Bennett (On the Line Book 2) (5 page)

“Hey, James,” Charlotte said, sounding weary. “Can we have some privacy?”

“Yeah, when I finish cooking my bacon.”

James scanned me from head to toe. Suddenly his eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of his head.

“OMG! This is him, isn’t it? This is your baby daddy! Stop denying it, Charlotte, because I know from the way you blow chunks every morning that you’re knocked up.”

I furrowed my brow and looked at Charlotte. “Did he just say OMG?”

“Yeah. This is my roommate. He’s a bit . . . quirky.”

“You guys want some bacon?” James asked.

“No.” Charlotte sighed. “We’re going to my bedroom.”

“Oh, got it. You gonna bump and grind? No worries about getting pregnant anymore and all?” He grinned at me and gave a thumbs-up.

“Shut the hell up,” I said. “Go eat your bacon.”

Charlotte led the way to her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind us.

“Why do you live with him?” I whispered. “Tell me you were never involved with that jackass.”

She glared at me and hissed back in a whisper, “Of course not. Gross. We’re just roommates.”

“But
why
?”

“Money,” she said. “I went to law school with James’s sister, and when she said he needed a place to live, I said yes because I needed the money.”

“But you’re an attorney.”

She scoffed. “I’m an assistant state’s attorney, Bennett. The money’s not that great, and I have huge law school loans to pay off.”

“Oh.”

Her expression was defeated as she sat down on the edge of the bed where we’d gotten ourselves into this situation.

“I don’t know that I’ll let him stay once the baby comes,” she said. “I think that would be a bit much.”

I buried my face in my hands as it all hit me again. She was pregnant. We were having a baby together. I wanted to flip my shit, but I couldn’t with her right next to me. That could wait until I was alone.

“One step at a time,” I said. “We’ll figure things out, okay? For now, I think you need some sleep.”

“What about you?”

I glanced at the other side of her bed. “I could lie down with you. I’ve gotta leave for a road trip at four AM.”

“You don’t have your car here.”

“I’ll get a ride.”

I pulled back the covers on her bed, and a fresh, clean smell drifted out from the pale pink bed sheets. Charlotte kicked her shoes off and climbed in, still wearing her clothes.

“Don’t get a ride from my brother,” she murmured.

“Ah, no. Definitely not.”

“We can’t tell him.”

I sighed and kicked off my own shoes. “He’ll find out eventually.”

“I can’t think about it right now. I haven’t even told my mom yet.”

I took my shirt off and tossed it to the floor. After I’d reached for the button on my jeans, I glanced at Charlotte.

“You mind if I take these off?”

She laughed and met my eyes. “A little late for that question, isn’t it?”

My cheeks warmed as she looked me up and down. I could tell she liked what she saw. “I just mean . . . I’m not trying to get with you right now or anything.”

“Yeah, that’s not even possible. I’m completely exhausted. My misdemeanor call was huge today, and I hardly even got to sit down. So much walking up and down the courthouse stairs because the elevator’s broken.”

I climbed into bed beside her and she switched off the bedside lamp.

“Have you been to the doctor?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m definitely pregnant.”

“I figured, but . . . is everything good? With the baby and all?”

“Yes. I’m reading a book about pregnancy, and it says some people think the sicker you are, the healthier your baby is. If that’s true, this baby’s in great shape.”

I could hear how worn down she was in her soft, sleepy voice. I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I kept my hands to myself.

“I’m sorry you’ve been sick,” I said.

There was a pause, and I thought she’d fallen asleep, but then she spoke.

“Thanks, Bennett.” Another pause. “For everything.”

“I’ll be gone ’til Sunday afternoon on my road trip. Will you text me? Let me know how you’re doing?”

“Um . . . sure.”

“What?” I asked, not liking the uncertainty in her voice.

“Can you leave me your number?”

With a single note of laughter, I asked, “Didn’t I do that already?”

“I . . . threw it away.”

I blew out a breath and rolled my eyes up toward the ceiling. So I wasn’t just having a kid with a woman I hardly knew, I was having one with a woman who hadn’t planned on talking to me ever again after our one-night stand. Great.

“Yeah, I’ll leave it again.”

She said nothing, but my mind was turning as I lay in the darkness. A baby. With Liam’s sister. And her words from earlier sounded over and over in my head.

“I didn’t come here because I want something from you . . . No one even has to know it’s yours . . . I’ll just leave here and you can forget I even came.”

“Charlotte?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m here for you. I want to be here. You have to let me, though.”

She didn’t respond. A few minutes later, her soft, even breathing told me she was asleep. I wasn’t even close, though. My mind swam with worries that always circled back to Liam ending me when he found out I’d knocked up his baby sister.

Somehow, I had to focus on hockey this weekend and not let on to Liam that anything was amiss. And hope like hell that Charlotte had meant what she said about not telling him.

Charlotte

I
ate the M&M’s in my hand one at a time, thinking as I slowly chewed.

It was time to tell Wren. I’d put it off, but I couldn’t do that anymore. She was my mentor and I respected her tremendously. She’d given me such a break when she’d hired me, passing up applicants with experience for a recent law school grad. I’d been hoping against hope for the job since it was in the very city where my brother lived
and
it would mean working under Wren Amandre.

My mom had taken the news well. She’d gotten pregnant with Liam as a teenager, so she knew these things didn’t always go according to plan.

