Page 54 of Mic Drop

I’venevernot used a condom. Why did I forget this time—with mywife?She’s going to want to divorce me before our marriage even starts for being a careless, selfish bastard. Fuck.

Her tiny hand turns my head toward hers. I can’t bring myself to look into her gray eyes. I don’t deserve such closeness. “Bennett, it’s all right.”

I continue to berate myself. How did I manage to have sex bareback with the most precious woman on earth? We’ve never even talked about having kids. Her sister has two, sure, but Jenna isn’t Kara. I’m most certainly not daddy material.

“Everything’s fine.” She shakes my head.

I blink, not registering what she’s saying. My wife. “Huh?”

“I said, it’s okay. We’re married. If we get pregnant, it’s no big deal.”

I sit up. “No big deal. You were born to be a mother. You’re kind and sweet and loving. Me?” I rake my palm up and down my body. “I’m not built to be a father. Look at my role model. Oh wait. You can’t because he isn’t here.” I slam my lips into a thin line.

“Because he passed away a decade ago,” she replies in a quietvoice. Her hand taps the center of my chest. “But he was here, Bennett. With you. In you. You placed a rose on the chair to honor him. He lives on through you, can’t you see?”

My mouth hangs open. “Dad was a great man. He tried to help me in any way he could.” I shake my head. “Not me. I’m not as good as he was. Then there’s Mom.” My eyes fall to the bedding. “I didn’t even tell her I was getting married.”

Jenna slides next to me, kissing my jaw. “Your mother isn’t capable of supporting you, and you didn’t want her negativity at our wedding.” She kisses my cheek. “You can still tell her. Maybe you should before the media gets hold of the information and runs with it.” Her nose scrunches.

The last thing I want is to worry Jenna about my stupid crap. She has more than enough on her plate. “I’ll deal with Mom.” Somehow.

Ignoring how my stomach folds on itself, I bring her to my body and reiterate my initial issue. “However, I don’t want to put you at risk. Having unprotected sex was risky.”

“Do you have any diseases I don’t know about?”

“What?” I shake my head. “No. I’m clean. Luke makes us take tests on a monthly basis, just in case he has to do some clean up.”

“Oh wow.” She shakes her head. “Did any of you ever come up positive?”

I purse my lips. “All I’m going to say is one of us had to take antibiotics for a while. But he’s clean now. We all are.”

“Who was it?” Her hands tap on my shoulders.

“Not me.” I make a zipping motion across my lips. “It’s old news, Sweetheart. We had that one scare, and we all learned our collective lesson from it.”

“Fine,” she pouts.

Coop’s story is his alone, so I return to the issue at hand. “Jenna, I forgot to use a condom. What are we going to do?”

Her head tilts and she places her index finger against her lips. “I don’t know, Bennett. What do you suggest?”

There’s a pill that could take care of any complications, but Ican’t bring myself to suggest this to the beautiful naked woman in my arms. My wife. “I?—”

“This is why I knew Lissa was lying, even before I heard the true story.” She hugs her body against mine. “You won’t tell me to do anything about a possible baby, and we’remarried. No way would you have abandoned her back in high school.”

I frown. How did my wedding night turn into a conversation about my high school girlfriend who’s trying to blackmail her way into the spotlight? “Jenna, one thing has nothing to do with the other.”

“They both show your character.”

Women. Who can follow their logic? “Listen, I’m talking about us right now. You and me. The fact I went bareback.”

“Have to admit, it was a very memorable way to consummate our marriage.” She grins.

“That’s beside the point.” I rake my fingers through my hair. “What are we going to do if you’re pregnant?”

Her head lands on my shoulder. “Have a baby.”

Those three words would have caused my body to convulse before I met Jenna. Even now, I can’t wrap my head around this possibility. Yet, her solution seems so easy. “As in you and me plus a baby carriage?”

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