Boot Scootin' Secret Baby

“Oh, I’m sure all right. I mean she is eight days overdue already and—” He checked the beeper clipped to his belt, then put his hands on Alyssa’s shoulders to gently move her aside. “I can’t have this discussion now, Alyssa. I have to go.”

“But what about our meetings?” she asked her partner’s back.

“You can handle the meetings. I have complete faith in your abilities.” He reached for the silver bar handle on the swinging door.

“But what if I mess up?” Panic strangled her voice.

“You won’t.”

“But what if—”

“You won’t. You’ll do fine.” He shoved open the door and glanced back, a great, big, goofy grin on his handsome face. “I’m the one should be worried, partner. After all, it’s my wife about to have our first baby.”

A whoosh of air and Shelby was gone.

Alyssa’s fingers wound around the briefcase handle until her nails dug into her palm and her knuckles throbbed. What was she supposed to do now? Could she really get out there and pitch the business all by herself?

A wave of nausea hit her, her stomach churned like boiling oil and her skin grew cool and clammy. She did not want all this responsibility to rest on her shoulders just yet. She wasn’t ready and if she failed...

A big hand clamped down on her shoulder, disrupting her misgivings and misery.

Cub. He’d heard the whole exchange. Just when she thought things could not get any more complicated or any more difficulties crop up between her and her dream of independence, the man gently turned her to face him.