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As I move to put away the misplaced item, I graze my belly against the corner of the register. “Oof,” I say, clutching my stomach. My baby rolls inside and I smile. I’m getting used to the tiny squish inside of me. We’re in it together.
“You’re bigger,” Fallon says, coming up beside me.
“Tell me about it.” I huff a lock of hair out of my eyes. “I’m either bumping into everything with my cast or with my belly.”
She gives me her classic droll side-eye. “How long are you planning to keep it a secret?”
“How long do you think I have in this town?”
She snorts. “A month tops.” Her left eyebrow lifts. “Won’t be able to hide it forever.”
“I know,” I reply, stroking a hand over my bump.
I’m sick of hiding. My pregnancy. My heart. My dreams.
If Aiden’s out there, he better hurry it up.
A smile ghosts Fallon’s face. “Or you could just do what I did with my boobs in seventh grade and tape them down.”
I bark a laugh. “Somehow, I don’t think it works that way.”
Fallon’s lips press tight as she scans the store. “Fuck it,” she says and moves to the door. She flips the sign to closed. It’s just after five. “No one’s gonna come, anyway.”
She stares out into the lavender light of the late afternoon at Davis’s truck and taps the glass. “You and Hotshot stop dancing around it?”
My face flushes with heat. An image forms in my mind of Davis kissing me under white moonlight before taking me upstairs to fuck me senseless.
I squeeze my thighs together to drive the image away. “There’s no dancing,” I say. The words stick in my throat. “In fact, we have a moratorium on dancing.”
“Okay, then.” Fallon’s doubtful eyes flicker to me. “You’re not that good of a liar, Dakota.” After a second, she crosses the floor and disappears into the kitchen.
My gaze lands on Davis’s pickup truck.
Friends, Davis said. And maybe that’s the truth.
Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’m pregnant and horny. And Davis doing sweet things, like buckling my seatbelt over my belly when he drives us into town, sends my hormones into meltdown status.
Maybe all I’ve done is pin my loneliness onto Davis. It’s not love, but sympathy.Friends. Friends fucking.
Maybe all it can be is temporary. And maybe I need that. To know there is someone else out there who isn’t Aiden.
A good man.
The best man I’ve ever known.
Brawn and beast. Cowboy and cool. Whiskey and warrior.
The kind of man who makes you feel like the most important, loved, luckiest, and beautiful woman in the universe.
With Davis, I trust him with every inch of myself. I always have.
A part of me doesn’t care if it’s right or wrong. Doesn’t want to understand or fight it.
Because the truth is, I still love him. I’ve never stopped. I thought being back here would make me realize we weren’t meant to be. We changed; we grew apart. That the time we spent together over a year was fleeting, a flash in the pan fling. But the same old feelings still exist for me. He’s the same man I loved back then. And it hurts. He’s so close, but so far out of reach. For so many reasons.
I need to keep my life easy with simple, attainable things. A man? No. An apartment? Definitely.
Besides, I can’t ask a man like Davis Montgomery to take on a hot mess like me, a child that isn’t his. I can’t put that on him. Who’s to say he even wants that?
