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Nico

“You should wait, Nico. Just give yourself another few day and then tell him.”

I look over at Jack and shake my head, feeling another round of nausea hit me as butterflies set in, thanks to the nerves I’ve been living with for almost four weeks.

“No, Jack. He deserves to know about the baby, and you know it. I may as well get this over with. Besides, Cody’s been begging me to call him and set up a visit…”

I’m over that raging pain that I felt for a solid two days after Law walked out and left me holding the bag again. At first, I cried so hard I had to force myself to stop for fear of hurting my child.

After that, I spent another two days in bed, staring sightlessly at Law’s side of the bed, clutching a pillow that long ago lost his scent.

I’m calm now. Well, as calm as I can be after reading the paper and seeing a photograph of Law and Melissa on their wedding day. That had hurt, I won’t lie. It took a lot for me not to spiral down into a black abyss of rage and despair.

Minnie and Jack got me through it though. I’m proud to say that I only cry on the outside when I’m alone and not in danger of upsetting anyone else.

“Goddammit, Nic! I don’t want you upsetting yourself so early in this pregnancy. Law can stand to wait if it means you won’t have the added stress.”

I sigh and shake my head, feeling utterly sad at the rift this has caused between Law and Jack. Minnie being Minnie and his mom had called and cried on the phone while trying to offer her support despite her dislike of Melissa. (They met once, and Minnie was not at all kind about the poor girl.)

But Jack, well, he’s pissed about the whole thing. He’s refusing to talk to Law no matter how many times I tell him to get over it and be a Dad. See, I can’t stand the thought of Law being hurt by Jack’s anger, no matter how I feel right now.

Sons need their fathers, and I don’t want my pain separating Law, Jack, and Cody.

“Jack, give it a rest, old man. Law is your kid, and while I’m not too happy with him right now, he also happens to be Cody’s dad. He doesn’t deserve to be shunned because of this. The issue is between me and him, not—”

“He’ll never be happy with her, and we both know it. James men love only once and—”

I can’t stand to hear this again, not when I know that it’s not true, so I stop him midsentence and give him a warning look. We’ve been over this a million times. Jack keeps insisting I’m the one while I assure him that no, indeed, I am not and would he please shut the hell up.

Preferably before my heart bleeds me to death.

“I’m telling him today, and that’s that Jack. Now can it and do your grandfatherly duties. Cody has hockey today, and you need to be there.”

I leave amidst his grumblings and the not so subtle curse words that he mutters under his breath. It takes a little longer to get to the James building in the afternoon lunch traffic, but I finally make it.

I’m sweating as the elevator ascends, and shaking by the time I get off on his floor only to see Peggy rush out of his office in tears.

“Peg?”

She jumps a mile high and squeaks when I reach her desk, taking her trembling hand.

“You okay Peggy?”

“That little asshole has been impossible to work with lately. He’s miserable. Please tell me you’re coming to get him away from that skinny little troll, so I can rip up my resignation.”

I smile through the need to cry and shake my head with a grimace.

“Afraid not, babe. Sorry. Is he free?”

“If you want to get your head bitten off,” she mutters, glaring at his door.

“Peggy! Coffee!”

“I will kill that man,” she mutters, stomping over to the machine to get him a cup of the strong brew he seems to favor.

He once confessed that Italian coffee ruined him for anything else, but I personally don’t understand the need to drink something that could strip your stomach lining after only a sip.

“Here, I’ll take it in. I need to see him anyway,” I say, taking the cup with a chuckle when she breathes out in relief and hands me the cup.

“If he yells at you, I suggest a kick to the balls and a throat punch.”

I smile back and thank her when she opens the door for me and closes it once I’m in. Law doesn’t bother to look up from his desk but taps the wood instead, indicating that I can put the cup down.

Poor Peg, if this is the way he’s behaving, then I can fully understand her mutterings.

“You’re going to lose Peg if you keep this up, asshole.”

His head shoots up, and for the briefest moment, I think I see joy before his expression turns back into a scowl.

“What are you doing here?”

Wow, okay. So I wasn’t expecting a welcoming parade, but his attitude is worse than smelly. It reeks.

“I need to talk to you, Law.”

“If you need something call Peg, and she’ll let me—”

“Oh shut up, you stupid idiot!” I yell, losing my temper at the mention of having to go through his secretary to get anything out of him.

