me into trusting him, told me he loved me, then cleaned out my bank account.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “He maxed out my existing credit cards and all the ones he could get in my name.”
“Son of a bitch.” Nathan’s hands, resting on the arms of the chair, curled into fists.
“Yeah. I called him that, too, and a few things I can’t repeat. The banks refused to forgive the debt, but I managed to negotiate payments. I dropped out of school and worked two jobs for a while. When I had better control over the situation, I started taking a few night classes, which is why it’s taking so long to get my degree. But I had everything under control and it was going according to plan. The thing is, I’m still paying for that mess. I can’t afford another one.” Even in the dim light she saw when his expression went from brooding to pity. She could stand just about anything but that. “And then you came along. Dr. Charming. Wanting my phone number and not taking no for an answer.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he said again.
She believed him, but that didn’t help when panic was her go-to emotion. “It’s all fun and games until the condom breaks and someone gets pregnant.”
Nathan’s head felt like it was ready to explode. It was a sensation that was becoming increasingly familiar where Cindy Elliott was concerned, but this time wasn’t about passion. He struggled to process information that was a lot of fact swamped by buckets of emotion.
Fact: The condom broke.
Fact: She was pregnant.
Fact: The odds of this happening were ridiculously low, which put it firmly in the miracle column.
Emotion: He went from holy crap my boys are badass to holy crap I’m going to be a father.
That was a fact that gave him serious pause since he’d been parented in absentia and had no working model of how to raise a kid.
Cindy was staring at him, then abruptly she stood and slid her purse more firmly on her shoulder. “I just thought you should know about the baby.”
“Are you leaving?” He didn’t think she could surprise him any more, but somehow she always did.
“We’re done here.”
“Not by a long shot. Sit down.”
“Why should I?”
He met her gaze and the fear there went a long way toward tamping down his irritation. “For one thing this habit you have of running out on me is really getting old.”
“And?” She folded her arms over her chest. “You said ‘for one thing,’ which means there’s another reason I should sit.”
“We’re not even close to being done here.”
“What else is there to say?” Her tone oozed suspicion and mistrust, but she sat.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “This is a shock.”
“Tell me about it. At least you told me when—you know.” She looked down, suddenly shy. Charmingly so.
Nathan knew she meant he’d warned her about the condom malfunction. He realized something else, too. She didn’t trust him to not run out on her like the last bozo who’d robbed her blind then dumped on her and disappeared. If nothing else, being on his own as a kid had taught him to be the soul of responsibility.
He leaned toward her and rested his elbows on his knees as their gazes locked. Her brown eyes were a mixture of gold and cinnamon with a healthy dose of innocence thrown in. The vulnerability there tugged at him, making him want to fold her in his arms, a feeling that came out of nowhere. The things he couldn’t explain made him acutely uncomfortable.
“Look, Cindy, you’re not in this alone.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“That we’re in this together.” How lame was that answer? he thought.
“Oh, so you’re going to carry this baby for nine months?”
He hadn’t realized doubts about her intentions to do just that were even in his mind until her sarcastic statement indicated otherwise. Relief coursed through him.
“The differences in our anatomy being what they are, I can’t really do that—”
“But you would if you could,” she finished wryly. “It’s easy to promise something when there’s no way you can possibly be held accountable for not following through.”
Again he felt like he was paying the price for another guy’s sin. “I’m not running out on you like the last son of a bitch.”
Her gaze jumped to his as anger and hurt gleamed in her eyes. “So you’ll be around.”
“Yes.”
“I see.” Primly she folded her hands in her lap. “We already established that you can’t take over getting big as a battleship or deal with enough water retention to float it. So what else is there?”
“We’ll work it out as we go along,” he offered.
“Maybe you could finish up my classes and the internship I need for my degree.” She snapped her fingers and shook her head. “Nope. Wrong again. Someone would notice and I’d be out on my backside because of cheating.”
“Look, Cindy—”
“Actually, I can probably finish all of that before the baby is born.” She tapped her lip thoughtfully, but there was panic around the edges. “Then all I have to do is give birth and find a better job because I have to afford good child care along with having an infant who’s depending on me. Piece of cake.”
“The martyr act is admirable, but you didn’t get like this on your own. I’ll help you.”
“So in between saving premature babies you’re going to watch ours so I can finally get my career on track?”
“Like I said, we’ll figure things out.”
“I’ve never experienced a ‘we.’ There’s always just been me. My body, my problem.”
“My baby, too,” he said quietly.
All the fight drained out of her and she leaned back in the club chair. “Just so you know, I know I’m being unreasonable. If it’s all right with you, I think I’ll blame it on pregnancy hormones.”
“That works for me.”
As a corner of her full mouth quirked up, he felt an absurd surge of desire. The subdued lighting here in the bar made a sexy shadow of the small dent in her chin and he desperately wanted to explore it with his tongue. Somehow during that brief, passionate
