Following his lead, I rushed to the bedroom and got dressed. I glanced at Steed and his eyes sparkled and gleamed. I was positive mine did the same. My chest felt light and even though I was still a bit nauseous, nothing could bring me down from this high.
Slipping my Converse shoes back on, Steed nearly toppled me when he grabbed my arm. “Come on, let’s go!”
I laughed. “Steed! Let me get my shoes on.”
He swept up my remaining shoe then grabbed me and cradled me in his arms. “You’re going entirely too slow, Pax.”
I couldn’t contain the happiness that bubbled out as Steed carried me to his truck. Gone were the two scared teenagers from ten years ago…
Setting me in the seat, Steed placed his hand on the side of my face and flashed me a sexy grin. I knew what he was thinking. Both of us were excited, yet afraid to get our hopes up.
My hand covered his. “No matter what happens, that day will always be special.”
Leaning in, he softly kissed my lips then added, “Yes, it will.”
My pulse raced as I pulled into the local drug store. Throwing my truck into park, I practically shouted, “Hold on! I’ll get your door!”
I jumped out and ran to Paxton’s side. She sat in the passenger seat with a wide grin. Opening the door, I reached in and scooped her up into my arms. Letting out a small yelp, she laughed.
“Steed, what in the world are you doing?”
“What? I want to you help you out of the truck.”
Narrowing her eyes at me, she shook her head. “I’m not incapable of getting out of the truck. Besides, we don’t know if I’m…” She looked around and whispered, “Pregnant.”
“Why are you whispering?” I asked, setting her down.
“Because there is a lot at stake if I am.”
My brow lifted. “Such as?”
“My job? Do you have any idea how they would frown at their kindergarten teacher being knocked up out of wedlock?”
“Fuck them!” I shouted as she slapped her hand over my mouth.
“Steed Jonathon Parker!”
I drew her into my chest. “Jesus, Pax. You calling me by my full name in that tone turns me on. Will you dress up like the naughty teacher, and I’ll be your bad boy student?”
Humor crossed her face.
“Paxton, how are you?”
The voice behind me made her expression drop, and she immediately jumped away from me.
“Mr. Hines. H-how are you?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I flashed a grin at the school principal—who also happened to be Paxton’s boss.
“I’m doing well. Ready for some turkey tomorrow. How about you?”
Paxton rubbed her stomach and let out a nervous chuckle. “Yes. Turkey and dressing. All that yummy food. So ready.”
I was positive he had no clue who I was, even though Mitchell and I had him for our eighth grade teacher, and we singlehandedly killed three class pets by accident that year. I remember him sending a letter home to my father stating that if we killed another class pet we were going to have to finish out eighth grade in in-school suspension.
“Mr. Hines, this is…” Paxton paused, her cheeks turning pink as she glanced down at her ring.
“Paxton’s fiancé. Steed Parker,” I said.
He grimaced, and then anger shot across his face.
Oh, yeah. It was safe to say he remembered who I was.
“Steed Parker. Kill any turtles lately?”
Paxton’s smile dropped and a look of utter horror replaced it.
I let out a nervous chuckle. “No, sir. I put those days behind me years ago.”
He huffed, then focused back on Paxton. “Enjoy your time off, Paxton.”
“Um, you too, sir.”
He walked away…right into the drugstore.
Paxton hit my chest, hard. “Shit! He went into the drugstore, Steed.”
“So?” I asked as I grabbed her hand and headed to the door.
“We can’t buy a pregnancy test with my boss in there.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Then we’ll mingle until he leaves.”
Paxton stopped walking. “Mingle? Steed, we’re not at a party!”
“You know what I mean.”
We walked into the store and sure enough, the old goat was right there asking the young girl behind the counter where the orange flavored Metamucil would be. Leaning down to Paxton, I uttered, “I could have gone my whole life without hearing that.”
