Page 29 of His Best Man's Baby

“Did you want to go back? I mean I don’t want to keep you from anything!”

He blinked at her, and she eyed the front of his pants. The unrepentant man rocked on his heels and grinned. “You did say I could suck your nipples. What other reaction did you expect?”

This time it was her turn to blink. “What are you…? Oh!” She smacked his arm. “I said the baby. Get your mind out the gutter.”

He shrugged. “I don’t remember you saying the baby at all.”

She shook her head and started down the aisle. “You make no sense.”

“Then what’s that laugh for?”

“I am not amused,” she insisted.

“Yes, my queen.”

Tae stopped short, forgetting their conversation. “Wait, I think I need these.”

He looked over her shoulder and then picked up the package. “Nursing pads?”

For some reason, she didn’t feel embarrassed to talk to him about it. “Not now, but maybe in a few weeks. I’m not sure. Maybe I should get them now.”

He picked up the box and dropped them in the cart. “Better safe than use a maxipad.”

This time she did laugh out loud. “Only you would think of that, Jax.”

“I’m not ashamed of it.”

“I can see that.”

“You seem to have a lot of bits and pieces of information but nothing solid. I thought you had two sisters with children.”

She winced at his candor. “I do, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with them when they were pregnant. By then, I was already in Charlotte, and they live back in New Jersey. We talk

on the phone occasionally, and sometimes I visit at holidays, but that’s all I can stand.”

“Tae, don’t you need them at a time like this?” She was surprised to hear sympathy in his tone, and possibly worry.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Her phone dinged and buzzed, and she pulled it from her purse to check the display. A text message had come in from Zerita an hour ago, which she hadn’t heard, saying her friend would be flying back home tomorrow. The latest message came from Janita. She showed it to Jax. “Read this.”

He read out loud. “Hey, sis. Can you send me a new iPhone or buy one online to deliver here to me? I dropped mine in the street and didn’t have insurance. The iPhone 5c is great.”

Jax looked at her like he couldn’t believe what he had just read. Tae nabbed her phone from his hand and proceeded to delete the message. “That’s why I don’t speak to her often. No, hey, how are you doing? Are you dead or alive? Just buy me a six hundred dollar phone because you got it like that.”

Jax rubbed his neck. “Doesn’t she have a husband?”

“Yup.” Tae headed toward the cereal aisle. Jax redirected her away from Frosted Flakes when she got there. “She does have a husband, but he doesn’t make a lot of money. Last I heard she thought he had a mistress, as if a man at the lower part of middle class could have a ‘mistress.’” She stabbed the air making quotes, her anger rising.

The next words she intended to utter were swept away when he drew her into his arms and kissed her lips. Tae pushed at Jax’s chest and freed her mouth. She panted, trying to calm her racing pulse. “We’re in public.”

His voice dropped low and deep. “Want to continue it in private?”

“No.” She pulled free of his hold, and he let her go without a struggle. “We can’t continue where we left off at the hotel, Jax.”

“Why? Because you want to save yourself for Daniel?”

She pressed her lips together and turned away from him. Snatching a box of her favorite snack from the shelf, she shoved the cart. Jax caught her hand and pulled her to a stop.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

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