Chapter 2

“THIS HOUSE IS AMAZING!” I called into my cousin’s new home, knocking on the already open front door. “Hello?”

“Come in, Doc,” Wade offered, striding toward me.

I stood on the threshold and held out the expensive bottle of whiskey I’d picked up on the way. “Happy housewarming, cousin. This place looks epic.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking the bottle and whistling at it. “Very nice. Thanks. Do you want the tour?”

“Sure.” I followed my cousin into the huge kitchen and marveled at the open space. The cabinetry was all new and the floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto the expansive backyard and large, polished deck. “This is incredible, Wade. You guys have done so well restoring this place. It looks better than new.”

Wade and Tanner had bought the historic mansion on the edge of town the moment their mate, Nancy, had taken a liking to it. Most of our family had originally felt it should be torn down rather than be restored, but my cousin’s mate had been adamant about saving it and returning it to its former glory.

“Thanks,” Wade said with a grin. “We put a fair amount of blood and sweat into the place. But come and check out the pergola Tanner and I just built. Mom and Dad are out in the yard already.”

“Great,” I said, still looking around in awe. “I’ve love to.” This house had been a wreck for so long, it was hard to reconcile this incredible home with the sad and derelict dumpster fire it had been before.

“Is David coming too?” Wade asked as he grabbed a couple of beers from the ice bucket and handed one to me.

I twisted the top off and took a deep slug. “Yeah, he’s coming. He just had to close the restaurant first.”

My brother, David owned a steak place in town and was a bit of a control freak when it came to his proverbial baby, so he often did late hours. He opened most days and worked six days a week unless we had a family event on. As it was, he was closing early for the housewarming party today.

“Cool. Let’s go outside.”

I walked out the open patio doors and into the sunshine with my cold beer, admiring Wade’s handiwork. “You know... our place could use a pergola as well.”

David and I owned a new house closer to town, but we weren’t handy like these guys. Not by a long shot.

Tanner walked over to us with a grin. “Well, if we ever finish this place and get back to work, you’ll be our first call,” he promised.

I reached out and shook my cousin’s hand. I’d be happy to hire them and pay them what they were worth. Their work was quality with a capital Q. “Sounds like a plan,” I replied.

Nancy came rushing up. “Tommy! Hey! I’ve been waiting for you to get here.”

I leaned forward and kissed my cousin’s mate on the cheek politely. “It’s good to see you, Nancy. Your house is beautiful.” I hadn’t seen too much of the inside just yet, but I had to assume that they’d done as good a job on the bedrooms and bathrooms as they’d done on the kitchen. The whole mansion probably looked like a historic bed and breakfast.

“Thanks, I appreciate that. Is David here yet?” She glanced around.

A strange sense of concern began to creep into my heart at her line of questioning though it was entirely innocent enough. “No. Not yet. Why? What’s wrong?”

She smiled at me, the mixture of emotions that flitted across her face an odd combination. Nancy was trying not to laugh, that much was obvious. She was also very amused, but there was a worry in her eyes I hadn’t seen for a long time.

I dropped my voice to a whisper. “You’re not spotting or having any health concerns, are you?” I asked, my brow furrowing. I was one of the only people who knew of Nancy’s pregnancy, and it wasn’t uncommon to miscarry, especially before twelve weeks.

She shook her head adamantly, allaying my fears instantly. “No. I’m good. Well, I feel like crap, actually, but that’s a good sign according to my mother-in-law.”

Relief washed over me at her upbeat response. “Then what’s the matter? I can tell something’s up with you.”

Nancy wrung her hands and bit her lower lip. “I met someone in town today and invited her along to the party.”

I waited, wondering when this was going to become relevant to me. “Yes?” I prompted.

“Her name’s Stacey,” Nancy went on. “And she’s been tirelessly looking all over the state for you.”

The bottom fell out of my stomach at the mention of the girl’s name that I’d spent just one glorious night with about six months ago. “Ah... Stacey, you say?” I shifted my feet and moved my beer from one hand to the other.

It can’t possibly be the same woman.

“Yeah. Beautiful blonde... long hair,” Nancy answered.

“Curvy, like you?” I asked hesitantly.

Nancy’s lips pressed into a thin line. “No. She’s quite thin, overall.”

I relaxed a little, able to breathe again. “Then it couldn’t have been the Stacey I was thinking of.”

The woman I’d spent a night of unbridled passion with while on a conference in the city had curves for days. She’d possessed the most luscious breasts, and she’d wrapped her deliciously thick thighs around me in a way that had made me believe in Heaven.

Nancy’s eyebrows shot up. “Um, I’m pretty sure it’s the one you’re thinking of. Can you just come inside and meet her? She’s a bit nervous. Like I said, she’s come a long way.”

Wade and Tanner regarded me with a knowing expression.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. “Ah, yeah... sure,” I agreed. What else could I say?

“Come on,” Nancy said, hustling back toward the house.

I gave my cousins a guilty smile and headed off after their mate. When I’d met Stacey, our chemistry had been electric and unlike anything I’d ever felt for anyone else. But she’d disappeared at the end of the night, and I’d never had the chance to see her again.

We walked through the kitchen, past the front door and into a small adjacent sitting room with a large L-shaped couch and a wall of colorful books.

Waiting by the door on the other side of the cozy room was Stacey. She had a pair of jeans on and a long, baggy sweater. Her face was pale, and she was definitely much thinner than I remembered. She looked like she’d lost twenty pounds, maybe more.

“Stacey!” I said with a welcoming smile. “It’s so nice to see you again. How are you?” I took a step toward her.

