The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(58)

Eva giggled. “Oh, I forgot about those.”

“Of course you did,” Leo teased. “I was the one who had to go make them.”

“Like what?” Jesse asked.

Leo snorted. “There was the one infamous midnight Burger King onion ring run, where I was on my phone Googling locations and trying to find one that was open. You’d think that was easy, and maybe it is up in Tampa or somewhere, but not in Sarasota County. Holy f*ck, be glad you aren’t sharing a bed with her. She had Godzilla gas all the next day.”

Eva laughed. “Sorry.”

“No, you absolutely were not sorry,” Leo teased. “Because you sent me out again the next night—earlier, thank goodness—for another damn batch of them.”

“They were good…at the time.”

Leo playfully poked her in the arm. “The salad phase wasn’t so bad.” He looked at Jesse. “We might need stock in Sweet Tomatoes, though. She could plow her way through her weight in greens at their salad bar.”

“Hey, that was a healthy craving,” Eva protested.

“True. And not nearly as gas-inducing as the onion rings.”

They were still bantering back and forth when the doctor walked in. “Mrs. Cooke?”

“Miss,” she corrected, her face heating. “It’s…complicated.” She’d opted to keep Leo’s last name when the divorce was finalized.

The doctor sat after shaking hands with everyone and the introductions were complete. She offered Eva a smile. “Well, it sounds like you’re one big happy family.”

“Pack,” Eva corrected without thinking about it, her face heating when she realized what she’d said. “It’s…complicated,” she repeated. “Actually, our daughter came up with it after seeing a story about wolves.”

No need to get into the BDSM dynamic implications of it.

“Your daughter?”

Leo pointed from him to Eva. “Our biological daughter, but Jesse is her step-father and she calls him Poppa.”

The doctor consulted the chart again. “Okay. So we’re actually going to be working with Mr. Morrow and Miss Cooke?”

“Mr. Cooke-Morrow,” Jesse corrected with a smile. “It’s complicated.”

“Obviously.” But the doctor wore a smile. “My brother’s gay. He was with his partner nearly ten years when the gay marriage ban fell and they were able to get married. They have a daughter through a surrogate.”

“Oh.” That relaxed Eva, that the doctor was so open-minded already. “Then you understand.”

“I think so.” She started to ask Eva a couple of questions when there was a knock on the door. The doctor stood and cracked the door open enough Eva could see one of the nurses on the other side.

“Excuse me just a moment,” the doctor said. “I’ll be right back.” She slipped out, closing the door behind her.

Eva heard them discussing something, but their voices disappeared down the hall.

Jesse had moved to stand on her other side, so Eva took both their hands in hers and pulled them into her lap. “This will be good,” she said. “Adding to our pack.”

Jesse’s brow furrowed. “Remember—”

She squeezed his hand. “Yes, I know. But I do want this, so stop that. You’re starting to make me think you might not be sure.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” He chuckled. “Sorry. I’m just nervous. Seriously, this is like a dream. I didn’t think this would ever happen.”

The doctor returned. Eva noted her expression had changed. A rumbling started in her gut that had more to do with that than any remnants of last night’s dinner still causing trouble for her.

The doctor sat and seemed to be figuring out what to say. “There’s a slight…complication,” she said.

“What?” all three of them asked.

The doctor looked at Eva. “We’re not going to be able to do a fertility procedure on you at this time.”

“Why not?” all three of them asked.

“Because, Miss Cooke, you’re already pregnant.”





Chapter Twenty-One


They sat in the car, silent, the engine running and AC on high to chase away the June heat.

Eva was in shock.

All three of them were.

Beyond the shock she felt horrible, guilty.

She felt like she’d let Jesse down.

She couldn’t even enjoy the news.

Finally, Jesse reached over and took her hand, gently squeezing. “We need to go talk to him.”

It took her a moment to realize what he meant. “This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening.”

“So what,” Leo asked from the backseat, “exactly haven’t you told us?”

“I…” She swallowed hard. “The night a couple of weeks ago, after we went to my parents’ house and then had the big talk, we…actually slept together. I mean, we finally had intercourse for the first time.”

“Well, obviously you had intercourse,” Leo said. “But is there anything else?”

“We used a condom!” she said. “We were careful!”

Jesse hadn’t let go of her hand, but now he was staring out the windshield. “Not careful enough,” he muttered.