Covering her mouth, she pulled me deeper into the drugstore. After walking up and down each aisle and grabbing random things, we found ourselves in that aisle. The aisle you paid your older brother and sister to go down and buy condoms.
“I’m nervous,” she said.
“He left!” I yelled, making my way to the pregnancy tests. I stopped dead in my tracks. Paxton’s parents walked by the aisle and then stopped.
“Hey kids! What are you doing here?”
Paxton hit me on the back. More like punched me. Here we were, standing in the middle of the aisle that just happened to contain not only the pregnancy tests, but an array of condoms. A thought hit me. If Paxton was pregnant, that meant no…more…condoms.
“We’re not buying condoms I can tell you that!” I shot out. Why I said it, I had no fucking clue.
Paxton glared at me, wearing a horrified expression. “Oh my God. You didn’t,” she whispered harshly before hitting me in the back again.
From the look on her father’s face, I realized I had some serious ass kissing to do.
Always quick on her feet, Paxton turned back to her parents. “Hey Mom and Dad, we were going to get something for Steed’s allergies.”
When I glanced past the Monroes, I saw the display of allergy medicine.
April, Paxton’s mom, smiled while David, her father, continued to glare.
“Oh my! Oh my goodness! Paxton!” her mother cried out.
Jumping back in surprise, Paxton shouted, “What?”
April rushed up to her daughter and grabbed her hand. “He did it!”
My eyes drifted down to the engagement ring.
“Oh, Steed, when you came over the other day to ask for Paxton’s hand in marriage I had no idea you were going to ask so soon!” April said, tears building in her eyes.
David’s glare turned into a slow smile. “Congratulations, son! Did you do it like you planned? In the plane?”
“Wait, y’all knew?” Paxton asked.
Both of her parents laughed. “Yes! Of course. Steed has always been such a gentleman.”
David grunted under his breath, and I gave him a weak grin.
“He took us out to lunch a few weeks back to ask for your hand in marriage. Then he told us how he planned to ask.”
Trying to smile and ignore the fact that we were standing in front of the condoms and pregnancy tests, my eyes caught Paxton’s. She was struggling to hold back her tears, and I wondered if she would be successful in doing so.
I winked, and she let out a nervous giggle. “Well, I see y’all are good secret keepers.”
Her mother and father wrapped her up in a loving embrace.
“Well, we only came in to grab aspirin. Your father had a headache from helping me prepare all the pies for tomorrow. It was so sweet of your parents to invite us over, Steed.”
“Mom’s excited and so is Dad. He keeps going on about showing you his new fishing rod, David.”
Paxton’s father let out a roar of laughter. It seemed like the whole condom thing was slowly disappearing. “John always did love his fishing.”
“I’m excited to see Chloe again. Paxton mentioned bringing her over to play with our cat.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Yes. Little stinker has been begging for one.”
Both April and David chuckled before April took her husband by the arm and gave him a tug. “We need to get going. We’ll see you kids tomorrow. Steed let your mother know if she needs anything to give me a call.”
“I will, April. Thank you.”
As I watched them wander off, we slowly walked to the allergy display. I picked up box after box and pretended to read them while Paxton stretched up on her toes to watch her parents.
“They’re gone! Come on!”
We spun around and rushed to the tests. My eyes glanced over them. What in the hell? Why were there so many different brands? And why in the hell did our small-town pharmacy carry them all?
“Which one?” I asked in a hushed voice.
“I don’t care. Grab one of each! Let’s just go before someone else see us,” Paxton replied in a hushed tone as she reached for the First Response. She grabbed two.
I grabbed six of Clearblue brand only to have Paxton gawk at me.
“Six?”
“Well, we want to be sure.”
She giggled. “I think two is enough.”
Shrugging, I put four back and then reached for two of the EPT tests. Paxton grabbed one that simply read Pregnancy Test. The last one was Fact Plus. I grabbed two of those and added it to the pile of tests in my hands.
