Page 255 of Mountain Men Heroes

It was obvious when he picked me up at the police station that he’d stopped hiding behind the blank-faced soldier. His easy smile and the way he’d moved right into me, his emotions plain to see, made it clear he’d at least started recovering from whatever he’d dealt with during his deployment.

And now it was me, my words, my news, that brought the blank-faced soldier back. A fist grabbed my stomach and squeezed. I swallowed hard and pulled in a shaking, shuddery breath.

“Do you want to drop me at a hotel on your way to your meeting? Maybe I should get out of your way while you, um…process all this. Believe me, I know it’s a lot to take in all at once.”

“No!”

I jumped in my spot, the fierceness of the single world startling me.

“I mean, I don’t want you to go,” he said, his voice quieter now. “I guess I do need a chance for the news to sink in.”

He paused and shook his head, lifting a hand to rake it through his unruly dark hair. He looked down at his feet for several long beats. I did my best to stand there quietly and let him try to absorb what I’d told him.

Finally, he raised his head and looked at me. His smile returned. Not the wide, welcoming grin he’d given me when he first spotted me at the station. This one was small, just a twitch of the corners of his lips, more rueful than amused.

“It’s a lot to take in,” I offered softly.

He stepped closer to me, his eyes searching mine. “It is a lot to take in. But I guess it was a lot harder for you to take in. Were you alone when you found out?”

I shook my head, staring into his eyes. “My best friend stood by me the whole time.”

He nodded and closed a little more of the distance between us. “I can only imagine what you went through when you found out.”

A short laugh escaped me. “Yeah, that was an interesting day. But I’ve had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea.”

I bit my lip and fought against making myself even more vulnerable to him by sharing the rest. But the gentle way he looked at me, coupled with the primal urge driving me from the inside to be close to him, left me with no choice. “I have to admit, being pregnant is terrifying all by itself. But being pregnant with a stranger’s baby has been a lot to try to wrap my head around.”

I hugged my arms more tightly around myself and whispered something I hated to admit to anyone, “I’m scared, Mac. I’m sorry to have shown up out of nowhere like this. Please don’t hate me.”

He tugged my arms open and replaced them with his own, pulling me to him in a fierce hug. He rocked me gently in his arms and pressed his mouth to the top of my head. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. We’ll figure this out, and I’ll make sure you have no reason to be afraid.”

A warmth stole over me, starting as a tiny flicker in my belly and radiating out until my whole body was consumed by it. I melted into him, reveling in the way my soft curves fit so perfectly against the hard planes of his body. For one tiny moment, I allowed myself to do the one thing I never allowed myself to do.

I placed all my trust and all my hopes right in the hands of Mac Becker. And prayed he wouldn’t disappoint me the way every other person in my life had done.

Five

Mac

“So that's everything. Dyson and Eeli you'll get in touch with some of our government contacts to let them know we're open for business. I'll start talking to some of the businesses in the surrounding counties, and Mac, you're in charge of letting the Hardwood locals know what services we're offering."

I jolted when Sawyer said my name. Shit, I'd tuned out of more than half of the company meeting. I ran my hands over my face. I'd tried to pay attention to what was going on around me. But my mind kept going back to the tiny, voluptuous, curly-haired blonde I'd left back at my house.

"Mac, you with us man?"

Fuck it.

The three men in this room knew me better than I knew myself. And Trinity was Sawyer's wife so I'm sure he'd share anything on his mind with her. That's just the way it was with a love as strong as theirs.

"I'm going to be a father," I announced. My gaze took a tour around the faces of the four other people seated at the table. The circumstances were serious, but I couldn't help the smile that wanted to break free seeing the shock so clearly on all their faces. So much for being a bunch of badasses. The only one who didn't deserve to be teased was Trinity. She never claimed to be a badass. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit seeing her face with her wide eyes and her mouth in an almost perfect "O" of astonishment made my lips twitch.

"What the holy fuck, man?" Sawyer asked. “Sugar coat that shit next time. I think my heart fucking stopped.” He clutched at his chest for effect and Trinity smacked at him with a rueful grin.

“Stop the teasing. Can’t you tell the poor man is in enough shock of his own?”

I leaned back in the comfortable office chair and shrugged. "Sorry. I know you guys need my head in the game, but it's a little hard. Right before I got here, a woman I had a night with when I was on R&R in Lover’s Cove found me and shared that she's expecting our baby."

"Seriously?" Dyson shook his head. "You ever heard of birth control, man?"

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