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It was just an excuse to get together with
the guys, drink some beer and shoot the shit. He’d kissed her and
left and the fact that she was comfortable here, on her own, in his
place, said something. It said a hell of a lot.

I want this every night
.

Steps on the stairs had her stretching her
neck to see, the tension still there, but the anticipation so much
stronger. He must have forgotten something?

“Bobbi?”

Like air whooshing out of a balloon, she
collapsed back onto the sofa. It was Billie.

Her sister appeared in the kitchen and doffed
her white puffy winter coat, shucking her boots as she did so
before crossing the room to stand beside the sofa. Her long hair
was loose and she was dressed casually. Black yoga pants and bright
blue T-shirt with ‘Drink Milk’ across her chest.

“Hey,” Billie said breathlessly, flopping
onto the rug and giggling when Pia jumped off Bobbi and into her
lap.

Bobbi sat up and stretched. “What’s up? I
thought you’d be a The Grill with the rest of the guys.”

Billie tucked her hair behind her ears and
for a moment said nothing. “I was, but Shane said you were here so
I came by.”

Something was up. “Okay,” Bobbi replied. “Is
everything alright with you?”

Billie’s head shot up, her flushed cheeks
deepening as she stared at her sister. “Why? Do I look like
something’s wrong with me?”

Something was definitely up, but Bobbi knew
Billie well enough to know that her sister wasn’t going to spill
until she wanted to. She was so different from Betty who had no
problem at all saying exactly what was on her mind.

The best way to play this was to say nothing
at all. The silence would drive her bonkers.

Bobbi slid from the sofa. “Do you want a
glass of wine? Or a beer or something?”

“No,” Billie said quickly. “I mean, I’ll
have…no, I’m good.”

Bobbi gave her sister a long look before
crossing back to the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of red
wine. After tossing the now empty bottle she and Shane had opened
the night before into the recycling bin under the sink, she leaned
against the countertop.

“What?” Billie said eventually, after several
minutes of nothing slid by them.

Bobbi shrugged and took another sip. “You
tell me.”

Billie looked away, her long hair covering
her face and for once second, fear grabbed Bobbi hard.

“Billie, what the hell is going on? Is
everything okay with, Dad?”

Her sister nodded but didn’t raise her head
and because Bobbi couldn’t see her face or her expression, her
concern doubled. Something was really wrong. Were Billie’s
shoulders shaking?

“Billie, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry,” Billie replied softly, her face
still averted.

Fed up, and more than a little concerned,
Bobbi pushed off from the counter. “Don’t apologize just tell me
what’s wrong.”

“Oh, Bobbi.”

Okay, now she
was
scared.

Bobbi shoved her wine glass onto the counter
and ran over to her sister, who was definitely crying. Had she and
Logan had a fight?

“Hey,” she murmured, kneeling beside Billie
and reaching for her. As soon as her fingers touched Billie’s
shoulders, her sister turned and folded into her embrace. She cried
into Bobbi’s chest, her body heaving with effort as she tried to
stifle her tears, but Bobbi stroked her hair and told her it was
alright.

She told Billie to cry as long and as hard as
she wanted to.

And Billie did. She cried off and on for
nearly thirty minutes, clutching Bobbi like a child. Bobbi stared
down at her sister and with her own emotions all over the place it
was pretty damn hard to keep it together.

Eventually the tears dried up leaving behind
the shudders and the sniffles and after a good long while those
went away as well. Nearly an hour passed and Bobbi let Billie go,
watching her sister closely as she sat back on the carpet and
hugged her knees against her chest.

Billie’s eyes were puffy and red and the
little hiccups that fell from her lips broke Bobbi’s heart.

Shit, she thought, it must have been a doozy
of a fight.

“Are you sure you don’t want a glass of wine
now?” she asked carefully, trying to gage her sister’s state of
mind.

Billie shook her head and exhaled before she
looked up and met Bobbi’s eyes.

“Trust me,” she said hoarsely as a fresh
batch of tears slipped out of her eyes. “I’d love nothing more than
to drink an entire bottle but…”

“But what?”

