I’d reached the final step, and I knew this was going to be the hardest one to take.

That was because it was time to tell my brother that Jack was Lucy’s father.

I’d already informed my parents and sisters. Jack and I had done it together. I wanted him there, so he could hear me tell them it wasn’t his fault. That I was the guilty one. That I was the reason this had been a secret for so long. I deserved to take all the blame, and I wanted to make sure they didn’t pass any of it onto Jack.

But they didn’t.

They took it exactly the way I had expected them to. There was shock, disappointment. There was even surprise when I told them Jack and I had reconnected. They were pleased to hear our relationship was growing and that Lucy would now have her father in her life.

It would take them time to work through it all.

I understood that.

Before we left my parents’ house, I made everyone promise not to tell Shawn. I had to be the one to do it. And I was going to do it in person.

My parents had offered to watch Lucy while Jack and I went to Nashville, so I’d dropped her off at school this morning, and my parents would pick her up later today and keep her overnight. Jack and I would return to Miami tomorrow.

This was the first time we were leaving Florida together, the first time I was flying in The Agency’s plane.

But this certainly wasn’t how I’d envisioned our first vacation.

Still, doing this in person felt like the only way. I just didn’t know how Shawn was going to react to the news, or if it would affect the way he felt about Jack.

The unknown was terrifying.

Jack’s assistant had coordinated this entire trip, so when we got off the jet, there was an SUV waiting for us on the tarmac. We climbed into the back seat while our two small bags were loaded into the truck, and then the driver began making his way out of the airport.

“Shawn isn’t expecting us for another hour,” Jack said, brushing a piece of hair out of my face. “We have time to go to the hotel and check in if you want.”

I looked out the window at the city I hadn’t visited in what felt like forever, a place I should have been at for every one of Shawn’s home games.

I’d avoided Nashville.

I’d avoided every stadium my brother had played at.

All because I’d feared I would run into the man whose arm was snaked around my body.

God, so much had changed.

I faced him and said, “Let’s go right to Shawn’s. I just need to get this over with.”

He searched my eyes for several seconds before he instructed the driver. When he finished telling him our destination, he pulled me against his side and rested his chin on top of my head. “Stop worrying.”

I sighed. “That’s impossible.”

My relationship with Shawn had always been different than the one I had with my sisters. We weren’t just siblings; we were friends. We told each other almost everything. We talked about the people in our lives, and we gave each other advice.

I never felt the need to keep anything from him.

Until this.

And this was bigger than anything that had ever happened to me, and it had been going on for eight years.

I just didn’t want to hurt him.

The thought of that absolutely killed me.

Because, during the time when my belly had been growing bigger every day, when my food cravings had been more important than going to class, when I had been worried about how I would graduate, Shawn was the one who had called me every night to get me through it. He’d coached me. He’d made me focus on the positive, and that was the little girl I would be bringing into this world.

We rode the rest of the way in silence, and I took in every building we passed, every sign, every curve in the road. I knew we were nearing his place when the houses began to get larger, and the lots were spread further apart, gates now blocking the entrances from the road.

The driver pulled up to Shawn’s, and he rolled down his window. He spoke our names into the call box, and when the gate opened, he wound down the long path.

My brother was opening his front door just as my feet hit the ground, and I was met with his smiling face.

I walked over and gave him a hug, squeezing him longer than I needed to. “God, I’ve missed you.”

“It’s so good to see you,” he said. “Now, are you going to tell me why you guys are really here? And why you’re staying in a hotel and not with me?”

He knew something was up.

I wasn’t surprised.

I pulled away, so I could look at him. “I think I need a drink first.”

“Sam, it’s ten in the morning.”

“I know.”

“Are you all right?”

I didn’t have time to answer because Jack joined us, and he said, “Shawn, how’s it going, buddy?” He clasped hands with my brother and gently slapped him on the shoulder.

“Real good, Jack.” He took a few steps back. “My sister wants a drink. Do you want to booze it up, too?”

Jack gazed at me. “I’ll just have some coffee. But I’ll get it. I know where you keep it.”

Shawn waved us inside. “Come on.”

Jack put his arm around me and pulled me close. “You haven’t eaten anything. Just be careful because it’s going to hit you hard.”

“It’s okay. I need it.”

We entered the house and went to the kitchen where Shawn began opening a bottle of champagne. Jack left my side to go make some coffee, and I watched Shawn work the wire off the top and pop the cork.

He filled a glass halfway and handed it to me. “Cheers.”

I took the champagne over to the kitchen table and sat down, slowly sipping it so that I wouldn’t get light-headed.

Shawn was looking inside the fridge and said, “Do you want anything to eat—”

“Shawn,” I cut him off. “Come here.”

My eyes followed him as he moved across the kitchen with his own coffee mug and sat in the seat next to mine. I waited for Jack to finish making his coffee and join us before I said, “I really need to talk to you, and I can’t wait a second longer to do it.”

It wasn’t the intro I’d planned, but it had certainly gotten his attention.

He glanced at Jack and then back to me. “Okay.”

