Page 99 of Protector Daddy

“Probably.”

We laughed for a couple minutes until I had to go get ready.

It took a good twenty minutes to iron things out, but Tab thanked me profusely for taking her shift and opening the bakery. Then later this afternoon, I’d pick up a shift at the Dispatch desk. Maybe I could stop by the family get-together in between.

After that, I’d desperately need a nap.

I was sure I’d disappointed Christian, which I hated to do. I’d promised to be there for him and now I was cancelling—probably. Maybe I could stop by.

And I was already behind on opening the bakery.

Reagan said she’d explain to her dad for me, but I texted him just the same and apologized profusely. I gave her a quick hug of thanks and told her I’d see them when I finished at the police station and wished her a good day. Oh, and I reminded her to take my fruit tart as an offering of apology.

Christian’s family—and Christian—would probably think I was just rushing in for the bare minimum visit possible.

Hurriedly, I went to put on my bakery uniform and rushed out into the frosty morning air to clean off my car from the night’s snowfall.

Only to find Christian already out there in his full police garb, cleaning off every speck of snow on my windows. My car was already turned on and warming up for me.

Love surged through me so hard I had to grab him from behind to give him a giant hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. A thermos of coffee is inside and a warm ham and cheese sandwich. Sorry, the best breakfast I could do on short notice.” He puffed out a plume of cold air as he hugged me back before moving to the side windows. “Or on any notice. I should watch some cooking shows or something.”

“That’s perfect. You’re perfect.” I arched up to kiss his jaw. “I’m really sorry.”

“I’m really sorry you have to work so hard. We can start that housewife thing anytime you want.”

As I stared at him, he held up a hand. “Thinking out loud. Ignore me.”

“Housewife requires me to be your wife.”

“Yeah. Just saying we can get on that whenever you’re ready.”

“How about wheneveryou’reready since you haven’t asked me any pertinent questions yet?”

Surely he understood there was an order to these things. And we hadn’t even been together a month, so this was all zooming along fast.

“I have to get to the bakery,” I said to nudge him along while he worked on removing every tiny bit of snow.

“Mmm-hmm. So you need the flowery words.”

“I don’t need flowery necessarily.” I was about to take back calling him perfect. “Let’s talk about this later, huh?”

“Sure. No hurry. I just don’t like you having to do so much in your…condition.”

“I may not have any condition.” I lowered my voice just in case Reagan could hear us somehow. “I didn’t feel sick this morning. Might’ve been something else.”

Deep down, I didn’t really think so, but until a positive came back on a pregnancy test, I was hedging my bets and trying to not get my hopes up.

His brow wrinkled. “But then I took that chance Friday night and you’ve apparently been drinking so much tea…”

“You didn’t come inside me.”

Was I really discussing this in his driveway when I was needed at the bakery? Yes, I really was.

Score one for not having any close neighbors.

“No, but all it takes is one sperm—”

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