Page 22 of Wicked Little Secret

It looked like the city snowplow had come through already, so if she could just get her car out of the driveway…

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

First things first, get out of her wet pajamas and grab a quick shower.

She’d showered, dressed, and made sure her hospital bag was ready when the first contraction pain hit.

“No! No. No. No.”

Nick hadn’t shown up to plow her driveway yet, even though he promised she’d be first on his route.

She was looking through the scraps of paper on her desk for his number when she thought she heard his truck in the drive.

Grabbing her coat and slipping on her boots, she opened the garage door. Sure enough, there he was, and she ran outside.

He rolled down his window with a smile.

“Hi,” she said as calmly as she could. “Would you mind just plowing behind my car? I need to get to the hospital. I’m, um, in labor.”

The young man’s eyes got as big as saucers, and he threw open the driver’s door.

“What? You’re in labor? You can’t drive yourself to the hospital!”

“Well, I don’t want to wait for an ambulance. I’m not sure what the rest of the roads are like, so who knows when they’d get here.”

He grabbed her by the elbow and escorted her to the passenger side.

“I’ll take you.”

“I need to get my purse and hospital bag, and close my garage door,” she argued just as another contraction hit, and she gripped her stomach as she bent forward.

“I’ll take care of that. Just tell me where they are.”

Nick opened the door and helped her into the truck.

“They’re right inside my house, through the door from the garage.”

“What’s your garage code?”

She told him, and minutes later she watched her garage door come down as he hurried to the truck holding her red weekender bag and black purse.

What a sweet kid.

Hopefully they made it to the hospital in time, and she didn’t traumatize him by making him pull to the side of the road and deliver this baby.

Chapter Seven

Maverick

He pulled his boots on when he heard Nick’s truck outside.

Except it wasn’t Nick, or Nick’s truck that was plowing his driveway, it was his son’s friend, Chris. Nick had hired him to help when he was backed up. But no matter how busy he was, Nick always made sure he personally plowed his dad’s driveway, so Maverick immediately became concerned.

“Where’s Nick?” he asked when Chris stopped and rolled his window down.

“He’s at the hospital.”

Maverick’s stomach immediately dropped to his boots, but he managed to calmly ask, “Is he okay?”

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