On the Line (44 page)

“What did it say?” he questioned.

Kelsey flopped onto her back and threw her arms over her head. “We have to wait two
minutes.”

Patrick lay back and propped himself up on his elbow beside her. “What should we
do while we wait?” he asked as he leaned in to nuzzle her neck. She squealed and
tried to roll away, but he pinned her with his arm across her waist.

“Patrick,” she said as she laughed, “no.”

“If you insist.” He lay completely beside her and let his hand drift to her abdomen.

“I’m afraid I must.” Kelsey rested her hand over his and began to draw circles on
it with her fingers.

She was trying to distract herself with other things. Like Janelle’s wedding. Or
the house she and Patrick were building on the land behind her current home that
had, until six months ago, been wooded and weedy. Patrick had proposed the night
they’d found out the manslaughter charges were dropped, then they’d spent the first
month of their engagement making sure they could build on the land and getting the
permits to do it.

“When do you think the house will be finished?” she asked, and Patrick lifted to
his elbow again.

His lips twitched a little at her obvious attempt at diversion. They both knew it
would be another three to six months before their new house would be completed. “You
know the answer to that,” he said as he leaned closer.

She turned her face to his, and her brow came together. “Hopefully only three. Now
that Janelle and Nathan are going to be married, I’m sure they’ll want this house
to themselves.”

“So they can work on expanding their family,” Patrick said and lightly rubbed Kelsey’s
stomach.

“I’m not sure they plan on doing that,” Kelsey answered with a shrug. “But when they
get back from their honeymoon, I doubt they’ll want to put up with us for long.”

“We’re going back to LA when they get back from their honeymoon, so they won’t have
to,” Patrick stated.

Kelsey’s lip curled slightly. “Oh, that’s right.”

“It’s your audition.” Patrick frowned. “Do you still want to do it?”

Kelsey blew out a long breath. She really wasn’t sure anymore. If she got the role,
the movie wouldn’t start filming for another three months. And if that test on her
bathroom sink was positive, she’d be showing by then. She’d always thought she would
give up acting if she had kids—she and Patrick had even discussed it. After Zach,
she wanted to be the one raising her child. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of
a nanny doing it for her. Patrick said he would support her; whatever she decided,
he just wanted her to be happy.

“I guess we’ll have to see what the test says,” she answered softly.

“I’m sure it’s been two minutes.” Patrick jumped off the bed and held his hand out
to Kelsey.

She took it and slowly pulled herself up. “It probably has been.” She led the way
into the bathroom, keeping her pace smooth and moderate even though she wanted to
rush in and pick up the test so she could throw it away before he saw it if it wasn’t
positive.

They reached the sink, and she picked up the test. She stared at the two blue lines
of the test in her hand then looked at herself in the mirror. She gazed into her
watery green eyes, brushed a stray lock of hair off her cheek, tucked it behind her
ear, and inhaled deeply. Her husband’s arm snaked around her shoulders, and she met
his grinning gaze in the mirror. A smile slowly stretched her own lips.

Kelsey Lyons was pregnant.

Acknowledgments

There are some parts of this book that were beyond my scope of knowledge and I would
like to thank Angie and Judy for your help in expanding my education. Thank you
Book Lovers for your encouragement and support. Thank you Stephannie for always enthusiastically
reading and being my touchstone. Thank you Michelle for beta reading for me and for
the suggestions you offered. Many thanks to Heidi and Ellis, my BQB team, for working
with me to make this story ready for publishing, and Dave, for your awesome work
on the cover art.

And, as always, thank you, reader, for buying this book. I hope you enjoyed reading
it as much as I enjoyed writing it.