Billie exhaled again, paused and then spoke.
“I’m late.”

The words were so low that at first she
wasn’t sure she heard correctly.

“Billie, I’m not sure I know what you—”

“I’m fucking late, Bobbi.” Billie sprang to
her feet and started pacing in front of the fire place. “Late!” She
threw her hands into the air. “Me. Late. I’m never late.” She
pounded her right hand into the open palm of her other. “I’m always
right on time.” She stopped pacing. “Right on fucking time, every
single month.”

Oh. Shit.

“So you’re pregnant,” Bobbi said
carefully.

She wiped the corners of her eyes and nodded.
“I think so.”

Bobbi got to her feet and kept her face
neutral. Lord knows she’d been down this road before so she knew
what her sister was feeling.

“Honey, you either know or you don’t. Just
because you’re late doesn’t mean you’re pregnant.” She paused.
“Aren’t you on the pill?”

“Yes, but…”

“Oh Billie.”

“I might have doubled up a few days because I
forgot and then I was on medication for that stupid sinus
infection.” Her eyes slammed shut. “I Googled it, Bobbi. Meds can
fuck with that shit.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean...” She
frowned. “Have you taken a test?”

Billie shook her head and pointed toward the
table, toward a small plastic bag. “I couldn’t do it alone.”

“Okay, why don’t we take the test and then we
can either freak out for a reason, or I’ll grab another bottle of
wine and we can celebrate. Does that sound good?”

Bobbi grabbed the bag off of the table and
led the way to the only bathroom in the loft, just off of Shane’s
bedroom. Billie’s sniffles followed her and dammit, if those
weren’t tears pricking the corners of her eyes too. She knew how
scared her sister was. The unknown was never a fun place to be, but
she also knew that Logan loved Billie and that whatever the
outcome, the two of them would be fine.

She ripped open the package and handed it
over to her sister. Billie held it for a few moments and then
looked straight into Bobbi’s eyes.

“Have you ever done this before?”

For a heartbeat, Bobbi didn’t answer, her own
secrets crowding her brain and clogging her throat. When she could
manage, she smiled gently. “Billie, I don’t know a woman who
hasn’t.”

“Okay,” Billie said. “Let’s do this.”

Bobbi gave her a quick hug and left the
bathroom, leaning on the edge of the bed, her eyes on the door as
she waited. After what seemed like a long time, Billie shuffled out
and mumbled, “I’ll check it in a couple minutes.”

Her sister sat as close to Bobbi as she
could, and Bobbi threw her arms around her shoulders as the two
girls stared at the bathroom door and waited.

After about ten minutes, Bobbi nudged her
sister. “Do you want me to check for you?”

“Oh my god, could you?”

Bobbi gave her sister one final hug and went
to retrieve the pregnancy stick. Her heart was beating as rapidly
as her sister’s, and when she peeked inside the bathroom, when her
eyes zeroed in on the white stick—the one that clearly indicated a
positive pregnancy—her throat constricted so painfully, it took a
huge effort to clear it.

Déjà vu didn’t come close to describing the
emotions rolling through her. The memories. The fear. God, the
overwhelming fear.

But she dug deep and set them aside. This
wasn’t about Bobbi and her screwed up past, it was about her
sister. She grabbed the stick off the counter and turned around,
gasping when she found Billie just behind her.

Without saying a word she handed over the
stick and watched the flickering emotions cross Billie’s face as
she stared at it for several long moments.

“Wow,” Billie said, pushing past her sister
and leaning over the sink. She stared at herself in the mirror and
then tossed the box along with the stick and wrappers into the
waste basket underneath the sink.

“Wow,” she said again and Bobbi stepped out
of the way as Billie strode by her and sat on the edge of the bed,
her fingers digging into the dark blue coverlet, her feet tapping
on the floor in a nervous staccato.

“I just never considered this.” Billie’s pale
face stared up at her. “I mean, I want kids. I want Logan’s kids
but now? I just started a business that requires me to teach hockey
skills. How the hell can I do that if I’m pregnant?”