“That should be good,” Paxton stated with a smile.
“You sure? What if they don’t work?”
“Whatcha doing?” The voice came from behind, causing both of us to let out a scream. My first instinct was to discard the six boxes of pregnancy tests I had in my hand. I watched as they all dropped at our feet.
My sister Amelia peered at the boxes and then snapped her head back up to us. Her look of shock quickly turned to pure excitement.
“Oh! My! Freaking! Hell!” she shouted.
Paxton and I both replied with a quick, “Shh!”
Dropping down, I gathered the tests back up.
“You’re pregnant?” Amelia asked. Then she screamed. Loudly. “Holy fuck! And you’re engaged?” She grabbed Paxton’s left hand, causing her to drop two of her tests.
Paxton giggled, beaming with happiness. “Yes! Steed asked me earlier today in the most romantic way ever.”
Amelia’s eyes landed on me, and she wiped a tear away. “I’m so happy. Does Chloe know?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
Covering her mouth with her hands, Amelia shook her head. “I’m so happy, y’all… I think I’m going to cry!”
I rolled my eyes. “I love you, sis, but we really need to get the fuck out of here before someone else walks up and—”
“Jesus, is it national buy your condoms day?”
Groaning, I dropped my head at the sound of my brother Cord’s voice.
“Why the hell are you in this aisle, Amelia?” he asked in an angry voice.
“Oh fuck off, Cord. I’m an adult and if I want to buy condoms, I’ll buy condoms.”
Paxton turned to me. I knew she wanted out of there just as much as I did, and here we were, listening to Cord and Amelia argue whether she was allowed to have sex or not.
“I’m twenty-two years old, Cord. I’ve been fucking guys for a few years now.”
“Oh, come on!” I said. Cord looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
“Meli, so help me God, if I ever find out who you’ve slept with I’m going to beat their ass so bad…”
“Listen, as much as I’d love to stay here and listen to y’all, we need to leave,” I said as I started to push between the two of them.
Cord’s hand grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. He stared down at the tests, then back at me. “Why do you have pregnancy tests in your arms?”
His eyes swung over to Paxton, and it dawned on him. “Holy. Shit. Are y’all?”
“They don’t know yet! That’s why they’re here, Cord!” Amelia said as she jumped up and down and pretended to clap her hands.
Cord looked back at me. “Dude! This is fucking amazing. Come on, let’s go!”
Both him and Amelia turned on their heels and headed down the aisle. “Oh wait!” Amelia said as she rushed back and grabbed a box of condoms.
I wanted to throw up in my mouth when she held up the extra-large and said, “Here’s to hoping!”
“Grab me a box of those, Meli!” Cord said.
Amelia laughed. “Are you sure you don’t need extra small?”
“Just get me the extra-large. Super extra if they have them,” he said tossing his head back in laughter.
“Is this really happening right now?” Paxton asked.
“I don’t know what bothers me more. The fact that they think they’re going with us or that my brother just asked my baby sister to grab him a box of condoms.”
Paxton laughed as we followed Amelia and Cord to the check out, both of them still arguing about whether Amelia was old enough for sex.
Somehow Cord and Amelia were standing in the middle of Steed’s living room, staring at me with wide hopeful eyes.
“Y’all, not to sound like a total ass, but we were kind of thinking this would be a private moment,” Steed said, his arms crossed over his chest and one brow lifted.
Amelia and Cord turned to each other with questioning looks, then lost it laughing. Turning back to us, Amelia stated, “Seriously? We see you with boxes of pregnancy tests, and you expect us to walk away and pretend like we don’t know. Not happening, Parker.”
“It’s cruel if you make us leave now. We’re in too deep,” Cord added.
I rolled my eyes and let out a long sigh. “They can stay, but you’re not coming into the bathroom with me. Only Steed is, and you have to give us a few minutes to process the results.”
