The Bachelor's Little Bonus (Proposals & Promises 3)

She opened her eyes, noting that he’d dimmed the lights. The cat wasn’t beside her now. “What time is it?”

“After ten. I’ve been working on my laptop, but I think I’ll get some sleep. How are you feeling?”

She yawned. “Okay. Just tired.”

“Should I carry you to bed?”

Laughing softly, she climbed to her feet. “As manly and sexy as that sounds, I’ll walk.”

He rested a hand at the small of her back. “You think I’m manly and sexy?”

“Well, of course.” She reached up to pat his cheek sleepily. “Not to mention a cutie.”

He grunted. “Let’s just leave it at manly and sexy, okay?”

She giggled.

A short while later Cole climbed into her bed beside her and reached out to turn off the bedside lamp. He paused for just a moment with his hand on the switch. “Stevie?”

“Mmm?”

“Have I told you how much I like the way you’ve decorated your house? Especially this bedroom. It’s nice.”

The light went out, leaving her to lie awake for a few minutes in the dark, thinking about how funny life could be sometimes.

An unexpected life, she thought, glancing in the direction of her jewelry box. She was certainly living up to that fortune cookie’s prediction.

* * *

Fortunately, Tess and Jenny arrived together the next evening so Stevie didn’t have to go through explanations twice. Cold air swirled into the house with the new arrivals, and they gathered around the crackling fireplace to shed their coats and scarves, which Stevie stashed in the front bedroom before returning to her friends. Her stomach was tied in knots as she wondered what they’d say in response to her news.

“How are you feeling?” she asked Jenny, shamelessly stalling for a moment.

With a little groan and a rueful expression, Jenny pressed her hand to her tummy. “Okay now, but the mornings are bad. I have to downplay how sick I feel, though, because poor Gavin gets so distraught.”

That didn’t surprise Stevie. She knew how overprotective Jenny’s husband was. Jenny and Gavin had been sweethearts at the university all three of them had attended, though a bitter, youthful breakup had separated them for a decade. Stevie had been delighted when fate had brought the couple back together. And now they were married and having a baby together. Way to go, fate.

Tess smiled sympathetically, though her expression made Stevie wonder if Tess, too, was imagining a day when she and Scott would welcome a child. Ironically, Stevie was the only one of the three friends who’d been in no particular hurry to have a baby, until that capricious fate had stepped in to change her status.

Her friends were both so blissfully in love. Yet, having seen the pain both had gone through during rocky patches in their courtships, Stevie was relieved that she and Cole were being more practical with their relationship. Going into marriage and parenthood the way she and Cole had, with clearly defined boundaries and goals and expectations, should certainly minimize any chance of heartbreak for either of them. There would be challenges, of course, some disappointments and annoyances. She was quite sure she’d irritate the hell out of him at times, though she wasn’t sure he’d tell her if she did. But they would make it work.

She hoped Jenny and Tess would see the logic of those arguments even if they worried that she had been recklessly impulsive again.

She poured tea all around and waited until the others were seated before clearing her throat in preparation to speak. She was a little surprised that neither of her usually sharp-eyed friends had noticed her new rings, but that only showed how distracted they were with their own lives.

So much had changed in the past year, she thought a bit wistfully. So many changes still lay ahead.

Jenny and Tess were looking at her now as if they sensed something momentous was coming. Before she could speak, a plaintive meow sounded from the doorway and Dusty padded warily into the room. The cat had dashed off to hide when the doorbell rang, nervous about the new arrivals. Dusty wasn’t accustomed to company, having lived for a year with her somewhat reclusive owner. But she was too needy to remain hidden away for long when there were potential ear rubs waiting in here.

“Stevie, you got a cat?” Tess asked in surprise, holding out a hand to the little tabby who sniffed it with interest. “She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she? Er, he?”

“She.” Stevie watched with a faint smile as the cat leaped lightly onto the couch between her friends, regally allowing herself to be stroked and admired.

“What’s her name?” Jenny asked.

“Dusty.”

Jenny’s eyebrows rose. “Your neighbor’s cat?” she asked, having heard Stevie mention her cat-sitting sessions. “You’re keeping her here when he’s away now?”