Weekend Fling (9 page)

Tears formed in Kara’s eyes, and she knew that Lisa was right. She wasn’t going to worry about this anymore. However, the next time she decided to get buck wild, she would just remember the results of this little adventure and would stay her ass in the house.

* * * *

Exactly six weeks after her weekend with
Austin
, here she was peeing on a stick in front of her two best friends. She had missed her cycle, and that was extremely rare. Her monthly cycle was like clockwork, and for her to miss a month meant trouble. So, off they want to the local pharmacy and bought not one, but five home pregnancy tests.

After test number four, Lisa and Heather tried to tell her that the results were pretty conclusive. Hell, what did they know anyway? One more test might make all the difference in the world, and she wasn’t giving up just yet. The fat lady hadn’t yet sung her last song, and Kara was still holding out that the tests were somehow incorrect.

“Kara, come on, girl. Can we celebrate yet? I’m going to be an aunt whether you like it or not.” Heather was sitting on the floor of the bathroom watching Kara try to force herself to go the restroom again.

“Heather, just give me this one last test, okay? These things are only 99.9% accurate, so there’s still a 0.1% chance that I’m not pregnant. Keep hope alive, woman!”

Lisa apparently wanted to jump on Heather’s bandwagon, because Kara heard her pipe in. “Keep hope alive that I’m going to get something to eat soon. Girl, I’ve been watching you pee for two hours straight. Even if you can no longer have a margarita, it don’t mean I can’t. So let’s go!”

Counting to ten, she knew the final test was ready. Glancing over, she picked it up and closed her eyes. This was it. Whatever this test said, she would believe. Irrational, yes, but she didn’t care at this point. Opening her eyes, she saw two strong blue lines and knew that it was time to throw in the towel.

“Okay, Auntie Heather and Auntie Lisa. Who’s treating the pregnant lady to lunch today?”

“Wooooo! I’m so happy, Kara. I can’t wait to buy her the first pair of shoes and the first bike and her first Barbie.” Lisa couldn’t stop talking about the baby, and Kara had to laugh. Now she had to think about how to break the news to
Austin
. Would he still be interested? They hadn’t spoken since he left, and she didn’t know why he hadn’t called. Truth be told, she hadn’t called him either, but all was not fair in love and war, and so he was the one blamed.

Pushing those thoughts aside for right now, she followed her friends and future godmothers to her children, both present and future, out of the house.

* * * *

Holding her cordless phone in her hand, she looked at
Austin
’s number as if the piece of paper was going to tell her how to get out of this mess. She was scared shitless. How do you call a man after nine weeks of nothing, nada, zilch, and tell him you’re having his baby? Do people really do this? Apparently they did, because she was on the verge of doing it. She really shouldn’t have waited. It had been three weeks since she took those damn tests, and she admitted she was too chicken-shit to call him. Unfortunately, time had run out, and her conscience wouldn’t let her put it off anymore.

Kara dialed the telephone number
Austin
had left with her before he left. She realized there was no other choice. She had to call him. He had the right to know. Even if it had been a fling for him, she owed this to her baby to give his father a chance to be in his life. As the phone began to ring, her skin broke out in a cold sweat.

One ring . . . two rings . . . three rings . . . and then his answering machine came on. “You’ve reached
Austin
. I’m out playing, but I’ll be back. If this is an emergency, you know how to reach me. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
Beep!

“Umm. Hi, Austin, it’s Kara. When you get this message, can you give me a call? It’s pretty important, but it’s not an emergency.”

Hanging up, Kara sat back on her couch and let out a deep breath. Well, she’d done it now. When he called back, she would be ready to break the news to him.

“Okay, bambino, Mommy was really brave today. So, just for that, a bowl of ice cream is in order.” Pulling herself off the couch, she padded into her kitchen and pulled down a bowl. Having faith that
Austin
would call her soon, she settled down to watch a movie in the living room and wait for his call.

Chapter Eight

Three months later, somewhere in the
Pacific Ocean

Austin
had never been so glad to see the ugly mug of his senior chief as he was today. His team had been on back-to-back missions for the past five months, but had finished the last one today. He smelled like a skunk, and his team wasn’t faring any better. They were dirty, hungry, and cranky. They all wanted to go home, and for him it was especially urgent.

