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I had no idea who this chick was.
She wasn’t even my type.
She was smart.
Way smart.
Just from the way she talked, I knew she was way out of my league. She had a banging body on top of that. Not that she had any of it on display, but under her dark blue t-shirt and jeans, I knew she was stacked.
“Where are you going?” I had been admiring her ass in her jeans, and it didn’t dawn on me she was getting farther away.
She held up her keys and dangled them. “My car, Playboy.”
Playboy? That was one word I never expected to hear come out of her mouth. “My house is the other way. We might as well just walk.”
Lights flashed on a car in front of her. “No, because then I would have to walk back to get my car. In case it hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m pregnant, and walking in the dark by myself isn’t something I want to do.”
“You shouldn’t walk in the dark by yourself even if you weren’t pregnant.” Even my drunk brain knew that.
“I know. That’s why we’re going to take my car.”
Oh. “Good thinking.” My brain had finally caught up to what she was trying to tell me.
She rolled her eyes and opened the passenger door. “After you, Playboy.”
“I’m not sure I like your tune when you say that.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Pretty sure you mean tone.”
I pointed my finger at her. “That too.”
A small smile played on her lips, but she turned to the side before I could see the full-blown one. “Get in the car. It’s cold.”
“I have a coat in the house.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder to where we had come from.
“I have heat in the car.” She rubbed her hands on her arms. “Get in so I can use it.”
“All right, fine,” I grumbled. I fell into the passenger seat, and she slammed the door. “What a piece of shit,” I mumbled. I was sitting in a nineteen ninety-two Cavalier that was obviously on its last leg. The seats were worn, the dash faded from the sun, and the headliner was saggy and hanging down.
“Buckle up,” Delaney ordered. She started the car and grabbed her own seatbelt.
“I can’t believe this thing started.”
She glared at me. “You have a problem with my car?”
I felt like I was about to walk through a minefield. Doing that drunk was not going to be good. “Uh, seems a little rough.” The car may have started, but it sure wasn’t smooth. The engine had a constant tick, and it idled real shitty.
She pulled away from the curb and hooked a right. “Where am I going?”
“Go two blocks. Third house on the left.”
She nodded and drove silently.
My head was still reeling trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
“If you are going to throw up, I can pull over.” Delaney was giving me some wicked side-eye and was slightly cringing.
“I’m good. I know how to hold my liquor.”
She curled her lip. “How wonderful.”
She pulled up in front of my house and killed the engine. “We can just talk in the car if you want,” she offered.
I shook my head and yanked on the door handle. “Nah, come inside.” We didn’t need to have this conversation sitting in her car.
She followed me up the sidewalk and stood behind me while I dug in my pocket to fish out my keys. “Need help?”
I glared at her over my shoulder. “I can handle it.” Just as soon as I figured out what key opened the door. Perhaps I had drank a little bit more than I thought. We were celebrating being half way through the race season, and I was imbibing the bottle of Jack Remy had brought when Delaney had knocked me flat on my ass. Literally.
After I figured out what key it was, I pushed open the door and flipped on the living room lights. “Have a seat. You want a drink or something?”
She shook her head and skirted around me to the couch. “I’m good.”
I could use six more beers and a shot of Tequila, but I could already tell Delaney didn’t think highly of me. “I’ll grab you a water,” I mumbled.
“You live here alone?” she asked.
I walked into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. “Remy and Frankie live here, too, but since they both hooked up, they aren’t around much.” I grabbed two bottles of water and headed into the living room.
She was wandering the room looking around. “I figured you had to live with someone else. I don’t see you as the type to take pictures and actually print them off to put them in frames.”
I was slightly offended.
She was completely right, but the way she said it made it sound like not a good thing. “I’m on the go most of the time. Too busy to take many pictures.”
She nodded. “I bet,” she mumbled.
I didn’t like her tone at all. It felt like she was judging me and didn’t approve of me doing a damn thing. “You wanna have a seat?”
She grabbed the bottle of water I held out to her. “I suppose. I can’t stay long, though. I’ve got clinicals in the morning.”
