Falling for Trouble (9 page)

Abe
cleared his throat and forced a smile.

For
several moments she stood there, tugging at the hem of her shirt. Over the
years he had grown to realize she did that when her nerves were rattled.

“Everything
good?”

“I’m
actually meeting…someone for a late breakfast. That’s why I couldn’t come over
this morning.”

His
hands curled inward but he pushed his jealousy away. It wouldn’t score him any
points to act like a caveman. “I didn’t mean to intrude or anything. I can go
if you want me to.”
Please don’t tell me
to go. Please don’t tell me to go.

“No.
I mean you’re already here and went to the trouble of bringing me doughnuts.”
She smiled and walked toward him. The sweets scent of pears and berries
surrounded her. He inhaled deeply, knowing that scent anywhere.

“You’re
wearing pear berry.” She was close to him, so close that her bare arm brushed
against his hand. Her cheeks turned slightly pink from his comment, and Abe
wanted to believe he rattled her in a good way.

“Yeah.”
Her voice was low, and when she turned to look up at him, his heart jumped into
his throat. “It’s my favorite, and you got it for me.”

His
heart worked double time from her words. He had gotten her the perfume for her
birthday last year. The scent had reminded him of her, and when she wore
it…fuck, it did things to him.

Inappropriate
thoughts slammed into him, images of her spread out on the table as he pulled
her sweats down her thighs and feasted on her. There was no doubt she tasted
just as sweet as she smelled. He held out a chocolate glazed doughnut to her,
needing to be doing something with his hands so he didn’t grab her and pull her
toward him. She sighed in bliss and he imagined her making that sound during
sex. His fucking cock grew harder, the damn thing.

“You
always know a girl’s sweet spot.” Her cheeks turned pink again and she glanced
away. “Sorry. That came out wrong.” He could tell she was nervous and a part of
him was happy, but also confused. Her nervousness might possibly mean she felt
something for him.

They
sat at the table and each polished off two doughnuts and their coffee. There
were so many things he wanted to say to her. In fact, that was why he had come
here, to tell her. He looked down at the table and traced the grain of the wood
with his eyes.

“Are
you okay, Abe?”

Looking
up at her, he opened his mouth to tell her everything that was in his heart,
but her phone started ringing. She gave him a sympathetic look and held up her
finger for him to hold on.

“Hey,
Hunter.”

Abe’s
jaw cracked at the sound of her happy greeting. The fact that she was grinning
and sounded so damn euphoric to hear from her boss confirmed that Hunter was
the guy she had gone out with yesterday.

Had
he already lost her without ever getting the chance to tell her how he felt?

Abe
didn’t miss how she glanced over at him more than once. He lifted his hand in a
wave and pointed to the front door. No way did he want to hang around and
listen to her conversation. The look she gave him had his steps faltering, but
no, he needed to get the hell out of there. He shut the door behind him and
shoved his hands in the front pockets of his worn jeans. Head low and thoughts
all over the place, he walked quickly to his bike. He mounted it and because he
was a glutton for pain, he cast his eyes to her kitchen window. There she was,
standing right on the other side of that glass, watching him. A strange look
crossed her face, but he didn’t let himself think too much about it. She lifted
her hand in a small wave, and he nodded in acknowledgement before he cranked
the engine and rode away.

****

Sophia
watched Abe ride off. Seeing him on her doorstop at the ass crack of dawn
almost sent her into cardiac arrest. She couldn’t remember a time when he had
made the effort like he had that morning. It might have only been doughnuts and
coffee, but the point was he was making a change. It was getting hard to keep
up the wall she had erected around her heart. Seeing the change in him did
things to her, but also had her wondering why he was suddenly making a complete
change with his life.

When
he had mentioned how good she smelled, her whole body threatened to melt into a
warm, gooey puddle right on the floor. She always wore pear berry, not just
because Abe bought it for her, but because it reminded her of him and the
things he did to make her happy, whether he realized it or not.

