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Babies usually do.
“It’s going to be okay.” He just kept stroking her hair. “I love you.”
“How did you do it?” she asked in a voice so small it didn’t sound like her.
“Do what, babe?”
“How did it not bother you that he was fucking whoever he felt like, whenever he felt like, when he was away?”
He exhaled. “Because it was just sex. Sex is sex and love is love.” He kissed the top of her head. “I never asked or expected him not to have sex with other people when we were apart for months and months at a time—especially when I was playing football. It was an understanding we had. Besides, I was secure in his love for me.”
“And now?”
“Now it’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because we have you to love. Because we’re a family now. Because sex isn’t just sex anymore. Because we made a promise to each other that day at the lake house…”
Chloe kissed him then. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on so tight. Like he might disappear if she didn’t. “I love you, Jesse.”
And then his phone rang.
Taylor looked like shit. He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept and he kept rubbing his face. Chloe sat close beside him. Jesse held the phone in one hand and had his arm around her shoulders with the other. He knew Taylor saw her red-rimmed eyes and her tearstained cheeks. Anguish was written all over his face and that couldn’t be a good sign.
Shit.
He looked at them both. “I love you.”
It was Chloe who spoke. “Is it true?”
“Yes.”
Her voice was calm and even. “Is the baby yours?”
“I don’t know. We’re requesting a DNA test.”
She paused for a moment, but her composure never wavered. “So, you had sex with her. It’s a possibility.”
“Yes.”
Chloe didn’t speak another word or even make a sound. She simply stood and quietly left the room.
“Jesse,” Taylor’s voice cracked.
“She’s stunned. She just needs some time to process.” He tried to reassure Taylor with a small smile. “Pregnancy hormones don’t help either. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to her.”
Taylor nodded.
“It’s gonna be okay, babe. We’ll figure it out.”
Only this time he wasn’t exactly sure how.
A week went by and every time Taylor called, Chloe got up and left the room. Jesse would hear her crying in the kitchen or the en suite. She had convinced herself that if this baby was indeed his, Taylor would leave them, and there wasn’t anything he could say to make her believe otherwise. It was going to be a long fucking road. Taylor was still waiting for the judge in Florida to order the DNA test while the press hounded him daily.
Maybe Linnea could help him get through to her. He hoped she could anyway. And that’s why Jesse invited her and his cousins over for dinner. Chloe was in the kitchen with him prepping and sautéing the ingredients for sharable chicken, steak, and shrimp fajita platters. Of course, Chloe insisted they had to serve all three. Margaritas in the blender—virgin for her. Chocolate flan for dessert.
Jesse stole a glance at her as she set the table. He just loved watching her when she wasn’t aware he was looking. One hand gently rested on her little baby bump. Chloe already complained she was getting fat, but she wasn’t. She was beautiful, and he told her so every day.
