Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2) (8 page)

“Oh. Yeah.” I made myself laugh. “And I thought dealing with sweaty balls was bad.”

“Whatever you do, do
not
say that to a girl. Especially a pregnant one. Last thing she wants to hear about is your...” He wrinkled his nose. “Actually, I don't wanna hear about it either.”

I took a big bite of my sandwich. “Mom always did tell me I didn't have a filter on my mouth. I say whatever comes to mind. People don't like it, tough crap.”

He sighed. “Ever the charmer. I see you won't be giving me a niece or nephew anytime soon.”

I hadn't mentioned Anna's pregnancy to him yet. Normally, I was pretty dumb about things like this, but I figured it wasn't really my business to talk about it. Neither Trey nor her sister had said a peep about an incoming baby, so chances were, they had no idea.

That meant she was hiding it for some reason, and I was kind of scared to find out why.

She sure as hell hadn't told
me
about it before I screwed her. Why not? Was she cheating on the father? Maybe that's why she resisted me so hard. Didn't take much to break down that wall, though, so...

“What about you, huh?” I tossed a hunk of bread to the ravens. “Don't see you starting a family yet, and you're four years my senior.”

He sighed and neatly wrapped up the rest of his grilled chicken sandwich. Grilled chicken? Who the hell gets that at a burger place?

Apparently, Rachael had dug her health-nut claws in him deep. I swore on my life no woman would ever change me the way she did him.

“We'd like to get married first, obviously.” He kicked the truck into drive and off we went. “And I'd love to marry her. Trouble is, her family is a bit... high-strung and somewhat meddlesome.”

“The hell's that supposed to mean?”

“You remember they used to own that big ranch? Well, they decided raising cows for a living wasn't good enough for rich folks, so they sold it and moved to a fancy mansion in San Diego. Only part of the property still left is the parcel Anna's living on.”

“Means if you get hitched to Rachael, you'll be marrying into some serious money.”

He shook his head. “They're very demanding. Her mother, Ruby, is getting up there in years and expects her daughters to take care of her parents in old age. She's explicitly told her that when she gets married, she
will
be moving to California to be near them.”

“Uh, what? She doesn't have to do a damn thing she doesn't want to.”

“Ray lives to please her parents. She's already told me she plans on doing what they asked her to. It's caused some fights, because you know I sure don't want to move to San Diego. I'm happy where I am.”

“So then what happens? She going to break up with you for her
parents?
”

He looked the other way. “No, I don't think so. We love each other. You stick together when you love somebody.”

I thought all this was ridiculous but wasn't foolish enough to say so. This was precisely why I had no interest in a relationship – beyond one-night stands, of course. Too much effort and way too big of a headache.

Except... Now there was Anna.

She was pregnant, clearly somebody else's woman, and she'd planned to hide that from me for God knows how long. Normally, I wouldn't touch that mess with a ten-foot pole.

But something about her appealed to me in a way I hadn't quite felt before. Instead of dyeing and styling her dirty-blonde hair, she kept it up in a ponytail at all times. She wore the bare minimum of makeup, didn't fuss over her fingernails, and didn't give half a crap if she left the house in sweatpants.

She was gorgeous, but low-maintenance. I found it refreshing.

When I woke up this morning, I thought about her first thing. It was her I jacked off to in the shower, unable to get that night with her out of my memory. I fucked her in that dark, steamy bathroom, both of us forced to be silent despite how utterly amazing it was and all the dirty, perverted things I wanted to whisper in her ear.

I'd never had any sex like it. Didn't know what it was all about, but I did know I had to have her again.

Pregnant or not, I didn't care. I was going to make her mine, even if it was just one more time.

“We haven't had any rain in weeks.” Trey pulled into the lot where I left my RV. “There was a brush fire a couple hundred miles west last night. They put it out in time, but next time, we might not be so lucky. A good wind could spread those flames far and wide.”

“I kinda hope
something
happens soon. You called me down here sayin' your station needed the help, but the most exciting thing that's happened is the trash can catching fire at Walmart.”

He shoved me out of the truck. “Don't you dare say things like that.”

“I'm just bored, that's all. I'm the kind of guy who hates to rest on his laurels while the world passes by. I gotta be moving. Working. Doing something with myself.”

“There's plenty to do if you wouldn't be so picky. Go help Anna clean out her chicken house or something.”

I gagged. “No thank you. Almost two weeks later and I still can't get the stink out of my vehicle.”

Trey was quiet as I went to unlock the door. Then he called to me.

“You've been here that long already, huh? Just how much vacation did the station in Waco give you?”

I hesitated. How could I tell him my “vacation” was actually a permanent leave of absence, so to speak? Even now, the rejection stung badly. I still couldn't think about it without feelings of bitterness and rage boiling to the surface.

“Guess I had a lot of days saved up. They said I could take off as long as I needed to. The whole summer, if need be.”

“Really?” He raised his eyebrow. “And your job will still be waiting when you get back? That's awful generous of them.”

“Yeah, I'm like a celebrity there. They pretty much let me do whatever.”

Trey muttered something under his breath as he drove away. I sure was grateful
that
conversation was over. No way could I tell him the truth, 'cause then he'd tell Anna, and...

“What the devil's wrong with me? Never cared what any woman thought of me before.”

But it was different with her.

I didn't much like it. Caring what some girl thought gave her power over you. No woman on this planet would have that kind of sway over me. They weren't gonna put me on a leash, like what happened to Carter and then Jayce.

