Page 37 of The Rules

“Okay.”

Dylan tugged her camisole free from her jeans but her mind had reversed to the previous exit. That had to be it, right? Was Cat really pregnant? For God’s sake, she’d been married a month. Sonya would be next. Emma already had one and was working on a second, and here she was doubling up on birth control to— “Christ, Dylan.”

“Told you the third time’s a charm.”

Fourteen

“What do you mean youthink she’s pregnant?” Sonya asked. Emma squealed at the same time, and a woman passing by her on the street jumped, then shot Dani a haughty look. Dani quickly adjusted the volume on the video call.

“I mean she hasn’t had a drink since she got back from the honeymoon, and she’s been uncharacteristically emotional. She cried through her whole wedding!”

Emma looked confused. “It was her wedding!”

“Wouldn’t she tell us if she was?” Sonya asked. “Or Josh would. I don’t see him keeping this secret.”

Dani shrugged as her heels clicked down the sidewalk to her office. She’d been in off-site meetings the entire morning, texting Sonya and Emma beneath conference room tables to try and schedule this call while they were all out for lunch.

“Maybe it was the honeymoon,” Emma said, clapping her hands at her desk. “That is so romantic.”

Dani shook her head. “If it was the honeymoon, she wouldn’t have known on the Fourth, and she was definitely alcohol free that whole day.”

“Hmm.” Sonya tapped a fingernail to her bottom lip. “Maybe Prince Charming knocked up his very Catholic wife before they got married. That’s why she doesn’t want to tell us.”

Emma gasped. “Oh, can you imagine? Carlos will have Josh’s head.”

Sonya gave an evil laugh, and Dani tried to imagine her own dad caring about something so silly. He and her step-mom used to let her high school boyfriend stay over in her room. Her mother bought her condoms when she was sixteen. Growing up alongside Cat and her traditional Catholic family was eye-opening. Though, she had to admit there were times when Carlos’s firm hand felt a lot more like love than the “freedom to grow” her parents gave her. It drove Cat crazy, but her parents were never too busy to find out exactly what she was up to. Which was why she was never up to anything.

“It’s sort of Romeo and Juliet romantic, though,” Emma said.

Sonya rolled her eyes. “How?”

“Romantic or not,” Dani said, “why is she keeping it from me?”

“Why don’t you just ask her?” Sonya said. “Let’s add her to the call right now.”

“No! If she doesn’t want to tell me, I’ll just have to get used to not being her confidante anymore.”

“If Cat were here, she would say you were beingsooodramatic,” Sonya reminded her.

Emma’s giddy smile fell. “Maybe she has her reasons, Dani.”

Dani shook her head, an ache worming its way into her chest. “What reason could she possibly have to lie?

Twenty-four hours after Minnie’s party, Dylan was back at Dani’s condo. Her cheek was squished against his bare chest, his hand resting comfortably on the back of her head. She laid there, trying to pretend they weren’t cuddling, and thinking about the conversation she’d had with Sonya and Emma.

Having Dylan there had been a good distraction. She certainly hadn’t been thinking about Cat while she was propped on the edge of her kitchen island, her chin bouncing on his shoulder. They’d ended on the couch, and now, with just the sound of Dylan’s heavy breathing in the otherwise silent room, her mind was spinning again.

“You want a beer?”

He groaned, sitting them both up. “Sure,” he said, dropping a kiss on her cheek.

She went to her bedroom for a t-shirt, then padded the few feet to her kitchen. Her condo was cozy, which was a nice way of saying tiny, but the hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances were brand new when she’d bought it. The living room had a whole wall full of windows and she had an extra bedroom which was a rare amenity in these older buildings.

“So what were you in town for today?” Dani asked.

Dylan answered over his shoulder as he found his way to her bathroom. “I’m trying to close the deal on this historic renovation in the West End,” he said. “Old fuddy-duddy owner. I should have taken Josh with me, they could have talked golf.”

She lazily perused his ass while he took care of the condom. Two matching dimples poked his lower back and he had a line across his hips where the skin below was about ten shades lighter. The hazards of spending half your life in swim trunks. It was a nice view.

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