Page 49 of Breathless

A second later, his phone chirped with a text.

Shelly:Fiona’s pregnant.

What the—

He called her right back. “The hell you say!”

“I thought you should know, that’s all. It’s, well, not yours. At least, according to what I read.”

Stunned, Thoreau slumped back against the dryer. It all made sense now—her exhaustion all the time. Her turning down beer. Her breasts.

“Thoreau, are you okay?”

“No. And if you don’t come clean with Jake, I will.” He couldn’t even think of anything else to say, so he disconnected the call and tossed his phone onto the dryer as all the progress he thought they’d made with her last night crumbled into dust.

He scrubbed his hands over his face. So much for trust. They were back at square one. Hell, even farther back than that, farther than he’d ever suspected they could go.

“Emergency meeting at my place.” Wyatt walked in, slipping his shirt over his head, already wearing his jeans and sneakers. His expression was inscrutable. “Tanaka said it’s about Noah.”

“We’ll come with you,” Fiona said as she came in behind him. “Give me five minutes and—”

“No.”

Even Thoreau winced at the harsh denial, and Fiona went so pale he worried she might pass out again. And she actually might, because she was pregnant.

“Wyatt,” he warned.

“No,” Wyatt repeated, softer now. “Noah needs me. I need to deal with this on my own. I’ll come back later.”

He looked at Fiona bent head as if he wanted to stay more, then shook his head. “I’ll be back. I’ll even take your car, if that’s okay—you’re parked behind me, aren’t you?”

“Of course. You know where the keys are.”

After he left, they looked at each other for a long moment. Thoreau wanted to throw something. Break something. Do something. Everything had fallen apart so fast....

“Are you all right?” she finally asked.

No point in beating around the bush. “Are you pregnant? And please don’t lie to me this time.”

She looked like he’d slapped her, and for a moment he had hope that Shelly had been wrong.

Deny it. Please.

But then she nodded slowly. “How did you find out?”

Shit, this was going to kill Wyatt.

“Does it matter?”

“I suppose not.” She sighed, crossing her arms across her waist. “God, I’m sorry you found out this way. I should have told you sooner. I was going to tell you. Tell Wyatt…”

“Before or after you went back to California?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t that where the baby’s biological parents are?”

“I told you, I didn’t go through with that.” She was shaking visibly. “I couldn’t go through with it, because I was already pregnant when I got there. With Wyatt’s baby.”

---