The Knocked Up Plan

“Why would you ever think that all I want is your . . .” Nicole pauses, slides her lips up my neck, and whispers, “cock.”

One word from her red lips and my dick responds as it fucking should. I yank her closer so she knows. “I have no idea where I got the idea that you were into me for my body only,” I tease.

A murmur falls from her lips when she presses against my erection. “I’m into your body for so many reasons, Ryder.”

I nip on her earlobe. “My date is counting down the hours till she can get me naked.”

“By my estimates, I think that in about sixty minutes, I can get these pesky pants off you,” she says, running a hand down the fabric of my workout pants. That’s what the trapeze lessons call for—exercise clothes.

I sigh heavily as if I’m dejected. “I’m nothing but a sex object to you.”

A throat clears.

“Oops,” Nicole whispers to me. “Guess we’re too dirty.” She raises her voice. “Sorry, Callie. He’s going to try to knock me up later tonight. We might be a little frisky sometimes.”

Callie’s expression morphs instantly from embarrassed annoyance to sheer joy. “That’s so exciting! I love babies. You two are going to have such beautiful babies.” Then worry seems to strike her. She steps closer to Nicole and clasps a hand around her arm. “Is there a chance you’re pregnant now? Because you shouldn’t be flying.”

Nicole waves off the concern. We planned the trapeze date for our first one for just that reason. Get all the bouncing, flying, falling, and jumping out of the way before Nicole might be in the family way.

“Nope,” Nicole says to the instructor. “We’re starting tonight. This is our foreplay. Can you tell?”

Callie sighs with relief. “The last minute might have been a tip-off.” She gestures to the swings. “Are you ready?”

“We’re ready to behave now,” I say, my tone deadly serious.

I climb down the ladder and walk to the other side of the net. God bless the huge net. The only way newbies like us could fly through the air is with the cushiest, safest, biggest net below us. As well as waivers. Lots and lots of waivers. And tons of harnesses. You can’t really get hurt here unless you try hard.

As I reach the top of the opposite platform, Callie’s counterpart on this side gives me a quick hello. His name is Mitch, and he has a camp-counselor brightness to him. Once I’m attached to the harness, I chalk up my hands.

“Are you having a good time?” Mitch asks with a big smile.

“A great time.”

“Best date ever?”

Briefly, I think of Maggie and our dates. My ex was outdoorsy, but not daring. She liked to head out of the city and hike in the woods. Since we loved movies, we spent many nights at the cinema. But trapeze was never in the cards, nor trampoline, nor rock climbing. I haven’t taken anyone here since my divorce, either. Honestly, I haven’t dated much since the split, and I wouldn’t be here if Cal hadn’t said my ass was on the line.

I swing my gaze to Nicole, more than a hundred feet away. “Definitely a great first date,” I tell Mitch.

He gives me a toothy grin. “All right. You’ll need to hop on then go upside down.”

Once I grab hold of the bar, Mitch barks, “Safe to go.”

I step off the platform and whoosh. I’m fucking flying. It’s as thrilling as it was the first time I did it tonight.

“Feet up,” he calls out as the swing arcs. I lift my feet up and hook them over the bar, and then Mitch calls out, “Arms free.”

I drop my arms below me, hanging on with my legs. This is like the loop on a whip-fast rollercoaster. Everything is a fast rush as the world flips into a topsy-turvy blur.

Callie shouts instructions at Nicole, who swings at me.

“Let her build up speed,” Mitch yells.

I give a thumbs-up as I arc closer.

From my vantage point, speeding upside down, I don’t take my eyes off my date. Nicole moves like a monkey, and in mere seconds, she’s switching from hanging by her hands on the bar to holding steady with her feet hooked over it.

“Hands catch,” the instructors shout in their shorthand as Nicole soars to me, her red hair in a long ponytail below her, her arms reaching for me. I stretch out my arms, hands ready. Closer, closer, and here she is.

For a brief moment, nerves spike inside me. But I shove aside hair-raising images of what could go wrong, and do what I have to do. I grab hold of her hands, and she takes mine.

Her neon laughter lights up the sky as she calls out, “Yes, oh my God!”

I’ve caught her, and I’m the only thing between her and the net. I grip her tight as she swings once beneath me, then she lets go, dropping to the net, the harness giving her a bouncy, soft landing.

It’s not the first time tonight I hope to hear her say oh my God.



“A-may-zing,” she says as we pile into our waiting Lyft ride outside the trapeze school.

“I’m sure Cal will be pleased that his first idea for this crazy assignment turned out to be a good time.”

“I didn’t just have a good time,” she says, shaking her head as I pull the door shut.

I arch a brow, curious. “No?”

“I had the best time,” she corrects. “And you can take that to the bank. Let all your listeners and readers know that trapeze lessons are a big win.”

Maybe I won’t get canned. I breathe a sigh of relief as the driver heads uptown. “Tell me why you liked it so much. What makes it a great date for the woman?”

She tilts her head, considering. “It’s different from the usual, you know?” Her eyes are serious. “And different is good. It gets you out of your comfort zone.”

“Out of the coffee, dinner, dates, this-is-so-fucking-boring-sometimes zone?”

“Exactly. You have to trust someone to do something like this. Sure, we have harnesses, but going for a trapeze lesson says the man is willing to put himself in an unusual position. After all, you were upside down.”

“It was definitely a new vantage point.”

Her eyes grow more animated. “And see, I think that helps two people connect. It helps for the woman to see the man can be strong but vulnerable.”

I nod as I take in her assessment. It makes a hell of a lot of sense. “Damn, you’re brilliant. That’s exactly what Cal wants me to talk about in my”—I stop to sketch air quotes to show what I think of Cal’s plans—“dating guide.”

But Nicole doesn’t let it go. Her eyes pin me with an intense look. “But did you feel that way, Ryder? I loved it, and it felt freeing. Did you feel like it would be a good first date for a man trying to romance a woman?”

Romance. I shudder at that word and all its implications. I romanced Maggie like I was a fucking hero in a novel, pulling out all the stops, sending her not only the lilies she adored, but her favorite artisanal butter for the pastries she made. We kissed at the fountain at Lincoln Center after a ballet she wanted to see; we strolled through the farmers’ market in Union Square hand in hand as she shopped. I rolled out the red carpet for her, and she loved it all, and that’s why it was so fun to treat her that way.