I spent too long being ignored all those weeks ago, and the sting of his treatment is still new enough that I just get super-pissed at the idea that he’s once again trying to brush me off.

He married someone else even after treating me like a hooker? Fine.

He’s having a baby with someone else? Fine! (Not so fine, but in about seven months I can drink, and I’m pretty sure that will help later.)

But this…ignoring his son now that he has a new wife and a baby on the way is not fine, and I’m going to tell him so…sort of an icebreaker for the whole “I’m pregnant. Surprise!”

“Nicolette.”

“Lawson.” I parrot, glaring at him, as I take a seat and raise my chin stubbornly. “I’m not calling your secretary every time I need to talk to you. Why haven’t you been to see Cody?”

Don’t get mad, Nic. Don’t get mad. Yelling won’t help the situation, and you swore to be mature from now on.

The pep talk helps. So much so that when he looks away guiltily and clears his throat, I don’t lunge over the desk and gouge his eyes out. It’s close though.

“I, uh, needed some time.”

My temper rises at the thought that he’s willing to neglect our son, but I hold it in, and after a deep breath, I manage to speak as calmly as possible.

“Cody is your son, Law. He’s only just gotten you back. Please, please don’t throw him aside. He’d be crushed if he thought you no longer want him.”

Law blanches and closes his eyes, and I feel a measure of pity for him. Nothing about this mess is easy, and I know that it must hurt him not to be in the same house as Cody after they became so close.

“I wouldn’t,” he whispers, his eyes pleading with me to believe him.

I do, and that gives me a small measure of trust in him. Enough to do what I came here to do.

“Good. Call your son, Law. He misses you.”

“I will. I’m sorry. I…I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Here comes the hard part, Nic.

“Nic.”

“I have something else I need to tell you.”

Please don’t react badly. Please be the man I think you are.

Law sighs tiredly and scrubs at his face, his fists clenching when he looks over and fully meets my gaze. He looks so tired and worn that for a second I reconsider telling him, not wanting to add to the stress of whatever he’s going through right now.

“Nic, babe, I? Can this wait?”

“No. I swore to you once that I would never lie to you again, Law, not even by omission, and even though we’re not together anymore, I’m going to keep that promise, even if it kills me. So here goes.”

I breathe through the nausea churning in my gut and swallow before looking back up and holding his eyes.

“I’m pregnant.”

Law

My world is crashing down around me, and I have no way of stopping the avalanche or picking up the pieces. As the words I’ve longed to hear leave her lips, I feel my feet get knocked out from under me.

My heart stops before it starts racing so hard that I feel its beat in my head, and joy explodes through me in such a great wave that it steals my breath. I’m smiling like a fucking maniac. I’m so happy that I’m up and out of my chair, grabbing her so fast I come to my senses only as my lips meet hers and I realize I’m kissing the hell out of a woman who is not my wife.

It’s wrong, immoral, a slap in Melissa’s face, but I don’t give one continental damn. The moment my lips meet hers I feel like I’ve come home, and when she moans and opens her mouth, kissing me back, my whole world rights itself all at once.

This woman is my home, my haven, my safe harbor, and I’ve seen it too late. What the hell I’m supposed to do now is beyond me, but I know one thing, I can’t let her go.

She’s…

I can’t explain how happy I am at this moment, knowing that a part of me is inside her, that we’re once again connected in the most profoundly basic way a man and woman can be connected.

Just as I decide that I’m in heaven, she pulls away with a groan and shoves at me, her face so pained I feel my heart break anew. I did that. I put that haunted look of pain in her eyes.

No matter. I’ll fix it, just as soon as I get rid of the succubus that stole my baby’s position and do what I should have done the minute Justin told me the news.

“Law, no.”

I look down when she gasps and realize I’m trying to pull her back into my arms while she’s struggling to get away.

“Nic.”

“No. We can’t do this. You’re married.”

Not for long, baby, and if I have my way, I’ll have my ring and name on you before the month is out, I vow to myself, hiding my smile.

“Sorry. You’re right,” I mutter, shoving my hands into my pockets to stop from hauling her back into my arms and kissing the breath out of her.

My cock goes hard when she huffs and rolls her eyes, and I want to laugh like a madman. Melissa can’t get so much as a twitch out of my dick even prancing around in revealing underwear, and all it takes for my angel is a disgusted huff.

“Sooo, you’re pregnant.”

