When Rose says yes to the date, my heart soars at the same time my stomach plunges. I literally have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know where to take a date in this town besides a hotel bar that we’ve already been to. This is probably going to end in disaster, but I have to at least try to get to know her as best I can and figure out how this might work.

She looks beautiful in her dressy but casual clothes as I pick her up in my SUV at her shop. I get out, coming around to escort her to the passenger side, ignoring the man in a pink tie giving me the stink eye as he watches from down the street. He’s tall and lean but apparently being held back by an even taller, broad-muscled guy who is physically blocking him from moving, although the block seems rather intimate even from here. It’s a funny sight, but I don’t dare laugh, bringing my attention back to Rose. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Rose says, blushing lightly in the evening chill. “Nice car.”

“It’s a rental. Who’s the welcoming committee?” I ask as I come around and get in. “The guy in the tie looks like he wants to slice and dice me a bit.”

“Nah,” Rose says with an amused smile. “That’s Brad. He’s basically my best friend and has spent quite a bit of the last few months looking out for me. The other guy is his boyfriend, Trey. They’re good people.”

I can dig that, although my flash of jealousy when she said Brad was her best friend and had been taking care of her is a bit of a surprise. I’m not usually jealous to begin with, but the momentary twinge was mitigated by the follow-up that Brad has a boyfriend. At least there hasn’t been another guy coming in to take care of my girl romantically. My girl? Shit.

We settle into my SUV and I follow her directions to a small Italian restaurant just off the main drag toward downtown. Walking in, the smell of garlic and tomatoes is overwhelming, but in a homey mom-cooked dinner sort of way.

“One of the little secrets around town,” she says, seeing my eyes light up.

I nod, taking off my jacket and handing it to the staff member, who hangs it up. “Smells good. Must be a good choice.”

Rose grins, nodding as the hostess leads us into the dining room. “You have no idea. Their pasta primavera is my favorite food, and for months, I couldn’t even think about it without getting sick, much less eat even a bite of it. I’m so glad I can indulge again.”

It’s an off-hand comment, but I realize that she’s had this whole experience so far without me, alone with our baby . . . the good and the bad. It makes me feel like a total asshole for blowing up at her that first night or worrying about my damn job. I tell myself that regardless of what happens between me and Rose, I’m not going to leave her hanging again.

“Well, let’s make sure we make up for it tonight?” I ask, and Rose gives me a smile that makes my cock twitch in my pants. Down, boy. Fuck.

We sit, ordering drinks immediately, and a silence descends over the table as we both nervously sip our sparkling waters. We’re not right back where we were that first night, but I think we can both sense we could be . . . and that’s scary as fuck with the amount of water that’s gone under the bridge the past five months.

Clearing my throat, I decide to take the plunge. “So . . . tell me about the pregnancy, about the baby? I have no idea where to start.”

Rose smiles, relaxing. “I’m about twenty weeks along, about halfway there. Everything is going well, my morning sickness is gone, and I’m feeling good. Jelly Bean, as we call the baby right now, is totally on track. The heartbeat always sounds good. I haven’t felt movement yet, but hopefully soon, and my next appointment is a sonogram.”

It’s a mouthful, and I try to take it all in, let the reality sink in, but there’s still a sense of shock. I mean, it’s probably a shock to most men, but to get that shock plus twenty weeks . . . maybe I should have a designated driver so I could indulge in something harder than the water I guzzle as I try to process. “Wow . . . that all sounds great. Um, Jelly Bean?”

I watch as her cheeks flush, an adorable shyness coming over her. God, she’s fucking sexy, and in my mind, I can’t keep thoughts of that night from coming back.

Thankfully, Rose doesn’t notice. This isn’t the time. “Yeah, that’s just what I call the baby because I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet. ”

My eyes widen. That’s a milestone I haven’t missed. “When do you find out?”

Her eyes drift off into space for a second, and I can see her mentally counting. “Probably in four days, at my next appointment on Friday. Do you . . . want to go with me?”

There’s a hopefulness in her eyes that pierces my soul, and while the fear inside me makes me want to run and pretend none of this is happening, I know that I need to grow the fuck up. Besides, there’s another part of me that is ready to say Yes just to see her beautiful smile again.

“Of course I want to go,” I say, reaching across the small table and taking her hand. “I’d love to see Jelly Bean.”

I can see the relief cross her face. “Great. I’ll send you the address and we can meet there.”

“One thing.”

“What’s that?” Rose asks warily.

“I’d like it if the baby’s name doesn’t end up being Jelly Bean after birth,” I say, smiling.

Rose laughs, nodding. Feeling like we’ve reached a tipping point on pregnancy talk for the moment, I try to direct the conversation to something more neutral, ironically something more along the lines of first date talk since really, that’s what this is.

“How’s business going? I guess the store is doing well if you’ve hired help. I remember before you were saying you worked the boutique by yourself.”

