matter what. We’re going to deal with this together. I texted my doc, Jacinda. She’s amazing. And I mean it, from here on out, you aren’t alone. Though I do think you might want to tell the dad.”
Bennett blew out a breath. Cass would freak out if she knew who the father was.
“It was just a one-night stand. I won’t force him to be a father to some kid he wasn’t planning.”
“You think that’s what happened with your dad?”
“I don’t know. I mean, Mom never talked about it, but the situation had to be pretty bad for her to leave him before I was born.”
“Aw, honey. Is that the story with this guy? He can’t be that bad if he made it through that impenetrable armor you put up whenever I’ve tried to set you up with someone.”
Okay yeah, Linc had irritated the hell out of her before she’d pulled down her panties for him. But did that mean he didn’t deserve to know about the baby? Her mom may have never even given Bennett’s father the option to be in his child’s life. She couldn’t do the same thing to Linc.
She saw two likely outcomes.
One, he’d want nothing to do with her. Bad, but she’d deal with it.
Two, he’d want to stick around and help. Good, right? Except that was maybe worse. As much as the idea intrigued her, she’d been down that road, being with a guy who wanted to be there for her but didn’t know when to back off. It only took a couple of weeks before a man doting on her began to feel suffocating.
“I’m going to be sick.”
“Do you want to get the bucket, or can you make it to the toilet?” Casey moved to help her up.
“No, not that kind of sick. Just overwhelmed. I don’t know what the hell to do.”
But that wasn’t really true. She knew what she should do—she needed to te
ll Linc. At least make him a part of the conversation.
“Can I take a rain check on the pizza you offered?” she asked. “I need to go talk to…you know who.”
“Your mystery lover? Okay. Do you want me to come?”
Eek. If Casey came, she’d see Linc. Should she tell her friend everything up front? Get all the secrets out before they had a chance to explode?
No. Not until she talked to Linc.
“I need to go alone.”
“Okay. But I mean it, Ben. We’re in this together. You text me, and I’ll be right over.” She squeezed her friend’s arm. “You’re going to be fine.”
Bennett forced a small smile, but she wasn’t so convinced.
He’s going to hate me.
…
“I don’t like the way these shorts look, Linc. You can’t make me wear them.”
Supermodels were a necessary evil in his business, but Marina Kolov was Lucifer incarnate. A six-month stay in rehab for coke addiction had done nothing for her attitude. As much as he loved women—and hell, he loved them more than anything—Marina drove him up the road to crazy.
“Luv, that arse of yours is God’s gift to men. You know it. I know it. My clothes make it look like your ass won the lottery. Give us a turn.”
She stuck her lips out in a pout, but there was approval in her eyes as she turned in the three-way mirror.
Marina might be beautiful, but she didn’t compare to a certain raven-haired beauty plaguing his dreams.
“What shirt do you want on Marina?” His assistant, Claire, asked with a bored sigh.
He couldn’t blame her. This had to be one of the longest shoots in history, even though they’d only been at it for three hours. Marina did that to people.
“No shirt. Marina, I want the pout. Cross your arms, hands on your breasts. Got it?” She rolled her eyes, but she was an exhibitionist, so he knew she couldn’t care less if she was bare-chested.
His phone rang, and Nick’s name crawled across the screen.
Linc answered the call. “What’s up?”
“The girls are up to something.” Nick sounded panicked.
Linc smiled. His brother-in-arms was paranoid when it came to a certain woman in his life.
“They’re always up to something,” Linc said as he nodded to the photographer trying to get his attention. The model’s short shorts were riding up her arse. Perfect. Sex sold. No one knew that better than he did.
Marina glanced over her shoulder and pouted. Yep. She might be a demon, but she would sell the hell out of his new clothing line.
“Not like this,” Nick said. “Cass kicked the security team out of the penthouse.”
Linc chuckled. He pointed to the long button-down shirt he’d designed to go over one of the shorter skirts. Claire picked it up along with the skirt and motioned for Marina to follow her.
“Are you laughing?”
“Don’t worry,” Linc said. “No one can get in this fortress. We have guards everywhere. And I’m five floors down in the photography studio. They’ll be fine.”
“I guess. But I haven’t seen her since this morning. She was asleep when I left. My plane just landed, and she’s not even returning my texts.”
And there it was. Nick had it bad for Casey. He couldn’t blame the vampire. She was beyond awesome—beautiful, funny, and smart. The whole package. She and Nick had been friends who finally figured out they were meant for eternity.
In a lot of ways, he envied them. But he wasn’t a long-term kind of guy. That sort of thing wasn’t in the cards for him. Nick was head of the Supernatural Council, and Linc was his second-in-command. Between Linc’s duties to the council, helping to run the army of security that protected them, and his own business, he didn’t have time for anything that lasted longer than a single night.
He wouldn’t let anyone get hurt on his watch, which meant he couldn’t afford to get distracted by falling in love—even lust—with anyone.
Still, he was glad his friends had found one another.
