One Chance, Fancy (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 5)

I thought about that for a long moment.

“Well, tonight there’s nothing else we can do,” I admitted. “Everything is closed or closing. What time is your appointment tomorrow?”

“Ten in the morning,” he answered.

“Then tonight we will just be cautious. Do you think she knows where you live?” I questioned.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she did,” he muttered. “The woman is scary good. When all that shit went down with her and me, I had no clue what kind of opponent that I’d be up against. Now I do, and I don’t want to underestimate her.”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “Then, for now, let’s just get you two fed. Do you have an extra shirt you can change in to?”

He frowned. “Why?”

“If we hurry, I’m sure we can go eat,” I told him. “Are you up to eating?”

He looked down at me with a curious glint to his eyes. “You’re not embarrassed to take me around your family?”

My mouth opened and closed, at a loss for words as I tried to process what he’d just said.

“You think that you embarrass me?” I asked carefully.

He shrugged. “Why else would you not invite me?”

“I did,” I told him. “Well, I tried your office today, but you were never in there. I didn’t have your cell number, so I walked over when I got home and left a message at your house. I tried to leave a note, but Brielle took the note off the door as I was walking down the driveway. She told me she’d relay the message, but I have no doubt that she didn’t.”

The nurse came in before he could answer and held out his discharge paperwork. “Have a nice night, Mr. Beauregard.”

Bayou nodded and stood, Isa back in his arms.

We were walking down the hallway and heading into the main lobby of the ER when he answered.

“She didn’t,” Bayou muttered darkly, holding the front door open for me to pass through.

“And since I didn’t have your cell phone number—I got that from Hoax, by the way—I couldn’t call you. I was tempted to go up to your office after my shift was finished and tell you, but I had to work Phantom today. I then thought I’d call my sister to tell you to come when you went to pick up Isa. But then I got to my dad’s and saw that Phantom’s mew was torn up. Some predator tried to get in it last night. Anyway, long story short, I had to fix that and forgot to call my sister. Paired with Brielle…I thought you’d get the message.”

“Is Phantom okay?” he asked, stopping on the path right outside the ER entrance.

“Yes,” I answered, loving the concern in his voice. “Perfectly. I had to repair the damage, though. And it took me longer than I’d intended.”

Isa leaned over and captured a lock of my hair, rubbing it between her two fingers while allowing us to still converse.

She was just a sweet little girl.

“All right.” I nodded once. “I’m going to need to work on it again tomorrow, though. Dad and Mom are going out of town, and I don’t really like to ask anyone else to help. So that means don’t call me if Diane doesn’t show up for work again.”

His lips quirked up at the side, and I had the urge to kiss the quirk.

On that thought, I did.

Leaning up on my tiptoes, I got up as far as I could and waited until he brought his mouth down far enough for me to place a single kiss on the corner of his mouth.

When I pulled away, he was smiling.

“I’ll come help you,” he said. “I took the day off. I have to meet with the lawyer, and then I’m all yours. Though, if we have time, I might steal you away and take you to the dealership with me. I need a new truck so I can give your dad’s back.”

I waved him away. “He doesn’t drive that one. He has four, including the car I refuse to drive, and that one is his work truck. But I have no problem going to the dealership with you. I’ve been meaning to look at them myself. Now that I can afford a vehicle on my paycheck, I think I should probably be investing in something that is a little newer.”

His eyes moved to my truck. “I don’t know. The frame on those trucks are solid, and you’re so high off the ground that if you hit something, like another car, they don’t really have a chance of damaging you…though, if you hit a tree, you’d hit the windshield and then…yeah, you should probably look into a new truck.” He paused. “What do you mean he has a car you refuse to drive?”

I scrunched up my nose. “He bought me this new Ford Taurus a while ago. I didn’t drive it and he traded it in on a new vehicle.”