Rose lights up, grinning. “Yes, business is booming, and this year’s ski season is looking to be the biggest yet. Devon was a good choice, and I think by the time I really need to take things easy, she’ll be ready to run things on her own with just a few check-ins each day. Speaking of work, isn’t that what brought you back here?”

I nod, wishing I could say I’d come back for her, but I know if there’s any chance of healing the inadvertent wounds of the past five months, honesty is the best policy. “It is, but I’d like to say fate played a part in it too. The deal with the Mountain Spirit fell through when I was here last, but a week ago, they called us back and wanted to give us another shot. So I’m here to make the arrangements. The ideas we discussed that night were a great help in making our offer more appealing. Not sure I ever really thanked you for that, so . . . thank you.”

Rose dips her head in acknowledgement and says lightly, “So glad I could be helpful. Guess that business degree paid off.”

I hum, sipping my water. The waiter comes by, and we place appetizer orders, garlic toast and calamari. After he leaves, we continue. “Where did you go to school?” I ask. “How’d you end up here?”

Rose smiles, something that I’m finding I like more and more with every passing second. “I grew up in a small town up north, the quintessential tomboy with scraped knees who spent most my time in the woods, hanging out in the trees I climbed, reading comic books, and skipping rocks.”

I’m struck at how much a parallel our childhoods were, and my eyes widen slightly. “Sounds idyllic. What pulled you into running a boutique?”

“When my teen years hit, they were kind to me, and I discovered the fun of clothes, dressing up and all that. My town mostly had folks who dressed for function, and fancy clothes weren’t really understood. Standard first-date clothes for most people when I was in high school were just your cleanest pair of jeans. My love of dressing up made me an oddball, so I escaped with magazines, envisioning a different life than my small town could provide.”

I try to imagine the beauty across from me as a little girl, dirt smudged across her face from climbing trees, and it’s surprisingly easy to do. The image morphs into a teen girl-next-door-type in fancy finery with a town full of jeans and workboot types, and I can see how that would feel isolating. I remember how it felt being the guy who wasn’t into the typical high school sports, who’d rather go rock climbing than carry the ‘rock’ downfield for the football team.

“So, what did you do? How’d you go from home to here?” I ask as again, that sense of fate seems to whisper in my ear.

Rose shrugs her shoulders and points toward the window. “School, more or less. I worked my ass off and was valedictorian of my class. Universities give scholarships to valedictorians, even if the high school is tiny, so I was able to go to my choice, and the state school just to the south of here has a good business program. I double-majored in business and fashion merchandising, figuring out that I liked the business and marketing side better than the designing. I’ll let you in on a secret. While I can sew, I can’t draw to save my life. All of my attempts at designing look like stick figures scrawled in Crayola.”

I grin. “Most models look like stick figures anyway, but go on.”

“As part of my degree, we had to write a business plan and mine was the Mountain Rose Boutique. I’d researched towns all over the state, and at the time, Great Falls wasn’t so great, but I knew it would be because there were proposals for the resort to come in as a boom for the economy and tourism. That business plan was good enough to get me an A, but more importantly, good enough to get me a small business loan when I graduated. As soon as I graduated, I moved and opened Mountain Rose, and it’s been hard but rewarding ever since. The boutique has been my everything for a lot of years now. But I’m ready for something more.”

She smiles at me, absently rubbing her tiny bump, and in my mind, I wonder how much of that more I can be involved in. Before I can interrupt, she asks, “So that’s basically my life story. How about you?”

I laugh a little, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “This feels like Life Stories 101.”

She laughs back, pausing while our appetizers come. “Well, first date basics, at least. Whatcha got, Nic?”

I pause, trying to figure out where to start. “Well, my mom and dad were great, always traveling or planning our next trip. If there was a three-day weekend, we were loading up in the RV to go somewhere. We had our favorite spot, a national park a few hours from home where we’d hike, swim, and just commune with the trees, as my mom always said. I always thought she was perhaps born a little too late. She’d have made a great back-to-nature hippie.”

“Sounds very Left Coast,” Rose says, and I nod.

“That’s Mom. In the summer, we’d load up and be gone for all twelve weeks. By the time I graduated high school, I’d been to every state in the US, even Hawaii, although we had to fly there, obviously. Too bad, Dad really wanted to make a go of sailing it until Mom pointed out that a storm on Lake Sherman is nothing like a storm on the Pacific Ocean. But they brought me up loving everything to do with the outdoors, and I always pictured myself doing something like that. But when I was eighteen, they were adamant that I go to college, finish my education. I ended up doing an internship and met Wes, my boss at ADRENALIN Sports. He was still a bit of an upstart then, but even during the internship, we clicked, so he offered me a full-time job as soon as I graduated. It seemed like the best of both worlds. I could be outdoors, travel and see the states, meet people, and get paid to do it. Surprisingly, I was even good at it. Now, Wes is like an older brother-slash-best friend to me, and I’ve been the VP of Sales for several years now.”

Rose grins, and I’m momentarily distracted as she dips a bit of calamari in marinara sauce and wraps her lush, sensual lips around it before speaking. When she does speak, I have to listen carefully, because a lot of blood’s left my brain to run down to my cock again, and I can barely pay attention. “What about your parents? Do they still travel?”

