Pit Stop: Baby! (Crescent Cove 4)

“Hmm?”

“Where are we going to find Legos?”

“Guess we’re going shopping tomorrow.” He stood up and dragged me to my feet. “Tonight will be a kamikaze maze of cups.”

“Why are you being so…I don’t know…cool about this?”

“It’s a problem we’ll figure out together, that’s all. It’s not about being cool about it.” He slid his arms around me. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I just found you, dammit.”

I curled my arms around his neck and held on tight. I’d never had anyone just hold me. Worried glances between my parents were a staple for sure, but just holding me and telling me it was all right?

Yeah, not so much.

Every damn thing was new territory with this man. And I was growing to care more about him by the minute.

Eighteen

I was about to switch allegiances with realtors. If Oliver showed me one more new build, I was going to toss him into Crescent Lake. With a small prayer, I tapped in the address into my GPS and headed out.

A ten-minute drive from town should make Rylee happy at least.

When I finally told her I was house hunting.

Sweet Jesus, I hope she didn’t try to de-ball me. Ever since I’d gotten her fired, she’d been stressing about her job situation. I wanted to take care of her, but she was hellbent on the independent woman action.

Which I appreciated…in theory. Until she thwarted me at every turn.

However, I had won the Legos argument that first night and the ones since. I was pretty in tune with her now that I stayed at her place most nights, but one night she did get up without me noticing. Probably because I’d been up late the night before and sleeping a little more soundly than I usually did.

She’d stepped through my Legos landmine and swore a blue streak. It sure as shit woke her up. Point one for the Kramer camp.

I was still in the losing column. Considering I’d started off that way with our first meeting, it wasn’t all that surprising.

From the first bet, she’d been one-upping me. And had been ever since.

Rylee hadn’t been kidding about her peanut butter obsession. I was ready to get a Costco membership just to keep up with her.

Christ, me and a wholesale membership. Wasn’t that a fucking kick? But I was ready for it. My mom kept tearing up every time she saw me thanks to our family dinner the other night.

Breaking the news to them felt much like I was a teenager telling my mom and dad a rubber broke, but I was pretty sure Dare had already broken them in on the shock factor. He’d done it twice.

But in my mom’s mind, it meant I was sticking around. Hence the tears every five minutes. Oh, and the random onesies she kept showing me whenever I came home to do laundry. She was firmly in the “it’s a girl” camp. I was pretty sure Rylee was too.

During our doctor’s appointment, she’d just wanted to make sure the baby was healthy. I wanted to know the actual sex of the baby. I figured I should know if I needed to buy a shotgun or an extra racing helmet.

Though knowing my luck with the fairer sex, if I did have a girl, she’d probably be the next Danica Patrick just to make me insane.

Then I’d need shotguns and valium.

Telling Rylee’s mom and dad had been a little more of an ulcer-inducing affair. Especially for me because Ry didn’t want to tell them her sleepwalking was a problem again. There’d been some disappointment and worry between them. Add in the grilling I had endured from her father, and I felt like I’d been on the last lap of a very shitty race by the end of the dinner.

Not to mention the “What are your intentions toward my daughter” daggers I got through the meal from Mr. Ford. I had not been invited to call him Doug. I wanted to reassure them that my sole goal was to get Rylee to see me as the forever guy she needed. Unfortunately, she’d been quick to throw me under the bus.

Independent woman.

I’d said curse words with less vehemence lately.

She was so worried about telling everyone she could handle everything, I was left on the sidelines looking like a chump half the time.