“You still smell like limes.” She nuzzled against him, intertwining their legs and pressing her body flush against his. “Thank you for tonight. You didn’t have to help, but it means a lot that you did.”

“I’m not sure how helpful I was,” he admitted.

“Are you kidding?” She lifted her head and looked from his eyes to lips. “Besides your impressive lime wedge cutting skills, you had those bachelorettes eating out of your palm. What did you say to them anyway?”

Brushing a soft kiss against her lips, he slid from the bed and pulled on his boxer briefs.

“Tell me,” she pleaded, leaning back on her elbows and staring up at him with big eyes.

“It was nothing. They were drunk and looking for attention. I just gave them what they wanted.”

“No. It was more than that. They weren’t looking at you like they wanted to rip your clothes off, they were in awe. They looked up at you like you had restored their faith in all that was good.”

Chuckling, he laid back down beside her and pushed a loose curl of hair away from her face. “Apparently, I need to up my game. None of them were looking at me like they wanted to rip my clothes off.”

She slapped him playfully. “Seriously. What did you say?”

He cleared his throat, not able to remove the lump that had been lodged there all night. Torn between pouring out the emotions that oozed from his pores and holding back for the right moment, he let out a breath, puffing out his cheeks as the air exited. The hell with it.

“They asked me what I was doing working behind the bar.” He looked down his nose. “Either my outfit or maybe my clumsy bartending skills gave away the fact that I’m not exactly a master mixologist.”

“Okay, so what did you say that had them so entertained by your answer? Did you woo them with your talk of custom suits or the enthralling world of software coding?”

He shook his head. “No, I told them the truth.”

A small smirk on her face, she waved her hand for him to continue.

“I told them that I was there so I could be near the woman I love.”

Inhaling audibly, January’s eyes went wide, and her lips parted. Brecken smiled, pleased with her shock and lowered his mouth to hers.

* * *

After January had fallen asleep, Brecken tossed and turned as sleep evaded him. He’d told a woman that he loved her for the first time. She hadn’t said it back, but he’d barely given her a chance. Whether she knew it or not, she was in love with him too. He knew it as matter of fact as he knew his own feelings. Pushing back the covers, he stood and walked from her bed to the dresser where his phone laid.

Powering the screen on, he winced as messages flashed across the display. Ten texts from Nadia.

They escalated from the first text earlier that afternoon, which asked him to call her and said they needed to talk, to the last text, which was sent an hour ago. That one was in all caps and demanded that he call her or she would track him down and interrupt whatever it was he was doing.

Stepping into the bathroom and closing the door, he dialed her number and clenched his teeth in annoyance.

“Finally, what the fuck, Brecken? I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

“Whatever it is it can wait until Monday morning.”

“No, it can’t.”

“Look, Nadia. I’m sorry if I led you on or if I wasn’t clear on our situation, but I’m dating January now and I’m happy. I’d hoped we could continue our business relationship, but if you can’t handle that, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to replace you.”

Nadia’s shrill laughter made him pull the phone away from his ear. “I’m not going anywhere, and as far as your frumpy girlfriend goes, you might as well breakup with her because I doubt she’s going to stick around once she finds out.”

“Finds out what? What are you talking about?”

“Congratulations, Brecken. You’re going to be a father.”

At first, the words replayed in his head like a fuzzy dream that he couldn’t quite capture and remember, but as they came into focus, he stumbled back and the air left his lungs in a rush. Images of Nadia naked in his bed cycled like a loop, each one making him more nauseous.

“I’m pregnant,” Nadia stated flatly when he hadn’t responded.

“That isn’t possible,” he whispered.

He could hear her speaking but couldn’t make out the words, so he cut her off. “I can’t talk now. We can discuss this first thing Monday morning.”

“But—” she started to object.

“Gotta go, Nadia.”

He ended the call and squeezed the phone, wishing the damn thing would bust into a million pieces. Not even consciously aware that he’d moved from the bathroom back to the bedroom, he slid in next to January and pulled her into him.

No. This was not happening. He’d been careful every single time. Nadia’s laughter filled his head, and he closed his eyes tightly and breathed in January. Felt her soft body mold to his. There had to be some kind of mistake. He’d take care of it first thing in the morning. Without a chance in hell of sleep, he settled in and said a silent prayer for the first time in maybe forever, begging for this whole thing to be nothing but a nightmare when the sun rose over the horizon.

When the first morning light hit and he pressed a kiss to January’s temple before beginning to ease out of bed, he was still firmly inside the terror. She stirred but kept her eyes closed. “It’s early, come back to bed,” she said, her voice rough with sleep.

“Something has come up, and I need to go into the office. Go back to sleep and I’ll call ya later.”

She mumbled a response, and he took only a moment to study her, memorizing every detail of her like this—peaceful and happy.