I grin, nodding. “You won’t believe this, but they travel all the time. After I was done with college and they knew I wasn’t coming home, they sold the house and upgraded the RV, and they live on the road full-time now. Dad’s invested well, and he and Mom have jobs that allow them to work online most of the year. We talk every week, and they’re in a new place every time, having a blast. They even have this little sticker map of the US on the back of the RV that they fill in with tick marks every time they go through that state . . . again.”

Rose laughs, her beautiful blue eyes sparking in the candlelight from the table. “That’s amazing! That seems like such an adventure.”

We talk some more, and before I know it, we’ve worked our way through pasta, bread, and a delicious tiramisu, the whole time laughing and talking, our connection from before just as freaky, deep, and profound. I pay the bill and help Rose on with her coat, feeling warm enough inside that I pull mine on with great reluctance.

Walking outside, Rose jokingly complains as she rests her hands on her belly. “Oh, my gosh, why’d you let me have so much food? You’re going to have to roll me out of here. Or get a forklift!”

I smile back, looking over her curvy frame, not seeing a single flaw. “You look fine to me . . . in fact, you’re beautiful, but if you need a hand, I could carry you to the car?”

Rose groans but blushes at my compliment. “Definitely not, you’d probably break your back!”

She’s such a tiny thing that even with a few pounds of baby weight, I easily swoop her up, one arm below her knees and the other wrapped around her upper back. “Upsy-daisy!”

Rose squeals in terror and delight, grabbing my neck tightly. “Whoa . . . what’re you doing?”

Without a single complaint, I start off across the parking lot toward my SUV, looking half ahead and half in her eyes. “You’re busy growing our baby. The least I can do is feed you, tell you you’re pretty, and carry you home. Well, or to the car.”

She laughs, settling in my arms as she relaxes her grip around my neck enough that I’m not being half choked the whole time. I place her gently in the front seat, reaching the seatbelt across her. I can feel her breath on my cheek, and when I turn to her, I can only think of kissing her . . . but I want this night to be storybook, and in storybooks, the kiss happens at the end of the night.

The drive to her house is full of easy banter, both of us comfortable after an evening of sharing, and she tells me the address quickly, again giving me directions. Pulling up to her house, I open the passenger door and walk her onto the dark porch. It’s a trim little house, what my mother would call a gingerbread house, and with the light frame of frost on the windows, it certainly lives up to that name. “Well . . . here we are.”

Rose looks up at me from under thick lashes, and I can see the conflict inside her before she can even say anything. “Nic, thank you for a lovely date. I, uh . . . contrary to before, I don’t usually move too fast.”

I interrupt her, knowing she’s trying to tell me not to expect anything, and place a hand on her shoulder, stroking down to take her hand, where I can feel her pulse racing like a baby bird’s. “Rose, it’s fine. It is a first date, after all.” I wink at her, and she relaxes but doesn’t let go of my hand at all. “But maybe just a good night kiss?”

I see her bite her bottom lip and it makes me want to be the one to nibble the pink fullness, and when she nods slightly, I go for it, leaning in as I pull her close. I cover her mouth with my own, gently taking her. Her lush body presses against mine, and again, that feeling of fate throbs in the air.

I bring my hands up to her cheeks, holding her to me as our kiss deepens, and I probe her lips with the tip of my tongue. Her lips part slightly on a breathy sigh, and I slip my tongue to caress hers. She tastes me back, and soon, my body is crushed against hers, my cock throbbing in my pants and my heart hammering in my chest.

“Mmm, Rose . . .” I murmur as I feel her arms wrap around my waist, pulling me flush with her body, her bump pressing against me.

Unexpectedly, the thought of her round with my child makes me even hotter, a streak of masculine alpha pride racing through me. The kiss explodes, and I reach up, cupping a breast through her jacket, stroking gently. Our hands begin rubbing and squeezing along our bodies, our moans of passion getting louder, tongues licking and mouths sucking along warm, delicate flesh. I reach down, squeezing her ass and grinding against her, a low groan sounding deep in my throat.

The deep vibration seems to wake Rose up from the spell we’re both under, and she pulls back. “Nic . . . wait, wait. We can’t.”

She’s right, and I let go, releasing her enough to take a half-step back. I take a big breath, exhaling slowly, and bend down to rest my forehead against hers. “You’re right. I should go. Rose, I want this to be more than one night. Can I see you again? Tomorrow?”

Rose shakes her head, and it feels like a punch in my belly as she replies, “I can’t. I have a new shipment coming in tomorrow. Devon and I will be busy for a couple of days getting it all processed and displayed. But Friday, we can go to the doctor?”

I meet her eyes, the desire as naked in mine as it is in hers, and I smile. Friday? That gives me a few days to get things settled with the resort, and I think this time, the manager I’m meeting with up there, Gavin Adams, will be an easy meeting.

“Oh, I want, Rose. I definitely want. I’ll see you Friday.”