Page 14 of Baby for My Best Friend's Brother

It’s… nice. More than nice, actually.

The other part of me… The other part of me is having a hard time concentrating on the task at hand. I keep getting distracted watching the broad-shouldered, bearded man across from me at work.

He’s exactly the kind of man I could see myself?—

Nope. I shake my head at myself. I’m not going down that road. I’ve already made my decision. I have a date with a vial of sperm. I don’t need a date with a mountain man.

Especially a mountain man who happens to be my best friend’s brooding big brother.

I catch my bottom lip before it can curve into a grin. “Why would I be laughing?”

“That’s a good question.” He studies me with that unblinking gaze of his. “I notice you haven’t answered it.”

“No.” I bite the inside of my cheek even harder. “Of course, I’m not laughing at you.”

“Right.” He caps the candle and slips it into one of the baskets along with a bundle of wooden matches. “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

“Now you’re saying you don’t believe me?” I fake a gasp of shock and press a hand to my chest. “That isn’t very gentlemanly of you.”

“It’s a good thing no one has ever accused me of being a gentleman.”

The piercing look he offers with that statement could turn a woman into a puddle on the floor. Luckily, I’m made of sterner stuff.

He catches my stare and grins at me. I drop the candle I was holding.

Okay, so maybe I’m not quite so strong as I thought.

The jar rolls under the motel table and hits his foot. With a smirk, Cliff leans over and picks it up.

“Orange and bergamot,” he reads out loud. “What’s bergamot?”

“Something that might be more your flavor than roses.”

“I don’t have problems with roses,” he says.

“You didn’t look like you enjoyed the other candle.”

“That’s because it smells like baby powder.”

I almost tell him I picked that candle out myself, but keep the argument to myself. He’s not wrong. It does smell like a blend of roses and baby powder. That’s probably why I liked it. I do have babies on my brain.

Cliff opens the new candle and takes a whiff. He nods in approval. “You’re right. It is more my style.”

“Which is why we’re giving people the option between the two.”

“Makes sense.”

He hands the candle to me. Our fingers brush, his work-hardened finger sliding over the backs of mine.

My heart is still pounding as Cliff turns back to the basket in front of him. With a fresh frown, he attempts to wrap a ribbon around the basket handle.

I can’t help but watch as his big fingers struggle with the dainty ribbon.

“If you’ll just keep filling the baskets, I’ll take care of the ribbons,” I say. “They’re kind of tricky.”

“Thanks.” His gaze returns to mine, and it’s impossible to ignore the smolder in his eyes. Or the way said smolder makes my pulse quicken even more. At long last, he takes a deep breath and tears his gaze from mine. “I guess we should see what we have here.”

He reaches for another package. I’m so stupefied by the lingering effect of his stare, it takes me a moment to realize he’s grabbed something from the bachelorette party pile.

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