“Holy…!” He jerked away as if her stomach had turned into a snake and bitten him. “Are you okay?”
She couldn’t suppress a smile. “I’m fine. Just a little kick.” She took his hand and brought it back to the spot. Turning her head, she watched his expression. “Can you feel it?”
His eyes widened as the baby moved again, then his mouth quirked up into a grin. Staring down at her, expression a little dazed, he murmured, “So strong. That’s amazing.”
“Me next,” Bridget said, then angled around in her chair and swatted Ford’s hand away to replace it with her own. Within moments, six sets of hands vied for parking on the swell of her abdomen and multiple voices competed to have one-sided conversations with her belly button. Despite feeling as if she’d lost control of her own container, everyone’s enthusiasm made her laugh.
“Well, fuck it,” Ford muttered. “So much for my ‘hands off the staff’ rule.”
He sounded so disgruntled, she laughed again. “It’s all right. Feeling the baby move is exciting for me. It’s nice to finally share the excitement.”
Just then a dark-haired blur strode past the front windows again. Lilah watched her mother push through the doors of the inn, continue without pause through the lobby and out of sight. Her chest shrank painfully tight around her heart, and the air stung her eyes.
“A little time,” Ford murmured softly so as not to alert the rest of the group, who still hovered around her stomach, talking over each other, and hadn’t caught Rose freezing her out.
Refusing to give in to the self-pity, she took his hand, again smoothed it over the exact place, low on her belly, where the baby moved.
“I’m lucky to have people to share my excitement with.”
“You always will. Count on it.” He gave her a solemn look that went on a little longer than she could withstand. Her attention snuck to his mouth, drawn by the serious set of his lips, and her stupid hormones rioted as if she could actually feel the press of them on her skin. She stepped to the side to put some space between their bodies, lowered her head, and cleared her throat in hopes of hiding the wave of heat washing over her.
“I should get back to work.” Reaching for some dignity, she smoothed her T-shirt over her middle. “My break’s over.”