Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2) (9 page)

“Sounds like he'd be doing you a favor.”

She didn't respond to that one. “He's in the public eye a lot, and would be even more so as the governor – which means I'd be getting some of that spotlight, too. People would ask who the father is. Even if I hid it, they'd do some digging. They find I slept with a married man and he got me pregnant...”

I got it. Sure, it didn't look very good for all parties involved. But it was the baby's dad who should have taken the fall, not her. Anna did nothing wrong. She didn't even know the guy was married, for Christ's sake.

“Okay, so why haven't you told your sister, or even Trey? Seems like y'all are good friends.”

She started to tear up. “I do love Rachael, but she's a huge gossip – and she loves to compete. She'd get on the phone and blab it to my mom soon as I told her.”

“What do you mean, compete?”

She left her swing and shuffled through the sand lot, past the slide and monkey bars. How many fine warm days had we spent hanging out in this playground? Too bad that time of innocence was gone, replaced by bullshit like this.

“The family has a lot of money. To be fair, you'd think dad would split our inheritance down the middle, right? But he won't. He and mom like to play favorites – and Rachael's always been the golden child who can do no wrong.”

“You're saying if you get 'em angry enough, they'll give more money to her.”

She nodded. “Or maybe I won't get a dime. I know this makes me sound greedy and selfish, but...”

“No, it doesn't. You deserve a fair share.”

“It's not that I want the money to go on a shopping spree. Sometimes, the farm doesn't do so well. It'd really help to have a cushion for the lean times, you know? And maybe I could expand, too. I've been thinking about getting a few dairy cows.”

I shuddered. “Don't know which I hate more, cows or chickens.”

We leaned over the weathered wood railing and looked out over the valley. It was nothing but trees and wildlife for miles around. The sky was almost so blue as to be surreal, and billowy white clouds crossed the horizon at a most leisurely pace.

“That's not all,” she murmured. “My parents own the land Southwell Farm sits on. Instead of selling my plot when they moved to San Diego, they let me use it – so long as I keep making a profit.”

“Your folks are real cold, you know that?”

She shrugged. “I've been profiting just fine, but what worries me is... If dad finds out about the baby, what's to say he won't take the farm away from me as punishment?”

“You could go back to being a lawyer, couldn't you?”

“That's not the life I want anymore.” She kicked a rock off the ledge and watched it fall. “Years ago, I wanted to impress my parents. That's why I got a law degree and took off to New York. Oh, they were proud of me, all right. But every day, every single case I took, just got harder and harder to handle. Felt like I was going to lose my mind if I went on that way.”

“Yeah. I like the city as much as anybody, but that's too much even for me. I'd have gone nuts too.”

“So I returned just as they were planning their move to California. I always wanted to work outdoors with the land, and figured this was just what I needed to get that part of myself back.” She wiped her tears on her sleeve. “If dad takes this away from me, I just... I don't know what I'll do.”

I had lots of experience with emotional women. The shrieking, hysterical ones were easy to walk away from. Whatever was going on in their brains, it wasn't my problem, now was it?

Except Anna was different. As I watched her cry and her tears fall softly to the dirt, it stirred something in me. I didn't like it one little bit.

I put my arms around her in a tight hug. One whiff of her cherry shampoo made me hard, but I tried to ignore it. There could be time for that later.

She tensed for just a second before relaxing into me, putting her head on my chest and letting herself cry. Her tears soaked my shirt, but that was okay by me.

“You're gonna be fine, you hear me? I know this looks impossible right now, but it will work out in the end. Things always do.”

She pulled back and looked up at me. “How do you figure? I don't see any way of making this better. Pretty soon, I won't be able to hide it. They'll find out. Then I'm done.”

A teenage boy jogged up the hill toward us, huffing and puffing. Anna let go of me, as if I were unclean and she shouldn't be seen touching me. Dunno why it bothered me so much, yet it did.

“Miss Southwell, you got customers hanging around your booth asking when you'll be back.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks, Jimmy. Tell them I'll be down in a minute.”

He darted off, and she returned her attention to me. I couldn't help but gawk at her slightly rounded tummy. Pregnant women had always freaked me out, but this wasn't just any woman. Somehow, with Anna, it didn't bother me so much.

“So, is this why you resisted when I put the moves on you? I wish you'd have just told me. After what you went through, man... It makes me feel like an asshole.”

“Don't. I needed it.”

My hard-on stiffened even more. That one was her fault, though.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I hope you can understand why.”

“Yeah. I just thought... When I saw that email, I figured you already had a boyfriend or something.”

She cocked her head. “What difference would that have made to you? I'm sure you would have pursued me anyway.”

It shouldn't have made any. When it came to her, though, the thought of another man's hands on her made my skin crawl. I wasn't known for being possessive over girls – it was easy enough to find one anywhere I looked – but this time, the only person I wanted touching her was me.

Luckily, I didn't have to answer her question. She started down the hill without me. I followed behind, trying in vain to make sense of these weird feelings.

She paused at the bottom and gazed up at me. “Hey, you won't tell anyone about this, will you?”

“Of course not. I ain't a gossip. But regardless, folks will find out on their own soon enough.”

“What do you think I should do?”

People rarely asked my advice because they didn't like to hear the truth. I told it like it was, being honest with them no matter how hard it might be to hear.

If a girl squeezes into a too-tight pair of jeans then asks “Does this make my butt look fat?” Guess what I'm gonna say?

Yep. No filter on my mouth whatsoever.

“Well, let's see. Your folks live thousands of miles away, don't they? I imagine they don't come and visit real often.”

