Page 20 of Embracing the Consequences

“Thanks, man.” Johnny greeted him. He held out his hand and Marcos shook it. “Beer?” he offered.

“Yeah man, sounds great,” Marcos agreed.

Kevin and Derrick also went over and shook Marcos’s hand, welcoming him into their home.

Kara grabbed her wineglass of Sprite and prayed like hell that Marcos wouldn’t notice she wasn’t drinking whisky.

It was as if she thought it into existence, though. Marcos turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Where’s the whisky?” he asked.

She shrugged and took a sip of her drink.

“Since when do you drink white wine?” Marcos continued, not even realizing he was pressing her.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. “You don’t know everything about me, big brother. I enjoy white wine once in a while.”

He barked out a laugh. “The hell you do. You tolerate reds in restaurants because of your snooty ass father. You’re a whisky girl to the core, like I damn raised you. Is that even wine? You got Sprite in that glass?”

Her boys cracked up.

Kara blushed and covered her face. “Jesus fuck, Marcos!” She groaned and shook her head.

Marcos actually sounded confused. “What?” he asked.

She lowered her hands and looked up at her brother, exasperated.

“Is it really Sprite?” he questioned.

She sighed and nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she deadpanned.

His heavy brows furrowed together. She could see the thoughts flashing across his eyes. For as much as he tried to be a masked hard-ass, he was still her big brother, and she could still read him like a book.

She watched when it clicked in his soulful brown eyes. She watched the warmth drain from them as his jaw flexed and he ground his molars, the vein in his jaw ticking. Then his eyes snapped shut and he took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his mouth.

He opened his eyes, and she once again saw the warmth there, the love he had for her. “Are you pregnant?” he asked slowly.

She bit her lip tentatively and nodded slowly. She could see her boys hovering behind her brother, but she kept her gaze on Marcos. She was nervous about his reaction and afraid he might not approve.

A smile cracked Marcos’s lips, though, and she found she didn’t have any reason to worry. “Fucking Christ,” he swore before he swooped in and lifted her into a massive hug. He swung her around in a circle, laughing. “Congratulations lilManita!”

Tears sprang to Kara’s eyes, and she clutched her brother’s shoulders tighter. “Thanks, Marquitos,” she whispered.

“This is a good thing, right?” He looked over at her boys as he set her back down in front of them

Her men grinned and nodded. “Unexpected but to be expected.” Kevin grinned.

“To be expected…’cause you’re fucking three dudes.” Marcos groaned.

Kara laughed. “Yeah. After the attack, between the painkillers and life being crazy, I never got my birth control refilled, and yeah…” Hearing it out loud, it sounded extremely irresponsible. But at the end of the day, she honestly had forgotten all about it.

“Are you happy, though?” Marcos asked.

“Ecstatic, brother,” she answered with a bright smile. And she really was. “Now that I’m no longer feeling sick all day long.”

“Morning sickness?” he asked, running a hand over his buzzed hair.

“All day sickness. To the point these guys were pretty worried,” she admitted, motioning to the three men at her back.

A hand slid across the back of her neck and pulled her toward them. She saw Kevin out of the corner of her eye as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple. “We called the doctor, but theystated it was normal, and by yesterday, she was starting to feel better,” Kevin said.

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