When
Hunter had called she had been genuinely happy to hear from him. Their date had
been great. He was easy to talk to and she felt comfortable around him. The
thing was, he didn’t make her chest hurt in the good way like Abe did. It was
hard to let her heart go in another direction, especially concerning another
man, but it was something she had to make herself do. Letting herself think
like this was bad. Sophia needed to let it go, needed to let Abe go. He was
going to ruin every guy for her because all she could do was compare them to
him.

Breathing
out, she turned away from the window and went into her room to get dressed. She
was meeting with Hunter in a few hours and planned on having a good time. At
least, she hoped she could do it, because now all she could think about was
Abe, but then again, how was that different from her norm?

****

One week later

Abe
nursed his beer and watched Sophia laugh and smile with Hunter-fucking-Bronson.
Seven whole damn days had gone by with only a few texts and phone calls between
him and Kid. Ever since he brought her breakfast and then left after she got
the call from Hunter, they really hadn’t seen each other. It was hard as hell
on him. He felt like he was missing a piece of his life. It didn’t matter how
many times he made the effort to see her. She was either not home or on her way
out to see that fuckwad.

 
Yeah, he was sour over all of it.

There
hadn’t even been a good time for him to talk to her and tell her what he had
wanted to say a week ago. He refused to pour his heart out to her at Tiny’s.
When he told her he loved her, it would be just the two of them.

Tipping
back his bottle, he felt his dick start to harden. Sophia wore a jean skirt,
one that wasn’t obscenely short but that showed her long, tanned thighs. God,
what he wouldn’t give to feel those thighs wrapped around his waist. An image
sliced through his mind, another one of his mystery girl. Her legs had been
wrapped around his hips as he pushed inside of her and pulled out. He imagined
Sophia’s face on his mystery girl’s body and had to shift in his seat to ease
his raging erection.

The
sound of Kid laughing had his cock jerking in his jeans. She’d always had a
beautiful laugh, soft and sweet and the kind of sound that made a man fall to
his knees and do whatever she asked. As if she sensed his brutal stare, she
turned around and looked at him. Their gazes held for several long moments, and
then something Hunter said had her smiling and turning back to him. Sophia
placed her hand on his arm and leaned into him. Damn, all he could think about
was whether she was letting Hunter fuck her, which had all kinds of rage
coursing through him. They were awfully friendly for only dating a week, but
then again she had known him for years. Abe gripped the beer bottle so hard he
wouldn’t have been surprised if it shattered in his hand.

Hunter
reached up and put a piece of her hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind
her ear. He disappeared back into his office, and Abe straightened when he saw
Kid walking toward him. She held a glass of beer and she smiled at him. When
she stopped at the edge of the table and set the beer in front of him, he
caught a whiff of the perfume she wore, the perfume
he
bought for her. A surge of possessiveness slammed into him and
he had to force himself to stay in his seat and not make a claim to her in
Tiny’s like some kind of maniac.

“Hi.”
Her tone was light and friendly. “Thought you could use another beer.”

“Thanks,
Kid.” He was glad as hell they were talking, but he didn’t know what to say.
One week seemed like so much longer than seven days. She looked down at her
shoes and took a deep breath. His fingers itched to drag her to him, but he
held back. He wanted to take her somewhere nice where it was just them and he
could open his heart to her.

“Listen,
about last week.” She lifted her gaze and he was struck speechless at how
beautiful she was, at how green her eyes were, like cut emeralds. “I want to
apologize for putting you on the backburner. I haven’t come by for breakfast
and I feel really bad.” She looked over her shoulder. “It’s just I’ve been
hanging out with Hunter.” The way she said it, almost like she was in fucking
dreamland, had him gritting his teeth in frustration. “I also wanted to
apologize to you about the morning you came by with breakfast. I felt really
shitty answering that call while we were visiting.”

