Page 23 of Hooked On Them

I grabbed a bottle of water from the center of the coffee table. She eyed me warily, looking between me and the glass of wine. “I try not to drink during the season.” I didn’t add that I’d fully intended to break that rule tonight, but alas, my stomach had a different plan.

“Since when?” she whispered.

“Okay, but was anyone else completely blindsided by the pregnancy reveal?” Julie rolled her eyes. “It came out of nowhere. No hints, no foreshadowing. Just bam! Suddenly, she’s pregnant with her boss’s baby.”

My brain screeched to a halt like a skater hitting the boards.

Oh.

Fuck.

No.

“Nora?” Paige’s voice seemed to come from a tunnel.

“Bathroom,” I managed to croak, standing up so quickly that the room tilted.

I walked away with as much dignity as I could muster.

Once inside the bathroom, I gripped the marble countertop and stared at my reflection. The woman looking back at me had wide, panicked eyes and looked like she was about to lose her shit.

This was ridiculous. There was no way I was pregnant. We’d used condoms. I had an IUD. I was fine. Just stressed and overworked and probably coming down with something.

But I had all the signs.

Fatigue? Check.

Breast tenderness? My sports bra had been feeling like a medieval torture device all week.

Nausea? That would explain why the wine made me want to hurl… and my breakfast.

I ticked off the boxes in my head like a horrifying checklist. I tried to remember when I’d last had my period, but that was a useless exercise since the IUD meant I rarely got them anymore.

I splashed cold water on my face, trying to regain my composure. I was being paranoid. There was no way I could be pregnant. IUDs were ninety-nine percent effective, and condoms were like eighty percent on a really bad day. That left like… a two-hundredths-of-a-percent chance, if my math was correct.

It was scientifically impossible.

Well, not impossible. Just incredibly, astronomically unlikely.

My mind flashed back to that night on the yacht. Carter and Dominic. Both of them. At the same time. In the same...

“Oh no.” I slid down to sit on the bathroom floor. I’d never considered the physics of what we’d done might impact birth control effectiveness. They’d both worn condoms, but they’d been rubbing against each other, creating friction that condoms were not designed to withstand.

A soft knock on the door made me jump.

“Nora? It’s been ten minutes. Are you alive in there?” Paige’s concerned voice came through the door.

“Define alive,” I called back weakly.

She didn’t respond, and for a moment, I thought she’d gone to get reinforcements. “Can I come in?”

I reached up and unlocked the door without getting up from my spot on the floor. Paige slipped inside, took one look at me, and immediately sat down next to me.

“Okay, spill. What’s happening? Are you sick? Did something happen at work? Did one of those hockey players say or do something? Because I will cut them.”

“I think I might be pregnant,” I blurted out.

Paige’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. “I’m sorry, what now?”

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