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Sheena clutches her grocery list in her fist. “I don’t fucking believe it.”
Davis’s face turns to stone as he whips his head to Sheena. “Didn’t you learn your lesson with Fallon?” he growls in a tone that no sane person would argue with.
Sheena’s screech of colorful curses echoes through the market as she walks away.
Davis tilts my chin up to meet his concerned gaze. “You okay, Cupcake?”
“Why’d you do that?” I ask, dazed, still clinging to him.
“Because,” he grits out. He gives me a scolding look, steers us forward to retrieve the cart. “I saw that fist you were ballin’, baby. No fighting. Not in your condition.”
“But…” My mind cartwheels. “Everyone will know, Davis. Everyone will think you’re the father.” I rapidly blink against the warm sear of tears, Davis’s possessive arm around my waist. “Oh my God.”
Davis curls one hand around the cart handle and guides us forward. Amusement creases his handsome face. “That’s kind of the point, Cupcake.”
My jaw drops and I process his words as we head to the checkout. I’m vaguely aware we’ve reached the register when Davis passes over the bra, a stuffed blue bear, and a baby monitor to the clerk.
“Hey, Pete,” Davis says.
Pete Perry’s eyebrows slant low. “Damn, Montgomery, you got a baby on the way?”
Davis chuckles, hands over another stuffed bear. Pink this time. “Sure looks like it.”
My entire body turns to a puddle, and I grip the conveyor belt to stay afloat. Oh, this man. Protecting me in so many other ways than just bodily.
Davis pays for our items and by the time we walk out the front doors and into the snow, I’ve regrouped. Indignation curdles my stomach.
Grabbing his plastic sack-clad arm, I back us into the alleyway and narrow my eyes at him. “Davis Montgomery. You do not have to keep saving me.”
His stare is stoic. “What’s wrong with that?”
My mouth opens, closes, then his warm rumble of a chuckle washes over me. After letting the bags fall to the ground, he takes my face in his hands. “You can save yourself. I know that. I’ve known that since the minute you walked onto my ranch and force fed me a cupcake. I’m just here to keep you steady.”
I nod, hot tears filling my eyes.
“Steady,” I whisper. “Right.”
It feels like that. No longer adrift. Not anymore.
“No more small-town drama. That isn’t your focus. I don’t want you worked up.” His hand falls to my belly, and I melt into his gentle hold. “I don’t want anyone asking you questions you’re not comfortable with. This cuts out the bullshit.” A rare grin graces his handsome face. “They won’t talk shit about you with me.”
“And why is that?”
His eyes flash. “I know how to kill a man.”
“Because you were a Marine?”
“Because I have a little sister.” On a low growl, he takes my chin and holds it forcefully but gently between his big fingers. His voice a stern, yet, soothing command. “No one in Resurrection knows your story but you, Dakota. You get to tell it. Change it.”
He’s right.
The truth about my child’s father doesn’t matter. What matters is what people believe. That I have grace from my past here in Resurrection.
Still, for him to do this. It asks a lot. Davis treasures his sanity, his privacy.
“I just—”
His eyebrows lift. “What? What is it?”
