Page 55 of Afterglow

I swat at his arm, liking the way his soft flannel jacket feels under my fingertips.

“Where’d you park?” I ask, looking for his truck and finding it directly across the street. “How did I miss that?”

“I’m glad you did. I was only a few minutes ahead of you and didn’t have time to park down the street like I planned. I was going for the surprise factor and didn’t want my truck to ruin it.”

“Lucky for you, I was a bit preoccupied,” I quip.

He presses his hand into the door of my car, blocking me from climbing in. “I know this whole situation is a little crazy, and we still have plenty to figure out, but remember I’m here, yeah?”

“Yeah… you are.” The air around us crackles with a tension I’ve been trying to ignore. The same tension that got us into this situation in the first place. Things have changed so much between then and now, but this hasn’t.

But we can’t be that.

We barely know each other—I mean, we do better now—but I was serious when I said we needed to do this as friends. We can’t only be together for the baby; it has to be more than that, and more than sex too. I just don’t know how to feel more right now. After everything with Craig, I’m afraid I may never allow myself to feel more for anyone again.

Except for this baby. That is one place where I already feel so much, and it’s both frightening and exhilarating.

“I better get home,” Bryce says, moving his hand off my door and stepping back.

I should let him go, but after tonight…

I close the distance and wind my arms around him. “Thank you again. Tonight meant a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome, Leanne,” he says against my hair and his arms tighten, holding me like he’s trying to memorize this hug, like it might never happen again.

Our bodies know each other, even through our clothes and jackets, bonded by shared experience and by the baby I carry. This hug is more than the ones that came before, and I realize I might let him hug me like this any time he wants.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Bryce

Fourteen Weeks ~ Baby is the size of a Rubix cube

Ican’t say I ever expected to be in an OBGYN’s office again—but here I am. I walked into the waiting room with a tremor in my hands and my heart in my throat. For the first time since Leanne told me she was pregnant six weeks ago, the magnitude of this situation is truly hitting me.

I’m going to be a dad. Again. I was a dad, or felt like I was, but that title is something that was ripped from me, just like Sarah… Just like Sam.

Fuck.

I shake my hands out and press them into my knees to avoid running them through my hair. I styled it and don’t want to look like a disheveled mess when Leanne walks in. Even if my insides are an even worse mess, she doesn’t need to see a physical representation of it. I will hold it together. I will be the man she needs me to be.

My arms collapse and I end up with my elbows on my thighs, staring down at my shoes in the silence of the waiting room. A nearby clock ticks incessantly, and it grates against my raw nerves. My knee begins to bounce and my muscles coil, and I’m ready to stand up and start pacing when the door opens.

I almost crick my neck with how fast I snap my head up to lock eyes with the beautiful blonde who is never far from my mind. Even this morning, while I was on my back in the dirt under Alex’s old tractor, I was thinking of her—thinking about what she’d have said about my greasy T-shirt and dirty hands.

“Hey.” It comes out too loud and I clear my throat to try again. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Leanne’s voice is quiet, nervous, and her gaze darts around the waiting room as well.

This is the first time I’ve seen her since we parted ways in her parents’ driveway almost two weeks ago. My largest wedding of the season was this past weekend and it kept me pretty well tied to the ranch in preparation. This week, Leanne had a conference for a rodeo association and worked late every day. But with October finally drawing to a close, my calendar has more blank space. Hopefully that means we won’t have to go weeks without seeing each other.

I swipe my sweaty palms down my jeans and then lift my arms on instinct only to drop them just as quickly. She hugged me after dinner with her family, but I still don’t know where our boundaries are.

I want it all… but being essentially friend-zoned has me questioning every touch.

Her lip quirks up and she throws me a bone, stepping forward so I can take her in my arms. I press my nose into her hair like I did on her parents’ driveway and inhale the scent of her shampoo. It acts like a drug to my brain, waking me up while also pulling me under its spell.

“Thanks for inviting me today,” I say, pulling back as a door opens and a nurse steps out.