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“Yes way.” He grinned. “It was fun surprising you.”
“Let me guess, you learned so you’d have another tool to charm the ladies?”
He jerked a shoulder. “Maybe. I didn’t want to just be a street kid forever. No class or manners or, I don’t know, breeding.”
My belly trembled for a whole new reason.
I slipped my arms around Thor’s neck, forcing myself to look at him when his gaze dropped to mine. “You’d really charge off into a blizzard if someone needed you, wouldn’t you?”
No questions asked. He was just a fundamentally decent dude.
“Depends. If I’d have to leave you, no. But I figured you’d come with me.” He aimed a frown in the general direction of my belly. “Although I guess things are different now. Can’t have you helping to pull cars out of ditches when you’re traveling for two.”
Even as my feminist heart squawked, I couldn’t help laughing. “That’s not a thing. Also, may I remind you I work at a garage?”
“Yeah, but you aren’t out there towing cars. You’re not, right?”
He looked so adorably worried I had to smooth away the wrinkle above his upper lip. His beard was growing in fuller, but I could still see his worry line under the scruff. “Not my area. Not going to say I never pitch in if needed, but rarely.”
“That’s good.” I’d put up my hair in a ponytail post-ceremony and he slid his hand down it possessively. “I know you’re gonna say you can take care of yourself. I know that. I just like taking care of you.” His Adam’s apple jerked. “It’s important to me.”
“Why?” I hated how uncertain I sounded. I wasn’t like that. Or I hadn’t used to be, pre-baby invasion.
Really, pre-Lucky. Developing feelings for him had messed with all my shields, and I was still trying to figure out how to be me and maybe possibly have him in my life.
His face softened. “Aww, Ruby, don’t you ever listen to a guy when he tells you he loves you?”
Twenty-Three
Swallowing suddenly got very difficult. “It’s so fast.”
He rubbed his fist over his chest. “It feels like forever in here.”
“If you change your mind—”
“I won’t.” He kissed my forehead, his big hands coming up to massage my shoulders. “You can depend on me. I swear on my life.”
We’d stopped dancing in the middle of the decidedly uncrowded dance floor. Caleb and Luna and Laverne and Fred were the only couples still swaying to the Michael Buble tune.
Outside, snow fell in fat flakes thick enough to drown out even my objections. Because I wanted to fucking believe him.
I wanted it more than anything.
On the next break from dancing, I made excuses about needing to pee. I could tell by the look on Thor’s face that he assumed that too was due to the baby. All functions in my body were now in support of new life.
Assuming there was one. And I supposed if I was thinking about next steps and making room in my life and what that meant, I needed to take this test so I knew exactly what I was dealing with.
So we would know.
Turned out stopping by the bathroom was a good idea. After I finished and washed up, I wandered down the hall past the reception room into the lobby of the main building. I strolled into the handily located general store, hoping upon hope they carried things for a truly fun romantic night.
Who needed condoms when you were on the hunt for a pregnancy test?
While glancing over my shoulder about sixteen times as if I expected to be brought in for B&E, I roamed the aisles. I grabbed a bag of old-fashioned ginger candies since they supposedly helped with nausea, a package of Doritos, and the jumbo size package of peanut M&Ms. Soon, I had so much food in my arms of a non-nutritive nature, I couldn’t see over the pile.
“Here you go, dear. Take a wheelie.”
I looked over to find proprietress Laverne pushing a wheeled basket-style cart at me. “Oh, thanks.” I dumped everything in the cart then shifted and realized the pregnancy tests were right in front of me.
