“Reagan,” Carter called out with a grin, “did you forget something again?”

Reagan looked down at her shirt. Nope, her boobs were in place. Then she looked back to Carter who was dangling a pair of panties in his fingertips.

Reagan rolled her eyes and went to snatch them from his grasp. “I have a whole drawer filled of panties you’ve forgotten,” Carter laughed. But Reagan heard something, and she covered his mouth with her hand.

“Oh, Sugarbear,” Aniyah purred from nearby in the Desert Sun Farm garden. The spontaneous engagement celebration between Walker Greene, a SEAL Team Six member, and Layne Davies was in full swing after the town banded together and brought down a murderous traitor. “You know what gunfire does to me.”

Carter and Reagan had slipped away from the celebration and into Dani’s gardens behind the Ali Rahman family mansion for a little alone time. Apparently State Trooper DeAndre and his girlfriend, Aniyah, had the same idea.

“It sounds like they’re on the other side of the hedge,” Carter whispered into her ear.

“I love you, baby,” DeAndre said smoothly between the sounds of kissing.

“I love you too, Sugarbear. Hey—” she said suddenly. Carter and Reagan held their breath as Reagan had visions of Aniyah poking her head through the hedge and finding them. “What are these panties doing here?”

“The panty dropper,” DeAndre said in wonder. “The one thing I haven’t been able to find out.”

Reagan’s eyes widened as she looked at the panties in her hand to make sure they were hers.

“One thing you haven’t been able to figure out? You’ve been holding back on me. What other things have you found out?” Reagan didn’t need to see Aniyah to know she was standing with her hands on her curvy hips and staring her boyfriend down.

“Now, baby, you know you’re not any good at keeping secrets. I’m sure Reagan doesn’t want you telling everyone whom she is dating, or Father Ben wanting everyone to know why he joined the church, or who is pregnant. Shoot, I don’t even know if they know at this point that they’re pregnant and it would just be rude to spoil their happy news,” DeAndre said as if he were trying to calm a wild horse.

“Someone’s pregnant?” Reagan whispered to Carter.

Carter rolled his eyes. “That’s what you got out of it. Not Father Ben’s past life or the fact DeAndre knows about our relationship?”

Reagan stuck out her tongue and Carter sucked it into his mouth, silently laughing as she looked shocked. “Stop distracting me. I want to listen. How does he know all this stuff?”

“DeAndre Drews,” Aniyah sounded pissed, “you know all that and won’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry, baby, but you wouldn’t be able to not say anything. It’s one of the things I love about you. You would be so happy for the couples that you’d hug them and congratulate them in the middle of the café. And like I said, I don’t think Reagan wants anyone to know, and I don’t even know if the other couple knows they’re pregnant yet,” DeAndre said soothingly.

“Then how do you know?” Aniyah challenged.

“Baby, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It’s a gift. John Wolfe is trying to find out too, but he’s working with antiquated equipment, so to say. But here I stumble upon the panty dropper, the one case I can’t crack.”

“Can’t you take it to the crime lab and DNA it or something?” Aniyah asked. DeAndre had succeeded in drawing her off the topic of what else he knew.

“I tried. But half the town is filled with spies and top clearance military personnel. I can’t walk up and snag a piece of hair from their head and they not know what it’s for. And when I ran the DNA through the computers, I got nothing. No match or no near match to any criminals. Nothing. It’s like they don’t exist,” DeAndre said, sounding frustrated.

“I guess I could accidentally feel everyone’s butt to see who has no panty lines,” Aniyah said. Reagan’s face flamed as Carter rubbed his hand over her panty-free ass. She felt his body silently shaking with laughter behind her and elbowed him in the stomach, which only made him shake more.

“I don’t think that would go over well, baby.”

“At least give me a hint on who is pregnant so I can place a bet at the café. I have had my eye on this cute gun—gun print lingerie,” Aniyah said, although it sounded more like a question.

“No way. And besides, I already placed my bet. You’re not the only one saving up for something. Come on, let’s see who’s at the party and who isn’t. Maybe we can get some clues as to who these panties belong to.”

Carter squeezed her hand and pointed to the back of the garden. Reagan nodded as they tiptoed out of their hiding spot to the back of the garden. Reagan followed Carter as he jogged around the huge house and slid to a stop at a side window that was open to the warm night air. “Here, I’ll boost you into the library and then you can say you were using the bathroom. I’ll walk back to the party while you’re inside.”

Carter brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her with a smile still on his lips. “You could be pregnant, you know. Maybe we should take a test,” he teased.

Reagan rolled her eyes as she cuddled against him. When he touched her, her whole body relaxed, and she found for the first time the idea of being married and pregnant not so scary. Not when it was Carter with her. “You know that it’s not me. I take extra precaution. But I do wonder who it is.”

“We can debate it tonight. My place or yours?” Carter asked.

“After my dad hunted me down at Layne’s house the other day, I think it’s best to meet at my house. He doesn’t think I would be brave enough to bring someone to the farm.” Reagan was joking, but Carter didn’t laugh. She kissed him quickly on the cheek and pretended not to notice. He had said he wasn’t going to wait forever for her to get over her fear of her father, and the look he gave her now was telling her time was running out. She needed to find a way to confront her father once and for all so she and Carter could be happy together. No matter how she tried to pawn off their relationship as the two of them having fun, it was much more than that. It was way more. She wanted him in her life forever. She didn’t want to watch Nikki, the Keeneston Belle on the hunt for a husband, rub her butt implants against his crotch at another wedding and not be able to do anything about it. No, it was time. She just needed to prepare for it.

