“What? No,” I gasped. “Why would you even ask that?”
“Seems like a reasonable question to me,” she drawled with a quirk of her brow.
Nixon circled the bed to come to my side. “What’s wrong, baby?”
I tilted my head back to look up at him and rolled my eyes. “I think the labor and delivery was harder on your sister than we realized.”
His eyes darkened with concern as he looked at Naomi. “You okay, Mims?”
“I’m totally fine.” She waved off his concern and shot Prentice a reassuring smile when he hurried over to the other side of the bed. “But I think you might have found a way to make my special day even more fantastic.”
“How so?” he asked.
She jerked her thumb toward me. “By knocking up my best friend.”
His gaze jerked back to me. “Are you feeling nauseous? Light-headed?”
I shook my head with a sigh. “No, but apparently me feeling sentimental over Ben’s birth is enough for her to leap to conclusions.”
Naomi crossed her arms over her chest. “Deny it all you want, but I’m not being ridiculous.”
“Of course, you aren’t, baby.” Prentice shifted Ben to his other arm so he could pat her on the shoulder.
“Sorry, but I have to agree with my sister.” Nixon leaned down to brush his lips against my forehead. “Back in a sec with a test.”
I was sputtering as he turned on his heel and darted out of the hospital room. Turning to Naomi, I asked, “Did that really happen?”
“It sure did,” Prentice confirmed with a grin.
I was totally flabbergasted when Nixon was back in only a few minutes. “How did you get that so quickly?”
“I had it in my car,” he explained as he handed me the box.
My brows drew together. “You’re just driving around with a pregnancy test in the car?”
“I picked it up when I ran into Duane Reade to grab the candy that Naomi wanted.”
My head jerked back. “But how in the world could you have possibly known that I was going to need a pregnancy test?”
“Baby, c’mon. Seriously?” He shook his head and flashed me a sexy grin. “I know your body better than you do. Your tits have been sensitive as fuck lately, and you’ve been more tired than usual.”
Naomi stuck her fingers in her ears. “La la la! I can’t hear you.”
The downside to falling for my best friend’s brother was that my sex life was a no-go zone for her. The last thing she wanted to hear was any details about Nixon regarding our bedroom antics.
Nixon wrapped his fingers around my wrist and helped me to my feet. Giving my butt a gentle swat, he urged, “Go take the test.”
I stomped into the bathroom and peed on the stick, fully expecting that I would prove everyone wrong. When I finished washing my hands, I picked up the test even though it was a minute or so early.
My eyes were wide as I stared down at the little white stick. The two pink lines were impossible to miss, but I was having a hard time understanding what I was seeing. Not that I should be, considering how often Nix was inside me without anything between us. He constantly “forgot” about the condom. Not that I was any better at remembering.
I practically stumbled out of the bathroom in a daze. “I’m pregnant.”
Nixon’s reaction drowned out my whispered words. “You’re having my baby!”
Sweeping me off my feet, he cradled me against his chest and peppered my face with kisses.
Naomi clapped her hands. “Oh, my gosh! Yay! Our babies will be close enough in age to be best friends, too.”
“I’m pregnant,” I repeated as I twined my arms around Nixon’s neck, suddenly feeling light-headed.
“And it’s such great timing. You’ll be on summer break for your due date, and Nixon will be off-season,” Naomi prattled on.
I was happy about the pregnancy, but I had about a million questions running through my head. “What about after the baby comes? What am I going to do about school? Nixon’s schedule will be jam-packed, and I’ll still have two more years to finish my degree.”
Naomi beamed a smile at me. “That’s easy. You and Nixon will just have to find a place nearby so I can watch my little niece or nephew whenever you need to be at school.”
Her easy answer—and with the perfect solution—helped settle my nerves over the prospect of finishing college with a baby at home while his or her dad was busy playing professional football. And there wasn’t anyone else in the world—except for my parents—who I trusted as much as my best friend. “That’s a wonderful idea. I guess our babies really will grow up together.”
“Thanks, sis.” Nixon kept me in his arms as he bent over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “As much as I’d love to spend more time getting to know my nephew, I need to get my woman home so we can celebrate the news of our own little bundle of joy.”