Page 1 of Craving You

Chapter One

It’s all fun and games until two little pink lines appear.

Shit was about to get real.

“I’m pregnant.” Hailey Donovan stared down at the test in her hand and blinked several times to make sure she was seeing the correct results.

Do the two lines mean it’s positive?

Is that really a second line?

Frantically, she reached for the instruction packet and looked at the diagram and then at her results.

“Yup. Pregnant.” The shaky breath came out as she slowly sat on the edge of her bathtub, quickly followed by a wave of panic.

To say this wasn’t planned was an understatement.

Dozens of things began to race through her mind—like how she was going to tell her parents, her boss, her friends, and her siblings.

Oh, and the father.

That one was going to be a little tricky because…well…they had met at her cousin’s wedding, spent a wild and sexy weekend together, and then said goodbye. Hailey lived in Fort Lauderdale, and he lived a thousand miles away up in Sweetbriar Ridge. They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers because it didn’t seem necessary. Logistics weren’t on their side and neither even hinted at wanting to attempt a long-distance thing. So, she took it for what it was—an amazing weekend she would remember for a long time.

“I’m certainly going to remember it for the next nine months,” she murmured as her hand automatically went to rest on her flat stomach. “Oh God…what am I going to do?”

She already knew the answer.

She was having a baby.

It was everything else that needed to be worked out.

“Just…not right this minute.” Standing back up, Hailey stared at the pregnancy test again before dropping it in the trashcan. She knew that she’d take at least another one or two—or five—of them before going to see her gynecologist. “Probably should try to get that scheduled first before I freak everyone out. For all I know, that was a false positive.”

Instantly, her mood lightened. Walking out to her living room, she forced herself to breathe and think positively. There was definitely a chance of this being incorrect. Maybe she peed on it the wrong way or something. Maybe it was a faulty test.

But then…

“And maybe my period just happens to be two weeks late.”

And just like that, light mood, gone.

Dropping onto the couch, her head fell back against the cushions. An organizer by nature, her mind instantly started making a list of things she had to do. The obvious place to start was the doctor’s appointment. “Okay, it’s only four o’clock. I can easily do that now.”

So she did.

Ten minutes later, the appointment was made, and she lucked out by getting one for early the following week.

“One thing down, a million more to go.” But before she could think of what needed to come next, her phone rang. Her sister’s name appeared on the screen and for a moment, she considered ignoring it. But tonight was girls’ night and maybe hanging out with Sloane was exactly what she needed to calm herself down. “Hey! What’s up? Are we still on for tonight?”

“Of course! Want to try the new Korean barbecue place over on Sunrise? My friend Janie went there last weekend on a date and raved about it.”

“Um…any chance you’d want to just hang out here? I’m just in a funk and would kind of love a quiet night in. We can order dinner, watch a movie…”

“You know what? That actually sounds great. I had a crappy day too. If I could afford to quit my job, I would have done it today.”

“Oh no! What happened?”

“Ugh…I don’t want to talk about it.” After a long sigh, Sloane asked, “Do you want me to bring anything?”

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