“You’ll figure it out. You’ll figure it out
with, Logan.” Bobbi swallowed and forced herself to say the things
that needed to be said. “But Billie, you don’t have to have it. You
know that right?”

“What?” Billie said, a note of distraction in
her voice. As understanding dawned, her eyes widened. “You mean an
abortion?”

Bobbi nodded. “You have a choice.”

Billie’s hands drifted down to her stomach.
“But it’s Logan’s.” A sob escaped and she whispered. “It’s
Logan’s.”

The anguish in her voice brought tears to
Bobbi’s eyes and she swallowed thickly because she knew exactly
what her sister was going through. And yet, something kept her from
sharing the threads of her past. She just wasn’t ready to talk
about any of that right now.

Instead she sat down beside Billie, pulled
her into an embrace and said nothing.

Shane caught Bobbi as she came down the
stairs from his loft. He grabbed her and kissed her long and hard
until she melted into him. He shoved her up against the wall of his
workshop and before she had a chance to stop him, his hands were
underneath her top, fingers crawling across silky soft skin, not
stopping until he reached her breasts.

He’d had her in the shower not more than an
hour ago and yet, he still couldn’t get enough of her. She was like
a drug and he was totally fucking addicted. Was it like this
before? Had he always been this desperate for her?

Hell the fuck yeah.

He grinned down at her when—bingo—his fingers
found her nipples. He squeezed them lightly, his thumb twirling
around the hardened peak as she sucked in a breath and swelled
beneath his touch. Could he ever get enough of touching her?

He dipped his head and kissed the corner of
her mouth, smiling when she tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

“Not yet,” he said, holding her hands above
her head.

“I have to go,” she said breathlessly.

“Where?” He held her hands easily with his
right, and with the other he pushed her bra up so that he could
taste her more intimately. The groan he heard when he opened his
mouth over her nipple had his cock twitching and his passion
rising.

“Shane.”

Another groan. Another twitch. He was rock
hard.

“I have stuff to do at home.”

He circled her nipple with his tongue and
then blew on it.

A sob and a groan.

He was on fire.

“What kind of stuff?”

“Easter stuff…oh, god, Shane.”

“Yes,” he answered cheekily.

“Shane,” she wriggled but he didn’t let her
escape. He placed his hand on her breast and rubbed gently, gazing
down into eyes that would haunt him, years after he was gone from
this earth. For this one moment, this one moment that belonged to
just the two of them, with her breast in his hand, and his heart in
hers, he knew there would never be anyone else.

Not in any lifetime.

Shane bent his head and captured her mouth,
plunging his tongue inside and tasting every bit of her that he
could. It was a kiss that was tender. A kiss that was hard. And it
was a kiss that said exactly what was in his heart.

As her lips moved beneath his he let go of
her hands and they immediately sank into his hair, while his arms
held her close. When he eventually dragged his mouth from hers he
looked down at her. At her swollen lips. Her naked breasts. Her
flushed cheeks.

And her eyes. They were huge, glittery
and…

Shit. Were those tears?

His hand crept upward but before he could
wipe them away, her fingers were at his fly, her expression almost
desperate.

There were no words as her hands let him
free. As she slowly caressed the length of him.

There wasn’t a sound made as his hands
roughly pulled her jeans down over his hips.

Commando. Oh Christ.

She spread her legs slightly and he grabbed
one, lifting it to his hips and then he was inside her. Taking her
warmth. Her wetness. Her body.

Shane held her there, up against the wall. He
made love to her. He worshipped her with his eyes, his fingers and
his body. He held her jaw steady so that she couldn’t look anywhere
but into his soul. God, he loved watching her when he was inside
her. And when she came? When he was the one to give her that gift?
The gift of release…the gift of abandonment, her eyes lit up like
the fucking 4th of July.

Shane watched them sparkle and when her head
rolled back and her nails bit into his bare shoulders, his hands
slid down to her butt and he held her as he rocked into her. As
they came together.

For several moments she trembled against him,
her body flush to him, his still buried deep inside hers.

“Hey,” he finally said, unease rolling
through him as he reached for the tears that still gathered in the
corners of her eyes.

“Bobbi, what the fuck? Did I hurt you?”