Page 9 of Purrfect Planning

The doctor nods at him and he growls but leaves the room. “Now. I’ve got a few preliminary questions to ask you and then we’ll do some tests I think.” He checks a chart in his hand. “First, how long have you been feeling like this?”

“I think it’s been about six weeks.” His brow crinkles.

“Flu doesn’t last that long. Is there a possibility that you might be pregnant?”

Snorting, I wince. “Absolutely not.”

“You haven’t been sexually active at all?”

I flush and gnaw at my lip. “Once. I mean, that’s all.”

The elderly man smirks at me. “Do you know how many times I’ve seen a “Just the one time” delivered? When was your last period?”

Thinking back, I feel that sick feeling crawling up my throat again. “Ummm. Not for about three months. But I’m not regular all the time and I’ve been working very hard. I just started a new business.”

He nods his head and glances down at his paperwork. “I think to be on the safe side before we do anything else, we’ll take a pregnancy test. Just a quick blood draw to be sure.”

He steps out of the room and I close my eyes, fighting the nausea again. I cannot be pregnant with that man’s baby. It’s just not possible.

Fate could not be that cruel to me.

But one blood test later and I’m holding a prescription for nausea meds and a referral for the obstetrician the next town over, trying not to burst into tears.

I know it’s a natural thing but I can’t even think beyond the fact that I had sex with a man I detest and he’s the father of my baby!

What the hell have I ever done to somebody to deserve this terrible fate?

I glance down at my still-flat belly. Or only slightly rounded. I’m no skinny minnie. But I cup my belly and know that I’m keeping this baby. I don’t care who the heck the father is. All I know is that through some crazy miracle, I’m having a baby. And I want it.

I want to have someone to love and to love me, someone to come home to besides Princessa. Someone to watch grow up and wish that my mom got to see them growing up with me.

I want it all and I’m not going to give this baby up.

By rights, I should tell the daddy to be. But I barely tolerate the man. There’s no way that I’m going to co-parent a kid with him. He acts like a child himself. Arrogant bastard!

So I pack up and get dressed and hold my secret tight to me, praying that he never finds out.

He’ll be gone soon and this baby will be all mine. And I’ll deal with the guilty feeling creeping over me. It’s gonna be fine. It’s not like the man wants to be a dad. He’s just like most men I’m sure. Just out for a good time.

That’s all we are. That’s all we’ll ever be. Sniffling, I shuffle out of the room. Time to go home.

CHAPTER 6

Micah

She doesn’t look much better but the doctor gave her a prescription for the nausea and at least she’s able to eat something.

Or that’s what she says. Her cheeks are a little pink and her smile is a little like Mona Lisa somehow. It’s driving me crazy wondering what’s wrong and what’s different with her.

But I meet her back at the bakery a few days later and sigh at the huge selection of cakes that they push in front of us. I’m not a really big sweets man. I like salty better. Give me a bag of chips any day over a damn cupcake.

But it’s beyond time to get this cake figured out so they can start it. Aspen is glowing this morning. Four days after she hit the floor and she looks positively glorious.

Makes my mouth water and my fingers itch to touch her, taste her, hold her tight.

But she ignores me even more than before and it’s driving me nuts. She’s hiding something from me. I feel it.

Damn woman! It’s obvious she’s just like the rest of the females out there and you can’t trust her anymore than you can trust the devil.

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