“Clinicals?” I had no fucking clue what the hell that was. Sounded smart as hell, though.
“I assist residents at the hospital. Mainly ER, but I want to get into pediatrics.”
She talked like I knew what the hell that meant, too. “Uh, you lost me again.”
She rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch. “I’m in med school. Right now, I’m doing clinicals where I follow a doctor around to get hands-on experience and see what it’s really like to be a doctor.”
“You’re a doctor?” My jaw dropped, and all I could think was I somehow managed to bag a doctor.
“Not yet. I still have three more rotations and then I’ll be in my residency.”
I blinked slowly.
“I’ve got about four years before I’m a doctor,” she said plainly.
Now that, I understood. “Oh. That’s pretty cool.” And more than likely came with a hefty salary.
“Yeah, it’s cool, all right.”
“Even if you have a baby?”
She waved her hand. “Yes. It’s not like I’m sixteen and don’t have a clue about life. I’m twenty-nine years old and have been working for the past fifteen years of my life. I can handle a baby and my residency.”
This chick was smart as hell and didn’t seem to be terrified at all by the thought of having a baby. I, on the other hand, was ready to spill my cookies all over the floor, and I knew it wasn’t because of the Jack I had drank. “I think you’re a little bit ahead of me on this whole baby thing.”
“I’ve known for a bit. Even before I got the lab results back, I had a hunch I was pregnant.”
I suppose since she was going to be a doctor, she would know all about that stuff. Except there was one problem in this whole thing.
I couldn’t remember ever meeting Delaney before.
At. All.
I couldn’t ignore the alarm bells going off in my head.
Delaney pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. “Here is a number to a clinic that can do the paternity test.”
My jaw dropped, and I looked at the paper. It was as if the chick was reading my mind. “How the heck do they do that?” The kid wasn’t even here yet.
“They do a blood draw on me, and they swab your cheek. Not invasive at all for you.”
All it was going to take was a swipe of my cheek, and then, I would know if I was going to be a dad or not? Holy hell. This was all freaking me out. “What happens if I’m not the dad?”
“You are, but I know you’re thinking I’m some crazy chick trying to trap you or something. You’re the only person I’ve been with.”
I blinked slowly. “You mean lately.”
She shook her head. “No, I mean you’re the only person I’ve been with.”
Hold the fucking door.
I had sex with Delaney.
Was her first.
Got her pregnant.
AND I DIDN’T REMEMBER A FUCKING SECOND OF IT.
My mouth was as dry as sawdust, and my vision blurred. How in the hell did I get into a situation like this? “You’re sure about that?” I croaked.
She dropped the piece of paper on the counter and sat back into the couch. “Yes, I’m positive.”
I sputtered but finally was able to spit out a few words. “Why the hell me?”
She shrugged. “It seemed like the right time.”
This chick was so chill and matter of fact, she completely threw me off any game I ever had before. If what she was saying was true, I had to wonder if she talked the same way when we had hooked up. I thought she was hot, and I’m sure that was what had drawn me to her in the first place, but I had to wonder if I had even spoken to her.
Delaney was lightyears out of my league.
Even when I was spitting the best game of my life, I knew when I didn’t stand a chance.
“So...I...we...I don’t know what the hell to say or do right now.” I was stumped. Straight-up had no fucking clue what to do. Normally, I had the control of any situation I was in, but Delaney had just flipped the script on me.
“You have an appointment tomorrow at two. I wrote the address on the piece of paper. Once the results come back, which take one or two days, then we’ll figure out the rest.”
The rest? “You mean the rest of our lives?” Kids were forever. FOREVER.
The longest relationship I ever had was with my car. Yes, my car. I had gotten Black Beauty two years ago, and to be honest, I had been thinking of replacing her the last couple of weeks.
Now, I was going to have a baby and also a woman who would be in my life forever.
“Yeah.”
Such an easy answer to a question that completely changed my world.
I ran my fingers through my hair.
Everything was possibly going to change in one to two days, and I didn’t have a damn clue what to do.
*