Well,
shit. She was saying sorry and now he was the one that felt like crap.

“No
worries, Soph.” She gave him a small smile.

“Enjoy
your beer. I’ll see ya later.” Her voice was low and distant, and when she
turned away, he found himself calling out to her.

“Kid?”
Looking over her shoulder, she waited for him to continue. What was he supposed
to say, though? He had called her because he didn’t want her to go, but now
that she’d stopped and was looking at him, he was speechless.

When
he didn’t say anything, she lifted her hand in a wave and turned back around to
slip behind the bar. Abe let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding
and turned to look at the beer in front of him. He picked up his draft and
drank the smooth, golden liquid. He cut his eyes back to Sophia, saw Hunter
back behind the bar again, smiling and resting his hand on her lower back, and
he snapped. He slammed his mug down on the table. Glass shattered and drew the
attention of all the patrons nearby. He threw some bills on the table, stalked
toward the front door, and pushed it open without a backward glance.

Chapter
Nine

Two weeks later

Sophia
blinked over and over again as she stared at the little stick that showed two
pink lines.
No, this is sooo not
happening.
She threw it away and grabbed another one, this one made by a
different manufacturer. This was her third test and they all said the same
thing.

Pregnant.

 
She was in denial, pure and simple, but she
was scared as shit most of all. Ever since the day Abe seemed to disregard her
when she approached him at the bar, she had seen less and less of him. The
phone calls or texts that they shared had been short and to the point. She
hadn’t gone over and made him breakfast and there was a part of her that felt
like she was going through withdrawal from not seeing him. Any time she did
reach out to him, tried to get together for lunch or just to talk, he seemed
aloof and distant, acted too busy to have anything to do with her. It pissed
her off, but most of all, it hurt her. What had she ever done to make him treat
her like this? True, she had started keeping her distance first, but she never
acted so nonchalant when they spoke or saw each other.

Her
heart had completely broken in two, and she’d not only lost her best friend but
her other half. For years,
years,
they had been Sophia and Abe, Abe and Sophia. Now they were just two separate
people and it felt wrong.

She
set the new test on the counter after she peed on it and tapped her foot
nervously. How stupid could she have been? Hadn’t she attended health class in
sixth grade to learn how babies were made? Didn’t she understand that when
people had unprotected sex, this could happen? She let her head fall into her
hands and felt tears prick behind her eyes. Sophia had been seeing Hunter for
the past three weeks, but they hadn’t done anything more than kiss. The one and
only time she had given herself to a man was five weeks ago. That man had been
Abe, the same man that no longer wanted anything to do with her.

Several
minutes passed, far more than the allotted time for the test to work its magic.
She picked it up without looking at it and closed her eyes. Taking a deep
breath, she opened her eyes and looked at the test.

PREGNANT.

The
lone word on the digital screen had her pulse pounding in her ears. They could
be wrong, right? Oh, who was she kidding? She was so screwed. How in the hell
was she going to explain this to Abe? If things were different between them,
this would have been a joyous time. She loved Abe, but their fallout and the
way it had transpired made this the worst possible situation. Of course she didn’t
want to keep this from him, but how did one go about telling a man that he’d
knocked her up when he didn’t even remember sleeping with her?

God,
this was so freaking bad. She threw the test in the wastebasket and stood on
shaky legs. The mirror showed a girl she didn’t even recognize. Her eyes
traveled down to her belly and she gripped the edge of her shirt, slowly
raising it up. She was only a few days late, but her boobs had been so swollen
and sensitive, far worse than when her period was going to start. There had
also been a little voice inside of her that had poked her, telling her that
maybe, just maybe, there was something more going on than just her period
starting. She had told that little voice to shut the fuck up, but in the end
she had driven herself to the convenience store one town over and bought
several tests. There was no way she was going to get them at the local
Walgreens and run the risk of someone she knew seeing her buy them and spread
the news like wildfire.