Chapter 25

Piper opened her eyes to bright rays of sunlight streaming in her room.

Her bathrobe was crumpled up on the side of her bed. She vaguely remembered wiggling out of it in the middle of the night and wondered why she’d gone to bed in it.

A slow trickle of memories of the previous night played like scenes from a movie in her head.

Chase in a tux, the limo . . . the flash of media lights when they arrived, Chase’s speech that made her cry, Alex’s words . . .

And Chase’s kiss. The desire to savor it and commit it to memory was something she didn’t have time for before she told him her secret.

From that moment on, she dumped all her pent-up emotion on his shoulder and cried so much she didn’t think it was going to stop. Next thing she remembered was kicking off her bathrobe and now waking up.

Her bedroom door was opened slightly, and Kit was nowhere to be seen.

The clock on her bedside table said it was after eight in the morning.

She hadn’t slept that long in weeks.

Piper placed a hand over her stomach and did a little inventory.

Nausea . . . no.

Full bladder . . . yes.

Flat-ish stomach . . . yes.

Still groggy from sleep that didn’t want to let go, Piper forced herself out of bed and padded barefoot to her bathroom.

Once she was finished there, she drank some water and ran her fingers through her hair.

Two steps out of her tiny bathroom and around the corner into her living space, she stopped.

“Good morning.” Chase sat on her love seat, his shirt half-open, hair rumpled, with the shadow of a day’s worth of beard on his chin. How a man who obviously had a terrible night’s sleep looked even sexier in the morning was beyond her.

“I thought you went home.”

Kit bounced through the doggie door and straight to her side.

“I thought about it,” he told her. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly good. You’re twice the size of my couch, is that where you slept?”

He bounced a couple of times and smiled. “It’s not bad, actually.”

Instead of calling him on it, she turned to her kitchen. “I’ll make you some coffee.”

Chase moved to his feet. “You do not need to wait on me. Point me in the right direction and I’ll make it.”

In her kitchen, she opened the cupboard that housed her coffee and filters. “I put the coffeepot away. It’s on the top shelf,” she said, pointing.

Chase moved around her to take it down.

Piper filled the kettle on her stove with water so she could have some herbal tea.

As she waited for the water to boil, she looked down at herself and realized that she wore only an oversize T-shirt since she hadn’t bothered with putting her bathrobe back on.

“Be right back,” she told him.

In her bedroom, she quickly pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. One look in the mirror, and she tossed her hair up in a clip.

The mirror on her dresser let her know that she wouldn’t be winning the “Sexiest Woman in the Morning” competition.

It didn’t matter.

Chase had already seen her straight out of bed. There wouldn’t be any unseeing of that anytime soon.

She heard her kettle start to whistle.

Back in the kitchen, Chase had poured her tea and set it on her small dining table.

She took a seat and lifted the string holding the tea bag and started to move it up and down in the cup.

Chase stood, leaning against the counter as his coffee dripped slowly.

“Why did you stay last night?” she asked quietly.

“It didn’t feel right to leave. I don’t think I’ve seen a woman more upset. Even in the early days of my mother’s divorce, I never saw the emotion pouring out of her like you did last night.”

“I’m usually so good at holding it together.”

“I know. Which made it even more important that I was here when you woke up.”

She had a hard time looking at him. Instead, she studied the water in her cup, which changed colors as her tea steeped.

“I’m not your responsibility.” She pointed to her stomach. “This isn’t your responsibility.”

“I don’t have it in me to disappear when someone I care about is aching.”

She looked at him now and then quickly turned away. “I told you I was complicated.”

He huffed a short laugh. “Yes, you did.”

“Now you know just how wrong you and I are for each other.”

Chase picked up the carafe of coffee and started to pour. “You lost me there.”

Did he really need her to spell this out for him? “First of all, you’re my boss.”

“I don’t see where that is relevant. You do the job of two people. I don’t see that changing if we’re dating.”

“People will talk.”

He took his coffee and sat opposite her. “Yeah, I’m sure they will. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t care. I don’t care what people think, what they say. I’ve had a thing for you since we met, and as much as I tried to ignore it, it doesn’t go away.” He lifted the cup to his lips.

Piper stared at him like he was crazy. “I’m pregnant. Have you forgotten that part?”

He pointed to the refrigerator. “I saw the picture.”

“Chase!”

He placed a hand over hers. “If we met a year from now, and you were a single mom, I’d still want to explore this attraction.”

She paused, never once had she considered he’d feel that way. “If we’re dating, people will think it’s yours.”

“That part is a little sticky.”

“Sticky? Are you crazy? It’s impossible.”

He set his coffee down and gathered one of her hands in both of his. “When are you due?”

“November.”

“That gives us a lot of time to get to know each other before diapers and midnight wake-up cries.”

“There isn’t going to be any of that,” she told him. “I’m not keeping it.”

The stunned look on Chase’s face said he hadn’t considered that option. “You’re giving the baby up for adoption?”

She looked away. “I’m not financially able to support a baby. When I lost my job . . . right after I found out I was pregnant, it drove home how unprepared I am for this.”

He leaned forward. “You’re not going to lose your job.”

“I don’t have support, Chase. My parents live in Ohio. Not that it matters, they wouldn’t condone this in a million years. The embarrassment I’d bring to our family—”

His voice softened. “Have you met the adoptive parents?”

“No. I haven’t contacted the agency yet. I’ve barely come to grips that this is even happening. As it is, I’ve only seen the doctor twice. Even though I knew, it took getting sick every morning for the past couple weeks and an ultrasound picture to believe this wasn’t just a bad dream.”

