Page 30 of Christmas with the Baby Daddy

Are you freaking out and confused because this means you’ll spend more time with me?

She was damned skittish to begin with, but I couldn’t stop wondering why.

Because we slept together when we knew we shouldn’t have?

Because we had a one-night stand and then I didn’t talk to her for years, overseas?

“You’re going to help cater at the party?” Reagan asked.

“Yep.”Just as soon as I tell Grandma Jenny…I bet she wouldn’t mind. I couldn’t overdo my shoulder, but it sounded like half the staff was out sick. She would be glad for backup.

“Okay, but, um.” Reagan gave Blake a condescending look. “You’re making it sound like you’re withher, like just the two of you.”

“No.” Blake eased out of my hold, depriving me of her warmth. “No, no, no.” She shook her head so quickly that her hat slipped on her hair. “No, we’re not…”

I watched her, damned curious why she’d be so quick to shoot down the idea that we could be together. The more she resisted, the more I longed for her touch again.

“We’re not together or anything,” Blake said. She didn’t wait for anyone to reply to that, walking toward the doors to get that package in the building.

“So…” Reagan sized me up. “If you’re not with her…”

“No,” I told her, impatient and irritated. “I’m not interested, Reagan.” Holding my hands up in a truce, I backed up to my truck for more distance from her.

I wouldn’t stutter with an ounce of reluctance to turn that blonde down.

But as I got into my truck and waited for Blake to come back, I wished I could find the courage to be upfront with her and ask what her problem was with me.

Regret from that night we shared?

I hoped not.

The memory of her in my arms and moaning from pleasure was etched in my brain. And that reminder of her had kept me company on lonely, hard nights overseas throughout all these years.

13

BLAKE

The next day, Jenny stopped over at my house to drive me to the venue hall. She insisted on repairing the van since the title was still in her name.

“I’m just glad Zach told me that it broke down,” she said as she checked her reflection in the mirror. “I have a hunch you wouldn’t have been upfront about it breaking down.”

True.“I just don’t want to be a burden or inconvenience.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled. “That’s impossible.”

Since I couldn’t drive anything in the backup van, we had spent a good long while cramming everything into the bigger, newer van that she drove over here to pick me up.

Sara would be over any second to pick up George. She’d offered to babysit him for a change, and he was currently getting his sleepover bag ready, excited because it’d been a month or so since he’d slept over at her house. She called herself his unofficial cool aunt, and she sure as hell acted the part.

“Hey, about Zach…” I said, quelling my nerves to bring him up after the odd night we’d shared. I had yet to banish the memory of him holding me close after we’d almost fallen on the sidewalk together. It had been impossible to move away, not only because he was warm but because he was so comforting. Grounding.

“Yeah?” Jenny asked as she applied some lip gloss.

“How come he’s helping tonight?” I bit my lip. “He said last night that he’s going to help cater this party.”

Jenny laughed and shrugged. “I have no clue. Seriously, I’m clueless.” She pursed her lips as she smoothed her messy ponytail back. “Sure, I mentioned to him in passing that I could use some more help with half the crew out sick, but I didn’t realize he’d personally step up to the challenge. I didn’t ask him, at any rate.”

Hmmm. Interesting.Her reply confirmed my suspicions—that he’d made it up on the spot when Reagan asked him out. I could understand someone making up a falsehood as an easy out for telling someone no. Rejections could be weird like that. But to claim that he was working for somewhere he wasn’t already employed?Very weird.

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