Knocked Up(27)

Now, though, he was starting to wonder if he got it, and it was the ultrasound that had done it.

Compared to the swell of emotion in his chest when he saw that black and white picture, that bike shop and the stupid apartment and the meaningless comforts seemed a little less important. Just thinking about that picture filled him with so much hope, so much love, so much fear that literally everything else was blocked from his mind. All he could think of was the baby.

His baby.

He pulled up to his house, popped the car into park and set his head on the steering wheel while the final strains of a loud, angry song poured from the speakers.

It had been the longest, most fucked up day of his life and soon enough, he’d be a father. Might as well live up one of his last, responsibility free nights and clear his head the old fashioned way.

By walking to the bar, and getting completely, totally, and utterly annihilated.





Chapter 11





Tawny highlighted her name on the screen, made the font bigger, then changed it to something swirly and eye-catching and then promptly changed it back.

It didn't matter what she did with her resume now, the fact of the matter was that her credentials qualified her for nearly every job available in the three neighboring school districts. She had years of volunteer experience with children, extraordinary marks from both her classes and her clinical, and enough additional certifications to make any principal's eyes cross.

It wasn't the resume or the cover letter or even her folio she had to worry about.

No, it was the fact that, by the time she stepped into any interview, the principal would see her as one big, giant expense.

As if the medical benefits required to cover her and the baby weren't enough to send her right back out the door, the fact that she'd just have gotten properly trained at her new school and then, a few months later, they’d be pulling her out of the clinic and have to train a substitute nurse, which would be downright insane. Plus, what would she do with the baby when it was time to go back to work again? What kind of daycare would she find? And what would she miss while her child was spending his days with a stranger? His first steps? His first word?

No, she told herself firmly. It was illegal for a place to deny her a job for being pregnant. And she was lucky. She still had some savings left. She would just keep going on interviews and hope one of the ones that had sworn she was on their short list got back to her before she lost her mind.

For now, there was no sense in worrying about it. There was nothing to do for it in any case and she couldn't let her concerns cloud her joy about the baby. Whatever would come would come. She'd be a school nurse one day even if she had to work three different jobs to get by until then. Plus, Luke offered to help. She might have to take him up on it, no matter how much it hurt her pride to have to do so.

Her gaze drifted toward the tiny, silver frame on the corner of her desk and she smiled at the blurry lump that was her baby. When she'd gotten home, the frame had been waiting for her in a little purple gift bag, a note from Suzette stuck to the front of it. Across the top were the words "love at first sight" and Tawny traced the indents of the engraving, focusing again on the little surge of joy that filled her thoughts whenever she thought of her son.

She picked up the photo, ready to examine it for what must have been the millionth time that day, when a thumbprint on the glossy picture's finish caught her eye. It was bigger than her own by far and then, with a rush of heat, she remember the way Luke had held the picture, too. Remembered the tender look in his eyes as he'd surveyed the very first picture of their baby.

Those eyes of his had haunted her. So intense and blue. She thought back to the way he'd looked at her that night on the lake or the way he'd looked when she'd seen him in her dreams just that afternoon.

She swallowed hard, trying to push back the thought, but it surged forward, unbidden, and she put the little frame back down as the memory consumed her.

She’d fallen asleep, exhausted after her trying afternoon. Instantly, she’d dreamt she was back in the doctor's office. Luke was holding her while she cried, stroking her hair until her gasping sobs slowed and steadied. But in her dream, he’d cupped her chin and tilted her to look up into his face, that same heartbreaking tenderness in his eyes as he said her name. The rough pad of his thumb trailed down her cheek, catching the last of her tears, and then he was coming closer and closer to her, so close that she could feel the heat of his breath, could smell that spicy, earthy mix that was entirely his own.

And when his lips found hers? She had no choice but to give in, to allow him to lead her back, back, back until she was on top of the little exam table, her legs spreading wide for him again. With one move, he pulled her shirt over her head and in another her bra was gone, free for his mouth to find her stiff, pink nipples and suck hard until she let out a little gasp. She undid her own pants, unable to wait for him to make the move and then--