He had been scheduled to get out of the Navy three months ago, but all that had changed when he got back to
Norfolk
from his weekend with Kara. His team had gotten the call that all hell had broken loose in a jungle in
Panama
, and they were needed to clean shit up. Well, that one mission had turned into another, and then another, until it ended up that they had been in more than ten countries in five short months, sometimes going to the same country twice.

“Senior Chief, you old dog. Tell me something good.”
Austin
walked into the galley to get some chow and spotted his senior chief, along with some of his team.

“Chief Delaney, good to see your crazy ass made it back in one piece.”

“Yeah, my team has been through some shit. These guys deserve a break.” Pausing to look around the room at the group of men with whom he served,
Austin
addressed the chief again. “The lieutenant’s up there talking with the ship’s captain about our pickup. We think it’ll be here soon.”

“You in a rush to get home to something? Or should I say someone?” The senior chief had been around a long time, and he knew the signs.
Austin
didn’t want to say anything about Kara. Hell, she may not even speak to him anymore.

Five months was a long time to wait for someone to call you. “Not sure. I hope there is, but I left in kind of a hurry, so I may need to grovel a bit.”

The senior chief slapped him on the back and turned to walk away. “Hell, I hope she’s worth it.”

“Oh yeah, she is. She sure as hell is.”
Austin
went to grab something to eat. He hoped their pickup was soon. As soon as he was debriefed, he was hightailing his ass to see Kara. He wouldn’t be able to tell her everything, but he would reassure her that he never meant to leave without a phone call.

Although he’d never really explained what he did for a living, she knew he was a Navy SEAL. While he believed she understood what that meant, they’d never really had the conversation.

Only a few more weeks, and he could be with her. He dreamed about her at night and how responsive she was to him. He could almost feel her lips and the silkiness of her skin. His mouth still held the taste of her essence, and he woke up with her name on his lips.

To him, she was unforgettable, and the first thing he was going to do when he got back was drag her to her bedroom and make slow, sweet love to her.

* * * *

A month later

Walking up to Kara’s door,
Austin
couldn’t believe he was nervous. He should have called her before today instead of just showing up out the blue like this. What if she wasn’t home? What if she had moved on? Damn, he would not be happy if she had found someone else.

Knowing that he needed to just get to her door and let her know he was back, for good this time, he walked briskly up to her door and knocked. When she didn’t answer right away, he knocked again, a little louder this time. He had seen her car in the drive, so he suspected she was home.

Did she know it was him and was leaving him waiting on purpose? He had received her message on his machine, but the date stamp indicated that it had been left for him more than three months ago. Maybe she no longer wanted to speak to him. Not ready to deal with that possibility, he lifted his hand to knock again when the door was flung open.

“I told you to come at noon . . . Oh fuck!
Austin
! What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Kara. Are you expecting someone?”
Austin
couldn’t take his eyes away from her face. She was so beautiful. For some reason, her face looked a little more rounded than before, but she was just as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than when he last saw her.

“
Austin
? What are you doing here?” He noticed that she sounded nervous.

“I came to see you.” As his eyes started to drift down her body, he realized her breasts were larger than before, her stomach was nicely rounded, her thighs were curved a bit more than . . . Wait! His eyes shot back up to her stomach. Nicely rounded. “What the fuck is that, Kara?” He took a step back from her.

“Well,
Austin
, people usually refer to a woman in my condition as pregnant or with child. Either one will do.”

His heart fell. He was too late. She had been taken by someone else, and his inability to call her had probably helped the situation along. He looked at her left hand, but didn’t see a wedding band. What the hell? Why wasn’t she married?

“Sorry for barging over here.” His voice was cracking like a fifteen-year-old boy. He needed to get a hold of himself. “I didn’t realize . . . I mean, I didn’t know. Shit, I’m sorry for coming over here like this. I just thought . . . after that weekend . . . Oh, hell, I’m doing this all wrong.”

Taking a deep breath, he tried again. “Listen, I’m sorry for not calling you when I got home. I was called away for my duties with the Navy and just got home a few weeks ago.”