Well Suited (Red Lipstick Coalition #4)(7)

She took a deep, decisive breath through her nose and nodded once. When she stood, it was to extend her hand. “Thank you for seeing me unannounced, Theodore. And for your offer of help.”

I rose to meet her, taking her hand. But rather than shake it, I pulled her closer. “You won’t be alone, Kate. I’ll be here every step of the way.”

There she was, the girl from before. She appeared like a specter with a softening of her eyes, her face, her body, affected by me as I was by her. It was automatic, unwitting, a natural reaction of her body and mine. An instinct. An impulse.

“I don’t think we should see each other romantically, Theodore,” she whispered. Her eyes said something else entirely.

But I didn’t press. Somehow, I’d known this was what she’d say. “Whatever you want, Kate.”

“Katherine,” she breathed.

“When you call me Theo, I’ll call you Katherine.”

For a moment, she said nothing, just stared at my lips. “Why do you want to raise a child with a stranger?”

The question simmered in my chest, warm and bubbling and steady. “Because I didn’t have a father, and the thought of fathering a child who doesn’t know me just isn’t something I can live with.”

A break in the clouds, a slant of light behind her eyes. Her understanding shone on me like a ray of sunshine.

“That, and I don’t feel like you’re a stranger at all.”

“But I am,” she insisted.

I shrugged my shoulder as I slipped a hand into her hair. Her stubborn little jaw rested in the curve of my palm.

“Technically, yes.”

“There’s no other way but technically.”

“Oh, there is. And when you figure it out, I think you’ll marry me.”

The color rose in her cheeks the split second before she laughed. It was a strange, musical sound from a woman so contained, a sound free and floating. “I don’t believe in marriage.”

“Don’t worry. There’s plenty of time to change your mind.”

Brighter her cheeks flared, though her eyes were merry, laughing as readily as her lips. “You are presumptuous.”

“It’s true. But I’m always right. Statistically, it’s safe to presume.”

With another chuckle, she stepped back. I instantly wished I’d kissed her.

But if I was going to have her for my own, I had the feeling that patience and logic were the only paths to get her.

And I had both in spades.

I was about to reach for her bag in an effort to help her out. But before I could, she listed, shifting in a dangerous tilt that indicated a loss of control.

And with one step and a painful lurch of my heart, I intercepted her before she hit the ground.





3





Let Me Help You With That





Katherine

“Kate? Kate, wake up.”

A big, warm hand on my clammy face. His voice, tight with concern, deep with worry. Something soft under my back—the couch, I realized.

My lids were vault doors, heavy and immovable.

“Katherine,” I corrected, a whisper through sticky lips.

A chuckle.

“Oh, thank God.” The voice was Amelia’s, and the sound wrinkled my brow.

I summoned the strength to crack my eyelids and found three worried faces hovering over me. One was Amelia’s, her eyes wide and bright. The other two were mirrors of each other—dark eyes, dark hair, furrowed brows, full lips ticked down in a frown. But Tommy’s hair was long and irreverent while Theo’s was cropped and contained.

I found I much preferred the latter.

I moved to sit, eliciting arguments from the peanut gallery. But Theo took my arm and helped me up, kneeling at my feet.

“We should get you to the doctor,” he said. Worry etched his brow.

I sighed, rolling my neck. “I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve thrown up everything I’ve eaten. I think my blood sugar is low.”

Amelia slid in next to me. “Are you all right? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m pregnant.”

Her lashes were flittering wings as she blinked. “You’re…I’m sorry. You’re what?”

“Pregnant. With Theodore’s embryo.”

Her mouth opened. Closed again. Opened and hung there. Closed once more. Tommy turned to his brother, and when their eyes met, they had a full conversation without speaking a word.

“The night at the club,” Theo said, answering their silent question.

“A baby?” Amelia breathed, her big eyes sparkling with tears.

“Eventually, yes. But right now it looks closer to a Lovecraftian demon than a baby. So, for now, it’s just an embryo.”

She laughed. “Katherine, it’s a baby.”

“Amelia, it has a tail.”

Another laugh. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re handling this so well.” Her voice softened. “When did you find out?”

There it was again, a twist in my chest that wasn’t painful, just a tight ache that seemed to be trying to tell me something, though I couldn’t imagine what. “Just a bit ago. I was going to ask you all to come over so I could tell you. I didn’t expect for you to find out like this.”