Casey’s friend Bennett flashed through his brain. She was the whole package in a different way. Oh, she had the smart and beautiful thing down, but he didn’t like that he couldn’t get her out of his head.
Not going there.
“My guess is once she knows you’re in the building, she won’t keep you waiting for long. Hey, one of the buyers gave me tickets for one of the corporate boxes at the Cowboys’ game on Sunday. Want to come?”
“Let me check with the wife, but yes.”
Linc didn’t call Nick out, but damn, Casey had him whipped bad.
“Mason said they had a bunch of bags from CVS in the limo. Bennett had the flu last week. Do you think Casey is sick?”
“So what if she is? She’ll get better.”
Nick growled. “I’m going home. This is bullshit. I need to know if she’s okay.”
Linc let out a silent sigh when he heard Nick mention Bennett. What he’d give to have just one more night with her…
No. No. No.
They’d agreed nothing would happen beyond that one night. For everyone’s good.
“Oh, hold on,” Nick said. “Casey says it’s okay for me to go home. Just got a text.”
“There ya go. Let me know about the game.”
Linc ended the call, then looked at the shots on the computer and pointed out a few he liked to the photographer.
He rubbed his beard when Marina returned. Something wasn’t quite right. Her torso was longer than the model he’d used for the fitting. The bottom of the shirt hit the skirt at the wrong angle.
“Hold up.” Linc unbuttoned the bottom of the shirt and tied it into a bow at mid-waist. He rested his hands on Marina’s hips to measure that the sides of the shirt were even. “There you are, love.”
“Linc, someone is here to see you,” Claire said.
He turned just in time to see Bennett. She shook her head, worry etched on her face. But before he could reach her, she took off toward the hallway. Maybe Casey was sick after all.
“Hey.” He caught up to her in a few strides. “What’s wrong?” He reached out and took her hand.
Even upset, she was gorgeous. Those blue eyes pierced him, and raven hair framed her pixie-like face.
“I shouldn’t have come,” she said, but thankfully, she didn’t pull her hand away.
He’d been thinking a lot about touching her lately. He’d never admit it, but she’d been the inspiration behind his newest collection. She was a combination of edgy innocence—at least she’d appeared that way when he first met her.
But that night in Greece that they’d slept together? Jesus. Innocence wasn’t a word he’d use. Ever since then, he’d wanted nothing more than to call her, but she’d made it clear they were only using each other’s body for that night and nothing else.
“What’s wrong?” he said. “Is Casey all right?”
She stared at the ceiling. A single tear slipped down her cheek.
What the fuck? The tear tugged at his gut. Something was wrong. She wasn’t the crying type.
“Everyone,” he yelled to the small crew, who were milling around the set with his Ducati center stage. He always tried to get his bikes into the shoots. It was his thing. The Times had called his collections Biker Chic. “Take twenty. I need the studio.”
He led her into his office, just left of where the shoot had been. “Sit down and tell me what’s going on. Is Casey sick?”
“No,” she said hoarsely.
“Okay.” He opened the fridge behind the panel in the wall where he kept fabrics. “Do you want a beer?”
She huffed. “No. I don’t want a fucking beer.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Great, now I have no impulse control. What the hell else is going to happen? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here.” She rose, but then grabbed her head as if she were dizzy.
“Hey.” He helped her back into the seat. “I know we aren’t that close. But you can tell me anything. What’s wrong?”
/>
“I need to go home.” She pulled her keys from her purse and started away, but she only managed a few steps before she had to lean against the wall to hold back the wave of emotion he could see coming over her.
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” he said. “Just tell me. Let me help you.”
“You’re not going to be any better at this than I am.”
“You’re not making any sense. Any better at what?”
She gestured to her body. “Can’t you tell?”
“What is it? Are you sick?”
She gave him a look like he was an idiot. “I’m pregnant. With your baby. With your stupid, super-sperm-busting-through-condoms baby.”
Holy fuck.
Chapter Three
In a way, Bennett felt a little sorry for Linc. She’d thought he was going to pass out in the chair there for a second. He sort of collapsed in on himself and ran his hand through his hair.
She remembered him doing something similar to her. How it had felt as he’d run his hand through her—
Oh my gawd. Not the time.
He stared at her as if assessing her in some way.
“The CVS bags were full of pregnancy tests?”
How the hell did he know that?
Probably Nick. Casey had refused to let him into the penthouse until they’d finished the tests. She couldn’t believe he’d call Linc.
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“What do you mean?” Did he mean weeks? He should be able to do the math on that one.
“Tests? How many did you do?”
Oh. “Uh, I think ten all together.” Would he think less of her if he knew they hadn’t done all ten tests at once? That they’d gone back for another three tests after the first seven had shown positive? “All pink, all plus signs. I was going to wait to talk to you about it until after I went to the doctor, but it was like a homing device drew me here. I’m scared. And Casey, bless her sweet little heart, was trying to help, but I think she’s more scared than I am. She knows what a God awful mother I’m going to be.”
Baby's Got Bite Page 2
