Page 51 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

Or more likely he’d get the Tomlinsons to pay him to make the problem go away.

She swallowed hard. “Whatever you say. But I’m so anxious about this long drive without a car seat. Can’t we stop and buy one? I know you don’t want to risk even the slightest chance of your son getting hurt. We’ll need one anyway, for the future. Look, that sign says there are stores at the next exit.”

She could go in the ladies’ room to change Avery. Wait there until someone else came in and ask them to call security.

“Hm. Okay, I’ll pull off. But I’ll hold William Junior when we go in. If you run, you’ll have to leave him behind. And if you put up a fuss, you’ll look crazy.”

She could tolerate looking crazy, if it got Avery safely away from William. But what if he dropped the baby? She didn’t want to put Avery in his power for even a second.

She needed an excuse to stay behind while he went in to buy the car seat. William wouldn’t want to be seen with a screaming, fussy baby, or with a sloppy woman. As they pulled into the parking lot, Daisy shoved her hand under her blouse and pushed aside the pads in her bra that kept milk from leaking through. Then she gritted her teeth and pinched Avery. He began crying again.

Sorry, my little love! I’m trying to save us.

“I need to feed—the baby.” She didn’t want to make William mad by reminding him of the baby’s name, but she wouldn’t use William Junior. “I’d better wait in the car. I’m sure you don’t want me exposing myself in public.”

He pulled into a parking spot and turned around to glare at them.

Her breasts were responding to Avery’s cries. She pulled her blouse tight to make sure the milk leaked through. “Anyway, I can’t go in like this. But if you go buy the car seat, we should be done by the time you return.” Or better yet,gone.

William grumbled something and started the car again. Now what?

He pulled around the store, away from the rows of parked cars, away from the entrances. Nothing was back there except some dumpsters and a few cars that might belong to employees. He pulled behind a huge dumpster. The car barely fit between the dumpster and a cement wall.

William twisted to look over the seat. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, my dear, but you know how overwrought you get. No one will see or hear you from here. I’ll lock the car behind me for your safety. Just so you know, once I walk away with the key fob, you won’t be able to unlock the doors from inside the car.”

Wait, was that a thing? Plenty of cars had locks for the back doors that could only be controlled from the front, but surely he couldn’t lock her inside the car. Could he?

Avery was crying and mouthing at her shirt, but she didn’t want to pull out her breast in front of William. She hadn’t actually planned to nurse Avery right now at all. But it hurt to ignore his demands. Her mothering instinct was fighting with her desire to get away.

“It’s not like I’d go anywhere.” She opened her eyes wide. “But I didn’t know you could lock a car like that.”

“It’s a safety feature.” He smirked. “The double lock system keeps anyone from breaking in with a coat hanger.”

She wanted to scream and throw things and slap that smirk right off his face, but she managed a smile. “Well, hurry back! We’ll be waiting. Oh, while you’re at it, can you buy some diapers? We’ll need them soon. You wouldn’t believe how quickly this little guy goes through diapers, and I’d hate for him to have an accident in your car.”

Ha! That got the smirk off his face all right. Between the car seat and the diapers, he’d surely take at least twenty minutes, maybe half an hour. That would give her time to figure out... something.

Chapter Twenty-One

William squeezed outof the car. He ostentatiously hit the lock button, and the car beeped in response. He disappeared around the side of the dumpster. Daisy shuddered in relief.

A screeching and scraping sound stabbed her ears. Daisy flinched and hunched over Avery to protect him as he wailed. The dumpster moved closer to her window. William really wasn’t taking any chances. The car was parked too close to the cement wall for her to get the passenger side doors open, even if she could unlock them. Now the dumpster was up against the other side.

But maybe that meant William had lied about the car not unlocking from inside. She scooted over to the door.

No matter what she squeezed or pushed, the door wouldn’t open. She reached forward to the controls on the driver’s door, but nothing there worked either, not the door lock or the window control.

Daisy flopped back with a sigh. She’d have to think of something else. She put Avery to her breast. Her heart raced with her desire to flee, but no reason Avery shouldn’t get a snack while she took a minute to think. She couldn’t blame him for crying, especially not when she wanted to wail and sob herself, but her nerves couldn’t take much more.

A figure loomed in front of the car. Daisy yelped. William again. He couldn’t have finished shopping already! Was the store closed?

She barely made out his words through the closed windows. “Just making sure you’re okay.” He waved and sauntered away, grinning. Jerk.

Good thing she hadn’t been getting out of the car when he came back. Would he sneak back again? Or had passing his test once been enough? If she waited too long to see if he returned, he might finish his shopping and come back for real.

Not that she had any idea how to get out of the car anyway.

Hm. Despite telling her she wouldn’t be able to get out of the car, he’d pushed the dumpster closer and then lurked around so he could check on her. Surely that meant shecouldget out. But how?

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