Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Hi.” Sierra pushes Caleb away. “It’s so nice to meet you. Officially.” She hugs her, and Collins lets out a breath. “I wanted to come and see you before to thank you for helping that day I was—”
“Shot,” Caleb finishes, making us all laugh. “That was fun, we should do that again, never.” He goes back to his chair to sit down, and Sierra walks by him, and the two of them share a word.
“Let’s sit.” I pull out a chair for Collins and wait for her to sit before I take my seat.
“You okay?” I ask quietly.
She moves her head to murmur in my ear. “I thought I was going to vomit on Caleb. His cologne is not good. The baby does not like it at all.”
I can’t help but laugh. Then, in the middle of the bar with probably all eyes on us, I lean in and kiss her lips softly before going back to whisper in her ear: “It’s a good thing other men make you sick.”
“I didn’t say other men make me sick. I said the smell of his cologne makes me sick.”
I look into her eyes, a huge smile on my face. “Same thing.” I kiss her again, and she rolls her eyes.
“Well then,” Caleb says, “I guess that answers most of my questions.” He takes a pull of his beer.
“I’m afraid to ask what questions,” Sierra says. “And whatever the questions were, it’s none of your business.” She turns to Collins. “So I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Um.” Collins reflexively puts her hand on her stomach. “Thank you.”
“How are you feeling?” Sierra asks.
“Good. A little tired at times, but other than that, I’ve only been sick a couple of times, and the first trimester is over, so that is a good thing.”
“Hey.” We look over to see Brady, one of the bar’s owners, coming to us. “Collins, this is a surprise. You rarely ever come in here.”
She looks down and then looks back up at him, the shield up. “I know,” she replies.
“It’s nice to have you,” he says, and her mouth opens a bit in shock.
“It’s nice to be here.” She looks at me, and I can’t help but smile at her.
I lean in to kiss her again. “What do you want to eat?” I ask her.
Brady has his own shocked look, which he quickly covers with a huge smile. If anyone knows how I’ve been, it’s Brady, since this used to be my go-to to pick up women.
“I guess this is why we haven’t seen you around.” He motions with his chin to me. “This is better.”
“Don’t I know it.” I put my arm around Collins’s shoulders and pull her to me, kissing the side of her head.
“I don’t know if that’s code or anything,” Collins says, “but thanks.”
She makes us all laugh, and I feel her guard go down as I order food. She orders the same thing.
The meal is quick, and when I see it’s almost eight, I push away from the table. “This was fun”—I look at Caleb—“but Collins works at three in the morning, and she has to get to bed by nine.”
“That’s in an hour,” Caleb teases me.
“Yeah, well, we have things to do before.” A gasp flies out of Collins’s mouth at the same time Sierra throws her head back and laughs.
“Don’t feel bad,” Sierra says. “When I was in the hospital, he climbed into the bed with me and refused to move when the doctor came in.”
“He wasn’t a doctor,” Caleb tries to defend himself.
“He was a resident,” Sierra clarifies, “and you made sure he knew I was spoken for.”
“Fucking right.” Caleb folds his arms over his chest. “He was giving you googly eyes every single time he came to ‘check up on you.’” He uses quotation marks for the last part of the sentence. “You were fine.”
“We have to do this again soon,” Sierra suggests, “but at our house, so it’s quieter.”
“I would love that.” Collins gets up. “I’m off this weekend again.”
“That’s good to know,” I interject, slipping my hand in hers as we say goodbye and walk out of the restaurant.
“Aren’t you going to pay?” she asks me, and I shake my head.
“Caleb will get it.” She looks over her shoulder toward Caleb, who now has his hand in Sierra’s as he kisses her fingers and tosses his card down. “So you’re off this weekend?”
“Yeah, I traded with someone else who needed next weekend off.”
“So we get the whole weekend?” I look at her sideways. “The whole weekend where we can lock the doors and just be together.”
She throws her head back and bursts out laughing, making me stop in the middle of the street. I turn to her and wrap my free hand around her neck. “Will you stay with me at my house this weekend?” I ask her softly, taking our joined hands and wrapping them around her waist. “Just this weekend, and then after you can decide.”