The young woman’s lips quivered as her hands came up to grip her belly protectively—her very round, very pregnant belly.

I stopped mid-stride.

Oh, my God.

“Ah...” I scarcely managed as my breath caught in my throat.

“Yes, I’m pregnant,” Stacey confirmed. “And yes, it’s yours. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You haven’t been the easiest man to find.”

My jaw dropped, and I rocked back on my heels. “Oh... wow.”

Stacey stared at me, her big blue eyes wide and afraid. “I couldn’t find you.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, remembering our encounter now with less than rosy glasses. “I had the same issue. You were gone by the next morning, and I didn’t have your full name, or a number to contact you.” My pride had been the only thing that had prevented me from sending a private investigator after her. If she didn’t want to see me again after the incredible night we’d shared, I didn’t want to be the one to force her.

“Yeah... that was my fault. I shouldn’t have left like that,” she said quietly, her cheeks flushing with shame.

I immediately wanted to rush over and comfort her, but I had no idea if that was what she wanted. “So...” I said, calculating dates in my mind. “You’d be... about twenty-six weeks along now, give or take?”

I’m going to be a father. I can’t believe it.

Part of me still reeled with shock, sitting on a chair in the corner of my mind unable to speak. It was a lot to take in so suddenly and without warning.

She shrugged, her lips downturned in a grimace. “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to see a doctor yet.”

My jaw dropped. “Oh...”

Damn it!

If I’d known she was pregnant, she would have received the best of care. But instead, she’d been all alone, searching the damn country for me. “Well, we can go right now if you want. I’ll do the ultrasound myself.” I needed to get her booked in with an OB-GYN as soon as possible. I had a friend from college that practiced in town and was only about twenty minutes away.

She looked as pale as the off-white walls of the study. She was probably anemic and needed bloodwork done. And from the looks of her, she was struggling to keep anything down, which wasn’t ideal for her or our baby.

“Thank you, I’d like that, but maybe not today. I think I need to rest a little longer. I’ve been on the road a long time.” Her small, determined smile hit me in the stomach like an anvil to the head in old cartoons, hard and low, stealing my breath away.

Nancy coughed, clearing her throat. “Okay, well I might go and get Stacey something to eat... but Tommy?”

I dragged my gaze away from the beautiful woman carrying my child, to my cousin’s mate. “Yeah?”

“Has she met David yet?”

Oh... shiiiitt...

“Who’s David?” Stacey asked, her forehead crinkling with confusion from the other side of the room. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”

I swallowed hard. “Thanks, Nancy.”

She nodded and headed for the door, shutting it behind her as she went to offer us some privacy.

When I turned back around to Stacey, she’d moved to the couch and was sitting on the edge, with a hand pressed into her lower back. “She’s so nice,” she offered. “I can’t believe my luck in running into her and then her being able to bring me straight to you after all this time.”

I nodded and gulped, not even sure what to say next. How the hell was I going to explain to her that my brother and I were a perfect pair, designed for the love of one woman? What would that mean for our future together? And what was David going to do when he found out about Stacey and her present situation?

“Yeah, Nancy is amazing,” I agreed, walking over to the window to stare out at the street.

My brother would be arriving soon.

What am I going to do?

“I’m sorry to just... surprise you like this,” Stacey said. “I never meant for this to happen, and then I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” she trailed off.

I turned around and gaped at her. “Never apologize for finding me, Stacey. I only wish you’d come to me as soon as you found out you were pregnant.”

She rubbed her belly in a circular motion. “Yeah... again, I’m sorry. I wasn’t exactly in the best place when we met, then I had to get my life on track, only for the pregnancy to kind of derail everything.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling my heart squeeze tight with regret. “I would have helped you if I’d known.”

David and I had an older sister, so we knew firsthand how difficult pregnancy could be, and how unforgiving some employers were when it came the unexpected miracle of life.

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’m just so glad I found you.”

I didn’t ask her how she’d managed to track me down this far on her own. All she’d had from that fateful night was my first name and the knowledge that I was a doctor.

Perhaps that was enough?

I shoved my hands into my pockets to stop myself from reaching out for her. Even though she looked exhausted and had lost weight, she was still incredibly beautiful, and I didn’t want to overstep boundaries. She’d come to me for support, to get help for our child. That didn’t necessarily mean she wanted to be immediately thrust into a relationship again.

“Hey, what was Nancy saying before, about a David. Who’s that?”

I inhaled sharply and ignored my cell phone as it rang in my pocket. “He’s my brother. Fraternal twin, actually.”

Stacey’s eyes widened at the sudden realization of what that truth could potentially mean. “Oh my God! You’re a twin? I hope I don’t have more than one in here.” She rubbed her belly quickly, her stress showing.

I went to open my mouth and tell her that fraternal twins came from the mother’s line, then stopped myself. Perfect pairs weren’t normal, so my spouting off some rubbish that I’d tell another patient wasn’t right in this instance. Instead, I forced a smile. “You look the right size for a single baby, but we’ll do an ultrasound as soon as possible, just to make sure.”

She nodded and smiled at me, still clutching her belly, which caused my heart swell with a deep and natural sense of pride and the intrinsic desire to protect her at all costs. “So, you two are close, then? David and you?”

I nodded, feeling my anxiety rise, so I began pacing the study in front of the window. “Yes, we live together, actually. He runs a restaurant in town, so he’s barely home, but he’s a really good guy. I think you’ll like him.”

Stacey smiling politely.

Meanwhile, my stomach twisted with worry. How was I going to tell her the truth about David and me, and that she was the mate we were meant to share?