Page 25 of Anybody's Dad

"Tessa!" The two women hugged. "You won't regret this, I swear."

"Good lord, Deb, only you would have the nerve to wear a shirt like that."

Her bright green sweatshirt was emblazoned with a picture of a very pregnant woman desperately trying to cross her legs and the words Breathe! Pant! It's too late for drugs!

"I know, wonderfully tacky, isn't it?"

Tessa agreed; the look was softened by the words Lamaze instructor printed across the back.

"Listen, Deb, my coach bailed on me. Can I still do this first session without one?"

Debbie frowned, then looked across the open room and pointed. "Then who's he?"

Tessa didn't have to look. She felt him instantly, as if his eyes had the power of touch. Part of her, a big part of her, said walk straight out the door. But another part of her wanted, needed to know what the talkative man had said to these people. She refused to admit she was actually glad to see him. Or that she needed him.

"He's been waiting for you. God, he's cute."

She studied Chase as he walked across the massive room, his sneakers squeaking as he stopped to say something to another couple already settled on a mat. Briefly, she wondered if he owned anything but worn, body-molding blue jeans and tight T-shirts. God, she could see the ridges in his stomach.

"Think so?" she asked, sounding a little breathless, even to her own ears.

"Hell, yeah. Your kid's going to be beautiful."

Tessa swung around to look at her friend. "What?"

"Sure, can't you see it?" Deb said, unaware of the anger filling Tessa. "With those genes, and those jeans," she emphasized with pure feminine appreciation, "you can't miss."

Someone called to Debbie just then and she moved away as Chase neared, a backpack slung over one shoulder and pillows stuffed under one arm. Tessa wanted to stuff one in his mouth.

"You told them you were the father!" she snapped.

"Hello, Tessa, and how are you?" he muttered dryly, then added, "Sure. Why not? I am."

"Dammit, Chase." She looked at the floor, rubbing two fingers over the space between her eyes. "Do you realize what you're doing to me when you spread it around?"

His eyes narrowed, his hand on his hip. "Why don't you just tell me, so I get it straight." She didn't notice the edge to his voice.

"Well, for starters, I don't know you well enough to pull that story off. Hell, I don't know you at all or I'd have anticipated your showing up here." His gaze darkened dangerously and Tessa harnessed her temper. "I'm not thinking of my reputation. God knows by now it's questionable, but think of the baby, Chase." She gazed imploringly into his blue eyes. "This child has to live here, go to school here. How's it going to be for her if everyone in the neighborhood knows, God forbid," her voice lowered, "that she was artificially conceived."

His features were tight. "That was your choice," he reminded her. "And give me some credit, Tessa." He was mad, boiling mad, she realized. "Christ, my brothers don't even know about the damn turkey baster."

She blinked. "But … I thought—when they were at the house—?"

"They don't keep in contact enough with me to know my love life, or lack of it," he said, his anger ebbing. "Yes, they know this baby is mine, but not how he was made."

"She."

"Huh?"

"How she was made."

Her belligerence made him smile. "Make a difference?"

"Only because you want a boy."

Chase leaned close enough to whisper, "I wouldn't care, Tessa, as long as both of you are all right." She met his gaze. "I swear."

She wanted to believe him, he realized, but the uncertain look he saw far too often in her eyes and a cast of doubt she couldn't hide, warned Chase that Tessa wasn't even close to seeing him as anything but a number on a test tube. Regardless of how they aroused each other to near combustion.

"And I wouldn't do anything to hurt either of you."

But you are, she wanted to say. You're hurting me because I feel like just a processing unit to you. Do you want to be more? a voice asked. And what are you making him feel when you keep reminding him he's just a donor? She nudged the thought away, unable to deal with it now. She was trying her best to stay angry. But with Chase, it was difficult.

"I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, Tessa," he said after a moment. "I'll go, if you want."

Tessa didn't answer, her gaze scanning the crowded room. Moms carefully lowering to the floor, husbands offering a reassuring kiss or two. For one instant, she regretted coming here. But this was the last Lamaze class in the area for several weeks, the only one that fit her schedule, and she wanted to do this.

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