Page 15 of Bartender's Surprise Baby

Kayla finished off her coffee and stood to refill her cup. “Oh no, Rob. We deserve more than that.”

Nix and Torey both nodded while Hailey looked on fascinated.

“Fine, I like him a lot. He’s an excellent cook and when he looks at me, it’s like a woman and not some pinup fantasy. The past few weeks have been amazing.”

“Sounds like a but is coming,” Hailey pointed out.

“It feels too soon to like him the way I do. I know men and I know how quickly they change once they get you.”

“That much is true,” Hailey agreed rather ominously. There was definitely a story there. “Any red flags so far? Is he on the run? On probation?”

I laughed. “No. He’s here because he’s Marcus’ nephew and he inherited the bar.”

“Oh no, Marcus is gone?” She smiled wistfully. “He always told me why my fake I.D.’s were no good.”

“So no red flags,” Nix returned us to the topic at hand. “Lee and I fell for each other during a snowstorm. It was just two days.”

Kayla nodded. “It happens at its own pace. When you know, you know.” Her full lips curled into a grin that said she was thinking about her gorgeous rock star.

“I understand what you ladies are saying but I need to be careful. Men can be…crazy.”

“Women too,” Hailey offered.

“I once dated a guy for six months and it seemed like he didn’t know who I was, which was comforting you know? Then I went to his house and he had a cardboard cut out of me in that blue bikini in his bedroom.”

“You were smoking hot in that bikini,” Kayla offered with a smile.

“Like stuff of fantasies hot,” Torey agreed.

“Yeah well I was so hot that he had it there and asked me to wear it for him during dinner.” Plenty of my so-called relationships were a variation of that.

“Gross,” Nix said with a shiver.

“Creepy too,” I added and took another sip of tea. Just the thought of my romantic past made my stomach flip-flop. “That’s why as much as I like Levi, I am determined to take my time. To be sure.

“I think it’s smart,” Hailey offered.

“Thanks.”

“It is smart,” Kayla agreed. “But don’t take so much time that Levi doubts how you feel about him because that’s the other part of the equation.”

It was a good point and it was another thing to worry about as I made my way home and collapsed on the sofa. I didn’t even make it to the bedroom, simply kicked off my shoes, curled up under a throw blanket and slept until my alarm blared from my phone’s speaker.

The truth was that I wasn’t sure how Levi felt, not exactly. I was confident that he liked me, was physically attracted to me but if it was more than that for him, I wasn’t aware of it. And more, I wasn’t ready to ask because I didn’t know what answer I wanted.

I dressed for the cooler weather and made my way to the park to meet Levi for the egg hunt. I was giddy to see him since I hadn’t stayed the night with him last night because I didn’t want to wake him when I got up to meet the girls. When I caught sight of him in what looked like a flannel coat I realized that I missed him.

Less than twenty-four hours and I missed him.

“Hey.” He smiled brightly when he saw me. His green eyes sparkled beautifully and he wrapped me in a hug that led me to believe that he missed me too.

“Hey yourself.” I inhaled his masculine scent, so tantalizing I suppressed a groan. “Ready for the egg hunt?”

“The glow in the dark egg hunt,” he added with a smile. “Why do the eggs glow in the dark?”

I motioned to the darkening sky. “Because this one is for adults and regular eggs are hard to see at night.”

“Of course.” His lips twitched with amusement.

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