The Heart's Game (The Kelly Brothers, Book 4) (10 page)

He slumped against the doorway and struggled to catch his breath. Twelve weeks. He calculated backward and put the date of conception to the week of Comic-Con.

FUCK!

I knew I shouldn’t have given in to temptation and used that condom, but I thought she was on the pill
.

Cold sweat pricked his cheeks when he realized she’d never confirmed that one way or another. She’d just nodded when he told her to get some Plan B.

But I pulled out in time
.

One glance at the ultrasound screen told him he hadn’t.

Fuck, fuck, fuck…

“Dan, are you okay?”

Kai’s voice pulled him from the closing walls of panic. “Huh?”

“You look pale. Is everything all right?”

Dan glanced at the ultrasound screen one more time and saw the tiny little fetus frozen in time. A baby.

His baby.

I’m screwed.

He swallowed hard and tried to pull himself together before the whole hospital learned he was about to become a father. He grabbed the empty desk chair and sat down. “Yeah, just a little low blood sugar,” he lied. “Haven’t had time to eat lunch yet.”

“You should grab a bite when you get a chance.” Kai turned to the screen to his left and clicked on his patient’s name. “It looks like Mr. Ghatak’s CT is done.”

Dan’s hands shook as he forced himself to focus on his patient’s findings. His job was to save lives, and the perforated colon found on the CT could kill his patient if he didn’t take care of it immediately. He’d deal with Jenny after he’d had time for the news to sink in.

And maybe after he’d had a chance to run this by Adam. If there was ever a time for some big brotherly advice, it was now.

***

Jenny wrapped the coarse woven blanket around her shoulders and waited for the ER doctor to return with her ultrasound report. She’d heard the baby’s heartbeat, which had eased some of her anxiety. The baby was still alive. The question was, would it stay alive?

An hour after she’d returned from radiology, he pulled back the curtain and came into her room. “Good news. It doesn’t look like you’re miscarrying.”

Relief flooded through her like rain after a long drought. “But the bleeding this morning?”

“You said there was no cramping, so that made a miscarriage less likely.”

“But you don’t know the cause?”

“You mentioned that you’d had intercourse this morning, so that was probably the cause. If I were you, I’d hold off on the sex until your OB says it’s safe to resume it.”

She nodded.
It was my fault. My own selfish fault
.

She hugged her lower stomach, grateful that she hadn’t lost the baby.

“Other than that, I’d say you’re good to get dressed and go. My nurse will be back in a few minutes with your discharge paperwork. Remember, no intercourse until cleared by your OB.”

“I won’t forget.”

She pulled out her phone and slowly typed out a text to Dan.

It was fun while it lasted, but I think it’s time to end our arrangement
.

As great as the sex was, it wasn’t worth endangering the life inside her.

And as the heavy sensation of mourning filled her, she realized it was better this way. She’d already teetered too close to falling for Dan. Better to make a clean break now than lose both her baby and her heart.

Chapter Eight

Dan dialed Jenny’s number and counted the rings before it went to voicemail.

Two
.

She’d rejected his call yet again. He let out a curse and resisted the urge to throw his phone across his office. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the amber leaves on the trees outside his window, bathing the walls in a golden light, but his mood was too dark for him to enjoy it.

Four days had passed since he’d discovered Jenny was pregnant. Four days since she’d sent him the cryptic text message ending their arrangement and shut him out completely. Four days since his world was turned upside down.

It was nothing short of a miracle that he’d made it to Friday without losing his mind. As it was, he wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping, and could barely think about anything else but that little blob of life on the ultrasound screen.

He paced behind his desk, his gut churning. Everything about this situation had him on edge. He was used to being in control, used to calling the shots, used to dictating when things were over. But now the power had shifted to the one woman who wanted nothing to do with him.

Asking Adam for advice would mean exposing his mistake, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do at this point. He dialed his eldest brother’s number.

Instead of going to voicemail, Adam answered on the second ring. “Hey, Dan.”

The churning in his stomach ceased and dropped like a lead weight. “Got a moment?”

“Sure. What’s going on?”

Dan ran his finger along the collar of his neatly pressed button-down shirt. Even though his life was going to hell in a hand basket, at least his dry cleaners kept him from looking that way. “Promise not to say a word of this to Mom.”

A heavy pause filled the line, followed by, “Tell me what happened.”

In his mind, he was prepared to say he’d knocked a girl up, but when he opened his mouth, what came out instead was, “I’m going to be a father.”

The air whooshed out of his lungs with his confession, followed by an inability to draw in the next breath. His mind whirled, the world around him teetering in a nauseating form of vertigo. He sank down in his chair before he crashed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and repeated, “I’m going to be a father.”

Suddenly, it dawned on him that this was about more than losing Jenny. This was about the baby.

His baby.

Even if Jenny wanted to end things, that still didn’t change the fact that the child she carried was his. The possessive urge wiped away the doubt and anxiety and helped him make sense of the chaotic cloud that had surrounded him since Monday. More than anything else, he wanted this child, and he’d do anything to keep it.

“I see,” Adam said at last. “And the mother?”

“Is not speaking to me at the moment. Hence, why I called you.”

“Why can’t my brothers ever come to me with simple problems?” Adam muttered. “Okay, start from the beginning.”

“I met Jenny at Comic-Con in July. We had a little one-night fling, but right before she left, we had sex using the emergency condom Caleb slipped me before he deployed, and it broke.”

