What to Expect When She's Expecting by Laurel Greer

Author:Laurel Greer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-03-28T19:38:01+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Do you think they know?” Aleja asked, taking a soda and lime from Gray. She would have whispered it, but it was too loud in the Loose Moose. The bar was a Sutter Creek institution of cheap beer, black walls and neon signs, and conveniently, karaoke on the third Saturday of the month, coinciding this year with Nora’s birthday. They’d amassed quite the group for the occasion, so had claimed the longest table.

Gray took a seat across from her, colored lights from the sunken-dance-floor-turned-stage catching the irresistible angles of his face. A few seats away, Emma’s fiancé, Luke, sat with a few of their other friends and his cousin Brody. The other Emerson was in town from Seattle for the weekend, helping Gray’s sister Bea plan her wedding to a Seattle-based financier. Why Brody was helping with wedding plans instead of Bea’s fiancé, Aleja didn’t know, nor did she have time to poke around for answers. She had enough to worry about with her own life.

Talk about people poking around for answers—Aleja was surprised someone hadn’t sent out a community bulletin, based on the number of people curious about her life choices.

“Does who know what about what?” Gray asked.

“Us kissing in public. Twice.”

“Oh, did we?” His gaze twinkled, shifting from extra blue to almost purple under the colored lights of the bar. “It’s been so long, I forgot.”

She nudged him with her elbow. “You’re the one who’s been avoiding me for two freaking weeks.”

“It wasn’t avoidance, Ley. Just caution.” He took a pull from his beer bottle. “A bit of self-preservation, until you decided what you wanted.” He cocked a brow. “You knew where I was.”

“I did. And I was...working.” And being a chicken. A needy, desperate chicken. She was aching inside, ready to slake her desire to kiss him, touch him.

“You know, it wasn’t just in public. I kissed you elsewhere once, too.” He smirked. “You seemed to like that.”

“Shh!” She couldn’t be sure the crowd at the other end of the table was out of earshot, even with the cacophony of Emma, Nora and Bea attacking a Kacey Musgraves song on the karaoke stage.

Straightening, he shifted around the end of the table and took the seat next to her. His muscles-for-days forearm, bare below his rolled-up sleeve, touched her own forearm through the knit of her sweater dress. Why did that feel so good? More than warmth. Something indescribable.

Undeniable.

Want. You want him. Not just once, either.

She did, dang it. He was sweet and attentive and kissed like he wanted to make her float to the clouds. But was getting involved with him worth the complications? Beyond being the topic of conversation, beyond their family members’ potential surprise and confusion, could she find room in her life for a partner when she was so intent on parenting alone?

If they were together, at what point would Gray want to play a role in the babies’ lives? If he did, he’d have to be ready for people’s questions about why he was raising kids who looked nothing like him.

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