She hung her head. “No. They're quite busy, and with my animals on the farm, leaving here to see them in San Diego's nearly impossible.”

“Then you could carry the baby without them ever knowing it. Soon as the kid's born, give it up for adoption. They'll never have a clue you even gave birth.”

Her eyes widened. “Give it up? To who?”

“Hell, I don't know. Anybody who can give the kid a good home. Surely there's lots of people out there wanting to adopt.”

“I don't know if I could handle that. Just.. giving away the child I carried in my body for nine months? I'd feel like the most horrible mother on the planet.”

“There's nothing wrong with doing what has to be done, if you got a good reason for it.” We stopped just outside of the market entrance. “Or, y'know, there's a way to make the problem go away altogether.”

“What way?”

I had to stare at her for a while to see if she was kidding. She just stared back.

“You could get rid of it.”

She clutched her stomach. “Get rid of... it?”

“An abortion. It's not too late, I don't think – not that I have any experience with such things. It'd be easy, and then no one would ever find out. Not anyone in town, and especially not your folks.”

Her jaw clenched and her brow furrowed. Something wasn't right. Should have shut my mouth right then and there, but idiot me kept onward.

“I mean, be honest. Do you really want to keep a baby from this guy? He has a secret family already he was hiding from you. He bailed on you, forcing you to deal on your own. If you have this child, it's just gonna be a reminder of him every day for the rest of your life.”

She uttered a furious growl and pushed me back so hard, I nearly fell into the cactus on the roadside.

“You're an asshole,” she sputtered. “Don't call me again. Don't come near me.”

Oh, great. This was why I never bothered with women. They got so emotional over the craziest things. What did I do wrong this time?

“I don't understand why you're so mad. It was just a suggestion, and a smart one too. You asked me what you ought to do, and that's my answer.”

“Your answer is to kill an innocent baby that was conceived through no fault of his own? Just abort it and go on with my life, like nothing ever happened?”

I shrugged. Dunno why she had to get all dramatic about it.

“This isn't just a microscopic bundle of cells anymore,” she continued. “It's a three-month-old fetus. A real, living, breathing child. I saw it on the ultrasound. Too small yet to know the gender, but you can already see the little arms and legs growing.”

I tried to put an arm around her for comfort, but she wasn't having none of it.

“Look, if I offended you, sorry. I was just trying to help.”

“I hate Rich for what he did to me, but even so, this baby is a part of me. Mine.” She glared and turned away from me. “If this is your way of helping, then don't bother. I'll figure it out alone.”

She stormed off to her booth to contend with the line of customers. I was so shocked I couldn't even move for a minute.

Never in my life had I put up with such talk from a woman. The moment one raised her voice to me, I was done. I didn't tolerate disrespect, and there were thousands of other fish in the sea.

But with Anna, it wasn't like that. All I wanted to do now was squeeze her tight and never let go.

Chapter 7 - Anna

One week later, Max was still here.

I spotted him driving around town in his RV sometimes; others, he was riding with Trey or the van he'd rented. He kept trying to talk to me, but I made sure to keep our conversations brief and to the point.

It wasn't just because he ticked me off with his suggestion to abort the baby. Mostly, it was because he'd slept with me and then proceeded to act like it never happened.

I didn't know why, but that made me mad.

Maybe because the sex was so hot, so exciting, that I wanted more?

Like hell I'd tell him that. No way would I go crawling back, begging him to do to me whatever filthy things his mind could conjure up.

Too bad the longer I was pregnant, the more easily I got aroused. Just thinking about his smile was enough to drive me nuts until I gave myself some relief. Even then, that simply wasn't enough.

“This cheesecake is to die for, sis.” Rachael gushed and spooned another bite into her mouth. “You should consider going into business as a baker. Bet you'd make it big.”

“I've already got enough on my plate. Unless you'd like to work as my apprentice, of course.”

She swallowed a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream and blueberries. “If I get to sample the goods, you got a deal.”

Jackie, one of my best laying hens, pecked a moth out of the air and devoured it with a happy cluck. Bees from my hives flitted to and fro, landing on the flowers in my garden and blossoms from the vegetable plants. Bluebonnets swayed lazily in the warm late-morning breeze.

This place wasn't much, but it was my very own little patch of heaven on Earth. I'd always looked forward to getting married and raising a family here. Dreamed of teaching my kids how to garden and take care of the animals.

But nothing was going according to plan. If I lost this place, what would I have left?

“What time is it? I gotta get to the office by eleven.” Rachael checked her phone. “Ugh, so late already. Anna, you're lucky you get to work from home. You can slouch around all day in your pajamas if you want.”

“Oh, I wish I had such a luxury.”

While I swept up the dropped dessert crumbs so the nasty fire ants wouldn't swarm my porch, she tapped out a message to Trey on her phone. Then she smiled and sighed dramatically.

“How many times have I told him to stop calling me 'bunny?' He's such a jerk.”

“Maybe you shouldn't have told him about your childhood obsession with rabbits, then.” Off the crumbs went into the trashcan. “If that's the worst of your complaints, you have it made, sis.”

“No, it's not. He leaves the toilet seat up and would rather read the
nerdiest
sci-fi books than watch TV with me.”

Was I jealous? I told myself no, but it was a lie.

I tried not to cry as Rachael got her things together. Her life was the one I'd wanted forever. She'd never planned on settling down, not for a long time, anyway – yet it was her who got the man who loved her to pieces.

I was twenty-seven years old already. A decade ago, I decided I would be happy marrying at age twenty five and perhaps having kids a year or so after. Well, I had the kid on the way, but no husband to share it with.