Please be happy
, I beg silently. It would kill me if she regrets the little life we made together.

My heart starts tripping when she smiles broadly and looks away shyly, her cheeks turning a rosy pink that makes my dick beg for mercy. Damn woman, all it takes is a smile and I’m ready to rut like a beast.

“Yeah. I found out last week.”

My mouth is smiling again, and no matter how much I try, I can’t stop it. My reaction seems to bring her relief—though I see the confusion in her eyes when she looks at me.

Don’t worry, babe, I’ll explain it all to you once I make a deal with the devil and get my ring off her finger.

“Nic, I can’t tell you how happy I am right now. I know things are messed up, but I swear, I will never abandon our children.”

Please believe me. Please look at me like I’m worthwhile.

She smiles softly and gives me exactly what I need, and I feel…reborn when she grins and twists her lips.

“I don’t want to cause problems for your marriage, so if you want to keep this quiet for a little while I understand. Just…I’m not sorry,” she says, straightening her spine and letting me know that if I say one bad thing right now she’ll probably kick my ass.

If that baby Melissa is carrying is mine—and now that I think about it, I’m not sure—but if it is, I have no doubt that Nic will love him and raise him as her own.

Once I get her back that is.

“Me either. Are you okay?”

“Eh. Morning sickness and some mild dizziness. Otherwise I’m doing…okay.”

I hate that I’m not with her, seeing her through this from the get go, but I will be, even if I have to lock old Mel up till she gives birth and steal my kid.

I’m not giving Nic and my family up though, not after finally pulling my head out of my ass and realizing that I can’t live without them.

They’re it.

She’s the one.

Now I just have to fix things.

“Er. I gotta go.”

I’m not ready to say goodbye yet, but I let her go after promising to call Cody, and then I’m on the phone, making a call I should have made at the very start.

“Cris, I need your help.”

The asshole laughs and says a few things in Greek that I would beat him to death for if I was anywhere near him, before sobering and drawling cockily.

“Lawson, my old friend, you seem to need a lot of help these days. Can you hold your own cock at the urinal or do you need assistance with that, too?”

“I can handle my dick just fine, asshole. At least I don’t have to sit down to take a piss,” I say with a growl, laughing when he curses me through his own chuckle.

“What do you need?”

A time machine. A kick in the balls. A second chance.

“Remember that trip we all took to Monaco with Justin Groves?”

Cris snarls and mutters a few choice words under his breath, and I remember why I like the guy so much. He’s a good judge of character.

“Do not mention that bastard’s name to me. A friend of mine invested in one of his schemes never to hear from the little idiot again. I’m searching for him as we speak, and once I get my hands on him…”

Huh.

“He’s a con artist?”

That gets me thinking, and before I know it, I’ve come to some really startling conclusions. Now I just have to prove it.

“Yes. He lost his trust fund and his father cut him off, so he started playing fast and loose with other peoples’ money. He won’t get far though because I will find him,” Cris snarls.

I could almost feel sorry for the guy, but then again, I have a suspicion that I’m being played myself, so I’m more than happy to give him to Cris and watch him suffer the Greek’s wrath.

“What would you say if I told you he’s here in New York?”

“Tell me.”

“He came to see me a couple weeks ago and let me know that Melissa St. Ives was looking for me. Turns out our one night together resulted in a baby, and I now find myself married to the woman.”

“I would say that that would be impossible, my friend. The woman you took to your room was Trish Boone, a friend of the little blonde I was enjoying. You must remember. They let us suck shots from their—”

I snarl as a flash of memory bombards me.

The details are sketchy, but I recall hanging out with the little brunette and taking her upstairs for a quickie. I was so drunk at that stage that when I came to with Melissa draped over me I’d been confused and a little annoyed to be honest.

She’d been pawing at my dick, no matter how limp it was, and that’s when I told her to get lost and ended up sleeping off a hangover in Cris’s room on the sofa while he screwed the blonde for hours.

Those conniving assholes.

“Please tell me Justin tapped the bitch.”

“I can do you one better, Law. I have the camera footage Drake was taking all night. He caught them going at it in one of the upstairs bedrooms. We still shudder to see it. Skinny women are really not attractive unless you’re drunk, and believe me, with the way you kept looking at that photo of dear Nicolette that you keep hidden in your wallet I do not think you would have given Melissa a second look.”

I’m smiling by the time we make arrangements for him to fly out.

Things are looking up.