To Professor, with Love (Forbidden Men #2)(85)

I glanced at Aspen because, hell, seeing Reese and Mason’s connection simply drew me to her, wanting a taste of the same bond they shared.

She glanced at me as if she felt the same pull. Her eyes glittered with tears. Then she turned back to the grieving couple. “I’ve had a lot of experience with people like this...Mrs. Garrison, is it?”

Reese turned toward Aspen, wiping her wet cheeks. “That’s right.”

“Right,” Aspen murmured on a soft note. “And I’ve come to learn they give away certain tells when they’re lying. Each person’s may be different, but they always do something to denote the lie. And from her behavior, I don’t even believe she was pregnant, much less honest about the child’s paternity.”

Lowe blew out a relieved breath. “Really?”

She shook her head.

“But her f*cking belly was out to here.” Ten held out his hand and pretended to waddle. Next to him, Ham nodded, thinking the cougar had looked pregnant too.

“It wasn’t shaped quite right, though,” Aspen insisted. She pointed at the blonde. “Her stomach looks almost perfectly round, while the other woman’s was more...oblong.”

Propping his elbows on the bar, Pick leaned over the counter to check out the blonde’s belly. “You do have the most adorable baby bump I’ve ever seen.”

“And the other woman’s breasts didn’t look nearly as swollen as hers,” Aspen went on.

Pick snorted. “I’d say.”

The blonde shot him a glare. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

He grinned at her. “Pick.”

She blinked. “Pick what? I’m not picking out your name.”

“No, that’s my name, Tinker Bell. Pick, short for Patrick Jason Ryan. You like?”

“Anyway.” Aspen lifted her voice to speak over Pick’s strange flirting with the preggo. “She didn’t have any of the water retention this girl has in her face.”

The preggo gasped, grasping her cheeks as she whirled to Reese. “I have water retention?”

“What? No! No, sweetie. Barely any at all.”

“So I do then?”

Gritting her teeth, Reese sent Aspen a scowl. I thought I was going to have to jump over the bar to defend her, but the front door opened again.

Mrs. Garrison had returned.

“Hamilton,” I growled. “Go lock the f*cking door before someone else wanders in here, will you?”

If Jessie learned we had this many non-employees in the building after hours, she’d flip. But then, I guess she wouldn’t have to worry about it so much if she bothered to come in once in a while. She could deal with this scene instead of leaving it to us to handle.

“Anyone have a hatchet handy?” Reese growled, stepping away from the bar to face off with Mrs. Garrison. “Because I’m feeling the compelling need to hack a bitch.”

“Dude.” Ten bumped his elbow into Hamilton’s, looking jazzed as he bounced on the toes of his feet. “Chick fight. Awesome.”

Lowe hurtled the bar and was at his woman’s side in a microsecond. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he tugged her back against his chest as he glared at the newest arrival. “I told you not to come back. And I made it crystal clear before I even left Florida that I never wanted anything to do with you again. Why are you doing this?”

She ignored him, smiling almost pleasantly at Reese...almost being the key word because there was nothing pleasant about the glitter in her eyes. “Reese,” she murmured, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “It’s been too long since I last saw you.”

“I know, hasn’t it?” Reese answered with the same fake pleasantry before she sneered. “My hand’s stopped ringing from the last time I bitch-slapped the shit out of you.”

“Ohh!” Ten cried, smacking his knee and hooting. “Burn.”

Mrs. Garrison narrowed her eyes. “You need to release him, dear. He doesn’t belong here.”

Reese cracked off a laugh. “Me? Release him? Are you kidding me? You’re the one who—”

Lowe covered her mouth with his hand, muffling her words. “We’re not getting into this,” he told the old crow. “The only person who needs to leave Illinois is you.”

Mrs. Garrison’s voice broke as she asked, “But what about our baby?” just as her lashes did their fluttering thing.

Visibly shuddering, he shook his head. “You’re not even pregnant. I don’t know why you’re making up this lie or what you think it’ll accomplish, but nothing you can do will get me to leave my life here or split me away from Reese.”

“Oh, I can guess why she’s doing it.” Reese pulled Lowe’s hand off her mouth. “I bet her fiancé left her, and she had no one left to torture.”

By the way the older woman glared, I figured Reese must’ve hit the nail on the head.

“If I’m not pregnant, then how do you explain this?” Again, she made a dramatic performance of ripping open her coat and showing off her stomach.

“Oh, please.” The blonde Reese had called Eva laughed. “That’s the fakest pregnant belly I’ve ever seen.”

When Mrs. Garrison pierced her with a frown, she pooched out her own stomach. “This is the real deal, honey. So why don’t you stop picking on Mason and my cousin Reese, crawl back home to Florida, and find someone new to harass. In fact, look up Madeline and Shaw Mercer why don’t you? They actually deserve your brand of attention.”