“I—”

“I’m Lucy’s father,” Jack spit out prior to me saying the words.

He knew how hard this was for me, and he was doing everything he could to make it easier.

The news passed over Shawn’s face. I didn’t see anger, but I could tell he wasn’t pleased. “You’re not telling me anything I didn’t already know.”

My eyes widened. “Wait. You already knew? Did Mom and Dad tell you?”

“Mom and Dad knew?”

“No.” I looked at my glass. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to take another drink. “I just told them a few days ago. No one knew, except for Anna…and you apparently.” I shook my head, confused by all of this. “How did you know?” My voice was so soft, I barely recognized it.

He leaned into the table, exhaling loudly. “I always had a feeling Lucy’s father wasn’t a one-night stand. You’re not the one-night-stand kind of girl, Sam.” He folded his fingers over the side of his mug. “I didn’t put it together until Jack came to visit me here after the Super Bowl.”

“How in the hell did you do that?” Jack asked. “I didn’t even know Lucy was mine at that point, so it couldn’t have been from something I said.”

“It wasn’t,” Shawn replied. “Well, that’s not entirely true. When I mentioned Lucy’s name, the expression you had on your face was identical to one my niece makes. Shit, you guys could have been twins in that moment. Once I saw that, everything fell into place. Her eyes are the same as yours, and you guys even have the same dimple.”

“You didn’t say anything, Shawn. You didn’t even let on a little bit,” Jack said.

“Listen, man, I don’t want to know what happened between you and my sister, and confronting you about it would come with a whole lot of explaining on your end. That’s something I don’t even want to mess with. It happened. It’s a little fucked up, but it’s in the past. Get me?”

“But you didn’t bring it up to me either,” I said.

Shawn shrugged. “If I guessed right, I knew you’d be confessing at some point. And, with you guys dating now, I figured you wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for long.”

“I can’t believe you guessed that Jack was the father,” I said. “That feels so random.”

He took a drink of his coffee. “It’s not random at all. If you do the math, you had to have gotten pregnant sometime around the draft. Plus, when you got back from New York, you were a fucking disaster. I had a feeling something had happened; I just didn’t know what.” The look he gave to Jack made one thing extremely clear. Shawn wasn’t happy that Jack had caused me to be that fucking disaster.

After quickly peeking at Jack, I saw that he’d gotten Shawn’s point.

I couldn’t even wrap my head around this.

“Shawn, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“I know, and I get why you didn’t tell me. Jack’s my agent, and there’s a lot riding on our professional relationship. We have contracts worth millions of dollars. In all honesty, it was probably best that you didn’t tell me because I don’t know what I would have done to him. But, now, I handle situations a little differently.” His eyes scanned between Jack’s and mine. “I don’t know why you two hooked up and never spoke again until the Super Bowl, and I don’t want to know. Like I said before, that shit is in the past.”

I put my hands on top of my head and glanced between both men. “I don’t know what to say. I thought you’d be much more pissed about this. And the reason we’re staying at a hotel is because I thought you’d be too angry for us to crash here.”

“Getting angry and yelling isn’t going to change what happened,” he said. “You both fucked up, and you came clean. Now, we’re moving on.” He put his hand on top of mine, rubbing it over my fingers like he was trying to mess up my hair. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve lied to you a few times, too.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “But I can’t imagine any of those instances could even compare to this one.”

He laughed. “I’m sure I’ve got one that comes close.”

“Please…”

“You want to go there, little sis? All right, how about this one? I used to sleep with Anna.”

My mouth dropped open. “No.”

“Oh, yeah. It went on for years. She used to sneak into my room in the middle of the night, and she’d return to yours early in the morning before you woke up.”

I leaned back in my chair, my arms crossed over my chest. I knew Anna better than anyone. This almost felt like a challenge. “She would have told me.”

“Wouldn’t most people think you would have told me about Jack?”

He had me.

Regardless, I couldn’t see them together. I couldn’t even picture it in my head.

“We’re still not even,” I said. “But I’ll admit, that was a good one.”

Shawn looked at Jack after several seconds. “I’m warning you right now, you’d better be a good father to Lucy, and you’d better give those girls everything they need.”

“You have my word,” Jack said.

Shawn’s eyes scanned back to me. “Lucy’s getting a father, and that’s all she’s ever wanted. Don’t fuck this up.”

“I won’t.” I glanced at Jack. “I can’t believe he’s not strangling you for getting me pregnant at nineteen, and he’s not kicking my ass out.”

“Let’s not keep reminding me of the nineteen-year-old detail, okay?” Shawn said.

I laughed.

God, it felt good.

Then, my brother replaced my glass with his mug. “Drink some coffee. You look like hell, and I imagine that’s from not sleeping much last night. Once you guys bring your bags inside, we’ll go out for brunch to put some food in your stomach. You two are staying here tonight, so call and cancel the goddamn hotel.”

My eyes connected with Jack’s again.

He’d told me not to worry.

Somehow, he’d known.

I didn’t know how. I didn’t care.

I just knew I was with two of my favorite guys, and nothing had changed between us.