Page 42 of Bound By Love

Damn him. Damn them both! I’m a free woman who can do whatever in the hell I want. I don’t have to feel guilty. It’s okay for me to move on with my life.

“Lost in your thoughts again?” Derek strolled my way. “You do that a lot. What goes on inside your beautiful head?”

Beautiful?My insides turned to jelly, warm and gooey.

“Just work stuff.” I shrugged a shoulder, not wanting him to know the truth.

“Right,” he said, unconvinced. “I should be done here in about an hour.”

“Okay. Can I buy you lunch?” Where did that come from? “I mean, for all your help. I’d like to pay you for the supplies too.”

“You can buy me lunch and we’ll call it good.”

I knew better than to argue. Derek seemed to be a proud man. I was lucky he agreed to let me buy him lunch. “Okay, deal. One more thing…”

He turned toward me.

“You have a black smudge by your nose.” I tapped my finger on my face where the spot was on his.

“Occupational hazard.” He grabbed a blue cloth and handed it to me. “If you don’t mind—no mirrors in here.”

“Um… sure.” I stared into Derek’s olive-green eyes. Nervous tremors rippled in my stomach as I rubbed the grease off his face. He was around the same height as Will but broader in the shoulders, and everything else about him was different. Different in a perfect way. “There, it’s gone.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He took the rag and returned to the car.

I sat on the stool, relishing the brief closeness to him, and I’ll be damned, I wanted to kiss him. But my fleeting desires turned to disappointment when I remembered the baby. Once Derek found out I was pregnant, I’d likely never see him again. I wouldn’t prolong telling him—no sense leading both of us on.

I’d tell him at lunch.

I’d never been in a Cracker Barrel before; I didn’t know a thing about it. Derek said he needed to rectify that travesty. He made me giggle the whole way to the homestyle restaurant as he talked about the menu.

Out of the blue, he’d become chatty. I decided I liked it.

I liked him.

The way he knew his way under the hood of the car intrigued me. He wasn’t a grubby mechanic, or perhaps my impression of auto mechanics had been wrong. Even with grease on his hands, he was anything but grubby, with a smile that warmed me.

Sitting across from him in the restaurant felt natural, relaxed. Would this be the last time we were together once he learned of the baby?

“Have you decided what you want?” he asked. His eyes weren’t so serious anymore. At the corners were little creases, laugh lines. And right now, that adorable little upturned curl to his lip was present.

I felt butterflies in my stomach as he assessed me. Perhaps I was reading into his question and he was merely talking about food.

“I haven’t a clue. You weren’t joking about the huge menu. There’s so much to choose from. What’s your favorite?”

“Anything on the breakfast menu. The cheesy grits will make you cry, they’re so amazing. On the regular menu, I usually order the chicken and dumplings.”

“Hmm, I’ve never had either before. I’ll be honest. This isn’t the kind of food I usually eat, so I’m not sure what I’d like.”

He studied me then, eyes roaming all over me. I tingled between my thighs.

“I’m willing to bet the chicken and dumplings will hit the spot.”

“And if it doesn’t?” I hiked a brow. Yes, I was flirting. I shouldn’t because Derek wouldn’t stick around once I told him I was pregnant. Just like Will didn’t stay with me.

“Then I’ll make it up to you with dinner, your choosing.”

“Wow, that would be a win-win for me.”

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