Page 39 of Caught By A Cowboy

The boys stack their bowls on the kitchen counter and once they're gone Grayson starts to roll up his sleeves.

“What are you doing?” I laugh as he turns on the faucet.

“I’m getting these here bowls washed for ya,” he explains simply.

“Okay, what's going on?” I look between him and Jace and wait for one of them to tell me.

“Nothing’s goin’ on, I’m just giving ya a hand.”

“I don’t need a hand, this is my job.”

“Right now, darlin’, your only job is to keep that–”

“Okay, okay. I got this.” Jace rushes to cut him off. “You’re far better use to me out on that yard.” He grips Grayson’s shoulders and ushers him through the back door, slamming it behind him and looking at me with a guilty smile.

“He knows, doesn’t he?” I sigh.

“He guessed.” Jace shrugs.

“Howdid he guess?” I roll my eyes and get on with washing the dishes.

“Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. You’re pale most mornings, running off to throw up every time you get a waft of coffee but, despite all that, you got this kinda glow about ya.” He makes a cute-as-hell smile that almost gets him forgiven for sharing our secret. “Look, he ain’t gonna tell no one, our little secret is still safe.” He comes closer and touches his palm against my stomach.

“Jace, youhaveto stop touching me like that, people are going to notice.”

“They're sure as hell are gonna notice when you're showing that big ole belly, you're gonna get,” he laughs, as if the idea pleases him.

“Don’t remind me.” I automatically breathe in. I love the idea of our baby getting bigger and growing strong but at the same time, I like my figure just how it is.

“You’re gonna look incredible, I can’t wait.” He smacks a kiss on my cheek before nudging me out of the way so he can get to the dishes.

“You seem much happier this morning.” I can’t help feeling curious, last night after he told me what happened to the Gendry boy, I seemed to have lost him. He came back to bed and went straight to sleep, and didn’t even hold me the way he usually does.

“Well, I got a lot to be happy about. Did ya know that, right now, our baby is the size of a blueberry?” He holds up his wet hand and demonstrates with his thumb and finger.

“And how do you know that?” I pick up a drying cloth and start drying.

“The app told me.”

“I thought we were done with the app?” I stare at him.

“This is a different one.” He quickly dries off his hands and pulls his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. “You put in the due date the doc gave ya, and it gives ya all kindsa facts. Ya know he’s already forming his little eyes and ears, I sure hope he don’t get his lugs from the men on my mother’s side of the family.”

“He?” I laugh, though the thing about the ears is slightly concerning. I love how passionate Jace gets when he talks about the baby, and the fact he downloaded another app is adorable. He opens the app and hands over his phone and when I see a picture of how our baby should be looking right now, I screw up my face.

“It’s gonna be a boy,” he tells me confidently as he kisses my cheek again and takes the dry bowls to put away.

I look back at the image and see a notification pings at the top of the screen.

Uncle Jamie

MEET ME AT THE OFFICE

“Your uncle just texted,” I let him know, and when he immediately snatches the phone from my hand, I find it unnerving, especially when he goes quiet on me again.

“You should invite your uncle over for supper, I’m getting better at this cooking thing and it would be nice to get to know him better.” I decide to do a little digging.

“Uncle Jamie likes to keep himself to himself.” Jace clears his throat and focuses on clearing the sides.

---