The Player and the Single Mom

ChapterEight

Cash

When Sera showed up at my place on Saturday, I said hello to Ava, high-fived Johnny, and patted Marigold’s back when she hugged my leg.

Then I let them move past me to the stable and I eyed Sera. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She sounded nervous and she was looking everywhere but at me.

“How have you been?” I asked. We were in my backyard. She and the kids had come around from the front.

She tried to follow the kids, but I blocked her path. I wanted to drink her in, and I wanted her to look at me, to really see me. To read my intention, to know how I felt about her.

“Fine. Okay. Not bad.” She cleared her throat. “You?”

“I want to kiss you so fucking bad,” I said.

Her head snapped up. “What?”

“I miss the way you taste.”

“Oh,” she said, her eyes wide.

That wasn’t quite the answer I had been expecting. I had thought she would tell me to knock it off. I studied her. Sera looked very pale. She’d lost all traces of the color she’d gotten from the sun in Mexico. She was also thin and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

“I’m totally fine. I just had a head cold last week. I haven’t been sleeping well.” She shifted around me and started walking toward the ring to wait for the kids to ride.

“You going to ride today? I’ll tell Jim to pull a saddle for you.”

“No, not today. I’m just going to watch.”

“I’ll watch with you.” I fell into step beside her. Maybe she was pissed at me about Miles and Toni finding out about Mexico. “I’m really sorry about Miles finding that picture of us in Cancun. I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

That was a shocker. Secrecy had seemed very important to her when we were on vacation.

It was a warm spring day and I peeled off the flannel shirt I was wearing. I tossed it over my shoulder.

Sera glanced over and bit her lip when she saw my bare arms. I had the distinct feeling she was craving me as much as I was her. I worked really hard on not getting an erection. I tried to discreetly adjust my cock.

She definitely saw that. She made a sound in the back of her throat. “Is there a problem with your, you know?”

“Nothing a night with you wouldn’t fix.”

“Oh Lord. Sorry I asked.”

We reached the fence and I put my boot up on it. I leaned my elbows on the top rail. “I had a dream about you last night.”

“You did? Do I even want to know?”

“Not if you don’t want to hear about how I was going down on you and you were playing with your nipples and saying my name.”

“Cash.”

“Yes?”

“You’re distracting me.” She leaned against the fence next to me, facing away from the ring, rubbing her face. “I’m getting flustered.”

“That’s the idea.”

“I need to talk to you,” she said to me, swallowing hard. “In private.”

Interesting. “Okay. Shoot.”

“We should go in the house. I don’t want anyone to hear this. It’s serious. Really serious.”

That gave me some cause for concern. “Okay. After you.” I put my hand out.

All kinds of horrible scenarios ran through my head as we walked exactly to where we had just come from, then entered the back door into my kitchen. “Do you want a drink or anything?”

She shook her head. “I just need to get this out.”

That was so ominous I was getting scared she had an actual health scare.

Sera put her hand on the kitchen island, like she needed to steady herself. “Cash?”

“Yes?” Jesus, I was about to have a heart attack. I gave the outward appearance of calm but my guts were like hamburger.

“I’m pregnant.”

It took me a second to comprehend. “You’re pregnant?”

She nodded.