But Wren was a woman of high standards. My hesitation about telling her stemmed from not wanting to disappoint her.

I finished the last M&M and got up from my office chair. It would feel better to get this over with.

“Is she free?” I asked Sara, whose desk was out in a common area between all the offices.

“She’s in with Riley, but—”

The door to Wren’s office opened and Riley stepped out, meeting my gaze. His expression softened as he approached me.

“Hey, Charlotte.”

“Hi. Are you finished? I need to see Wren.”

“Yeah.” He furrowed his brow with worry and spoke in a low tone. “Will you please stop shutting me out? It’s been two months. I know we can work things out if you’ll just let me in.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about this. I need to see Wren.”

“What about dinner later?”

“I can’t.”

He sighed with aggravation. “Are you seeing someone else?”

“No. I don’t want to see anyone right now.”

“Is this still about the job? If I’d known it would cost me our relationship—”

Sara was trying to look like she was reading something on her computer screen as she took in every word of our conversation. I glared at Riley.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s over.”

I left him and went to Wren’s door, knocking twice before I heard the muffled sound of her voice telling me to come in.

“Hey,” I said, closing the door behind me.

“Charlotte.” She smiled and took off her reading glasses. “I haven’t gotten more than a quick word in passing with you in so long. Please, sit down.”

I sat down in a wood chair in front of her desk, my heart pounding with nervous anticipation. Wren’s opinion of me mattered. I wanted to be just like her someday. She was polished, hardworking, and compassionate.

“I’m so pleased with your work on the Matthews case,” Wren said. “That was some great negotiating on your part.”

“Oh. Thank you.” I looked down at my hands in my lap.

“What’s up, Charlotte? You can tell me.”

I took a deep breath. “I’d like this to stay between us for now, but since you’re my boss, I feel like I need to tell you that . . . I’m pregnant.”

Wren nodded slightly. “I figured.”

“You
what
? How?”

“You had some bad morning sickness.”

I laughed lightly. “Yeah, what’s up with that term, anyway? It’s
so
not just in the morning.”

“Has it gotten better, then?”

“A little. And I’ve gotten more used to it. If I keep myself well-rested, that seems to help.”

“Good. I wanted to reach out to you several times and remind you that you have sick time and medical leave, but I didn’t want to intrude.”

I studied the way her red suit coat looked against her cocoa skin, not wanting to think about her knowing this whole time. It mortified me.

“Does Riley know?” she asked softly.

“No.”

She nodded. “I’d never bring something like that up with him, but I’ve been hoping maybe the two of you would be able to work things out, in light of this . . . development.”

My lips parted and I forced them closed. “In light of . . . ? Oh. It’s not his baby.”

Wren’s expression shifted then and I saw it. Judgment. Humiliation complete.

“Oh. I’m sorry for assuming, Charlotte. That was thoughtless of me.”

“No, not at all.” My cheeks burned as I tried to think of what to say. “This was . . . unplanned, obviously. Riley and I had broken up.”

About three hours before it happened
, I thought but didn’t say.

“And the father is . . . in your life? If you don’t mind my asking?”

I nodded. “He is. He’s been very supportive.”

At least, he’d tried to be. I wasn’t responding to Bennett’s texts and invitations to get together much because I was overwhelmed already with work, being sick, and trying to eat and get enough rest.

“Whatever you need, just let me know,” Wren said. “Time off, a lighter schedule . . .”

“No. I’m fine. I just wanted to let you know because I’ll need time off for doctor’s appointments and maternity leave when the time comes.”

“I hope you’ll stay with me. That’s selfish, I know, because you could earn more in private practice.”

Why had she passed me over for the juvenile job if she thought so highly of my work? I was about to ask when she spoke instead.

“You’ve impressed me so far, Charlotte. I chose Riley for the juvenile job because he’s more experienced. It wasn’t an easy decision.”

I nodded. “It was a big letdown for me. Not just because I wanted the job so much, but because I didn’t even know he’d applied.”

“Oh, that had to hurt. I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay now,” I said. “I feel like maybe things happened the way they were supposed to.”

“I can assure you that if you stay with me, you’ll be moving up in the future. Just keep doing exactly what you’re doing.”

“Of course I’ll stay. I love it here.”

Other than the awkwardness of working in the same office as my ex, I did. I stood, relieved to have this conversation behind me. I thanked Wren and went back to my office, forcing myself not to grab another handful of M&M’s. Instead, I’d walk to the restaurant across from the courthouse and get lunch.

I scrolled through messages on my way. There was one from Bennett.

Bennett: Can we get together? I’m leaving on a road trip tomorrow and I want to see you.

Part of me wanted to. I liked him. He wasn’t what I’d expected from a hockey player. My brother was brash and flew off the handle over nothing. But Bennett, despite his big, powerful frame, was nothing like that. He was easy to talk to and took things in stride.

Plus, he was one of the sexiest men I’d ever met. Those warm brown eyes melted me. And his smile did the same. He was sweet and strong.

But I was in survival mode. It was all I could do to keep up with a demanding caseload at work and get the rest I needed in this exhausting phase of my pregnancy.

Not to mention that I didn’t want to develop feelings for Bennett. We’d be co-parents forever, but that didn’t mean we had to force ourselves into a relationship. He was standing by me because I was pregnant, and that was admirable. But seeing as he was hot as hell
and
a hockey player, I knew he could have women anytime he wanted. I wasn’t the kind of woman who could look the other way.