Page 13 of Knocked Up
“Yeah.”
I wait until she’s securely inside and the doors are closed before punching in the floor to my condo. It’s a penthouse, but not the only one on the floor, although it is the largest. I swore to Irvin when I was ten that if he’d help me get out of my neighborhood, I’d buy the largest home I could, and I’d keep watch over the old place.
I never knew the man I idolized as a kid was a man who invested well, and purchased more life insurance than imaginable. So imagine my shock when he passed away my second year of college, leaving me the beneficiary of millions of dollars’ worth of investments and insurance.
I did the one thing I promised him I would. Bought the biggest place I could find that would overlook all of Portland, the river, and in the distance, my old neighborhood along with Mount Hood even farther in the distance. On a sunny day, I can see all of it from my wraparound balcony and every day I step out there, I think of Irvin, and all that he gave me.
And none of it is financial.
“Why’d you come see me today?” I ask Cara. She jumps at the sternness in my tone and I don’t really care. I’ve been so worried about taking care of her today I haven’t actually had time to process the news she gave me.
I’m going to be adad.
In the reflection of the mirrored doors, her brows pinch together. “I told you. I thought you had a right to know.”
“How noble. And that’s it? You were just going to stop by, let me know I was going to be a dad, and leave?”
She jerks, her face paling. I’m being an ass and I can’t stop myself. The day has been a complete whirlwind and all I’ve been able to think about isher…but what about me?
“I, well, I hadn’t gotten that far, I guess. But I thought we’d talk about it, you know, and if you want to have a part in it?”
“IfI want to have a part in it? In what, being a dad? What, from what you know of me, gives you any indication I wouldn’t want that?”
She shakes her head, wisps of hair slapping her shoulders before cascading down her chest. “I…I’m confused. Are you mad at me?”
“No, Cara.” I shake my head. Swiping a hand down my face. All the memories I have of her slam into me, making me groan. “I’m not mad. Every guy likes to hear that it’s a fucking disaster when you sleep with him.”
“Braxton—” She starts but the elevator slides to a stop and the doors open.
I step out, hearing her feet following me, and I’m at the door to my place, throwing it open when she reaches me.
“Come on in. I’ll show you to your room.”
I hold the door open for her with my arm extended but she doesn’t enter.
Her cheeks are no longer pale, but the color of strawberries, and she’s nibbling on her bottom lip.
She’s done that before, when she suggested she wasn’t ready for our night at the wedding to end.
Damn her for being so enticing when I’m such a damn mistake.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I wave my free hand forward. “We should get you something to eat and you need more rest.”
She steps toward me, not the open doorway. Lifting her hand, I keep my gaze on hers as she moves it like she wants to press it to my chest. At the last second, she freezes and lets her hand fall to her side.
Dropping her gaze, she nods once and steps inside. I follow her, letting the door slam shut behind me, and I move around her until I’m past the short entry hallway and in the kitchen.
Behind me, she gasps, and the sound shoots straight to my dick. Fuck her.
Fuck this entire situation. I can easily back out now. Tell her I want nothing to do with the baby. Pay for her medical care, sign my rights away, give her the chance to find a guy she actually wants to raise a kid with. As soon as I think these thoughts, I steady myself against the kitchen counter.
That’s not happening.
The kid inside of her is mine, and I wouldn’t be the man Irvin helped raise if I washed my hands of this entire thing.
We’ll just have to make the best of it.
