Bad Boy's Bridesmaid (5 page)

Unless the whole
thing was frosted in Pepto Bismol, I’d never eat another piece of cake again.

Mom gathered the
leftovers from our end of the table.

“Save some for
the wedding.” She snatched a plate away from me. “Honest to goodness, it’s like
you don’t even care about finding a husband of your own.”

“I—”

“Mandy, why
don’t you smile more?” She tisked her tongue. “You’d be prettier if you smiled
like your sister.”

Every straw was
the last one. I walked away before I popped an aneurysm. Somehow confronting
Nate about the baby was easier than dealing with my Mom about
anything
.

I gathered the
few beer bottles on the tables and handed them to Nate as he tidied the already
pristine bar.

“Sure I can’t get
you something to drink?” He grinned. “You’re taking a beating out there, and
not the good kind.”

“There’s a good
kind?”

I didn’t trust
his wink. “Would you like a demonstration?”

“Oh, Lord.
Someone ought to sit you in time-out.”

“Sometimes it’s
fun being bad. You should try it.”

Oh, if he only
knew how bad we were. I lowered my voice. “Think we can go somewhere and…talk?”

His smirk grew.
I was sure he’d replaced the word
talk
with something far more exciting
and rewarding. It wasn’t fair to blindside him like this. Did I have a choice?

I closed the
door to his office before any frosting freak-out or cake-related calamity
interrupted us. Nate offered me a seat at his desk, though I wasn’t going near
the rat’s nest of receipts, notebooks, folders, files, and general disarray. It
was a bookkeeper’s torture.

“So…I take it
you spend most of your time brewing the beer?” I parsed through the papers.

“I’m a man of
many talents.”

“Humble too.”

“Why should a
man be humble? What’s in it for me?”

“Ah, and
selfless.”

“You want me to
start listing your faults?” he asked.

He’d never find any
my mother hadn’t already discovered, cataloged, and posted on Facebook to the
family.

I shrugged. “Name
one.”

“You’re scared.”

“Of what?”

Those green eyes
glittered with mischief. “Me.”

Technically
, I wasn’t
afraid of him…more like of what he made. I said nothing, daring him to
elaborate with an arched eyebrow.

“You know we had
something good,” he said. “Why are you so afraid of spending a second night
with me?”

“Do you think
it’s crazy that a woman wouldn’t want to sleep with you again?”

“It’s
inconceivable.”

“Oh…I wouldn’t
say
that
.”

“Don’t pretend
you aren’t attracted to me.”

I wouldn’t even
try to lie. Nate only got sexier the more I tried to avoid him. I still imagined
the ripple of muscle beneath his clothes, the feel of his hands against my
hips, the heat of his breath slipping down, down, down to the crest between my
legs.

He wasn’t just
attractive. Nate dripped testosterone. He charmed, he hunted, and he owned the
naïve women who fell for the wolf behind his smile.

One word, and panties
would drop. Sexts would send. Hell, whenever he walked into a room, every
woman’s uterus lit up like a damn pinball machine, pinging and clinking and
blinking
fertilize me!

It was a miracle
he hadn’t gotten any of his past girls in trouble.

Or was it my
luck that my womb happened to be particularly…sticky?

“So…” I cleared
my throat. “That…night we spent together?”

I had no idea
what was bigger—Nate’s cock or his ego. He grinned.

“I knew you
wanted another night. You don’t even have to ask, baby.”

“Don’t get ahead
of yourself.”

“Can I get any
head from you?”

“For the love of
God, Nate, would you fucking listen to me?”

He laughed. “I’m
teasing. You know what I want. You know I’d do it right. Why are you acting
like this is such a big deal?”

“Because sex
is
a big deal. It comes with responsibilities and
consequences
…and not just
for our relationship.”

Nate sighed.
“Hate to break it to you, but we didn’t
have
a relationship. You were the
neighbor kid. My best friend’s girlfriend’s little sister. We weren’t exactly
giving each other power of attorney.”

“Weren’t we
friends?”

“Aren’t we
still?”

I shrugged.
“It’s not like with me and Rick.”

Nate smirked.
“Rick couldn’t make his meals or fold his own clothes after Jada left him. You
stepped in. I don’t want a maid or mother. I’m looking to fool around a little.”

“Is that all?”

“You want me to
ask you on a date?”

This was a
mistake. Why did I think I could get it through his thick skull that I was alone
and scared? I needed him to cool it for one freaking second so I could untangle
my courage from my panties and admit the truth.

Coconut cake was
easier than this. “Forget I said anything.”

“Whoa.” Nate
didn’t let me escape the office. “Look, Mandy. You gotta take the stick out of
your ass or no man is ever gonna fuck it.”

The father of my
child, spreading wisdom like his seed. I nearly slapped him.

“What do you
want?” Nate asked. “You want…to go on a date? Get me to talk? Want to get to
know me? Fine. You name the place, I’ll pick you up.”

“Absolutely
not.”

“All right. You
can drive.”

“That’s not what
I mean,” I said.

“You don’t think
I’m interested?”

I laughed. “I
think you’re interested in
one
thing.”

“Can you blame
me?”

“Can you
understand why I don’t want that?”

“No,” he said.

“Listen to me,
Nate Kensington.” I took a deep breath. The nausea returned, and it wasn’t
going to be pretty. “That night…when we were together?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know
how to explain…what happened.”

