Rushed (Adventures in Love 1)

“Tanner and Mav are in the office with Everly.” She opens the door for me, and I slip off my jacket. A couple of months ago, Tanner, Mav, and Blake all agreed that they needed to hire someone to help run the office, especially with Tanner wanting to take some time off to be home with the baby and me after I give birth. But even with them all agreeing, Blake dragged his feet on actually choosing someone, so Mav took it upon himself to hire Everly, a cute little brunette with a ten-month-old son who just moved to town.

“How’s that going—is Blake coming around to the idea of having Everly around?” I ask, following her through the lodge.

“Blake is avoiding the office and Everly as much as possible.” She gives me a look over her shoulder with a knowing glint in her eyes, and I laugh.

“I thought I heard your laugh.” Tanner steps out of the office and makes a beeline for me. “Hey, sunshine.”

“Hey.” I lean up for a kiss when he bends down to brush his lips across mine.

“How are my girls today?” he asks while palming my belly.

“Me and your son are good,” I say with a smile, and he chuckles.

“I was just about to make some lunch—are you hungry?” Janet asks, and I shake my head.

“No, thank you—I ate before I drove down,” I tell her, and she nods.

“I’ll be in the kitchen. Come visit with me before you take off.”

“I will,” I promise, and she smiles at Tanner before wandering off down the hall. Once she’s out of sight, Tanner slides his hand up my back, and I turn to focus on him.

“Did you drive the Subaru?” he asks, and my nose scrunches. About a month after we confirmed that I was pregnant, he bought me a brand-new Subaru, insisting that it’s safer than my Bronco, but I’ve only driven it a handful of times, something that I know annoys him greatly. “Baby.”

“I like my car.”

“I know you do, and I understand why, but it’s not safe for you and our baby to be in your car.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not.” He gives me a look that says clearly he’s not happy. “If something was to happen to you, I couldn’t—” His jaw clenches as he cuts off his statement, and my stomach twists because I know that’s his worst fear, and I get it because I don’t know what I would do if something were to happen to him.

“Okay,” I say softly, resting my palm against his chest and feeling his heart thumping hard. This isn’t our first conversation on this subject, but I’ve never seen real worry from him about it until now. “I’ll drive the Subaru from now on.”

“Promise?” His eyes search mine, and I nod. “Thank you, sunshine.” He wraps his hand around the nape of my neck, then touches his lips to mine. When he pulls away, his eyes go over the top of my head. I look to see what or who has caught his attention and see Blake standing a few feet away.

“Cybil.” Blake comes to greet me; then, like he’s done for a while now, he places a kiss on my cheek. “How’s my nephew?” His eyes drop to my stomach.

“Good, active—especially when I want to sleep,” I tell him, and his eyes soften.

“Not much longer and he’ll be keeping you up all night like Taylor’s doing to Margret,” he says with a warm smile, referring to his sister’s newborn daughter, Taylor, who’s already crawling around and giving Margret a run for her money.

“I can’t wait until he’s here so they can entertain each other,” I say, and Tanner cuts in.

“You two really need to stop referring to my daughter as a boy.”

“He is a boy.” I turn to grin at him as I rest my hand on my stomach.

“She’s not,” he denies, then looks at Blake when he chuckles. “Everything okay?”

“Yep, just need to get the guest list printed so we’re ready for tomorrow,” Blake tells him, looking toward the closed office door.

“Everly already took care of it,” Tanner tells him, and instead of looking impressed, Blake looks annoyed.

“Right, then I’m going to—”

His words are cut off when pain slices through my stomach and back, and I reach out and dig my nails into his bicep and cling to Tanner’s shirt so that I don’t fall to my knees.

“Sunshine.” Tanner’s panicked voice cuts through the fog of pain, and I take a deep breath. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” I answer once I’m able; then I meet his worried gaze as my heart starts to race. “It’s too early for me to go into labor, right?”

“You think you’re in labor?”

“I don’t know.” I hold my stomach, which feels tight. “I think so.” Tears fill my eyes because something isn’t right.