It made me want to cry.
Which was just stupid.
Instead, I forced a smile and joked, “Boy, I could use a drink.”
We headed toward the sales counter to pay for everything. “Good. Because that’s the second half of your surprise.”
“There’s a sequel?”
“Baby, I don’t do things in halves.” He grinned and then winked at the sales assistant who was ringing up our things.
“What about all the stuff we just bought?” I glanced around at all the items stacked up on the counter.
He waved it off. “They’re going to deliver it tomorrow.”
Caleb handed the sales assistant his credit card and they exchanged a look. She looked away with a flirtatious and knowing smile and my stomach knotted with jealousy. I glared at her but she was too busy ringing up the sale to notice.
I was being ridiculous, so I turned away and leaned my back against the counter.
“So does part two involve a blindfold, too?” I asked sheepishly.
“No.” He gave me a sideways glance. “I mean, if you want it to . . .”
I rolled my eyes but smiled. “No, I’m good.”
“Thank you very much, Caleb,” she said as she handed him back his card.
Again, he winked and again I felt it stab at my heart when I noticed the chemistry between them. “Thanks, darlin’.”
I followed him out of the store, silently chastising myself for hating on the sales girl so much. It wasn’t her fault she was young and pretty, and just his type.
“Where to now?” I asked as we climbed into the car.
“Like I said, it’s a surprise.”
I rolled my eyes and put on my seatbelt. My mood was getting flatter by the minute because my hormones were all over the place like they were on some kind of amusement park ride. I was a slave to them and their ridiculous thoughts.
“Everything okay?” Caleb asked, glancing over as he steered the SUV through traffic.
“Just tired, I guess.” It was a lie. I was busy thinking about him having sex with the sales girl and it was slowly making me insane. And I hated how insane I was being. One minute I wanted us to be friends, and just friends. The next, I wanted to wrap him up and keep him all to myself.
Clearly I was falling for him.
And insane.
Maybe it was because I was about to have his baby
Or maybe I was genuinely falling in love with him.
Either way, it was bullshit. A big, pile of bullshit. Nothing good could come of whatever my heart was up to, and I had to stop it before it went any further. I could hear my mother’s voice echoing through the years to reach me. “Don’t trap a man with a baby, Honey. He’ll just end up resenting you.”
I looked over at him driving and my chest tightened with longing.
He glanced over at me, then suddenly pulled the car off to the side of the road and killed the engine. He rested a strong, muscular arm across the steering wheel as he turned to face me.
“Okay, what’s going on?”
I looked at him blankly. “What do you mean?”
“Ever since we left the store you’ve been . . . flat.”
“Really?”
I tried to sound surprised.
Because there was no way in hell I was admitting anything.
But Caleb wasn’t fooled and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Nuh-uh. Something is going on with you. Now spill.”
The sudden urge to cry hit me like a wall of water and it was impossible to hold back.
“Do you want to date her?” I blurted out, knowing I sounded like a jealous, crazy lady but unable to stop. Because apparently, I no longer had a filter.
Caleb looked mildly perplexed. “Date who?”
“Old Sally smiley face back there!” I exclaimed.
Caleb’s mild perplexity turned to outright confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“But I don’t!”
“The sales assistant! The one with the big boobs and the flirty eyes!” I cried. “The one you couldn’t keep your eyes off.”
“The girl in the baby store?”
“Yes, the girl in the baby store! Could you have been more obvious about wanting to fuck her?”
Caleb looked at me like I’d spoken to him in Dothraki. But I ignored him and continued headfirst into my meltdown.
“Admit it. You can’t wait to get me home so you can turn back around and go fuck her.”
“In the store?”
“No, on a date, you ass!” I exclaimed. “You’re going to dump me home and then call up fucking . . . whatever her fucking name is . . . “
“Sally Smiley Face, if memory serves,” he said calmly.
“Yes, fucking Sally fucking not pregnant Smiley face!” I wailed.
“That’s a pretty long name to cry out when I come. You know, since I’m going to be fucking her later.”
My eyes turned to saucers. “See! I knew it. You do want to fuck her.”