I sighed.
“I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday,” I admitted.
She looked down at me. “Well, all I’m saying is that you’re either a lot further along than you think…” She held up her hand when I went to retort, “Or you are pregnant with twins.”
I flipped her off. “I’m not pregnant with twins. Don’t put that sorcery on me! When I went, the doctor said I was measuring right on time according to my last missed period.”
“I also notice that you didn’t hear whether it was twins or not. You could be measuring ‘on time’ with twins, too.” She shrugged. “Twins do run in our family.”
They did.
I narrowed my eyes. “Eighteen weeks. That’s it.”
Eighteen weeks put me getting pregnant toward the last two to three days that Hoax had been home. That meant that it might’ve been the time he took me in the airport bathroom.
Shit!
How was I going to tell my kid that he or she was conceived in an airport bathroom?
“Did she give you an ultrasound?”
I nodded. “Yes. I told her I didn’t want to see it because you could see the gender on the screen.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t stop myself.
I had to know. Piper was right. I was too big. Too pregnant. This was my first pregnancy. With me not having all those muscles and tendons stretched out, I shouldn’t be showing this much this early.
I turned around, leaving her there laughing at the expression on my face, and hurried to my car.
Once there, I ripped the envelope out that I had been planning to send to Hoax within the next week if he didn’t figure out that I was pregnant on his own.
“Let me see it,” Piper snatched the paper out of my hand and ran.
I ran behind her, trying to catch her, but couldn’t.
She’d ripped the envelope open and was pulling out the sonogram photos just as she reached the final hallway.
She made it into my dad’s office and yelled ‘surprise!” a full ten seconds before I did.
I barreled right in, snatching the photos away from Piper, and started to scan the photos.
What I saw made my heart start galloping in my chest.
A rough, almost gasping inhale had me looking up.
But it hadn’t come from my father.
Dad, who had his arms around Piper, was smiling big.
Hoax, who was on the screen staring at me in open mouth shock, had been the person responsible for that strangled sound.
He was staring at me—or better yet, my belly.
The shirt I was wearing was rather form-fitting, and there was no denying that I was pregnant. None.
“Uhhh,” Piper said. “Sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know you had anyone in here with you.”
Dad gave her one more squeeze and lifted her off her feet before turning to me, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s this one’s man,” Dad said, squeezing Piper’s shoulders. “How could you keep this from me?”
He wasn’t talking about the pregnancy.
It was more than obvious that I was, even if I hadn’t admitted it.
We were all ignoring it until I had the guts to say something.
Dad just rolled his eyes each day he saw me and I was even more pregnant.
Mom gave me pointed looks and crossed her arms as if she was waiting for the big announcement.
Well, they’d be waiting for a while…or at least they would have had I not walked in on this particular meeting.
Hoax’s eyes were locked onto my stomach, and he was staring at me in horror.
“Uhh, surprise!” Piper clapped her hands with excitement. “It’s twins!”
Dad choked. My sister laughed.
Hoax paled further…if that were even possible at this point.
Maybe it was the lighting of the screen?
“Piper, let’s go,” Dad said, hooking his arm around her waist and hauling her out of the office on his shoulder.
“Here! Show him these!” Piper shook the sonogram pictures at me.
I walked over to where Dad had paused in the doorway and took them from her.
When I looked back at the screen, the man that had been sitting in the background—Treat, I was thinking—was disappearing through a flap in the tent room they were in, leaving Hoax all alone.
God, he looked good.
Despite his paleness at the moment, he looked scrumptious.
I wanted to jump him. If we were in the same room, I was fairly sure that I’d be crawling him like a tree.
His beard was the longest I’d ever seen, and his eyes looked tired but beautiful. He was wearing some tan cargo pants, a tan shirt a slightly paler shade than his pants, and a bandana around his head holding his hair back. His arms were bare, and I could see veins rolling and winding their way up his arm. A nurse’s paradise. God, I just wanted to poke them, run my fingers along his arm just to see what they felt like.
“Pru?”
I looked up to his face and flushed guiltily.
“Yeah?” I asked.
My heart rate had sped up, and my voice sounded husky even to my own ears.
I looked down and yep! Nipples were hard.
There was no way he was missing that.
And he didn’t.
His mouth kicked up at one corner and he smirked at me.
I felt my heart kick hard in my chest at that smile—my smile—he reserved only for me.
Swallowing, I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against my father’s desk.
