Yanking Jillian to the side, I tried to pretend I wasn’t shaking. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he was here tonight of all nights.

“What is he doing here?” I demanded under my breath, hoping he couldn’t hear me.

“I texted him,” she admitted. There wasn’t a shred of remorse in her eyes.

“I had no idea you two were so chatty.” I didn’t want to snap, but I felt like a rubber band being stretched across a football field—snapping was inevitable. I couldn’t believe he was here. Not right now. I’d walked out on him over an essay and he’d shown up at the first sign of trouble. Roman was out of my league. I didn’t deserve him.

Jillian grabbed my shoulder as if she expected me to run. “I messaged him on your phone.”

“You had no right—”

“Turnabout’s fair play,” she said with a shrug.

Dammit. She had me there. I had been the one to call her mother when she was in the hospital, and I’d butted into her relationship with Liam more than once. But it didn’t feel the same. “This is different. You were sick.”

“I don’t think it’s that different. He should be here if—”

“This—” I held up the bag from the drug store—”has nothing to do with him!”

“Remind me how women get pregnant again,” she said drily.

If I continued this conversation with her I was going to scream, so I took a steadying breath and turned around to face the Spanish Inquisition. Roman watched me warily, his eyes darting between me and Jillian. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his faded jeans, but he looked anything but casual. He positively smoldered with anger. At me? At the situation? I couldn’t tell.

Jillian nodded her head once in greeting before she unlocked the door and gestured for him to enter. He followed her inside, leaving me outside in the chill of a Pacific Northwest night. The March wind cut to the bone this evening. Tomorrow it could be sunny and beautiful—or it could be gray and dismal. I strongly suspected the weather hinged on tonight’s activities. Shivering in the hallway, I forced myself to take a step toward the apartment. I couldn’t avoid this anymore. Regardless of what happened, the sun would still rise in the morning. I might as well face facts.

I couldn’t meet his eyes as I shuffled into the apartment. My best friend had abandoned me with him, and he didn’t seem overjoyed to see me. The pregnancy test suddenly weighed a million pounds. Jillian reappeared in the living room, tugging her unruly brown hair into a ponytail.

“I’m going to hang out at Liam’s and give you two some space.” She looked to me for confirmation that this was okay, but I couldn’t manage more than a mumble of approval.

But as she headed toward the door I caught her arm and leaned in to whisper, “Did you tell him why he’s here?”

She nodded and my heart sank. Part of me had wanted to lie and get him out of here as quickly as possible. But if he knew why Jillian had messaged him there was no way that was going to happen. The other part of me didn’t want him to go. Thankfully, there was no choice in the matter. I suspected he wasn’t going to leave, but that didn’t make my confusion any less acute.

The door clicked shut behind her, and I closed my eyes, trying to locate my center of gravity.

“When were you going to tell me?” Roman asked in a quiet voice.

I spun to face him, the balance I’d sought slipping away. “I’ve only known for about two seconds myself!”

“How far along are you?”

My mouth fell open. He thought I was pregnant. As in definite. As in confirmed. Suddenly, I felt like the girl who cried wolf. Fan-fucking-tastic. “I’m not pregnant.”

Roman’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. At least, we were both experiencing that emotion. “But Jillian said—”

“I might be pregnant,” I added, before he could get comfortable with the idea that he’d dodged a bullet. “I haven’t taken the test.”

Holding up the bag from the store, I waved it in front of him. Both our gazes fell on it, knowing it held an answer that we might not be ready to see.

“We should take it,” he said simply.

“I doubt you can take it,” I snapped, then sighed. Why couldn’t I keep my bitch at bay?

“You should take it,” he corrected himself, “and I’d like to hold your hand while you wait.”

Part of the icy numbness I’d felt all evening melted at his words, and tears pricked at my eyes. I tried to blink them away but they escaped, rolling down my cheeks in salty torrents I couldn’t control. “I’m…I’m…”

He was there immediately, arms around me. He smelled like the ocean and coffee and safety, and I breathed him in until the tears stopped.

“You’re going to be okay,” Roman said, stroking my hair, “and I’m going to be right here. No matter what happens.”

He led me toward the bathroom, leaning against the wall while I went in. My heart sped up as I ripped open the foil and pulled the stick out. My hands shook as I read the directions, even though I was pretty sure it didn’t take a rocket scientist to take a pregnancy test. After some trial and error, I sat the test back on the sink and opened the bathroom door.

“How long?” he asked me.

“Three minutes.” My voice sounded foreign to me, small and distant.

“Jessica”— he paused and cupped my chin, directing my eyes to meet his—”whatever that test says, I need you to know something. I want to be with you. You ran before, and I should have come after you. Maybe things between us are complicated. Maybe they’re going to get more complicated. But I don’t want to face another second without you. And I know this is happening fast, but I’ve spent the last month thinking about you, wishing that I hadn’t let you walk out that door. I told you I don’t want easy. I want sleepless nights and lazy Sundays. I want to watch you go to med school and miss you when you work late hours. I want you. Always.”

And for the first time that line from Cassie’s favorite movie made sense to me. Because I’d realized who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and now I couldn’t wait for the rest of my life to start. My throat was too raw to respond, though, so I simply nodded. I couldn’t say the words back. Not because I didn’t feel them, but because he’d stolen my heart and replaced it with his. It was too new. Too powerful.

Searching my face with his penetrating brown eyes, he finally leaned in and brushed a soft kiss over my lips. It said everything I needed to hear and everything he didn’t need to say. What had happened between us was more than a simple fling or an infatuation. It was a living, breathing, vital part of my life from this day forward.

He pulled away and took my hand “Shall we take a look?”

The closest I hope I’ll ever come to walking the green mile was walking into that bathroom. The test sat on the counter and looked like it was a million miles away. I picked it up, glancing to Roman for reassurance. I sucked in a breath and looked down.

One line.

One line.

One line.

“What does it mean?” he asked.

“It means…I’m not pregnant.” All the feelings I’d kept trapped inside for the last few hours flooded through me. Joy. Relief. And something that strangely felt like disappointment. I shook my head as if to clear the swirling confusion from my body. It didn’t help. The tears started again and I didn’t try to fight them.

Roman didn’t say anything. He didn’t ask me for details or push me to talk. Instead he held me tightly. Usually this proximity to his body sent me into a horny spiral from which there was no return, but this time I relished the security of his embrace. It was where I was meant to be.

“About what I said before,” he whispered against my ear, “I meant every word. Tell me what you want—what you need.”

I closed my eyes and buried my face in his shoulder, letting go of all the logic and lists. “I need you to stay.”

I didn’t have to ask again.