Page 3 of Until You

Frowning, she set her phone down and took his hand. “Is that something you’re worried about?”

He was silent for a moment, long enough to make her worry. “Sometimes, maybe a little? I think maybe…” He sucked in a breath. “Fucking up is what I’m used to. It’s what I know. Feels weird to be on a different path.”

She gave his hand a squeeze. “But youareon a different path. You learned from your mistakes and chose differently for yourself. Plus, you’ve got me. And not every recovering addict has Kayla Bristowe in his corner.”

He tugged her closer and planted a kiss on her mouth. “They’d better fucking not.”

She laughed and her phone chimed again. It was probably Lauren or Willa texting with questions or details about this weekend. Tomorrow morning, they were headed to Manhattan for Lucian and Olivia’s wedding, and she was excited to see her friends. And Sebastian, as Lucian’s best man, was looking forward to seeing his family. He’d been talking about it for weeks now, even though he’d decided to forgo the bachelor party that Max had thrown for Lucian given that it had been a weekend in Vegas. They’d offered to change their plans in order to accommodate him, but he’d refused, wanting Lucian to have the bachelor party he’d always wanted.

To Kayla, that showed just how much progress he’d made. The old Sebastian would have just gone to Vegas, deluding himself that he could handle it and that everything would be fine. But this Sebastian, the one who was committed to sobriety and therapy and trying to be a better person, had known immediately that he couldn’t go and face all of that temptation. She was proud of him.

She was a tiny bit disappointed when she glanced down at her phone and saw that it was just her period tracking app and not her friends. Sebastian rose from the couch and headed for the kitchen to add more chips to their bowl and she clicked on the notification.

Have you gotten your period yet? According to your calendar, you’re 10 days late.

Kayla stared at the message, panic and confusion and disbelief churning through her. She was never late. Never. And she was on the pill. There had to be a logical explanation.

There was no way she was pregnant. Yeah, they’d talked about it, but only as an eventuality. In the future. Not now. Yes, she wanted to have kids with Sebastian, and she knew he wanted to have kids with her, but she was on the pill.

But ten days late…well. That was unusual, to say the least.

She looked down at her phone again and stared at the message. Ten days late. She took a breath and took stock of her body, looking for any signs that her period was imminent. No cramps. No bloating. No insane chocolate cravings.

Well. Scenarios swirled through her mind as she swiped the reminder away, all of them making her stomach flutter and her heart race. It was late, and she didn’t have time to go buy a pregnancy test and wouldn’t before they left for New York first thing tomorrow morning. It’d have to wait until they were back in Manhattan, and in all likelihood, her period would show up by then.

She’d wear white pants on the plane and not pack any tampons just to make sure.

And then she’d take a test and it’d be negative because there was no way she was pregnant.

But still. Ten days late was pretty freaking late.

Sebastian sat back down beside her and handed the refilled bowl of potato chips to her. “Whoa, you okay?” he asked. “You have a freaked out look on your face.”

“I’m fine, just thinking about this weird, uh, dream I had,” she blurted.

He squinted at her, but then the show came back from commercial and he returned his attention to the TV. And as they watched the show, the same thoughts kept swirling through Kayla’s brain.

If something was holding Sebastian back from asking her to marry him, what would he do if she was pregnant?

She didn’t know.

2

“Jesus, look at this place,”said Sebastian as he helped Kayla out of the taxi they’d taken from JFK to Max and Willa’s new penthouse. The building in front of them was a tower of glass and steel, arching up into the sky, the windows glinting in the sunshine.

Instead of staying in a hotel, they’d accepted Max and Willa’s invitation to stay with them while they were in the city. Lauren and Theo would be staying with them as well, and Kayla was beyond excited for the reunion with her two closest friends. In fact, thinking about seeing her friends was the only thing that had kept her tethered last night while she’d tried to sleep, while she and Sebastian had made their way to the airport to catch their flight. Then on the plane, she’d tried both reading and watching a movie on her iPad to distract herself from her swirling thoughts, but nothing had worked. She didn’t even know how many times she’d touched her stomach over the past twelve hours, wondering if a tiny little life was sprouting there, part her, part Sebastian. Just the thought sent her heart racing and her stomach flip flopping over on itself.

She really, really needed to get her hands on a pregnancy test so that she could put all of the uncertainty to rest. And the more she thought about taking a test, the more she realized that there was a specific outcome she was hoping for. She didn’t want a negative and the so-called relief it would bring. Even though a baby wasn’t in their immediate plans and would be a total surprise, she wanted the test to be positive.

“Hey, you okay?” asked Sebastian for what had to be the tenth time since last night. He set their bags on the sidewalk in front of Max and Willa’s building, and she took a moment to admire the way the movement pulled his navy blue T-shirt tight against his bigger-than-ever biceps.

“Yeah, sorry. Just didn’t sleep well last night.” She reached for one of the bags, but he playfully swatted her hand away. The air was warm and sweet, and a pang of nostalgia put a small smile on her lips. As happy as she was in Lake Tahoe, maybe shedidmiss the city a little. The bright yellow taxis cruising up and down East 23rd, the pedestrians bustling up and down the sidewalk, lost in their own little worlds. The city had a vibration to it that made it feel so incessantlyalive. Not alive the way Lake Tahoe was, with its stunning wilderness and gorgeous nature, but alive with humanity. Alive with a kind of collective energy that was wholly unique to New York.

“Gorgeous,” she said, realizing she’d never responded to Sebastian’s earlier statement. “Willa said that their penthouse cost over sixty million dollars. Can you imagine?”

Sebastian let out a low whistle. “Maybe you picked the wrong Prescott.”

She laughed and fisted her hand in the soft cotton of his T-shirt, tugging his hard, sculpted body against hers. “Not a chance.” Her stomach fluttered and she bit her lip, uncertainty mingling with hope and excitement and the nostalgic freshness of being back home.

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