Under His Care (8 page)

Her sister’s voice fell to a whisper. “Kennedy, I don’t mean to pry or be rude…but…have you been using protection?”

Kennedy’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Well…you know…the question has to be asked at this point.” From Kennedy’s frozen silence, Nicole seemed to guess the correct answer. “Have you gotten your period?” she said softly.

Kennedy swallowed and now it seemed all her saliva had dried up completely. “Well, no. I mean, I haven’t been keeping track of that.”

Nicole was looking down at her with a knowing stare. “Something similar to this happened to Red and I, once upon a time.” She smiled sadly. “That’s why I asked.”

“You—you got pregnant by accident?” Kennedy whispered.

Nicole nodded. “And then I started having morning sickness. I’m not saying that’s what this is, but it seems like it’s a possibility to consider.”

Kennedy slumped forward and put her head in her hands. “Oh, no. No, no, no. That can’t be. That’s can’t be.” She almost said,
I’m a virgin
. But the thing was, she wasn’t a virgin anymore, and hadn’t been for a little while.

Plenty of time to get pregnant, that much was for sure.

She’d been stupid and thoughtless and impulsive.

Nicole started rubbing her back again, and then there was a knock on the door.

“Nicole?” Red asked through the closed door.

“Yeah, we’re all right in here,” Nicole said. “Just give us a second.”

“Okay,” Red replied and then Easton said something unintelligible. “It’s fine, just relax,” Red could be heard telling him.

Kennedy looked up at her sister. “I’m sure I’m just sick with some stomach bug.”

Nicole nodded, but her eyes didn’t look like she believed it. “Oh, sure. I’m sure it’s just a bug. There’s plenty going around right now.”

A moment later, Kennedy was up on her feet and the dizziness and nausea were completely gone. Other than her jangling nerves, she felt completely fine.

And that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, because a stomach flu wouldn’t just disappear minutes after throwing up, with no residual fever, chills, headache or runny nose. Nothing.

Nicole opened the door and shooed Red and Easton back. “Give the girl some space, for Pete’s sake,” Nicole scolded them.

Kennedy tried to smile but was unable to look at either of the men. Easton, in particular, was just a shadow in the corner of her eye.

“I should go,” she said, as Nicole escorted her.

“No, stay here. Let me take care of you.”

“I’m sorry, Nicole,” Kennedy told her, continuing towards the front door. “But I feel like I just need to be alone, rest up, get my strength back.”

“Are you sure? We’d love to have you. It wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“I’m sure,” she said, and she was.

As she was leaving through the front door, Red came up beside her. “I’m going to give your proposal some real thought, Kennedy. It’s a lot to digest, but I’m looking forward to having another conversation with you about it in the future.”

He put a hand on her arm briefly and gave it a squeeze.

Kennedy glanced backward and gave Red a smile. “Thanks, Red. I’m sorry I’m just a mess today. But the idea is still a good one, I think. And there’s data to back it up—I can put something together for you in the next few days.”

She caught a glimpse of Easton as she was talking to Red, and it made her even more nervous. She started to hurry out the door even faster.

“Drive safe, Kennedy!” Nicole cried.

“Yup,” she waved, starting almost to run now.

But before she got to her car, Easton was next to her, easily keeping pace. “Are we not even going to talk?” he asked. “You’re seriously going to just drive out of here without so much as a conversation?”

Kennedy spun on him. “I just got sick,” she said, finally meeting his intense gaze. “What do you want from me, Easton?”

His eyes blazed. “I’d love nothing more than to bring you back to my house and take care of you, if you’d let me.”

She wanted nothing more than to say yes to his offer. She missed his home so much, and missed sharing it with him—sharing his bed, his life. But after the way he’d treated her, she couldn’t trust him.

And now there was a new possible wrinkle. Of course there was no way she was pregnant, but what if? What if she was? She had no confidence that Easton would support her in that situation. He hadn’t even stepped up to the plate when his father was being a jerk, so how could she expect him to step up when it came to a much more serious problem?

“That can’t happen,” she told him, trying to open her car door.

“Kennedy, wait,” Easton said, putting his hand on the door and holding it shut. His voice was emotional now, and his body was so close to hers that he was practically touching her.

Kennedy wanted his touch. His hand on her cheek would be like heaven, but it was nothing more than a fantasy. She couldn’t have what she wanted because Easton wasn’t willing or able to give it to her.

“There’s no reason to wait,” she said, trying once more to open the car door.

Easton kept his hand on it, and now his breath was on her ear as he leaned closer. “I love you,” he said. “I’d do anything for you.”

She turned to look at him. “Fine,” she said. “Call your father right now and tell him that you love me and you can’t believe he treated me like crap.”

Easton hesitated. “He wouldn’t even know what the hell I was talking about. My Dad was half in the bag that night.”

“You see?” she said, shaking her head. “You won’t do it.”

“I’ll do it if you want. You want me to hurt my father? That makes you feel good?” he said, his voice tinged with disbelief and anger.

“I wouldn’t have truly made you go through with it,” Kennedy told him softly. “I just wanted to see if you’d do it if I asked. But you showed me, yet again, that you aren’t ready to put me first.” She tried to open her door again, and this time, when he tried to hold it shut, she glared at him. “There’s nothing left to say. Now let go of the goddamn door, Easton.”

He pulled his hand away, his eyes wounded. “This isn’t right, Kennedy. You know that you feel the same way I do.”

