Hot Finish (Fast Track #3)(52)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Ryder was still struggling with that being the root of Suzanne’s anger. It just seemed like she was making too big of a deal out of it to him.

Bill coughed. “Am I obligated to be honest here?”

“Yes. You look like the type who eavesdrops on women, so maybe you know something I don’t.”

Rolling his eyes, Bill said dryly, “Thank you, sir. But really, it’s more that I listen to women when they’re speaking to me. I’ve never had a girl break up with me, ever. I’m a pretty stellar boyfriend.”

“Modest, too. So? What do you think, oh wise one?” Ryder was walking a thin line here, knowing he just might find himself without a PR rep tomorrow, but he was incapable of stopping himself. He needed answers, and Bill seemed to be the only one talking. Ty and Elec hadn’t been much help because they both had a potential conflict of interest with their significant others, and there was no way in hell he was going to Evan for advice.

“It’s a matter of public relations. You know how you have to make your number one sponsor feel special? How you have to wear their merchandise and mention them at important functions? A woman feels the same way . . . she wants to be special. Like she’s definitely number one, not like you plastered her logo on top of someone else’s with peel-off plastic.”

Huh. Maybe Ryder could see the logic in that. He picked up a pen and tapped it on the desk. Make Suzanne feel special. Make her feel number one.

The question was how the hell did he do that?

He didn’t think even Bill of the perfect dating record would have the answer to that.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SUZANNE paced in her living room, waiting for Ryder to show up. It had been surprisingly easy to get him to agree to come over, even without telling him why. She had just texted him and asked if they could talk and he’d replied right away.

See? She could hear Tammy’s voice in her head, telling her that Ryder wanted to be with her. But that was irrelevant. She thought.

Or didn’t. She was so damn confused she didn’t know if she was coming or going. All she knew for sure was that she was having a baby, and despite the fact that it made her want to throw up in her mouth, she had to tell Ryder. She’d already gone around and around on the when and the how, debating waiting until after Nikki’s wedding and until after Christmas, then realizing there was no point in waiting. Nor was there any perfect time to drop a baby bomb on a man.

Besides, she didn’t think she could see him at the wedding with this weighing on her. Holding it in for four days had been hard enough and she’d had no interaction with him in that time. God knew she couldn’t be blurting it out in the middle of Nikki’s reception while the bride and groom cut the cake.

Just tell him. Get it over with.

Hopefully he wouldn’t freak out.

She was fairly certain Ryder had never really wanted kids since he’d never suggested they try again after they’d lost their first baby, so she wasn’t sure how he was going to react.

When the doorbell rang, she held her churning stomach for a minute before forcing herself to the door. “Hi,” she said, her voice a weird squawk. “Thanks for coming over.”

“Sure.” He gave her a searching look as he stepped into her foyer. “Look, Suzanne, first things first. I’m sorry for that dumb blog. I know that must have been humiliating for you and I never in a million years meant to make you feel bad. I didn’t think about being at the Wynn with those other women, because well, you’re the most important woman to me. You always have been.”

Suzanne blinked. That blog was so two weeks ago. Before she’d learned she had a human embryo riding shotgun with her. “It’s okay.” She definitely hadn’t invited him over to dissect their always complicated relationship yet again. She’d invited him over to complicate it further.

“No, it’s really not. I want . . .” Ryder paused, clearly frustrated. “God, I’m like the worst communicator.”

But the cutest. Suzanne couldn’t help but notice how hot he looked in his jeans and sweatshirt. It was freezing outside, but he wasn’t wearing a coat. “Ryder, listen to me. It’s okay.”

“No, really, I . . .” Ryder frowned as he studied her. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been sick. You’ve lost weight.” He reached out and ran his thumb under her eye. “You’re not getting enough sleep. What is it, the flu?”

An overwhelming melancholy swept through her. She missed him.

Shit. It had to be the hormones.

“No.” Suzanne took a deep breath and stepped out of his touch. She couldn’t think when his fingers were on her. “Ryder.”

“Yes?” He looked at her expectantly.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. “And I swear to God if you actually ask me if you’re the father I will cancel your birth certificate.”

Ryder hadn’t a clue what Suzanne was going to say, but never in a hundred million years could he have guessed she would say that. He just stared at her for a second, feeling like someone had dumped a bathtub’s worth of ice water on his head. “You’re pregnant?”

She nodded, her cheeks flushed, eyes glassy. She had definitely lost weight in her hips and arms, and her face was thinner. Yet now that he thought about it, her chest had actually filled out. She was bursting at the seams of her button-up top. “You’re pregnant.”

That time it wasn’t a question and his brain started to regroup from the shock.

“Yes!”

Ryder felt a grin start to split his face. “Holy shit, we’re having a baby.” He thought back to the times they’d had sex. “Is this my fault for not using a condom?” He’d never bothered to ask if she was on the pill, he had just assumed she was or she would say something.

“No, it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I forgot to take my pill that first night. I took it the next morning, so I thought it was fine, but it obviously wasn’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“So you think you got pregnant that first night?” How was that for a bull’s-eye? And he hadn’t even been aiming. Ryder grinned. “Well, alright, then. So you’re what, like five weeks? Because that night was the night of the camping trip . . .” He tried to count back. Then forward. That would mean she was due in August if he had his math right.

But his thoughts were cut off when Suzanne burst into tears, startling the hell out of him. This was the second time she’d cried on him in as many weeks and it was freaking him out. “What? What’s the matter?”