“What? What did I miss? What’s funny?” she asked bringing her attention back to the women in the room.
“You two are,” Karina managed between chuckles.
Lily put her hand on Covington’s arm. “What she’s trying to say is you and Tristan are too cute. Sneaking looks at each other while the other isn’t watching. It’s kinda painful to watch actually.”
“He looks at me?”
“Oh yes, he looks at you. Like he’s a starving man and you’re an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Tessa added.
“He doesn’t. Does he?” She knew he’d been interested in her earlier—she’d felt the physical evidence pressed against her stomach—and she couldn’t deny they had chemistry. They’d proven that the night they spent together. But did his attraction come from the fact she carried his babies or because he wantedher?
Covington frowned when Karina laughed again. “I’m not sure this is funny,” she muttered.
“No. It’s hilarious. You two are so wound-up in the madness of your unexpected pregnancy you can’t see you’re in love with each other.”
“He doesn’t love me. He’s just being the upstanding guy he is and taking responsibility for his future children.” It was the babies that had his attention. Her by default.
“Didn’t you tell us he asked you to marry him before he knew the babies were his?” Karina prodded.
“Yes, but he—”
“I’m pretty sure that goes well beyondupstanding guy,” Tessa pointed out.
“I…” Covington stumbled over Tessa’s words as they ricocheted through her head.
Did it go beyond Tris’s honorable good-guy character? He’d always helped her. When Dirk hadn’t been around Tristan had. In fact, now that she thought about it, Tris had been around far more than Dirk in the last year of their engagement. She’d even called Tris a few times when she couldn’t get hold of her fiancé.
And he’d come running, every time.
Lily patted her arm. “You don’t see how he loves you because you’re too busy hiding how you feel about him.”
“Oh, I don’t…” Her heart did a funny squeezy beat thing.Oh god. Did she?
Had she been so involved in the drama of her life she hadn’t taken notice of her own feelings?
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t attracted to Tris, but lust was only chemistry and a relationship couldn’t be based on that alone. Dirk had taught her that. And while she’d had more in common with Tristan than her ex-fiancé, she’d never looked closely at their friendship—at how deep it went.
Now that someone else pointed it out…
“I need a drink.”
“You’ve got one,” Amanda said, waving her hand at the virgin daiquiri she’d made just for Covington.
“I need arealdrink,” she clarified. “Something strong enough to give me the courage to talk to Tris.”
Karina smiled. “You don’t need liquid courage for that.”
“You’re right.” She swallowed. “I already feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“You’ll be fine.” Lily patted her arm again. “Trust me. No man looks at a woman the way Tristan looked at you just now and rejects her.”
“From what Jake has told me, Tris has been torturing himself over something since he arrived in Hope Falls. The guys at the station all had money on it being a woman. Seems they were right.” Tessa frowned. “They actually did put money on it too.”
“Yeah, I, um, may or may not have made fifty dollars when you rolled into town,” Deanna said with a sheepish grin.
Covington stared at Tristan’s fellow firefighter. “You bet money on Tris being twisted up over a woman?”
“Nope.” Deanna grinned. “I bet he’d fall like a house of cards at the feet of the first woman to come looking for him.”