I checked the time – just past noon. I was supposed to be helping out at the department, but with what? Nothing ever happened around here. Figured that Trey got my hopes up about that.

Well, at least I got
some
sort of action out of it. Getting into Anna's pants was well worth it.

Today was Saturday, which meant she was working at the farmer's market and probably about to go on lunch. Now, I never in my life bothered hanging out with a girl after screwing her. This time, however, I drove down to the market to see how she was coming along.

I found her at her stall, a little corner booth in the shade. She was chatting with a customer and when she smiled, it stopped me in my tracks.

Christ almighty, why did she look even more beautiful today than she did before?

I adjusted my growing hard-on and made my way to her. She didn't notice me and kept on talking with her buyer, an elderly Hispanic lady.

“Yes, I be back next week.” She gathered her purse, then pointed at Anna's belly. “So, is it boy or girl?”

Anna blushed like mad. She really didn't want anyone to know about this, did she? I wasn't sure why, but she'd better get over it fast. Her tummy seemed to be getting rounder every day and if strangers noticed it, her friends and family sure would.

“I... I don't know yet,” she said quietly. “And I'm kind of trying to keep it secret for now, if you know what I mean.”

The woman nodded. “Ah, yes.” She turned and nearly smacked into me. Then she smiled. “Good for you.”

I blinked, confused. Anna looked like she wanted to hide under the booth.

“For what?”

“Your baby. Will be a good baby, I'm sure. You'll be good daddy, too.”

I opened my mouth to correct her, but to my surprise, Anna shushed me. I was too shocked to protest.

When she was gone, I let out the breath I was holding. “Can't say that's ever happened to me before. You care to explain what's going on here?”

She glanced around as if scanning for eavesdroppers, then flipped over her sign from “Open” to “Be Back Soon.”

“Walk with me,” she said, so I did – even though I was getting real nervous about this whole thing.

We took the dirt trail that led out of the market, up the hill a ways, to an empty playground overlooking the valley below. Anna sat on a swing and sighed heavily – the sigh of a woman with too much weight on her shoulders, if you asked me.

“No one knows,” she began. “Except for you.”

I took the swing beside hers. “The father?”

“Rich Steiner. I started dating him when I lived in New York, back when I was still a lawyer. We weren't together for very long when I gave up the life and decided to move back home. He's an attorney, too, with a big client base in NYC. So of course, he stayed behind.”

I studied her as she talked about this guy. There wasn't just sadness in her gaze – there was genuine anger. What the hell had this loser done to her?

“We agreed to have a long-distance relationship, but I should have known better.” She laughed bitterly. “He came to visit me every now and again, but never wanted me to fly up and see him. Insisted he didn't want to inconvenience me and besides, he liked seeing the countryside.”

“Sounds like you didn't see him very often. Must have really cared about the dude if you'd put up with that.” I pushed myself forward on the swing. “This is why relationships aren't my thing. Sex that infrequent would kill me.”

She swung along beside me, trailing her shoes through the dirt as she swayed up and then back.

“The last time he was here, about three months ago, we were... intimate. I guess the condom failed, as you can see.” She waved at her plump belly.

“So have you told him?”

“Of course I did, soon as I found out. I called and told him I was scared, that I needed to know what we should do.” Her swing came to a stop. “Instead of giving me support, he freaked. Told me he'd been living a lie for our entire relationship. He's married with two kids and he wants nothing to do with the baby he helped create.”

I gaped at her. She wasn't joking.

“How in the hell did you not know he was
married?
”

“That's what everyone asks me. Makes me feel like a complete idiot, really. Like, how could stupid could I have been to not notice something so obvious?”

I put my hand on her back. “Hey, I didn't mean to –”

“It's okay. I
was
stupid. There were signs, signs I should have seen all along. Back in New York, he'd either come to my place or meet me at a hotel. On rare occasion, he'd invite me to his apartment. I should have realized it wasn't actually his apartment when he didn't know where the coffee was or how to work the stereo.”

“It wasn't his?”

“His friend let him borrow the place sometimes just so he wouldn't look totally suspicious.”

Holy shit. I might have been an asshole who let my dick make most decisions, but this was beyond any stupid thing I'd ever done. You had to be a completely deplorable piece of human garbage to play someone like that – and then he bailed when she got pregnant, to make it even worse.

“I haven't heard from him since that phone call. He's changed his number, doesn't respond to email or Facebook. Best I can tell, he's just going about his normal life as if this never happened.”

Rage built inside of me, the kind of anger I usually felt when someone messed with me in a bad way. This Rich guy had never met me, but he fucked Anna over so badly, I felt like flying to New York and killing him myself.

“Do people around these parts know you two are done?”

She nodded. “Trey and Rachael, at least. A few of my friends. All they know was, he's got a wife and he was cheating on her with me.”

“But why hide the pregnancy? It's not your fault this dude is scum. You shouldn't have to deal with this alone.”

“My parents are very old-school and conservative. Religious, too. If they found out I got pregnant out of wedlock, there would be hell to pay.”

“Who gives a damn what they think? You're a grown woman. They care more about their petty reputation than how much their daughter's suffering?”

Her shoulders fell. “They're real prominent people in the church, and dad's running for governor of California this year.”

Governor? Wow. Her family was more upper-crust than I had thought.

“People in Cali are pretty dang liberal. I doubt they'd judge your daddy because his daughter wasn't married when she had a kid.”

“You're probably right, but he wouldn't see it that way. He'd blame me for damaging his reputation, for making him look like a fraud who can't keep his family under control. And can you imagine if he lost? He'd probably disown me.”