The Boss's Pregnancy Proposal

“About?” he asked, waiting.

“About things,” Tina said with a sigh and a quick look of apology toward Callie. They all knew that he knew he’d been the object of their conversation.

“‘Shoes and ships and sealing wax’?” he quoted helpfully.

“Oh, yes. Those things, too.” She smiled at him. “Cabbages and kings. All that stuff.”

“Wonderful.” He held out one of two bags he carried with him. “I brought doughnuts, just in case.”

“Lovely,” Tina cried, taking it from him. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Black, thanks.”

“I’ll be just a moment.”

“Take your time,” he said, turning slowly to look at the room and wondering what the hell he was doing here.

Well…bringing Callie back her orchid plant. That was the official objective. And to take the first steps toward becoming friends. But now that he was here, he realized he might be walking into a trap of his own making.

And then he looked at Callie and he was sure of it.

Crazy. That was the only word for it. He was crazy. Just being here went against every rule and every plan he’d made for himself.

He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. He told himself it was because she represented such possibilities. Looking at her, he knew it was more than that. And now he knew something else.

The efficient, no-nonsense Callie he was used to at work fascinated and intrigued him. But there was another Callie. This one had sleepy eyes and a thoroughly kissable mouth and hair that glowed like a wild, golden cloud around her pretty face. No makeup. Bare feet. Lovely breasts that were emphasized by the way the cloth of her sweatshirt draped across them.

And suddenly he felt something he hadn’t felt for a long, long time. Deep, hungry, carnal desire.

He looked away quickly. Wow. This was no good. He didn’t want to feel sexually attracted, not like this. He needed distance so as to keep control.

“Hey,” he said, nodding to her and looking stormy on purpose. “I had a hell of a time finding you.”

“Really?” She shrugged nonchalantly. “And here I didn’t even know I was lost.”

“Oh, you were lost all right. At least to me. The employee card I used had your old address.”

She looked incredulous. “So you went to Buckaroo Court, looking for me?”

“Yeah.” He made a face. “Not exactly the garden spot of Dallas, is it?”

She sighed. “Not exactly. Which is why I moved over here as soon as I could.”

He nodded, and she frowned.

“And someone told you my new address?”

“Yes.” One dark eyebrow rose. “A semidelightful gentleman named Butch. He was throwing soapy water on his motorcycle in the driveway but kindly took a break to give me your whereabouts.”

“The so-called manager.” She shuddered. “More like the game warden.” Giving him a wise look, she added, “How much did he stick you for?”

“A cool twenty got me the information. I thought it was a bargain.”

She winced, eyes sparkling. “Yikes. I guess I’m going cheap these days.”

He shrugged. “I got a discount after I roughed him up a little.”

She gasped, then didn’t know whether to take him seriously or not. “You didn’t!”

He gave her a half smile, not ready to satisfy her curiosity. “Enough about Butch. He’s not very interesting anyway. I brought you your orchid.” He held up a brown paper bag and peeled back enough to show her a flower peeking from inside.

“So I see,” she said, looking at it warily, then shifting to look up into his eyes. “What do you want for it?”

He gave her a pained look. “See, that’s exactly why I brought it to you. I decided you were right. It wasn’t fair to hold your orchid as bait to draw you back. I ought to have enough faith in you to assume you’ll do the right thing without having to be coerced.”

“Thank you.” She snatched up her plant, hugged it to her chest, then looked at him gingerly. “But you see, that’s where you make your big mistake. Now that I’ve got my plant…”

“You’ll be so grateful, you’ll probably come early and camp on my doorstep,” he said, but his expression was cynical.

And she suppressed a smile. “Dream on.”

She peeked inside the bag. The orchid looked as though it enjoyed car trips. That was a relief. Her orchid was no longer held hostage.

Setting it down on the tiled window ledge alongside two others, she turned back to Grant. His lower lip looked even more swollen from this side and she could see evidence of stitches, though they were just about invisible. At least he’d let his sister take care of his injury.

“What happened to your important meetings?” she asked.

“I’ll make them. I only stopped by for a moment.”

Tina brought out coffee and doughnuts on a plate, prattling with small talk all the while. Callie and Grant sat cautiously on the couch, eyeing each other like two gunslingers meeting at the corral, each waiting for the other to move toward the doughnuts first.

Watching them, Tina grinned, then scooped up her baby, who was sucking on a red lollipop, and turned back to say goodbye.

“We’re going to the park,” she explained.

“Oh, don’t go!” Callie cried fervently.

But Tina merely gave her a wink. “We’ll be back soon.”

Callie hardly noticed the wink, because she was caught up in watching Grant’s reaction to Molly. He took one look at her and recoiled as though something had stung him. It was quickly apparent that he wanted to be as far away from the baby as he could get.

Tina didn’t seem to notice, and neither did Molly. The little girl gazed at him intently, then her chubby arms shot out as though asking him to take her from her mom.

“Da Da!” she cried, her eyes lighting up.

“No, honey,” Tina said, laughing. “That’s not your da da.”

Turning, she looked back over her shoulder at Callie.