Page 85 of You're All I Need

That nasty feeling in my stomach turns even more sour.

I sigh and shake my head. I’m broken. Right now, all I want to do is move forward. Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan. You’d think I’d just roll with the punches and adjust my sails, but no. My brain can’t seem to get past the fact this wasn’t what was supposed to happen, so the only logical step is to go back to before it did.

My heart will catch up.

I pull into her parking lot and stop in front of her townhouse. The July sun is hot, the humidity sticky and heavy in the air. I jump out and make my way to her door. I lift my arm to knock, but the door opens before I can. Adrienne is standing there, comfortable shorts and a loose-fitting tank top covering her gorgeous body. Her hair is piled high on her head, she’s not wearing any makeup, and her toenails are painted a deep purple.

She looks…amazing.

Casual.

Simple.

Perfect.

It’s time to cut the string.

“Hi,” she says, giving me a small, yet effective smile that goes straight to my balls.

“Hey.”

“Come on in,” she adds, stepping back to allow me entrance.

Her place looks the same. There’s a bottle of water on the table beside a bottle of pills and a sleeve of crackers. Has she been sick? Her cheeks are rosy, but that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she’s had a fever.

“Thanks for stopping by,” she starts, holding my gaze. She looks strong, confident even, but the slight wringing of her hands together lets me know something’s bothering her.

“No problem. I was planning to get a hold of you anyway. We need to talk,” I say.

She nods. “Do you want to go first?”

I should, but I find myself shaking my head. “Go ahead. You invited me.”

“Okay, so I found something out, and I wanted to tell you about it.” She takes a deep, shaky breath before continuing. She levels me with a look of fear and intensity that practically knocks me on my ass. “I’m pregnant.”

The oxygen is sucked out of the entire room—hell, out of the entire universe—with those two little words. Only, those words aren’t little. They’re a giant fucking bomb landing squarely in my lap.

“What?”

Her throat bobs as she swallows. She lifts her head, her chin strong, as she repeats, “I’m pregnant, Caden.”

“But…how? Why? When? How?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she starts, but I cut her off.

“You can’t be pregnant.”

Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Yet, I am,” she replies slowly.

“Bullshit,” I fire back, shaking my head. “We always used a condom.” Except, I realize instantly that’s not true.

“Every time…but once.”

My eyes turn hard, my nostrils flaring. “You said you were on birth control.”

Her eyes fill with moisture, and it’s almost my undoing. I want to pull her into my arms and beg her not to shed a single tear. But my brain just won’t send the right signals. It’s firmly stuck on the fact she’s pregnant, and asshole Caden seems to be in command. “I was,” she whispers. “We had sex one time without a condom. It had to have happened then.”

“All I’m getting right now are red flags, Adrienne. You were on the pill,andI pulled out.”

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