The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3)(29)
“If we can get in, sure,” she said, clearing her throat. “We’re right on time for the breakfast rush,” she warned, unsurprised by the lack of parking when they got close enough to start looking.
“Mind walking?” he asked when they found a spot on the next block.
“Not at all.” The snow was melting and dripping off the awnings, reflecting like diamonds, while the breeze carried the sweet scent of a turning season.
“I was going to come and open your door,” he said with a disgruntled frown when he met her on the sidewalk.
That made her smile in bemusement. “You’re quite a gentleman, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “Might not be great at relationships, but I’m a helluva date.”
“Mmm. Modest, too.”
He winked and set a light hand under her elbow, making her tense in reaction, belly flooding with heat. What was it about this man?
“There might be slippery patches,” he said as though reading her tension. “I don’t want you to fall.”
Concern for the baby or her, she wondered? She decided not to ask, glancing instead back toward the boutique, but if they carried bras, they’d be the lacy, get-your-motor-running kind. She’d probably have to go into Bozeman for a grow-with-you maternity bra.
Maternity wear, she thought with a muted sigh at how thoroughly her life was changing.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I thought I knew what my life would look like a year from now, but it turns out I didn’t. I still don’t.”
“I hear that,” he murmured, his thumb shifting against her upper arm in a caress of sympathy.
They were almost at the diner when they bumped into Andie Bennet and Heath McGregor as they were leaving. Both were dressed for work in construction boots and khakis.
“Oh, hey you two. Congratulations!” Meg greeted them, not having seen Andie since they’d been named the winners of the Great Wedding Giveaway. “Linc, you remember Lily from the auction? I met her through Andie. We were in school together, and this is her boss—” she winked as she deliberately overlooked their couple-dom, having always suspected Andie had a thing for her brother’s best friend long before the two of them got together publicly. “Heath.”
“We’ve met,” Linc said, nodding and shaking hands in greeting. “Andie did the wiring for my office. In fact, I’ll need to move up my timetable on rewiring the rest of house and the scope of that renovation has changed. I need the place finished sooner than later, so I’ll need a full crew out there. I’ll call you for some estimates,” he said to Heath.
“Sounds good,” Heath said in the way of a man who owned his own business and was used to accommodating his customers, but Meg saw Andie’s gaze skim to the hand Linc kept on her elbow.
Meg tried to divert her friend’s curiosity by asking about the wedding, but Andie wound up asking, “How long are you in town this time?”
And Meg came up against reality with a smack. Linc’s grip on her arm tightened. She didn’t know if that was in support or apprehension.
“I, uh…” Meg drew a small breath and pasted on a big smile before throwing herself on the mercy of the town’s grapevine. “I’m back for good.”
“Really?” Andie’s gaze flicked to Linc’s and Meg doubted the woman needed her certified electrician’s ticket to see the live connection between the two of them. “That’s great, but I thought you loved Chicago?” She brought her attention back to Meg.
“It’s a long story,” Meg averred. “Let’s have a girls’ night soon and I’ll tell my story to everyone at once. Save repeating myself. We’re starving, aren’t we, Linc?”
*
Linc promised to call Heath, held the door for Meg, and bit back a facetious, Girls’ night? Didn’t they call them baby showers under these circumstances?
But he could see Meg was unnerved. Which was probably his fault. He was a doer. Once he’d put together in his head that his baby was coming and needed a place to sleep, well, he needed to get the room ready.
The heavy aromas of bacon, eggs, and coffee painted the warm air of the diner and Meg returned more than one smile as they were shown to a booth.
“Hi, Annie,” she greeted their waitress. The woman poured him a coffee and they exchanged a few words before she left to fetch an herbal tea for Meg.
“I keep forgetting what a small town is like,” Linc admitted once they were alone. “That everyone knows everyone else. All their business.”
Meg pulled off her vest and set it beside her. “I’d think oil rigs would be the same.”
“They are,” he agreed, trying to keep his gaze from dropping to check out her chest.
He’d left his coat in the truck, needing to cool down after she’d put a mental image of her naked breasts into his mind’s eye, but he’d grabbed his hat. Now he took it off again and set it beside him in the booth, giving his hair a quick ruffle and smooth with his fingers.
“It was pretty hard to have so much as a private thought out there,” he allowed, “but once I started traveling, I was always the outsider. I knew the men talked about me, but I didn’t care. Well…” He shrugged. “I cared if they thought I was being heavy-handed. I was there to get a job done so I needed cooperation, not pushback, but even last night, thinking about…” He skimmed his gaze down her front now, finding himself looking for evidence of a baby that wasn’t there yet. She was still slender and, yeah, he couldn’t help noticing that those very nice, weighty breasts of hers looked better than ever.