His damn smile
melted me. “It’s real easy, baby. You have a sensitive spot on your neck. I nibbled
there, and you surrendered.”

“That’s not…
what
?
No, I don’t!”

“Sure you do.
Right…” He grabbed me before I could get away, and his lips pressed against the
hollow between my shoulder and neck. “
Here
.”

Oh…my…

His words
murmured over my skin, and the hum of his voice rumbled deep inside me.

My stomach
twisted, but it wasn’t the morning sickness. The rough stubble on his chin tickled
me, and with every brush of the roughness, my thoughts, willpower, courage, and
resistance
faded.

“You’re such an
ass,” I whispered.

“I’m right, and
you know it.”

A shiver traced
over my spine. His lips pressed harder, accompanied with a little nip. Just how
it happened before. I never thought I’d regret it then. I still wasn’t sure I
regretted it now.

“I have
something to tell you.” My words trembled as he nibbled along my neck. “And
it’s…not going to be…”

“The only thing
I want to hear is you moaning my name.”

I shrugged, but
the movement wove him back over that sensitive spot. I nearly groaned.

I couldn’t let
him seduce me again. The last time ended with a big enough surprise. I didn’t
need my family walking in on this disaster.

Or my mother.

Good God.

“Nate.”

I pushed him
away and sucked in a deep breath. It didn’t work. I only took in more of his
masculine scent. I sat on the edge of the desk and swallowed.

This was it.

I had to tell
him about the baby. Now or never. Like ripping off a band-aid—everyone said
babies were always sticky, right?

The words didn’t
come. I bought some time by absently flipping through the papers on his desk.
The numbers on the pages didn’t make any sense. I tilted my head.

“Nate…are
you…pulling a profit?”

He grimaced.
“Surprised? You sound like my dad.”

“Why don’t you
have a bookkeeper?”

“I take care of
it on the slow days.”

I bit my lip.
Some of the numbers were
really
good.  “You’re doing
very
well.”

“Yeah.” He
grinned, proud of something other than what swung between his legs. “The
brewery took off. The bar too. Enough that I’m thinking of starting another
location.”

I nodded. “In
Ironfield?”

“Nah. Why stay
local? I want to get away from my parents and this town. I’m thinking of
heading out west.”

“West?”

“California.”

My stomach
dropped, condensing two pounds of buttercream frosting and cake into a ticking
time bomb. I really wished the baby didn’t hold the detonator.  

“That’s…
very
west.”

He flipped open
a menu, tapping on a couple of his premium brews. “I locally source a lot of my
ingredients, and I could make more of a variety in California. I figure it’ll
get me away from my family, let me hang out on the coast, get some sun. Have
fun.”

“You’re serious?”

“I found a spot
in Santa Barbara to check out next month. If I like it, I might put in an offer.”

“And you’d want
to
live
out there?”

“Don’t get
worried.”

“I’m not
worried.”

I lied. I was
terrified.

“I’ll be back
for the wedding. Wouldn’t miss that—Lindsey would kill me.” He winked. “But I
can’t skip out on this chance. I’ve wanted to get away and build something of
my own since
Arrogance
took off.”

Oh God. He had
plans
.
A whole life of pseudo-vagrancy and
craftsmanship
ahead of him.

He had no idea I
was pregnant, never even considered it a possibility, and I had to tell him he
couldn’t pursue his life’s dream?

Hell no.
I wasn’t
telling him about the baby now.  I
couldn’t
.

Not yet. Not
until I knew how I’d manage it.

That took time
and planning, and I would have to survive until the wedding when I could
finally get a clear enough head and schedule to focus on what to do.

And I still
didn’t know how he’d take the news. Would he be angry? Would he get upset?

If I hadn’t
figured out how to deal with it yet, how could I help him through it?

“I’m serious
about the date,” he said.

I blinked.
“What?”

“About taking
you out. You want to be wined and dined before I take you to bed. I think I can
handle that.”

I shook my head.
“It’s not going to happen.”

“Mandy, I don’t
chase
girls.”

“Could have
fooled me.”

“Yeah,” Nate
said, his voice low. “Me too. I don’t
do
this. I don’t make an idiot out
of myself begging a pretty girl for her company. But there’s something about
you I can’t get out of my head.”

“Nate—”

“I always
thought wanting someone was painful—an ache or a throbbing need. This isn’t
agony. This is
pleasure
. I want to see you, talk with you. I hope to God
I might be able to kiss you once before you push me away.”

“We can’t.”

“I won’t ask for
another night with you, not when I know I’d be back in this torture the instant
you left my bed.”

He reached for
me, and I let his hand graze my cheek.

It’d be so
easy
to say yes. He’d ease the ache inside me; take away the worry for a few
minutes. We fit together so perfectly before. Maybe it would be worth it? I
could test it. See if we had any hope of duct taping the fragments of this
fairy tale into some sort of happily-ever-after.

But that was
foolish. And dangerous. I couldn’t let myself get crushed by my crush, not when
he already wielded so much power over me.

How the hell
could I explain what I wanted, needed, had to deal with, confused me, ripped
through me, kept me up at night, burned inside of me…

I had to get out
of here.

“You’re smooth,”
I said. “Very convincing.”

“It’s the truth.
Not many girls get that from me.” His voice lowered. “Why don’t you start
telling me the truth too?”

My heart thudded
a little too hard. I
would
tell him the truth. Eventually. Once I
figured it out for myself. But the words stuck in my throat, and nothing I did
could force them out.