Page 128 of Challenged by the Single Dad

They pulled on their now-dry jackets and their damp boots, then braved the weather, and headed off to go find something more appetizing than oatmeal or peanut butter and jelly.

As close as they were to Christmas now, it was dark by four thirty. Chloe hated it.

She much preferred the long, warm days of summer. So in order to get herself as close to those days as she could, she sat next to the radiator, put ocean wave sounds on her phone, and read her historical spicy romance. Benedict, the burly stablehand—and indentured servant—to The Count of Ridgefordshire, had just plunged his throbbing, molten-hot iron rod of passion into Countess Marie-Sophia’s slick, trembling love canal, when Chloe’s phone vibrated in her palm and Dom’s name appeared on the screen.

As ifshewas the countess being caught with the stablehand, she tossed her phone across the couch in surprise, only to have to scramble on all fours to grab it.

“H-hello?” she answered, her voice hoarse and her panties sopping.

“Hey,” Dom’s smooth tone did nothing to cool her simmering loins. “Logan said Hawke asked you to stay, so he’s covering for you. Everything okay?”

Clearing her throat, she draped the blanket she’d had on her lap, back over her legs. “Yep. Yep. Everything is fine. Why?”

“Because you sound funny.”

“I just haven’t spoken to anybody in a bit so my voice is hoarse. Are you home?”

“No, it’s the in-person proposal. We’re at the community center, just about to go in and speak to the Council.”

“Oh, that’s right.” She smacked the heel of her palm into her head. “How do you feel?”

He made a noise in his throat. “Honestly, scared shitless. I just wanted to call and hear your voice for some courage.”

Well, if that didn’t practically melt her drenched panties right off her body and put Benedict the stablehand to shame. She swooned, then instantly felt like crap for not wanting to face him after their talk earlier.

“Chloe?”

She swallowed as emotion welled up inside her chest and clogged her throat. Goddamned pregnancy hormones. “Yeah?” she croaked.

“Even if we lose the baby … I still want there to be a ‘we.’ I don’t want you to move out. I don’t want you to leave. I …” he exhaled, “I love you.”

Tears burned the back of her eyes and she smiled. “I love—”

The front door opened and there on the threshold, with the darkness of night and the howling wind behind him, was Joey. The lights in the hostel flickered, causing disturbing shadows to crease face beneath the dripping hood of his jacket.

Chloe’s heart leaped up into her throat and she scrambled to stand up.

“Chloe?” Dom said from the phone she held in her hand down by her side. “Chloe?”

“J-Joey, what are you doing here?” she stammered, backing up toward the desk where she kept anything that could potentially be used as a weapon. Didn’t she tell Dom she was going to get bear spray? She never did.

Crap.

“Chloe!” Dom hollered.

Joey stepped into the lobby, his long, dark-green, waterproof trench coat dripping all over the floor. He closed the door, locked it, and removed his hood.

“Y-you can’t be here, Joey. You n-need to leave.” Every syllable was like sandpaper across her throat, her mouth was so dry. She gripped the phone tight in her hand to keep it from shaking.

“Chloe!” Dom’s voice was smothered in panic now.

“I lost my job, and my grandfather kicked me out because of you,” Joey said, his voice slow, even, and terrifying. “I lost everything.”

Chloe tried to swallow.

“Chloe!” If she didn’t hang up with Dom, at least she’d have a witness to whatever was going to happen here.

“I-I didn’t mean to get you fired.” Ice filled her limbs and belly causing the hair on her arms and the back of her neck to lift. She clenched her molars together to fight off the sudden shiver that hold of her.

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