Chapter 16

KNOX

“There’stwo more tests and three bottles of water,” Willow says.

I stare at the pregnancy tests all lined up.

Each and every one of them tells the same story.

Willow is pregnant.

“Holy shit,” I whisper.

“Oh, so you believe me now?”

I look at her. “I never said…”

“No, you never said it.”

“Willow…”

She surprises me when she pushes at me.

She walks out of the bathroom and goes to her bedroom and slams the door shut with force.

“I’m an asshole,” I say as I pick up one of the pregnancy tests.

It’s clear as can be too.

There’s no wiggle room for guessing one way or another.

The plus sign. The two lines. The word PREGNANT.

It’s all right there in front of my face.

I won’t challenge the results… I mean, I can’t.

It’s right there. Right in front of me.

Unless I want to be a total dick and question if I’m the father or not.

I can’t do that to Willow. I wouldn’t.

If she says there was nobody else but me…

I rub my chin and take one of the pregnancy tests and exit the bathroom.

I approach Willow’s bedroom carefully.

The door isn’t locked, which surprises me.

I open the door and Willow is sitting on the edge of her bed, hugging a pillow.

Without a word, I join her on the bed.

I don’t hug a pillow though.

I do slide my arm around her and pull her toward me.

She puts her head on my shoulder and chest area.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” I whisper. “It’s just shocking. I didn’t think you were lying to me, Willow. I just had to see. I’m processing it. I know every single thing I do and say… it sends signals to you. About who I am and how this is going to go.”

Willow lifts her head and looks at me. “Okay, Knox. Tell me. How is this going to go?”

“Well, right now? You need to call a doctor. I think you know that already. But that’s next. Just to get checked out and all that stuff.”

“That’s what you’re thinking about? Me going to a doctor?”

I nod. “Have to make sure everyone is healthy and strong, right?”

Willow drops the pillow to the floor.

She reaches for my right hand and pulls it toward her stomach.

My breath catches in my throat - I’m suddenly nervous as fuck.

My hand touches her stomach.

The moment turns intense.

Very intense.

We look at each other.

I want to kiss her.

I have to kiss her.

She leans up as I lean down.

Our lips brush against one another.

She sighs into my mouth.

All I taste is temptation and a side of heaven.

I kiss her. Hard. Commanding.

My tongue touches her lips.

She parts her lips and gives me her tongue.

I feel my hand already moving up from her stomach.

I want her.

I need her.

I don’t know what is coming over me right now but I have to strip Willow naked and I have to get inside her.

My body starts to turn.

I’m ready to make another move.

I know if I do this…

I break the kiss and jump up off the bed.

My hands run through my hair as I stare down at Willow.

Her lips look so delicious. Her eyes are so nervous.

She’s needy. A sexy kind of needy.

What the fuck is happening here?

“It’s okay, Knox,” she whispers.

“It’s not okay, Willow. I’m… I’m with someone. I need to figure that out first.”

I look down at my left hand.

I’m still holding the pregnancy test.

Willow stands up from her bed.

I have to keep my distance from her. I need to catch my breath.

She’s the kind of temptation that gets a guy into trouble.

Like getting her pregnant kind of trouble?

Yes. Exactly.

I look at Willow again.

This is the part where I can set the boundaries officially. Make it known what my intentions are and what I’m willing to do for her. And what I’m not willing to do.

“I’ll text you,” I say.

She nods. She smiles.

There are no boundaries.

There is just reality.

And the reality is - I’m going to be a father.