“Don’t be so sure,” she said, and that was just to hurt him. Because she did want to believe him, but when she considered the fact that she might be pregnant, a fear welled up deep inside and wouldn’t let go.

He won’t be there for me when I need him, and I can’t risk more pain.

It was easier to hurt him and make him go away first.

Easton stood there, his shoulders slumped, his eyes vague and distant, as she got in her car. She tried not to even look his way, but it was difficult, because the pull was so strong.

Finally, she started the car and drove away, and Easton never moved, but she watched him in her rearview mirror, as he grew smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared.

***

The pregnancy test packaging sat untouched on Kennedy’s bathroom sink. It had been there all day, and she’d ignored it, and yet somehow it loomed larger and larger every time she went into the bathroom.

She kept telling herself that there was no way she could’ve gotten pregnant so quickly.

It had to be coincidence.

Had to be.

She’d gotten a stomach bug or maybe it was stress, something she ate. Whatever the case, the idea that she was with child was laughable.

Except that it wasn’t laughable, and she hadn’t been smiling much since returning from Nicole and Red’s house. And after taking some time to reflect, Kennedy was able to recall exactly when she’d had her last period and calculate that she was due to menstruate again in the next two or three days.

That fell just within the timeframe that would allow an accurate reading.

Only instead of taking the test and putting the whole notion to bed, Kennedy had thrown herself back into her work, trying to put together the data that backed her assertions regarding the change in Red’s business strategy. Kennedy knew that the numbers were there, because without the numbers her mind never would’ve come up with the solution to bet big on the emerging markets.

It was a risky business strategy, but the more she dug into the data, the more her ideas coalesced into a meaningful picture and Kennedy became even more convinced that she’d been right in her initial recommendation to Red.

Still, after more than a few hours staring at her computer and compiling the various sources into a format that Red could easily comprehend, Kennedy was exhausted.

She powered her laptop down and put it on the table, and then she went to the bathroom, picked up the pregnancy test kit and stared at the box.

Her heart began racing as she anticipated what it would be like to sit down on the toilet, pee on a stick, and know that a few minutes later she would have her answer.

As she stared at the box and contemplated opening it, there was a loud knocking on the door to her apartment.

Kennedy looked up, waiting to see if it was really her door. Maybe someone was knocking on Blake’s door or something. But then the pounding came again.

She walked out of the bathroom and stood there, listening. “Blake?” she called out.

There was no answer. Kennedy put the kit down on the counter and walked over to her entrance, listening.

There was no sound from outside. She turned the lock on her door and then slowly opened it.

Standing just off to the side, Easton Rather was waiting with his arms folded. “Don’t,” he said, as Kennedy prepared to slam the door in his face.

“Please, you need to go,” she told him.

“Why can’t you just talk to me, Kennedy?” he asked, and something in his voice was so confused, so puzzled by her behavior, that she wanted to cry.

“I just can’t,” she said softly, although her mind was starting to forget what the problem was. Had Easton really done anything wrong? Was there actually a good reason to resist what she so badly wanted?

He walked towards her and this time he did reach out and touch her cheek with his hand, and she let him, because she was unable not to.

His skin was warm, smooth, and his thumb traced her jaw line as he withdrew. “I need to tell you something,” he said.

Wait, isn’t that my line?
She wondered.

And then Easton was brushing past her and moving into her apartment, as she followed after him. “This can’t go anywhere,” she announced, as Easton shut the door and faced her.

“Kennedy, I don’t care how many times you try and push me away. I won’t ever give up,” Easton said.

“Maybe you should,” she told him.

He shook his head. “I don’t believe you really mean that.”

“You’re not ready to have a real relationship,” she said. “All you’re interested in is making me do things, treating me like a plaything, knowing that I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”

“That’s not true,” Easton said. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about us since the last night we were together. And I know that I’m ready.”

“I wish I could believe you,” she said, sadly. She looked in his eyes and found that her resistance was truly failing. His intensity, his seduction, his physical presence was breaking her down.

“You
can
believe me,” Easton said, and then he grabbed her by the waist with his strong, insistent hands, and pulled her into him so that her breasts were pushing into his muscular chest, her stomach was against his, and she could even feel his hardness pressing into her through his pants.

He kissed her, and his lips were burning hot, and she couldn’t stop him—didn’t want to stop him, as a matter of fact.

It had been too long without him, as though she’d been wandering forever in the dry desert, and his kiss was the first real drink of cool water she’d had in so long.

She drank him in just as he seemed to drink her in, as his tongue entered her mouth, as his body’s closeness to hers relieved her of some primal need that was beyond her own understanding.

Easton’s hands slipped down beneath the waistline of her pants, his fingers tugging at her panties, touching the skin of her hips as he continued kissing her.

And then she remembered. She remembered all of the reasons why this was such a bad idea, not the least of which was the fact that she might be carrying Easton’s child.

Kennedy pulled away from him, even though every cell of her body cried out for more, wanted more, needed him desperately. “Please stop,” she moaned.

His eyes studied hers, not understanding. “Kennedy, you need to hear what I have to say.”

“No,” she replied.

“From the second I met you, I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” he continued.

The admission silenced her. She truly didn’t know that he’d been consumed by her the same way she’d been consumed by him, from the moment they first met one another.

Easton stared at her, and for the first time since they’d met, Kennedy felt that she was finally seeing the real Easton Rather—the man beneath all of the walls and defenses and armor. His eyes were vulnerable, the cockiness was gone, the arrogance had been replaced by confusion and desperation—desperation to make her understand.