Chapter Six
Cortez
"I'm pregnant, Cortez," Piper whispers, her voice shaking.
I drop her toothbrush. My hands just…cease functioning. For a minute, my entire goddamn system ceases to function. The ground shifts beneath my feet and the world stops spinning. Her words echo in my head.
I'm pregnant, Cortez.
I'm pregnant, Cortez.
I'm pregnant, Cortez.
All the little signs stitch themselves together like a roadmap. Her fuller breasts and sensitive nipples. The glow to her skin. The subtle rounding of her belly. The exhaustion and vomiting. Her panic when I showed up out of the blue. It all makes sense now.
She's pregnant, and the whole time, she's been doing it alone, thinking I just left her there like she was nothing. She's been carrying my baby, alone. She's been scared, alone. She's been sick, alone. And then I showed up after two months like nothing had changed. For her, everything had changed. She's carrying my kid and she had to do it without me. I promised her forever and then left her to face it alone. In her mind, I didn't just abandon her, I abandoned our kid too.
No wonder she's so fucking afraid to trust me again.
"I planned on telling you," she whispers. "I only found out last week, but I swear I planned on telling you. But then you showed up and I didn't know how to tell you or if you were here to stay or if you were just going to disappear again. And I know that sounds horrible. I probably sound horrible. And selfish. And so cruel. I swear I wasn't trying to keep your baby from you, Cortez. I would never do that. I just…I just needed a minute to gather the nerve to tell you, that's all."
"You're pregnant," I say. I'm not sure why. They seem to be the only words my mouth can form at the moment. My girl is pregnant. How it's possible to be this goddamn thrilled and feel like such an asshole at the same time, I don't know. But here I am anyway.
How many times did I dream about this exact thing over the last two months? Too many to count. Only it didn't happen this way in my dreams. She wasn't alone and scared. She didn't find out by herself. I can't go back and fix it. I wish like hell I could. But she won't ever be alone again.
"I'll take a paternity test if you want," she says, her shoulders drooping. "I haven't been with anyone but you. I wouldn't do that. But I'll take whatever tests you want me to take. I swear I wasn't trying to keep you from your baby, Cortez. Please don't hate me."
Hate her? I blink, surprised to see tears slipping down her cheeks. My stomach clenches at the sight, acid eating its way through my intestines. She's crying. Fuck. I made her cry. That can't be good for her or the baby.
"I could never hate you," I rasp, cupping her face in my hands. "God, Piper, I'm so fucking in love with you it's killing me."
"Cortez," she says, more tears spilling down her cheeks.
"You don't owe me an explanation or an apology. You don't owe me anything, pretty baby."
"I should have told you yesterday."
"I wish you had," I admit, brushing tears from her cheeks. "But I'm not mad at you for it. If anything, I'm mad as hell at the situation. I'm mad as hell that you've been going through this alone. I'm mad as hell that I haven't been here to take care of you and our baby. I'm mad as hell that you've been scared and sick without me." I groan, pressing my forehead to hers. "Fuck. Why didn't I call the front desk that night and tell them I wasn't checking out? I could have saved us both two months of heartache."
"Please don't," she whispers, shaking her head against mine. "I don't want to be sad anymore. You're here now. We're together now. That's all that matters."
I pull back to look at her. "Is this you saying you forgive me, Piper?"
"Yes," she says and then immediately bites her bottom lip. "I was never mad at you, Cortez. I was hurt. I fell in love with you. When I woke up and you were gone…that hurt. A lot. I thought you changed your mind and just didn't want to tell me."
"Fuck no," I growl.
"Did you really look for me?"
"Every fucking day. I haunted that fucking bar, waiting for you to show up again."
"I haven't been back since that night," she admits. "I've kind of been avoiding Nashville in general since that night. I was afraid I'd run into you somewhere and you'd pretend you didn't know me, or I'd see you with another woman." Her cheeks heat at her admission. "My parents probably think I've moved out of the country."
"There are no other women, Piper. There were no women in my life long before I met you. There certainly hasn't been one since you," I say. I hadn't been on a date in years before I met her, let alone slept with anyone. "You think I'd settle for someone else?" I shake my head, denying it. The mere thought is preposterous to me. If I can't have her, I don't want anyone. "Never, pretty baby. You're it for me."
"I'm so afraid you don't mean it," she admits in a whisper.
"You don't trust me."
"It's not that. It's just…" She huffs out a breath, staring at me in something like awe. She lifts her hand, tracing her fingertips across the plane of my cheek. "How are you real?"
"Jesus," I growl, my dick throbbing at the look in her eyes. No one has ever looked at me like she is right now. Like I'm fucking magic. I'm not. I'm just a man. Piper though? She's magic. She's a goddamn queen. "You need to brush your teeth, Piper."
Her brows furrow, confusion filtering through her expression.
"I need to kiss you, and I'm guessing you aren't going to let me do that until you brush your teeth," I explain, placing a hand on her outer thigh. She shivers as I run it up her silky skin to curve it around her hip. Her skin is so fucking soft. "Brush your teeth, pretty baby."
She quickly grabs her toothbrush from the sink where I dropped it and then stretches to grab the toothpaste. I splay my hand across her belly. My skin is darker than hers, rougher. My palm nearly covers her abdomen. I can't believe my kid is in there.
Fuck, my kid is in there.