The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3)(32)

Skye hugged the dickens out of her, proving she was the same old Skye despite the designer clothes she was sporting. If she was envious, she didn’t show it.

“The new guy? Really? What’s he like?” she asked in a conspiratorial voice.

“Nice,” Meg tried, but it didn’t sound right. Linc was too much a leader and a man of action to be ‘nice.’ “He’s a good man. He is. He wants me to marry him. I just… have reservations.”

“Blake and Crystal? Yeah, that was a cautionary tale.”

“That and…” She looked across the cozy living room of what had been a second home to her all her life. “I feel like I could fall in love with him, but he might not love me back.”

Skye hugged her again, well aware of the angst Meg had wrestled all her life, convinced by the rejection of her birth mother that she wasn’t worthy of being loved.

Putting her biggest fear into words left her melancholy so she was very quiet when Linc picked her up on Monday.

“Feeling okay?” he asked her, reaching over to stroke her thigh with the backs of two bent fingers.

A pulse of excitement went through her as her body reacted to his touch, always. He was positively wizardly in his ability to make her react. Physical longing kept her awake at night, thinking about all the ways he’d touched her and made her moan with gratification that one night.

One night wasn’t enough to base a lifetime on.

Was it?

She found a crooked smile, trying to be honest, but self-protect as she explained, “I’m just having a day when it’s all very real and I’m trying to figure it all out.”

Getting her own apartment, living in town and finding a job, was the sensible thing to do. She needed to be independent while she worked out whether they had what it took for the long haul. She was going to stop in at The Courier, see if they could use another reporter. Writing for the local newspaper was something she could do mostly from home and online. It could be ideal.

Except for the part where she wouldn’t see Linc every day.

Why did that make her feel so lonely?

The apartment was straight up ‘fine,’ neither a dump nor a wow. It had two bedrooms, a small balcony, a view of the playground and was dated, but clean and in good repair.

Linc didn’t say much. He didn’t say much after they left, either, just took her across town to the medical building and sat with her in the waiting room, taking up a Cosmopolitan magazine and flipping through it like it was the Farmer’s Almanac.

She watched him as he slouched comfortably and casually turned pages, pausing for a moment here and there.

“Reading the articles?” she asked without hiding her amusement.

“The articles are more dangerous than the photos. Did you know there are thirty-seven ways you can please a man in bed? Far as I’m concerned, there’s one: show up.”

She chuckled and they were called in a few minutes later. Their chat with Rachel went great. Rachel didn’t bat an eye at Linc being there, didn’t say a word about how her due date coincided with a conception on the night of the bachelor auction. She was warm and gave off such an air of confidence that Meg felt a nameless tension ease immediately. The baby, at least, was in good hands.

Meg made an appointment for a proper prenatal checkup in a week and Linc hovered at the counter to discuss insurance plans with the assistant behind the counter.

“His is better,” the clerk told Meg with a push of her apologetic smile to the side of her face. “If Linc could get you onto his, with the baby, you’d wind up with more coverage and the overall premium cost would go down. Rather than each of you paying as adults, he’d be paying the family rate.”

It was her turn to keep her mouth shut as they left.

“No comment?” he prompted, holding the door for her.

“It’s like marrying for a green card,” she said. “I’m slightly more romantic than that. Oh, hey, Molly,” she greeted as they met Molly Dekker on the sidewalk. “How are you? How’s Josh?”

“Really well, all things considered,” Molly said with a surprisingly bright smile. “All the energy he had before the accident is still there, but, you know, expressed from here up.” She cut a line across her middle, grinning, then sobered slightly. “He’ll always have certain challenges, but we’re doing okay. And thank you for dropping off that extra drywall you had,” she said with a fresh smile for Linc. “The house is really coming together.”

“It would have gone to waste at my place,” he said. “Did you get that ramp fixed?”

“The ramp works totally fine,” she said with a firm sweep of her hand. “And I’m sorry, but I’m running late, but thank you both again. For the auction… Everything. Everyone has been so generous.” Her eyes started to tear up, obviously moved.

Meg’s did, too. “No problem, Molly,” Meg assured her and they parted before they both broke down.

“That was a lie, wasn’t it?” Meg said to Linc when she’d regained control.

They had reached the parking lot and he beeped to unlock his truck, lifting his head to say, “What do you mean?”

“You have a whole house to renovate. The drywall wasn’t going to waste.” He was nice, she decided. When he wasn’t acting like the CEO of a multi-national corporation.