Just for This Moment (Wishful 4)

“Yes.”

“Are you going to actually talk to me now?”

She didn’t really want to talk to anybody. She wanted to go back to bed and wake up to find this was all a bad dream. But it wasn’t a dream and, like it or not, she had to figure out what came next. And at least Tucker knew the truth about why she and Myles had married in the first place.

“Let me change first.”

By the time she’d shed her suit in the name of pajamas, he’d put together a tray of cheese and crackers and poured a glass of wine.

“I figured you hadn’t eaten.”

“Food and I haven’t exactly been on speaking terms for the last week.” She picked up a cracker and nibbled. It immediately turned to ash on her tongue. Ignoring the wine, she moved into his galley style kitchen herself and poured a glass of water. She swallowed it down and filled the glass again, taking it back to the sofa. Tucker waited, expectant, a deceptively lazy slouch to his posture where he leaned against the bar.

“Oh, sit down. You’re looming. Those courtroom intimidation tactics aren’t going to work on me.”

He crossed to a chair and sat, reaching for her hand. “What’s going on, Pip?”

She swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat. The tears had been threatening all day, but she’d forced them down. Now, in the face of Tucker’s support, she couldn’t hold back the tide. “There is a distinct possibility I’ve completely fucked up my life.” Her voice broke.

Tucker’s eyes narrowed. “What did he do?”

“Don’t. Don’t go all brute squad on him. This is my fault. My idea, my plan, my stupid, stupid heart.”

“Tell me.”

So she did. Letting the whole, horrible story spil

l out, including Suzanne’s accusation of pregnancy on the news of their engagement and what Myles had said about why he wanted to marry her. The sympathy in his expression undid her, adding a soundtrack of tears as an underscore to the tale.

When she’d finished, he handed her a box of tissues. “I was afraid of something like this. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out the way you wanted. But divorce—if that’s actually what he meant by what he said—isn’t the end of the world. It hurts, but you’d survive it. It’s not going to ruin your life.”

“Tucker, I’m pregnant.”

His mouth fell open.

“I shouldn’t be. I’m on birth control, and I used it exactly as intended. But there’s always that one percent,” she said bitterly. “When I came up with this whole crazy plan, it was supposed to be no big deal. No one was supposed to know we were married and we were just supposed to date like normal people. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him, and I sure as hell wasn’t supposed to get pregnant. Apparently the Universe really wants to kick me in the ass to make sure I don’t engage in any other crazy plans ever again.”

“What did Myles say?”

“He doesn’t know. That’s why I went to his office this morning. To tell him. And after I overheard what he said, I didn’t stick around.”

“Piper, you have to tell him.”

“How can I? Knowing he wants out, how can I tell him we’ve managed to complicate the hell out of that, too?”

“Better if he hears it first from you than in the middle of divorce proceedings.” Tucker paused, his face going carefully blank. “Unless you don’t intend to keep the pregnancy.”

Piper’s hand instinctively went to her still flat stomach. “I could never abort. It may not stick. Almost fifty percent of pregnancies don’t before the end of the first trimester. But I’d never end it deliberately.”

“Then you have to tell him. Sooner rather than later. You never know, it might change things. He’s absolutely smitten with Preston.”

This was the undeniable truth. Myles seemed to love children. But how could she endure a marriage where the love was for the child, not for her?

“No. I’m not going to stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of a child. I’m not. It isn’t healthy for anybody involved.”

“Sweetie, what if you’re wrong? I don’t think he’d have gone through everything he did with the wedding if he didn’t love you on some level. What you heard might not even have been about you.”

Piper fixed him with a glare. “Really? What the hell other extreme thing has he done in the name of the paper besides marrying me?”