They nodded their heads as if they were my kindergarten students. I tried hard not to let the flicker of amusement in my eyes show. I had to admit, this was a complete one-eighty from the last time I held a pregnancy test in my hands.
“Let’s go, Paxton. You two stay,” Steed said as he pointed to both of them.
“Do you at least have booze?” Cord called out.
“Help yourself to whatever you find, bro.”
My pulse quickened as we drew closer to Steed’s room. Once we walked in, I froze.
Stopping, he turned to look at me. “Baby, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Chewing on my lip, I said, “I need a second. It’s hit me all of sudden. I might be pregnant. How did I not realize I was late?”
Steed took my hand and led me over to the bed. “Pax, I didn’t think about it either. Maybe deep down inside we did notice but chose to ignore it for whatever reason.”
I took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I think you’re right. Maybe the fear of what would happen? Being disappointed? I don’t know.”
“Well, we can sit here and analyze it, or we can see if you are.”
With a wide smile, I agreed. “You’re right. So? You ready to find out?”
His eyes filled with excitement. “Never been more ready.”
We both stood. My stomach was in knots. I wasn’t going to try and fool myself that I wasn’t excited. And I knew by Steed’s reaction, he was as well. It was a far cry from ten years ago when we were two young, scared teenagers.
When we walked into the bathroom, Steed laid all the tests out, and I couldn’t help but laugh at how crazy it was for us to buy so many.
“Damn, I guess we bought a lot.”
I agreed. “We did buy a lot. I guess you could say we were excited?”
Steed laughed. “A little.”
For both of us, it was like the first time finding out if we would be parents. And yet it wasn’t a do-over, because I knew we would never forget our first child. But this time around I had a sneaking suspicion that Steed wasn’t upset that we had forgotten protection. Deep down I knew whatever was meant to be would happen. We would both be happy, whatever the outcome.
Amazing what a little bit of growing up and life lessons will teach you.
I picked up the First Response test, and Steed picked up the EPT test.
“I say we open one of each brand.”
“I’m not sure I have that much pee,” I cackled.
Steed ripped open the tests a
nd set them on the counter while I turned on the water and leaned my head in, drinking it straight from the faucet.
After five minutes of drinking tap water, I stood up and covered my stomach. “Eww. I made myself sick drinking so much water.”
With a laugh, Steed sat on the toilet and pulled me onto his lap so that I was straddling him. He lifted his brows, and I could feel his dick hardening under me.
“You in the mood to fool around?” he asked with a wink.
Lifting my brows, I shook my head and tsked. “Your brother and sister are out in the living room!”
“You could be quiet. Besides, you have to practice for when you move in.”
My head drew back to look at him better. “Move in?”
“Yeah. At some point, Pax, I’m going to need you in my bed every night.”
“What about Chloe? What would we say about me moving in and us not being married?”
He smiled. “Looks like it’s a quickie marriage, especially if you’re pregnant.”
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I rubbed against him. The friction caused by his hard one and my jeans were driving me a little crazy.
Digging his fingers into my waist, Steed pushed up, causing a moan to slip out by mistake. He smiled and slowly shook his head.
God the feel of him and the layers of clothes between us was driving me insane. “I want more,” I panted as I pressed my lips to his.
“Fuck yes,” he murmured.
Jumping off him, I quickly kicked off my Converse sneakers and jeans. Steed simply pulled his jeans down and his long, hard dick sprang free. I licked my lips and pushed him back down on the toilet.
Quickly straddling him, I smiled and asked, “Should we use a condom?”
“If you’re not pregnant, do you want to wait?”
I shrugged. “I want to feel you and let things happen how they’re supposed to happen.”
“Fate,” he said softly while running his finger along my jaw line.
“Fate,” I replied with a huskier voice than I intended. My libido was taking over. Steed’s dick was inches from me, and I wanted it.
He reached down and slipped his fingers inside me. A look of pure satisfaction moved over his face as he closed his eyes.