Don't Promise (Don't 3)

I grinned so hard it hurt. “Oh my God. This is happening.”

He tipped my chin up. “I’ll be there.”

“It’s six weeks away, so I just need this time to convince Jake. Ok?”

I saw his playful look turn to a scowl. He hated Jake’s name. “You realize a lot can change in that amount of time?”

“W-what?” My eyes darted frantically.

Did he not think we could survive the weeks? Because what I felt was the kind of emotion that moved mountains. It was what songs were written from. It inspired epic movies. What connected Luke and me was crushing and suffocating and everything I’d always wanted.

His fingers tickled my belly. “This is what I’m talking about. You could be pregnant.”

“Oh,” I whispered. The relief was replaced with new alarm. Holy shit. I couldn’t go to the CYAs knocked up.

“Do you think you are?” There was something hopeful and sweet in his eyes. Jake had pegged him all wrong.

“I don’t know. It’s too soon to take a test or anything like that.”

“When can you?”

I swallowed. We were talking about this. Actually talking about taking a pregnancy test while we were standing in my kitchen on the day the CYA list came out.

“I-I haven’t really looked into it.”

“And is it ok for you to drink coffee?”

I looked at the full mug. “Coffee?”

“Yeah, I thought pregnant women had to stay away from that shit.”

“Luke, we don’t know that I’m pregnant and we’ve been careful every other time.”

“Have we?” He eyed me. “Last night? This morning? Pulling out isn’t birth control, baby.”

He had me there. It wasn’t. But when we were naked and I felt his body under mine all I could think about was having everything that was his. I wanted him in every way. He wanted it too. We were being careless and reckless. We were in no positon to have a baby. But every time I thought about it, the idea was less and less scary.

“I’m on the pill. I’ve taken it every day this week. Every day.”

He nodded. “Ok.”

But my fingers threaded through his and rested over my stomach. He kissed me, sucking on my lips.

“Can I get the password?”

“Oh yeah. It’s lovesong.”

He grinned. “Thanks.”

I watched him walk out of the kitchen. I had six weeks to break the news to Jake—he didn’t own me anymore. I belonged to someone else. Heart and soul.

26

Luke

Two weeks ago I was in Nashville. Tonight I was in DC, getting ready for our game against the Sharks tomorrow.

I had spent the day in a hotel suite studying the Sharks’ defense. I had seen it before, but I wanted to be prepared.