Page 58 of Bad Boy for Hire
“Admirable.”
Her smile faded as she licked her lips. Her expression was cautious. A premonition of doom shook him like thunder rattling the walls of his house.
“I didn’t come over to tear your clothes off,” she said.
“That’s always on the table, honey. And you on the table is something I’d like to try again, and soon. You seemed to like it.”
“I did. So much.” She tipped her head up, which brought her mouth closer to his.
He kissed her, lips only at first, then open-mouthed. When his tongue was stroking hers and his hands on her waist had turned to fists, she whimpered into his mouth.
This. This was what it was like to be with May Glenfield. The world faded until it disappeared, and there was only her—only him. Only the promise of?—
She pulled away abruptly, leaving him frozen in place. He was still clutching her pantsuit, his mouth slightly open, his eyes shut.
When he opened them, he was greeted with a version of May he wasn’t as familiar with. Her brow was puckered with worry, and her eyes were damp and sorrowful.
“I need to talk to you. Can we sit by the fire?” Her flat tone tied his stomach in double knots.
“Uh, sure. Can I get you a drink or?—”
“No, I’m good.”
May was honest, direct, and decent—nothing like Tracie—but something in her expression tonight was unraveling threads he hadn’t tugged on in years. Maybe it was her tone. Maybe it was the weight in her eyes.
Tracie had never sat him down to talk. She hadn’t given him the courtesy of a conversation. He’d caught her with his boss-slash-friend and had dumped her on the spot. After the anger faded, he’d been bitter. The least she could’ve done was end it with him before sleeping with someone else.
And yet here he was, bracing for May to announce she was leaving him. It didn’t make sense. But in his gut, he knew.
She was dumping his ass.
What had gone down at girls’ night? He intended to find out. As they walked down the stone steps to the fire bowl, he considered his options and decided to hear her out before he pled his case.
He hadn’t seen any signs that she was second-guessing them being together, so he was flying blind.
“Beautiful night.” She took the seat next to his. He picked up his half-empty beer bottle and guzzled down the rest of it. Then he sat in his own chair and did his damnedest to appear relaxed.
She wouldn’t cheat on him. He knew that. But she could have met someone else. And if she had, he knew she would do what Tracie hadn’t been capable of: tell him the truth.
But if that had been her plan, she wouldn’t have kissed him when she’d shown up. So, what was it she needed to talk to him about? Had he not offered her enough? Did she want to label what they were doing?
She’d been with Lou and Elliott tonight, and Xavier knew that Ant was planning on proposing soon. What if being around her married and engaged friends had May wanting to define her own relationship?
But that didn’t make sense either. They’d been seeing each other for less than a month. May had made it clear that she was living in the moment, same as him. It was one of the reasons things had worked out so seamlessly. So if not that, then what?—
“I’m pregnant.”
He’d been staring unseeing into the flames while he’d been thinking, his beer bottle loosely gripped between his fingers. He blinked the fire into focus and then slowly turned to face her.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“Yes,” he croaked, then cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes.”
“At least according to these tests I’m pregnant.” She pulled two white sticks out of her purse. “I don’t think they’re both wrong, but I’ll take another at home. I was going to take a test earlier this week, but I was too scared. Lou happened to have a few spares.”
“Didn’t know they were trying,” he said, feeling…well, not much of anything at the moment. He was numb from the neck down.
He reached up to rub his neck, mainly to ensure that his head was attached to his body. For a second he’d wondered if it’d snapped off and rolled down the dock and into the lake. Might as well have for how long it was taking his thoughts to coagulate into words.
