“I’ll be right here if either of you needs me, Boss,” Slater offered.
“Thanks, Slater,” Knox breathed. He headed back to his office and fogged the glass walls to give them some privacy. He knew that Beck was a very private person and she wouldn’t want anyone to possibly see them in his office together. They had done a damn good job keeping their relationship under wraps but now, if Beck was pregnant, her demand for time would have an expiration date.
“Hey,” Knox breathed. Beck sat up from the sofa and wiped her bloodshot eyes. From the look of her, she hadn’t stopped crying the entire time that he was gone. “Honey,” he crooned, crossing the room to sit next to her. Knox handed her the bag of pregnancy tests and she poured the contents on the glass table that sat in front of his sectional.
“Wow,” she whispered. “How many of these do you think I need to take?”
“No clue,” Knox admitted. “I’ve never had to buy a pregnancy test before, so I didn’t know what to get. I just grabbed a few of everything the store had.”
She nodded, “Well, I’ve never had to take a pregnancy test before, so that makes us even,” she teased. “I’m pretty sure that they all do basically the same thing and I’ll only need one to tell me that I fucked up.”
“No matter what that test says, you didn’t fuck up, Honey. If there is a baby, we’ll figure him or her out together, deal?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Um, I guess I’ll go pee on a few of these and we’ll have our answer,” she teased. She pulled a box of two tests open and opened the directions, sitting back on the sectional to read them.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m reading the directions,” she said. “I know—you’re not genetically equipped to understand what’s happening right now since men don’t read the directions for anything.”
“Ha, ha,” he grumbled, “very funny.”
She held the directions in front of him and pointed to the paper. “You see, they even have cheery diagrams to show you exactly what to do. As if the pictures help to make me want to pee on the stick,” Beck griped.
“Well, how about you take these and do that,” he said, pointing to the box marked “D” that told her to “urinate on the test strip.”
“Fine,” she grumbled. “I guess if I mess this up, we have about twenty other tests to try again to get it right.”
“Will you wait with me?” she asked.
“Yep,” he promised. “I’ll be right by your side, holding your hand, Honey.”
“Be right back,” she said, and disappeared into his private bathroom, closing the door behind herself. Knox felt like he was in college, taking final exams that he hadn’t studied for. This whole scenario both thrilled and terrified him. He always wanted kids. Hell, he loved Aces daughter, and having his own felt right. It also terrified him since his father wasn’t around while he was growing up. He wasn’t sure if he had enough of a role model to emulate to be a good father.
The one thing he did know was that Beck would be a fantastic mother. He had seen her in action with her nephew and nieces, and they adore her in return.
“Okay,” she said, pulling the bathroom door open. “I think I did it right. We’ll know for sure in about two minutes.”
“Two minutes is nothing,” he promised. “We’ve got this.” Knox sat down on the sofa, pulling her back down onto his lap.
“You think that things will turn out okay?” she asked.
“Well, I suck at telling the future, but I think that no matter the outcome, we will be fine,” Knox promised. “I know that you don’t like to talk about our relationship and all of that stuff, but if there is a baby, what would you like to see happen between us?”
Beck shrugged, “I guess just what we’re doing now, but I think that we’ll have to come clean with your employees and tell them that we’re together. I’m betting if there is a baby, when he or she calls you, ‘Daddy’, people around here will start to catch on.”
“So, you’re going to be on board with making an announcement that we’re in a relationship to the casino’s employees?” Knox asked.
“Hold that thought,” she instructed when her cell phone’s alarm rang. “Let’s have all the facts before we talk about our future.” Beck stood and he grabbed her hand, pulling her back down onto his lap.
“I don’t need that test to tell me how I feel about you, Beck. I don’t care if that test is positive or negative because I want the same outcome—to end up with you. I’ve fallen in love with you, Beck. I know you are still having a hard time even admitting that we’re in a relationship, but I hope that you’ll change your mind. I want you to marry me—no matter what that damn test says,” he said.
“Knox,” she breathed. He half expected her to give him a fight and try to get up off of his lap, but she didn’t. “I’ve just been hurt so many times before. I have a hard time trusting men. But with you, I know that you’d never hurt me. I trust you, Knox. I’ll marry you,” she agreed.
His smile made his face feel as though it might split in two. “Really?” he asked.
“Really,” she promised. “I’m in love with you too, Knox, and no matter what the test says, I want to be with you too.”
He stood, pulling her up with him. “Well then, let’s go read that test.” He practically pulled her along to his bathroom, pushing the door open to find the two pregnancy tests sitting side by side on the counter. Knox flicked on the light and blinked against the brightness.
Beck studied the tests and then looked back up at him. “There’s a plus sign,” she whispered. “I think that means that I’m pregnant.” She pulled the directions out of the trash can and turned them over to the part about how to read the test. She pointed to the last square on the sheet and nodded. “I’m pregnant,” she confirmed.
Knox’s elation had him picking her up and spinning her around the bathroom, causing her to giggle. “A baby,” he whispered, setting her back down, checking to make sure that she was stable.
“A baby,” she breathed.
A knock on his office door startled them both back to reality after they had both stood looking at the test strips for way too long. Slater didn’t wait to be invited in, poking his head into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, but we have an issue, Boss.”
“What kind of issue?” Knox asked although he was sure that their issue was a blond disgruntled employee who was now carrying a gun.
“Felicity,” Slater said. “She’s here and she’s openly carrying.”