AJ sighed and his hand stilled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kat bit her lip. Maybe they found something else wrong. Maybe they found out she didn’t have a spine. “Tell you what?”
AJ frowned and he pulled his hand away from her. His crystal blue eyes stared her down. “That you’re pregnant.”
“Oh.” So the doctors had told him. He knew now. This wasn’t how she had planned on telling him. This wasn’t how she planned any of this. She looked away from him, unsure of what to say next. She still had no idea how he really felt.
“Well?” His voice was completely unreadable.
Her chin quavered. “I don’t know how it happened,” she whispered. “I mean we were careful.”
Kat stared at the IV in her wrist. She couldn’t bare to look at AJ. She was terrified of what expression might be on his face. Was he angry? Upset? Disappointed?
“Kat.” He simply said her name, but she felt like he was shouting. She still couldn’t read his voice and she didn’t dare look up.
“I only found out last week. I didn’t have the flu. It was the pregnancy.” she said quietly. She took a deep calming breath, but still felt shaky. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to make your life harder. You’ve been so stressed with this whole scandal thing and your partner...”
Her voice faltered. The room was silent except for the beeping of the machines. She felt like it was going to crush her. She wished she could just go back to sleep and find this was just a bad dream.
“I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how you were going to respond,” she finally whispered. “I was planning on telling you. Just... not like this.”
AJ’s hand wiped the tears from her face.
“Oh, Kat.” He cupped her face and smiled gently as she opened her eyes to look at him. “I love you.”
“What?” Kat blurted out without thinking. She immediately turned bright red, but the shock of it kept her from saying anything else.
“I love you,” he repeated with a chuckle. “And that means that I love the life growing inside of you.”
Kat couldn’t breathe, but it was because joy and relief were fighting for space in her lungs instead of oxygen. He loved her and he loved the baby!
“You’re right,” he continued. “This isn’t exactly the best timing, but... I love you.”
Kat was fairly sure that the machine beeping her heart rhythm was broken because her heart wasn’t beating anymore. It was flying and skipping, yet the beeps still came at regular intervals. Damn thing was definitely broken.
“I love you, too.” Happy tears streamed down her face.
AJ leaned forward and brought his lips to hers. His kiss was soft and full of gentle love. It was a kiss of long passion, not immediate lust. Joy filled her, lifting her soul like a balloon. For the first time since peeing on that stick, she wasn’t terrified of what was going to happen next. She was excited.
Smiling, they broke the kiss and just stared into one another’s eyes for a moment before the nurse knocked on the door.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” the nurse said, coming over and smiling. “I just need to check your vitals real quick.”
She hit a button on the machine and the arm band began to inflate while she wrote down the numbers on the screen. She then checked Kat’s IV and the bag of fluids that was attached to it.
“You’re looking much better,” the nurse informed her. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake. He should be in shortly
.”
With another smile for both of them, she went to the door and stepped out. As she exited, Kat could hear the murmur of a crowd outside the door. She’d been in the ER once and didn’t remember ever hearing a sound like that before.
Which meant only one thing. The press had found out that billionaire CEO Andrew Jacobson had rushed a female employee visiting his private home to the hospital. That would fuel the rumor mills for weeks and was exactly the kind of thing they were trying to avoid.
“There’s a lot of people out there,” Kat said, staring at the door and trying to figure out just how many people would sound like that. Maybe there was just a really large family for another patient. Or possibly, someone more famous.
“Yes,” AJ agreed, taking her hand in his.
“It’s because of me, isn’t it?” she asked, her eyes going to his. Guilt washed over her in waves. How could she do this to him?