Sweet One (Titan Book 8) Read Online Free

leaned into Sugar, needing her hug more than she realized. “Good plan.”
    Five minutes later, Nic had a tray of bland food, but despite being hungry, she wanted none of it. Sugar was as bossy as Boss Man, though, so filling her tray with a couple of muffins and a bland chicken sandwich passed muster.
    Sugar bagged her food at the to-go counter, and with stern orders to eat, dropped Nicola off where Roman and Jared were poring over files in a meeting room. Jared cracked his knuckles as he stood, nodding to both of them, before leaving with his wife.
    “You doing okay?” Roman asked before wrapping her in a bear hug.
    “You’ve already asked me that.”
    He squeezed her before releasing. “You keep lying to me.”
    She laughed quietly. “Guess that’s what I do.”
    He closed his eyes and snagged her in another hug. “Nic.”
    Somewhere in that hug, she dropped the to-go bag, and then she lost it, shedding all the pent-up tears. So many times she’d lied to her brother: when they were teens and she should have told him that she was in love with his best friend, when she should have called him while she was in witness protection even though she wasn’t allowed, and when she’d let other people tell him he was going to be an uncle.
    Roman gave bear hugs. The good thing about a brother who was as broad and tall as the hospital they were in was that he could easily lift her up and relocate a heaving, sobbing, hysterical woman without a blink of effort.
    “Breathe, Nic.” He rifled through her bag of food and brought out a stack of napkins then offered one for her tears.
    “God. I’m such a freaking mess.”
    “You’re going through a lot.” His elbows were on his knees, and he leaned forward, brows pulled down as if he were trying to read her mind.
    “You’re going to be an uncle.”
    Roman leaned back an inch, a tiny smile on his face. “I know. Congratulations.”
    She sobbed.
    “Damn, those pregnancy hormones aren’t anything to mess with.”
    Nic reached out to smack his arm, but he grabbed her and hugged her again. “Seriously, Nic. Congrats. You guys are gonna make killer parents. Mom and Dad are gonna freak out, and everything is going to be fine.”
    “I have secrets all the time. There’s something wrong with me. I’m going to be an awful mommy.” She bawled. “I kept secrets from you back in the day. How’d that work out? Bad. Then from Cash? Same thing. And again from Cash? He doesn’t know. He. Doesn’t. Know!”
    “Take a breath. It’s not the same thing.”
    “I’m so screwed up.”
    “You’re not,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell him the second you knew?”
    She wiped her face. “Because I wanted to plan a surprise. Something special. When he was off job. Not with just a day off but, like, a couple weeks.”
    “See? You had a reason.”
    “A lot of good that did me.”
    She dropped her head. “He might die not knowing.”
    “He won’t. He’s going to live because of that pregnancy.”
    Surprise stopped the tears. “What?”
    “I told him.”
    “What?” Her eyes went wide. “When?”
    “Right after the attack, when he was first hit, I needed something to keep him here with us—even if he wasn’t waking up. So I told him.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I know that’s yours to tell him. But I…” Roman stopped and rubbed his face. “He needed to hear it. Even if he didn’t know he heard it.”
    Nicola launched into her brother’s arms. “Thank you.”
    “A lot of hugging today.”
    “You’re a good hugger.”
    “I know.”
    “Cocky too.”
    He laughed. “I know.”
    “I told him too.” She pulled back and grabbed the bag of food, suddenly finding the urge to eat a muffin. “I think it helps.”
    Roman nodded. “All the medicine in the world? That baby is what’s bringing our boy home.”
    “Yeah.”
    They sat in silence as she finished the muffin and gauged her need to puke. It wasn’t there. That was progress. “So… Beth.”
    Her