He squeezed her hand. “Who else knows about this?”

Piper shook her head. “My doctor . . . and you.”

For some reason, that put a smile on Chase’s face.

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. He brushed her knuckles with a thumb and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “What about the father?”

She swallowed hard. “I seriously considered not telling him. This was one night. We both knew that. Bad sex in the back of a car with Jose Cuervo in the driver’s seat is a bad combination.” She tried to laugh at the situation. “Then I read what adoption agencies ask about when you’re going through the process. Check a box. You can’t find the father. Don’t know who the father is. Father isn’t involved. Father is willing to sign adoptive paperwork . . . those are the questions.” Piper slipped her hand out of Chase’s and picked up her mug. “I went to the club where we met. No guarantee that he’d show up again, but on the second night, he did. Even without me saying a word, he took one look at me and knew. Or the bartender told him. Either way . . .” It still stung how he dismissed her so easily.

“What happened?” Chase asked.

“He pretended like we’d never met. Pissed me off. It was right after you and I found the DNA test for your brother. What was I going to do, make this guy go through that just to wipe the smug it’s not me, lady look off his face?”

“Asshole,” Chase bit out.

“I called him that and more . . . in my head. Truth is, it makes it easier. I made sure he understood I was never going to look for him again and walked away. I bet by now, he and his buddies have switched clubs to ensure I can’t find him. Not that I will ever look.”

“He still should have owned up.”

“There’s a lot of men out there like your father.”

Chase once again traced the hand she set on the table with one of his fingers. “This hasn’t been easy on you.”

“I can’t imagine any unplanned pregnancy when you’re single is. I doubt I’m unique.”

“You’ve done a damn good job of not letting on.”

“I don’t do that kind of thing, Chase. The one-night thing. Obviously, I did . . .”

“Piper?”

She shifted her gaze to his.

“You’ll get no judgment from me. I’d be an absolute hypocrite if I said I never. I thought about that a lot last night when I was watching the hours pass.”

“That couch isn’t meant for sleeping.”

He shrugged. “My point is, it could just as easily have been me. It’s been a while since I dated anyone for any length of time, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had sex.”

She set her cup down and sighed. “Thank you for that. Even though deep down, I know there is nothing wrong with what I did. I grew up being told not to.”

“The perfect way to ensure your kids do that thing.”

The heaviness of her condition felt lighter now that everything was out in the open. Well, at least with Chase. She didn’t realize how much she needed to talk to another person about what she was going through. Having someone to tell her she wasn’t a shitty person for getting pregnant in the first place wasn’t something she wanted to need . . . but somehow was.

She pointed a thumb to the center of her kitchen. “I’m surprisingly hungry. Do you want to stay for breakfast?”

His smile went straight to his eyes. “I’d like that.”

Piper pushed her chair back.

“Tell you what . . . I’m pretty good with eggs. Why don’t you take a shower, or whatever you normally do in the morning, while I take on kitchen duty.”

“You sure?”

“I have to prove I’m Sunday-morning worthy,” he said with a sly smile.

“I think you’ve already done that.”

He stood, and when he did, Kit, who had been lying on Piper’s foot the whole time, jumped up.

“Is there a treat I can give that dog so he likes me a little more?” Chase asked.

“The cupboard above the fridge.” She pushed to her feet and said to Kit, “Behave.”

“Go,” Chase said. “I got this.”

“I could use a shower.” Hot water and steam sounded perfect.

Piper had to step past Chase to exit the kitchen, and when she went to walk around him, he placed a gentle hand on her hip.

Their eyes met and held. The butterflies of firsts fluttered in her belly.

He gave her plenty of time to pull away as he bent down and touched his lips to hers.

Piper let all the sensations of his lips roll over her in soft waves of joy. She closed her eyes and let the kiss linger.

It wasn’t a kiss that led to other discoveries, but one of commitment and promise.

Chase placed a hand on her cheek and ended their kiss. Then rested his forehead on hers and peered into her eyes. “Give me a chance, Piper.”

“Are you sure?” she asked in a whisper.

“I wouldn’t be holding you right now if I wasn’t.”

She searched his eyes and felt the honesty of his words.

“Alex isn’t going to like it.”

“Leave her to me.”

“She needs to know about everything . . . before the news is spread.”

Chase touched his lips to hers and talked around the kiss. “I’ll tell her.”

“You sure—”

Another brush of his lips against hers. “Positive.”

One more kiss, and he put a few inches of space between them.

His words danced in her head. “If we met a year from now, and you were a single mom, I’d still want to explore this attraction.”

“Okay.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Okay? Yes?”

She nodded several times. “And if it doesn’t work out . . . we’re adults about it.”

His whole face lit up. “I can live with that.”

“This isn’t going to be easy. The baby, adoption . . . people’s questions.”

“I’m not letting fear get in the way of the joy you bring me.”

She wanted to melt. Okay . . . we’re going to do this. No more pretending she didn’t feel anything for him. No more putting him off. Her heart started to crack open . . . which was scary, but exciting all the same. “Okay.”

Chase reached for her again, his lips warm on hers. He pulled back, smiled, and kissed her again. She leaned into him for a few more seconds and drew away slowly. “Was that your pinky promise?”

“We’re way past pinkies.”

Way past! “Promise me we’ll be adults if this doesn’t work.”

“I promise,” he whispered.

Piper pulled in a breath, nodded, and turned to leave the room.

“Piper?”

“Yeah?” She glanced at him over her shoulder.

“What if it does work out?”

He was going to make her cry. “I don’t know. I haven’t considered that.”

Chase paused. “Maybe we should.”