Bought For Marriage

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Bradford,” he said, beaming.

“Congrat—what?” I shouted, nearing my wits end.

“It seems your wife has contracted pregnancy, Mr. Bradford. You’re going to be a dad.”

Chapter Ten

KINSLEY

My brother hadn’t been in on the pregnancy secret, but it figured that he’d still managed to out me. And since he was still in therapy from the surgery, I couldn’t even kick him to make myself feel better about it. But judging from the stunned expression on Sullivan’s face, that was the least of my worries at the moment.

“Pregnancy?” he echoed.

“Well, what did you expect? You took me halfway across the world, through multiple time zones, totally messing up my pill schedule, and then filled me with your come as often as you could!”

“And on that note, I’ll leave you two to discuss this in private,” the doctor laughed before backing out of the room.

“You’re pregnant,” Sullivan repeated, his gaze dropping to my stomach. “With my baby?”

“Of course it’s your baby!” I cried. “Who else’s would it be?”

“And the pregnancy is what you meant when you said you broke our contract?” His jaw clenched as he gritted out, “Not another man?”

“Another man?” I gasped, stunned that he’d think for even a moment that I’d sleep with anyone other than him with how explosive the chemistry was between us. “You really thought that’s what I was talking about? That I’d been cheating on you, even though I promised you there wouldn’t be anyone else?”

“Yes.”

My heart dropped.

“No.”

And then it soared.

“Maybe.”

I was just plain confused when he jumped up and started to pace the floor, dragging a hand through his hair. “Just for a second, though. My imagination started to run wild, and my fears got the best of me.”

I’d never heard him sound so uncertain. When he walked past me, I reached out and squeezed his arm, halting him in his tracks. “I did break our contract, but it wasn’t because I wanted someone else, Sullivan. It was the baby.” My hand dropped down to cup my lower stomach. “And—” Tears welled in my eyes, and I swallowed down a lump in my throat as I contemplated if I should get it all out in the open at once and tell him about my feelings while I was at it.

“Shit, don’t cry,” he groaned, pulling me into his arms. “I’m fucking this all up.”

“No, I’m the one who’s done that. You’ve given me so much, and one of the few things you asked for in return was a childless, loveless marriage. And what did I go and do? Get knocked up during our honeymoon.”

“It’s all going to be okay,” he reassured me, squeezing me tight. “I swear it will.”

“But how, when I’ve messed everything up so badly?”

“You didn’t,” he insisted, taking a slight step backward and tilting my chin up to peer in my eyes. “Let me get you home first, and then we’ll talk about it. This is too important a conversation to have here. I want to do this at home, where it’s just the two of us.”

My heart started to race at the gentleness in his gaze. I’d expected him to be furious with me about the pregnancy, but he didn’t look the least bit angry. “Okay,” I gulped, nodding.

He swept my tears off my cheeks with his thumbs and bent his head to brush my lips with a gentle kiss. “If you look like you’re crying, it won’t matter how many brownie points I’ve earned. Your brother will want to kick my ass, and I won’t be able to blame him for it.”

“Or he’ll think something’s horribly wrong with me and I’m dying. Then he’ll be too busy freaking out to worry about trying to beat you up.” I took a deep breath and reluctantly stepped away from Sullivan to walk into the bathroom. I splashed my face with cold water and patted it dry. When I turned around, Sullivan was right behind me, holding his hand out.

“We’ve got this,” he assured me.

I pasted a smile on my face and walked with him to my brother’s room. “Hey, bro. I hate to do this, but we’ve got to cut our visit short.”

Graham was sitting in the recliner in the corner of the room. His head jerked up, and he studied both of us, his gaze moving over my face, down to our connected hands, and then to Sullivan. His blue eyes held concern when they came back to me. “Was it bad news? If so, you can tell me. I’m strong enough to take it, and I’ll be there to help you through whatever it is.”

“It’s nothing bad,” I reassured him, rushing forward to bend down and give him a hug.

“You swear?” he whispered in my ear, holding me tight.

“I promise.” I kissed his cheek and smiled at him. “I’ll come back tomorrow and explain everything.”