Page 96 of Bagging the Blueliner
“Oh my God,” Natalie whispered in my ear.
Smoothing my sweaty palms over the light-wash jeans covering my thighs, I didn’t know why I was so nervous. Maybe it was because this was so out of the ordinary in my relationship with Cal. We’d breezed right past Valentine’s Day, and he had already told me not to make a big deal out of his birthday, which was coming up next week.
I was the one who’d put a label on us, but it changed nothing. We had a casual thing going on. We couldn’t commit to anything more while we were in hiding.
Whatever this was, it felt anything but casual. He sent a freaking limo!
“Hello, ladies. I’m Ethan, and I’ll be your driver today.” The man sitting up front didn’t even turn his head as he spoke, pulling out into LA traffic.
Sensing I was having a mental meltdown, Natalie responded, “Nice to meet you, Ethan.” Leaning forward, she hit the button on the privacy screen before turning back to me. “Holy shit, Hannah.”
“Uh-huh.” I was at a loss for words.
“Did he give you any clue as to where we are going?” Shaking my head was all I could manage. Twisting her lips in thought, she mused, “Maybe he’s sending us on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive? How fun would that be?”
“Maybe,” I mumbled.
Reaching into the minibar, I blindly grabbed for the first thing I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter what type—alcohol was needed at this moment. My fingers closed around the neck of a chilled bottle, and I pulled it out.
Natalie’s gasp startled me enough that I dropped it at my feet, hearing the dull thud as it met the carpet. “What?” I asked in a panic. “Are you okay? Is it the baby?”
Eyes as big as saucers, she shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“Then,what?“ Annoyance colored my tone.
Tilting her head toward the carpet, she said, “Champagne.”
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one whose brain was fried because she wasn’t making any sense. “Nat, you can’t have any. You’re pregnant.”
“No, dummy. There was champagne in the cooler.”
“And the sky is blue. What’s your point?” I was this close to strangling her. Didn’t she know I was freaking out over here?
“What if he’s going to propose?” Natalie breathed out.
That snapped me right out of whatever mental fog I was in. “You shut your mouth right now!” I yelled. “Are you out of your damn mind? This must be that baby brain my sisters always talk about.”
“Think about it. A limo, champagne, a day out in LA? What if he’s waiting for you wherever we end up?”
“No.” I shook my head. “No,” I said again more forcefully. “That would be insane. To go from sneaking around to ‘will you marry me?’ Think about how well that would go over with my dad.”
Natalie shrugged. “I mean . . . he gave Jaxon slack because I was already pregnant when he found out about us. Maybe Cal is thinking that if you’re engaged, your dad won’t have a choice but to accept it.”
She had a point. That would force Dad’s hand. Seemed a little drastic, though. We weren’t in that place yet.
“I don’t know, Nat. It’s only been a few months. The sex is off-the-charts hot, and we like spending time together, but we would be skipping a crucial step. You can’t just gloss over ‘I love you’ and head straight to asking someone to marry you. It doesn’t work like that.”
Humming, she nodded. “Maybe you’re right. But what else could it be?”
That was the question of the hour.
Before we could think up more possibilities, the limo stopped, and the door opened. Frozen in my seat, I gestured for Natalie to exit first. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to follow.
“Huh.” Stepping out of the limo, I stood before a large building that resembled a warehouse.
Leaning over, Natalie whispered, “If this is a proposal, I won’t blame you if you give him a swift kick between the legs. This place looks like where you go to get murdered.”
“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked Ethan.
