The Matchmaker Bride by Ginny Baird

Author:Ginny Baird
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Women’s Fiction;Sweet Romance;Romantic Comedy;Contemporary American Fiction;Contemporary Women's Fiction;Family Life Fiction;Women's Humorous Fiction;Small Town Romance;Wedding Romance;Contemporary Romance;The Matchmaker Bride by Ginny Baird;The Duplicate BRide by Ginny BairdMass Market Paperback Romance;Entangled Publishing Romance;Amara Romance;Single Title Romance;Stand Alone Romance;Series Romance;Blue Hill Brides Series;Fake relationship romance;Pretend relationship romance;Fake Fiance Romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2021-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Meredith woke up feeling totally grossed out from her sugar coma. How much ice cream had she eaten?

Oh yeah.

She pulled the covers over her head.

All of it.

“Good morning,” Derrick said from the kitchen and sounding awake. Unlike her. Ugh. “Coffee?”

Meredith lowered the blankets and rubbed her eyes. “Coffee sounds good, thanks.”

“How’d you sleep?” he asked. Naturally, he was in a good mood. He was taking Olivia out for ice cream. No. Scratch that. Frozen blueberry yogurt. Only low-fat and healthy would do. Which had totally been her idea. Yay. She should be so proud of herself.

Only she wasn’t.

Meredith propped herself up on her elbows. “Okay, and you?”

“Slept like a baby.” Sunlight flooded the kitchen behind him as he carried over a coffee mug and set it down on the table beside her. She nodded in thanks.

“Yeah, so I heard.”

His forehead rose, then fell. “Oh no, was I snoring?”

She pinched her thumb and forefinger together. “Just a smidge.”

He winced. “Sorry. Olivia used to say I snored like a bear.”

“Huh.”

He shook his head. “That’s how she got her nickname for me: Cuddly Bear.”

Ick. A big tough guy like him called Cuddly Bear? No. She couldn’t see it. Imagining Olivia saying it was even worse. Cuddly Bear, coo-coo-coo. Baby talk. Ick. Ick. Ick.

“And she was Sweet Pea, how cute.” Meredith hated that her tone dripped with sarcasm. Why should she care?

Derrick seemed to be wondering that, too. He set his hands on his hips. “Is something wrong?”

Meredith sipped from her coffee, which was nice and strong. Good. She needed a swift kick this morning. Like, in the brain. Did I really eat all that ice cream? Whyyyy????

“Nope, not really,” she answered him. “I was just thinking of nicknames, and the one you call me.”

“Oh yeah?” He sat down beside her in a chair as she propped herself up in the sofa bed.

“Yeah. And I’ve decided I should call you one, too.”

“Have at it,” he said, not looking the least bit afraid.

She took a sip of coffee. “What do you think of Der?”

“Der?” he asked. “As in, you dare me not to call you Mer again?”

“That’s right.”

His eyes danced. “Fine by me.”

Wait? Fine?

“Sounds kind of daring. Rugged. Dangerous.” He set his elbows on his knees and stared at her, holding his chin in his hands.

“You are so not…” She caught a whiff of his cologne and lost her bearings. He’d dressed in jeans and a maroon polo shirt, and his hair was still damp from his shower. Olivia probably couldn’t wait to get her hands on that hair and run her fingers through it. “Da…dangerous,” she finished, recalling where she was.

His lips twitched. “At least we’ve established that part.” He stood and glanced at the door. “I’m going to go and work on the cradle for a bit. It’s nearly done.”

“That’s great.” Her voice was kind of a growl. So she took another sip of coffee, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Wasn’t his fault that his world was all glowingly perfect right now. She could take a lot of the credit for that.

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