“What are you and my dad talking about?” I tried to find something else to talk about that wouldn’t lead to him yelling at me.
His eyes went weird. “How much do you know of what your dad does?”
I shrugged. “How much do you know of what my dad does?”
I mean, I knew a lot.
I just didn’t know it all. I didn’t need to know it all.
Hoax opened his mouth and shut it. Looking, I was sure, for a way to tell me something that wouldn’t compromise him.
“How about I tell you what I know?” I paused. “And then you tell me what you know.”
He crossed his arms, mimicking my gesture.
“Go.”
I scrunched up my nose at him.
“You’re Delta Force or something equivalent,” I started.
He jerked, his eyes going wide in surprise. “How did you know?”
I pointed at my face, indicating his beard with a jerk of my head in his direction. “No Army person I know besides very few would be able to have a beard. You have no distinguishing tattoos other than one that’s easily covered up. You don’t talk about your job. No Facebook page. No pictures ever without a long-winded explanation about how I can’t share the photos on any social media platform. You’re very secretive. Hell, even my father had a hard time finding anything out on you at first, but Jack and Winter are wizards at their craft and know how to find stuff. Not that my father ever told me anything. He kept it all to himself. Everything that I’ve found so far is just conjecture on my part.”
“You’re right,” he said, looking relieved. “I’m Delta.”
I smiled. “My dad has a lot of business dabblings that I stay way the heck away from. I’m not sure I want to know more than I already do. I was going to tell you.”
He flowed with the change of subject just as I did.
“When?” he asked. “When you had the baby—babies?” he choked that last part out. “Which is it?”
I brought up the sonogram pictures, feeling my heart pounding for a completely different reason now, and started to sift through them.
My eyes moved toward where the camera sat, and I saw that I’d never get close enough to show him the photos close up, so I brought my phone out. Opening the Messenger app, I took photos of all the sonogram pictures and sent them.
“I had the pictures sealed into an envelope,” I told him. “My only instruction to the doctor when I went yesterday was for him to make sure the baby was okay and healthy. Everything else? He kept it quiet so I could share that with you for the first time when you got home.”
“So why were you looking at them when you walked in?” he questioned.
He wasn’t mad. He was just curious.
“Piper made a comment that had me freaking out,” I told him.
“I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday,” I admitted.
She looked down at me. “Well, all I’m saying is that you’re either a lot further along than you think…” She held up her hand when I went to retort, “Or you are pregnant with twins.”
I flipped her off. “I’m not pregnant with twins. Don’t put that sorcery on me! When I went, the doctor said I was measuring right on time according to my last missed period.”
“I also notice that you didn’t hear whether it was twins or not. You could be measuring ‘on time’ with twins, too.” She shrugged. “Twins do run in our family.”
They did.
I narrowed my eyes. “Eighteen weeks. That’s it.”
Eighteen weeks put me getting pregnant toward the last two to three days that Hoax had been home. That meant that it might’ve been the time he took me in the airport bathroom.
Shit!
How was I going to tell my kid that he or she was conceived in an airport bathroom?
“Did she give you an ultrasound?”
I nodded. “Yes. I told her I didn’t want to see it because you could see the gender on the screen.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t stop myself.
I had to know. Piper was right. I was too big. Too pregnant. This was my first pregnancy. With me not having all those muscles and tendons stretched out, I shouldn’t be showing this much this early.
I turned around, leaving her there laughing at the expression on my face, and hurried to my car.
Once there, I ripped the envelope out that I had been planning to send to Hoax within the next week if he didn’t figure out that I was pregnant on his own.
“Let me see it,” Piper snatched the paper out of my hand and ran.
I ran behind her, trying to catch her, but couldn’t.
She’d ripped the envelope open and was pulling out the sonogram photos just as she reached the final hallway.
She made it into my dad’s office and yelled ‘surprise!” a full ten seconds before I did.
I barreled right in, snatching the photos away from Piper, and started to scan the photos.
What I saw made my heart start galloping in my chest.
A rough, almost gasping inhale had me looking up.
But it hadn’t come from my father.
Dad, who had his arms around Piper, was smiling big.
Hoax, who was on the screen staring at me in open mouth shock, had been the person responsible for that strangled sound.
He was staring at me—or better yet, my belly.
The shirt I was wearing was rather form-fitting, and there was no denying that I was pregnant. None.
“Uhhh,” Piper said. “Sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know you had anyone in here with you.”
