Free Taking You by Jessie Evans Page A

barbeque at your parent’s house, right? The night your mom and dad were going to have the intervention with Melody and Nick and ended up freaking out because Lark was pregnant instead?”
    “Right.” Aria nodded slowly even as her heart began to race with a very different kind of excitement. It had been five weeks. With Melody ending up in the hospital with a severe allergic reaction and then all the wedding-planning madness, Aria hadn’t even realized she was late.
    She was never late. The last time she went more than twenty-eight days between cycles was when she was pregnant with Felicity.
    “What’s up, Red?” Nash asked. “You’ve got a weird look on your face, and I have a feeling we’re not headed to the family bathroom anymore.”
    Aria stared up at him, her husband, standing there looking like a secret agent in his tux with his hair mussed from when they were kissing and his love and concern so clear on his face. He was so beautiful and sexy and kind and funny and all-around-wonderful. She couldn’t ask for a better stepfather to Felicity and she couldn’t imagine bringing another baby into the world with anyone else.
    Another baby. They were going to have another baby! She was almost one hundred percent positive.
    Still, she didn’t want to tell Nash what she suspected until she was sure.
    “What time is it?” she asked, spinning in a circle, looking for a clock on the wall, but finding nothing but overstuffed sofas and a painting of a hunting dog fetching a pheasant from the grass.
    “Almost seven. Why?” Nash asked. “Aria, what the hell is going on, I—”
    “I have to go do something really quickly,” Aria said, gambling that the Mom and Pop store not far from the venue was still open and had a pregnancy test on the shelf. Women in the boonies needed to know if they were pregnant, too, didn’t they?
    “Go where, to do what?” Nash asked, following as she headed up the stairs leading to the main entrance.
    “I’ll grab the keys from the coat check and be back in fifteen minutes,” she said. “You won’t even miss me.”
    “You’re right. Because I’m coming with you.”
    “No, you stay here and help Mom with Felicity,” Aria said. “I promise I’ll be right back.”
    “No way. You’re acting way too weird. I’ve never seen you cry this much.”
    “Oh, I cried all the time when we were first getting together. It’s not a big deal,” Aria said, reaching the top of the steps and turning back to point at his chest with a stern finger. “I’m fine. Trust me. Go eat cake with Felicity and I’ll be right back with a surprise.”
    Nash’s expression remained stormy. “I don’t like surprises.”
    Aria smiled. “I think you’ll like this one.”
    “I’d rather be in the family bathroom with your panties on the floor.”
    Aria’s tongue slipped out to wet her lips. “That could still happen, if you play your cards right and stop interfering when I am clearly on a mission.”
    He sighed and shook his head in defeat. “Fine, but if you’re not back in fifteen minutes, I’m borrowing Nick’s car and coming after you.”
    She snorted. “Good luck catching anything in the Midget,” she said, backing toward the coat check by the front door. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Be careful,” he called after her, worry in his voice.
    Aria felt a pang of guilt for making him worry, but pushed it away. She had to know if her suspicion was fact, if she was really pregnant with his baby. She knew how eager Nash was to expand their family. She didn’t want to get his hopes up unless she knew for sure.
    ***
    Ten minutes later, she had parked the truck at Yerger’s General Store and was pacing down the medicine aisle, thankfully finding what she was looking for on the top shelf. She snagged two tests for good measure and hurried to the front, pulling her credit card out of her drawstring purse.
    “Do you have a bathroom I could use?” Aria asked the older woman behind the