Jack's Surrender (Holiday Cove 5)

I stripped out of my clothes, grabbed the bag, and headed to the adjoined water closet. My heart sped up as the cardboard box slid into my open hand. A woman cradling a baby featured front and center on the pink box and a million emotions swirled inside me.

It wasn’t my first time taking a pregnancy test. I’d had a scare back when I was married. We weren’t ready for kids but I’d missed a pill and then a period. It hadn’t been a baby, just a weird fluke, and my cycle returned the following month. This time, I had a sickening feeling in my stomach that told me this outcome would be different—no matter how loudly I tried to argue against it and rationalize it away.

I was on the pill but I knew they weren’t a hundred percent effective and I’d missed my last two periods. At first I’d chalked it up to stress and thought maybe my hormones were off because of the stress of a new job and my failed relationship. But I was six days late for my second month and I knew something else was at play. I’d bought the tests the day before but hadn’t brought myself to actually piss on it.

After seeing Jack and hearing his plans—I knew I needed to make a decision—and to make that decision, I needed the truth.

I peed on the first test and then hopped in the shower to keep myself from compulsively pacing the bathroom. When I got out, it was ready to decipher. With shaking hands, I picked it up from the sink. I blinked a few times and refocused on the plastic stick. It couldn’t be right. I reached for the box and scrambled back to the toilet and took the second test.

Just to be sure.

Five agonizing minutes later, after shaking the stick a thousand times, I had my answer.

My eyes flew to my reflection in the mirror and I gripped the sink to keep the room from spinning. My stomach churned and I fell to my knees, leaning back against the tile wall.

In the two plus years Jack and I had been together, I never once thought I’d have his baby before we were married and settled down. Now, not only was I having his baby, but I was also having his baby alone.

17

Jack

“Another pint?”

It was a simple question. But for whatever reason, I didn’t have the answer. A glance to my left revealed the one Peyton Blair wanted me to have. She’d been after me for weeks. Normally our flight schedule kept us too busy to enjoy much downtime, but we had three days in London and somewhere along the way, she decided the only souvenir she wanted was a night with me—in her bed.

She was a pretty girl. It hadn’t escaped me how many men looked her way wherever we went. Tonight was no exception. The pub we’d been holding down for the better part of the evening was packed, and she was gathering quite a crowd of secret admirers. The interesting thing was she didn’t even seem to notice.

Peyton wrapped an arm around my broad shoulders and leaned into me, grinning as she swayed on her feet. “Come on, Jack. You’re too young to act like such an old man!”

She’d already had a pint and a half. Impressive considering she was five foot nothing and tiny. She told me she grew up in a house full of boys and her big brothers and their friends liked to drink and didn’t mind if she joined in. Peyton was the kind of person that made a room light up from the moment she walked in. A bright, sunshine smile was never far from her lips, and her eyes danced like she was constantly being let in on some secret joke. We’d been flying charters together for the past two months and even when we had a technical glitch, she was soft and light—never so much as a flicker of panic in her eyes.

The bartender gave me one final look and I nodded. Peyton pumped her fist and then stumbled against me. My arm went around her tiny waist and anchored her in place. She just giggled. “Maybe after you have that one, you’ll be ready for some real fun.”

I looked down into her eyes and her lips parted. All I would have to do was lean another few inches and she’d be mine. For the night, for the weekend, hell, maybe even longer than that. Neither of us was attached and currently living in the same city and spending more days working together than not.

But I couldn’t.

And I didn’t know why.

Okay, that was a load of horse shit. I knew what was holding me back…

A drop-dead gorgeous blonde with legs for days, a heart of gold, and the sexiest smile that used to just be for me.