Dad gave her one more squeeze and lifted her off her feet before turning to me, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s this one’s man,” Dad said, squeezing Piper’s shoulders. “How could you keep this from me?”
He wasn’t talking about the pregnancy.
It was more than obvious that I was, even if I hadn’t admitted it.
We were all ignoring it until I had the guts to say something.
Dad just rolled his eyes each day he saw me and I was even more pregnant.
Mom gave me pointed looks and crossed her arms as if she was waiting for the big announcement.
Well, they’d be waiting for a while…or at least they would have had I not walked in on this particular meeting.
Hoax’s eyes were locked onto my stomach, and he was staring at me in horror.
“Uhh, surprise!” Piper clapped her hands with excitement. “It’s twins!”
Dad choked. My sister laughed.
Hoax paled further…if that were even possible at this point.
Maybe it was the lighting of the screen?
“Piper, let’s go,” Dad said, hooking his arm around her waist and hauling her out of the office on his shoulder.
“Here! Show him these!” Piper shook the sonogram pictures at me.
I walked over to where Dad had paused in the doorway and took them from her.
When I looked back at the screen, the man that had been sitting in the background—Treat, I was thinking—was disappearing through a flap in the tent room they were in, leaving Hoax all alone.
God, he looked good.
Despite his paleness at the moment, he looked scrumptious.
I wanted to jump him. If we were in the same room, I was fairly sure that I’d be crawling him like a tree.
His beard was the longest I’d ever seen, and his eyes looked tired but beautiful. He was wearing some tan cargo pants, a tan shirt a slightly paler shade than his pants, and a bandana around his head holding his hair back. His arms were bare, and I could see veins rolling and winding their way up his arm. A nurse’s paradise. God, I just wanted to poke them, run my fingers along his arm just to see what they felt like.
“Pru?”
I looked up to his face and flushed guiltily.
“Yeah?” I asked.
My heart rate had sped up, and my voice sounded husky even to my own ears.
I looked down and yep! Nipples were hard.
There was no way he was missing that.
And he didn’t.
His mouth kicked up at one corner and he smirked at me.
I felt my heart kick hard in my chest at that smile—my smile—he reserved only for me.
Swallowing, I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against my father’s desk.
“What are you and my dad talking about?” I tried to find something else to talk about that wouldn’t lead to him yelling at me.
His eyes went weird. “How much do you know of what your dad does?”
I shrugged. “How much do you know of what my dad does?”
I mean, I knew a lot.
I just didn’t know it all. I didn’t need to know it all.
Hoax opened his mouth and shut it. Looking, I was sure, for a way to tell me something that wouldn’t compromise him.
“How about I tell you what I know?” I paused. “And then you tell me what you know.”
He crossed his arms, mimicking my gesture.
“Go.”
I scrunched up my nose at him.
“You’re Delta Force or something equivalent,” I started.
He jerked, his eyes going wide in surprise. “How did you know?”
I pointed at my face, indicating his beard with a jerk of my head in his direction. “No Army person I know besides very few would be able to have a beard. You have no distinguishing tattoos other than one that’s easily covered up. You don’t talk about your job. No Facebook page. No pictures ever without a long-winded explanation about how I can’t share the photos on any social media platform. You’re very secretive. Hell, even my father had a hard time finding anything out on you at first, but Jack and Winter are wizards at their craft and know how to find stuff. Not that my father ever told me anything. He kept it all to himself. Everything that I’ve found so far is just conjecture on my part.”
“You’re right,” he said, looking relieved. “I’m Delta.”
I smiled. “My dad has a lot of business dabblings that I stay way the heck away from. I’m not sure I want to know more than I already do. I was going to tell you.”
He flowed with the change of subject just as I did.
“When?” he asked. “When you had the baby—babies?” he choked that last part out. “Which is it?”
I brought up the sonogram pictures, feeling my heart pounding for a completely different reason now, and started to sift through them.
My eyes moved toward where the camera sat, and I saw that I’d never get close enough to show him the photos close up, so I brought my phone out. Opening the Messenger app, I took photos of all the sonogram pictures and sent them.
“I had the pictures sealed into an envelope,” I told him. “My only instruction to the doctor when I went yesterday was for him to make sure the baby was okay and healthy. Everything else? He kept it quiet so I could share that with you for the first time when you got home.”
“So why were you looking at them when you walked in?” he questioned.
He wasn’t mad. He was just curious.
“Piper made a comment that had me freaking out,” I told him.
