Page 64 of Dangers of Love

He kissed the can. “Of course I am. Want some?”

The expression I made must’ve spoken for me because he laughed before asking, “The smell won’t make you nauseous, will it?”

I shook my head. “Just the taste, and that has nothing to do with being pregnant.”

“Your loss.” He opened a couple cabinets before he found what he was looking for and then dumped the canned food into the bowl. “I thought we could go crib shopping this evening or tomorrow morning so I can put it together on New Year’s Day. I don’t have any jobs on the schedule until next week when we’re doing some PI work for a woman who thinks her husband is messing around with her best friend.”

“I thought you guys were a security firm.” I made myself a cup of tea.

“We are,” he said, “but Cain takes on some investigation type cases where it might not be safe for a civilian PI. Like a child custody case where a spouse might try to grab their kid or an abusive ex who might try to intimidate a PI.”

The interesting image that came to mind at his words made me laugh. When he gave me a confused look, I explained, “I’m trying to picture the sort of arrogant, misogynistic bully who beats their spouse thinking they’ll scare off a PI, and then they see you guys. I mean, you are an intimidating group of men.”

Eoin laughed. “I guess we are. Well, except Bruce. You have to admit, he looks like he should be hanging out on the beach or something.”

“You’re not wrong.”

As he sat down at the kitchen counter, he asked if I was going to have any lunch. I grabbed a bag of dried fruit and held it up.

“Really? And you’re making fun of what I’m eating?”

I opened the bag and sat down next to him. “You’re eating dinosaur-shaped pasta in a can.”

“If you’d ever eaten army food, you’d appreciate fine cuisine.”

I shook my head, laughing. If anyone would’ve told me that the intense, grumpy man who’d literally thrown me over his shoulder would be joking around with me while eating kid food, I would’ve said they were nuts.

“What do you think about crib shopping today or tomorrow?” Eoin went back to the previous subject. “Or did you have something else in mind that you wanted to do?”

“No, that sounds good,” I said. “I’ve actually been getting a little antsy, not having anywhere to go.” I picked out an apricot and popped it into my mouth. “I’ve never been very good at staying still, but since what happened…” My voice trailed off.

“It takes you right back,” he finished, his expression serious again. “Makes you feel like you’re trapped all over again.”

I nodded and pulled out another piece of fruit. “I think that was a lot of the real reason I worked with Martina, so I could remind myself that I could be out and about, that I had a place to be.”

“We need to get you a car,” Eoin said. “Maybe we should look for one of those while we’re out crib shopping. Any idea of what you’d like?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No clue. I don’t know very much about them.”

“Well, what were the things you and Freedom talked about wanting in a car?”

I made a half snorting sound that was half-amusement, half-exasperation. “You think she actually asked my opinion on what kind of car to get?”

“How about this,” he said, “we go crib shopping tomorrow morning, then do a little online car shopping in the afternoon so we can narrow down what you like. Since you’re not on any sort of timetable, we can make sure you get what you really want.”

“That sounds good,” I said. “But I would like to get one fairly soon so I can give schools a definite date of when I can start.”

He blinked, visibly caught off-guard. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, not full-time teaching,” I hurried to explain. “I’m going to start out as a substitute for several different school systems during the spring semester. I figure that will help me figure out whether or not I want to continue subbing in the fall or look for a full-time position. Of course, the baby’s due date and any restrictions Dr. Rhimes gives will influence my decision too.”

“I hadn’t realized you were still thinking about teaching.” Eoin frowned as he put down his spoon. “I mean, now that you’re pregnant and don’t have to worry about where to live or anything like that.”

I gave him a strange look. “It’s because I’m having a baby that I want to sub now so that, by the time the baby’s born, I’ll have a good idea of where I want to work after, even if I don’t know yet if I’ll want to stay home for a bit.”

“That makes sense.” He didn’t look happy about it, but he wasn’t arguing. “I don’t know much about the different districts, but it sounds like something we can research online.”

I nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too. I want to do some cross-referencing, look for the ones in the lowest-income districts that also have the most troubled students. See where I can do the most good.”

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