“I’ll see you soon.” The I love you was left unsaid once again.

Carter’s lips were tight as he boosted her up and into the open window.

“Reagan!” Dread filled her as she looked up from where she’d somersaulted through the window and onto the soft rug to find Piper staring at her with the phone to her ear. She quickly hung up on her call. “What on earth?”

“Cousin special!” Reagan cried as she scrambled to her feet. The cousins had a long-standing deal that if they needed help with no questions asked, they called it a cousin special. It got them out of many a scrape with their overprotective fathers. “Hey, what’s the matter?” Reagan asked as self-worry fled and concern for her cousin filled her.

Piper had been talking a lot about a new experiment she had been working on the field of nanotechnology and virology. She’d been working almost nonstop for the past year and when they got together, it was clear she was under strain even when she pretended not to be.

“Nothing,” Piper said with a false smile.

“Nothing?” Reagan echoed with disbelief as she rushed to her cousin’s side. “You’re white and shaking like a leaf. Who was on the phone?”

“Really,” Piper said with a forced smile, “it was nothing. Just something at work not going according to plan.”

“Piper, you know you can tell me anything—”

“And will you tell me why you just fell into the room through the window?” Piper challenged, with steel to her voice that Reagan had never heard.

“Point taken. Just know I’m here if you need me.”

Piper nodded her head silently as she put her phone into her back pocket and let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry I snapped. There’s a lot going on at work right now. Come on, let’s get back to the party.”

Reagan put her arm around her cousin as they walked back to the party. “I’m really happy for Layne.”

“Me too,” Piper said with a real smile as they saw Walker kiss Layne right there in the middle of the entire town.

“How does he do that and not get killed by Uncle Miles?”

Piper shrugged. “The same way your sister and Matt do. Your dad will accept whoever you marry. You know that, right?”

“I don’t think he will.”

“You’re not giving him, or the man you’re dating, enough credit.”

“I’m not dating anyone,” Reagan said, even though it sounded hallow to her ears.

“Right,” Piper laughed. “And I didn’t provide an alibi for you three times in the last two weeks. Take a chance on those you love. It’s time, Rea.”

“I could give you the same advice,” Reagan told her and noticed her smile instantly fell.

“Soon,” Piper whispered a second before they were engulfed in the crowd once again.

---

Carter slid his arm around Reagan as she set the bowl of popcorn on her lap. What he would do for this woman. Carter pressed play as the romantic comedy she’d rented began.

“Have you started looking into a second plane?” Carter asked as she cuddled up against him.

“I have my eye on a couple of them. I’m hoping they don’t sell quickly and the price goes down a little. How are the races coming?”

Carter and Reagan slid into comfortable chatter as the previews played. They talked about work, the book they were both reading, and then Reagan thanked him for watching the chick flick with him in such a way he thought about renting the sequel for the next night.

“Are you expecting someone?” Reagan asked as car lights from the driveway flashed through the window. “Oh, shit. Don’t tell me my father found me.”

Reagan leapt up with the bowl of popcorn and ran down the hall to the guest room. She hid in the dark, leaving the door only slightly cracked so she could hear as the doorbell rang.

“Hey, bro,” Reagan heard Sienna say as she walking into the house.

“Carter, man, I may have lost a little respect for you,” Reagan heard Ryan say to Carter. The television was suddenly muted and Reagan covered her mouth so she didn’t laugh out loud. But then there was a snort and thundering footfalls that shook the lights.

A big black nose shoved its way into the door and snorted. Reagan battled Hooch as he slobbered all over the leg she was using to try to shut the door.

“Woof!” the deep bark reverberated through her as his nose shoved through the door, snotted on her shirt, and shoved against the popcorn bowl.

“What is it, Hooch?” she heard Sienna call out.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. Want something to drink?” Carter asked, diverting them.

“No thanks. We’re not staying. We were over at Mom and Dad’s and thought we’d stop by to see how you’re doing,” Sienna said.

Hooch opened his mouth to bark again and Reagan shoved a handful of popcorn into it. The dog’s tail thumped madly against the hardwood as he sat for more. Reagan gave up thinking she could close the door. As she listened to Sienna, Ryan, and Carter chat about the pregnancy, their parents, and the farm, Reagan ate a piece of popcorn and fed a piece to Hooch.

“Hooch! Let’s go!” she heard Ryan call out. The dog whimpered, but after she fed him the last piece of popcorn he thundered down the hall.

Reagan looked sadly at her empty bowl and waited until Sienna and Ryan were out of the driveway before she came back out. She pouted at Carter and held out her empty bowl. “He ate my popcorn.”

“You know, if we told them—”

Reagan groaned. “I know. We wouldn’t have to hide. I’m thinking about it, Carter.”

“I’ll make you some more popcorn while you think hard about it. I’m ready, Rea. I’m not hiding us forever.”

“I know,” Reagan said, taking a deep breath. Soon. She would have to tell the world she was with Carter. Not that she wasn’t proud as she could be to be his girlfriend. She already knew Carter was a great guy and friend, but he was also a great boyfriend and partner. She wanted to be with him in a more public way. She just worried that her father would cause a scene and Carter would think she wasn’t worth the hassle. She’d do anything she could to keep Carter, even if it meant lying to everyone else. But her time was almost up.