Page 17 of Pucks and Likes

Me: Louisa, I’d rather have heard that from you, not through text.

Louisa: I’m a mess, honestly. I just feel so many things, and I’m scared.

So maybe my feelings are normal. At least, that’s what my doctor says. She says it’s worse since I’m not medicated and I’m feeling everything. Maybe I’m not a big baby. Maybe I’m just doing the best I can with what I’ve got going on.

Though, my issues don’t excuse the fact that I haven’t told anyone I’m pregnant.

Me: You’re fine. You’re awesome. All will be great. No worries. I’ve got another hour here, and I’ll head that way.

Louisa: Fantastic. I’m sorry if I upset you.

Me: It’s fine.

Louisa: I love you.

Me: I love you more.

Before I can click off Louisa’s text thread, I hear his voice. “Is that for me?”

I lean my head back into the wall as my eyes drift shut. His voice is like jalapeño butter, all smooth but with a spicy flair.

Great. Now I’m hungry.

“It is,” Bradley says proudly.

There is a pause before Alex states, “You didn’t make this.”

“No. Elliot McDavid did.”

Wow, dude just tossed me under the bus. My heart speeds up, and of course, my kiddo kicks me right in the ribs. I rub the spot to soothe them as I listen intently.

“Where is she?”

“In her office,” Bradley says, and I’ll need to have a talk with that little shit. Just throwing my business out like it’s his to give. “She had work to do.”

Alex snorts. “I’m sure she did.”

I bite into my lip as I hold my breath.

“Her office hasn’t changed, has it?”

Oh shit.

“Nope.”

“Good,” he says in a way that I know means he has a full-out smirk on his lips.

My stomach clenches. I’ve got to get out of here. I can do everything I need to in the car since there is no way in hell I’m ready to face him yet. By the tone of his voice, I know he is going to head straight to my office. I can’t be there. Not yet. I need to figure out how I am going to tell him the truth. I need to make sure I’ve got my wits about me because I am fully aware of how charming Alejandro Cruz is.

I push off the wall and start down the hall, but before I can get even another step away, an arm snakes around my waist, and I’m yanked back into a hard chest.

I’m enveloped in a musky lemon and cedarwood smell. I know the scent is Tom Ford for Men. Just as I know whose arms are around me. Whose chest is against my back. Whose mouth is by my ear. My body betrays me as I lean into him, having missed his contact for so long. Craving it at night when I feel so alone, but then his hands slide down my sides.

Instantly, I go still as thick lips move along the shell of my ear, and my breath catches.

“Mmm…” My heart stops dead in my chest before he whispers, “Miss me, mami?”

CHAPTER 8

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