Sheriff’s Pregnant Ex by Leslie North
14
“In the kitchen,” Caitlin called when Brian arrived home from work a few days later.
He made his way to her, slipped up behind her, and kissed the back of her neck. She gave a little laugh, but he felt the shiver that ran through her. He loved the way she always responded to him. Now, if only things always went so smoothly in the rest of their relationship… He wanted so much to make her happy, but the demands on his time kept pulling them apart.
“I’m trying to make a salad,” she said and playfully pushed him away. He refused to let go. Instead, he spun her around in his arms and kissed her lips.
“I’ve got good news for you,” he said, when the kiss was over. News he knew would put a smile on her face. “Authorities in Florida picked up Seamus yesterday. It looks like you’ll get your money back soon. All of it.”
“Really?” Her eyes lit up, exactly what he was hoping to see.
“They’ve seized whatever assets he hadn’t already spent, and he’ll be forced to make restitution for the rest.”
“Wow. I’m…oh, wow.” She kissed him, and he felt a thrill go through him. Every positive moment he spent with her seemed like proof that their relationship could work out. “That’s super good news because I’ve been talking to Maggie again.”
His heart sank instantly. He wanted Caitlin to reconnect with her friend, but that friend was also her potential business partner in Austin, taking Caitlin away from him. “I’m glad for you,” he choked out with a fake smile.
“She’s been looking at storefronts for our tattoo parlor, and she’s found a couple of awesome possibilities. If I get our money back from Seamus, we’ll have enough for the deposit, and we’d be that much closer to opening the business.”
He released her and took a step back. He didn’t want to be the cloud to her sunshine, but any plan that had her living in Austin away from him wasn’t something he wanted to hear about.
Her face went still, as if she were reading his thoughts. “That is, if I settle back in Austin,” she said. “It’s good to at least consider what that might look like, right? I’m trying to imagine staying here as well, but it’s important to look at all the possibilities.”
Brian forced a smile. “Sure, we need to know what our options are before we can make a decision.” He was relieved that she was speaking about them as we, plural, as if they were a couple who made plans together.
“Exactly. Let me show you the possible stores while the chicken finishes baking.” She opened her laptop that sat on the table and flipped through several tabs, showing him pictures of the various properties and talking about their advantages. He knew Austin well enough to know that three of them were in ideal spots for a tattoo parlor, surrounded by clubs and restaurants that attracted a hip crowd.
He tried to make the right comments and be encouraging, but after viewing all of the locations, he had to ask the question that was on his mind. “You haven’t made up your mind, have you?”
“About a store? Not yet,” she said, closing the laptop. “These are just possibilities.”
“I didn’t mean about the store.” He forced himself to say the next words. “It’s starting to feel like you’re leaning toward moving back to Austin.”
“Nothing’s definite. I’m not making that decision without you because it affects both of us. We have to decide together where we want to live and how we’re going to raise our child. It’s just such a relief to me to have options—to be able to prove my parents wrong,” she said. “I know that probably sounds silly to you, but they’ve always discouraged any idea I’ve had. When I told them that Maggie and I were going to start a business together, they declared it doomed from the beginning. But it’s not doomed. I’m so close to getting what I want and proving that I can make it in the city.”
He wanted to ask where he fit into her vision, but the oven timer went off and he let the subject drop while they ate. During dinner he kept the conversation light, telling her a story about how a woman had reported seeing a black panther in town. She’d insisted that it was walking right down the street, and so he’d made the call to lock down the nearby elementary school while he investigated.
“Was it really a panther?” Caitlin asked.
“Extra-large house cat,” he said, making her laugh. “I drove it home in the back of my patrol vehicle. It belonged to a new neighbor who was delighted to have her cat returned. She’d let him out that morning, and he’d run off after a squirrel.”
“Strange things happen in small towns,” Caitlin commented as she picked up the dishes and headed for the sink.
“Good things, too. The women became friends after that. I see them together all the time now. They’re both widows, and they formed a support group for other widows.” He needed her to see the advantages of living in a close community. It wasn’t all neighbors gossiping about you, and the town wasn’t filled with folks like her parents. Life was special here.
But maybe that was the wrong approach. Maybe he needed to show her more romance and assure her that they were good together. He’d been trying to sell her on the town, but he really needed to sell her on himself. He hadn’t done a great job of that at all. He wanted to smack himself in the forehead at his sudden realization. He needed to convince her that she couldn’t live without him, because the thought of losing her was too much to bear.
“Ice cream?” she offered, taking a carton of butter pecan from the freezer. “I’m developing a definite sweet tooth, which I’m blaming on being pregnant.”
“I’ll scoop.” He got up and grabbed bowls from the cabinet. “What do you think of going on a date tomorrow night?”
“I like the sound of that.” She took spoons from the drawer and met him at the table. “What did you have in mind?”
“How about a picnic at the lake?” he suggested. “We can watch the sunset and stay long enough to see the stars come out.” It freaked him out to think of being out of cellphone range if his deputies needed him…but Caitlin had been so happy that day at the lake. She’d let down her guard and let him in. He needed her in that mindset again.
“You’re willing to be out of contact? You remember it’s a cell phone dead zone, right?” She eyed him over her bowl with one eyebrow raised.
He gave a casual shrug. “It’s a weeknight, and the rodeo is long gone. I’m not worried about it,” he said. Sofia could handle whatever happened while he was out of contact for a few hours. “I’ll be coming from a training in Carson, so I can meet you there about seven.”
Caitlin hesitated. “I’m not sure meeting there is such a good idea. If something came up and you were running late, you wouldn’t be able to call me to let me know. Maybe it would be better if we left from here together, even if that shortens our evening. That way when…if you cancel, I won’t be stuck alone at the lake.” She glanced away, and then back at him, her cheeks flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
Her slipup drove home what he was up against. He had to prove to her that he would be there for her when she needed him to be. “You can count on me. I’ll be there—on time. Sofia can run the office as well as I can. She won’t need me.”
She shoved her ice cream away, half-eaten. “Brian, I know how important your job is to you. You take the protection of this town seriously. I don’t want you to feel like you have to ignore that just to humor me.”
“You’re important to me, too,” he said, trying to make his case with her. “And I want to protect you and care for you. I need you to believe that, darlin’. I’m willing to do anything to prove that.”
“Anything?” She shot him a smile that went straight through him. “You’d make dinner for the next week?” she suggested.
“Sure,” he played along with her change in mood, “if you don’t mind that you’ll eat late some evenings.”
“You’d wear a pink shirt to the station instead of your uniform?” She flicked a finger over the badge on the chest of his khaki shirt.
“If that’s what you want.” He could imagine the teasing he’d take from his deputies, but if it meant something to Caitlin, he’d do it.
“You’d take me upstairs and make love to me anytime I wanted? Like…now, for example?”
That question didn’t require an answer—or at least, not one with words. He pushed back his chair, scooped her out of hers, and headed to the steps before she could utter a word.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she whispered when they entered his bedroom, and he lowered her feet to the floor.
“Yes.” He kissed her long and deep before slowly removing her clothes and laying her back on the bed.
Over the next hour, he did everything he could to tempt her to stay with him forever. He just hoped it was enough.