“You’re a doctor, Dan. You should know better.”

“The wrapper was still intact, and I thought I pulled out in time.”

Some incomprehensible sounds came from his brother. Dan could picture Adam sitting with his elbows on his desk, raking his fingers up the hair along his temples the way their father had when they’d done something stupid as kids, and struggling to find something to say other than “You’re an idiot.”

“How did she find you to deliver this joyous news?”

“She’s in Paul’s gaming group.”

“I thought you swore off gamer chicks.”

Dan stared out the window at the gorgeous October day, searching for a dark cloud and finding none. “I had until I met her.”

“So you like her?”

“Yes.” And until Monday, he could’ve sworn she felt the same way.

“And how did you react when she gave you the news?”

“Funny you should ask that.” He twirled around in his chair, his back to the window. “She hasn’t officially told me yet.”

“Then how do you know?”

Sweat prickled the back of his neck, and he rubbed it away before it dampened his collar. “Um, I sort of accidentally saw her ultrasound on Monday.”

“And you’re sure it was hers?”

“Pretty sure. I even matched the date of conception to Comic-Con.”

More incomprehensible muttering. “And yet she’s not speaking to you? Why? Did you say something to her about never wanting kids?”

“No. When I ran into her again up here, I even asked her out, but she turned me down. Said the timing was bad and that she couldn’t get involved with anyone. But I continued to work on her, and the next thing I knew, she called me up four weeks ago to set up a friends with benefits arrangement. I thought I was finally making some headway until she sent me a text on Monday telling me we needed to end things. Now she won’t return my calls or answer my texts, and I’m at a complete loss trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Don’t you find it a little odd that the day she breaks off things with you was the day you found out she was pregnant? Maybe she’s not returning your calls for a reason.”

The lead weight in his gut doubled in size, pushing the contents of his stomach into his throat. “What are you talking about, Adam?”

“What if she just found out she was pregnant on Monday and is trying to keep you from finding out about it until she decides whether or not to continue the pregnancy?”

His fingers turned to ice, and his breath shook. “Jenny wouldn’t have an abortion.”

“You said it yourself—she turned you down because she couldn’t get involved with anyone. How do you think a baby is going to fit into her life?”

Despite the chill in his blood, sweat dripped from his hairline. What if Adam was right? What if Jenny was planning on terminating the pregnancy and ended things with him before he found out? What if he had the child taken away from him before he even had a chance to tell Jenny how he felt about it?

A calm, rational voice in the back of his mind told him it was probably for the best. After all, he barely knew her. And he was finally at a point in his life when he could go out and have fun, not be changing diapers and fixing bottles. Did he really want to be saddled with a child when he could be going out and partying, taking home a hot chick every night and never risking his heart again on someone who could break it?

The churning in his stomach returned with a vengeance, requiring several deep breaths before he could say, “I can’t let that happen. I want this baby. And I want her.”

“Then it sounds like you need to be telling her this, not me.”

“But how, when she keeps rejecting my calls?”

“Do you know where she lives?”

“Yes.” He drawled out the word, wondering why he hadn’t thought of this before.

“Then I suggest you go over there tonight and don’t leave until she’s heard what you have to say.”

“Good idea.” He grabbed his coat and headed for the door, determined to be at her place the moment she came home from work. And if that failed, then he’d have to track her down at her office. He wasn’t going to risk losing what mattered to him any longer.

He was about to hang up when Adam added, “Oh, and congratulations.”

Dan slid to a stop, letting the final word sink in. “Thanks, Adam. But remember, not a word of this to Mom. I’ll break the news to her when I’m ready.”

“Not a word, but you’d better tell her soon. She keeps harping on me and Lia for a grandchild, and we’re not there yet.”

Dan doubted it was from lack of trying. Adam adored his wife, and they both wanted to start a family. For their sake, he hoped they wouldn’t have to wait much longer. Out of all his brothers, Adam would make the ideal father. “Want me to take pressure off of you, huh?”

“Just think how happy it would make her.”

Dan chuckled as he locked up his office. “Once she forgives me for knocking up a girl I wasn’t married to.”

“She will. Eventually. Once she’s chewed you out for a month or so.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“No problem, little bro. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Dan replied just before he hung up and got into his car.
I’m going to need it
.

***

Jenny climbed the flight of stairs to her condo, hanging onto the railing with each step and cursing the fact her brother had talked her into wearing heels to dinner tonight. The balls of her feet throbbed, and her toes felt like they’d been jammed into a medieval torture device. The ache in her lower back only added to her misery.

Great, it’s only the beginning of my second trimester, and I’m already wanting to wear nothing but muumuus and bunny slippers
.

But since Mike and Jason wanted to take her out to celebrate that milestone, she’d grudgingly dressed up for the occasion.

When she got to the top of the stairs, though, she forgot about her aches and pains and froze.

Sitting in front of her door with his knees drawn up and his forehead resting on them was Dan.

Her hand flew to her stomach before she realized it, and the fabulous dinner she’d had at Canlis threatened to come back up. “What are you doing here?”

He popped his head up and met her gaze. The haunted expression in his eyes tore at her heart and made her hate what she’d done to him. “I’m waiting for you.”

She blinked away the tears that stung the corners of her eyes and reached around him to unlock her door. “Dan, please, I thought I made it quite clear that what we had was just temporary and—”