Chapter 60

It was a relief when the French toast had a slightly soggy interior. I was almost starting to believe that Mr. Czarn might just be a perfect man, and that was a dastardly falsehood I had to remember. He didn’t treat the French toast as high class, though, and did apologize for it being subpar.

However, when he came around to sit next to me, he hesitated, his eyes downward.

I swallowed my French toast. “What?”

“It’s hard to see from straight on…” he smiled, and his eyes rose to mine. “I haven’t seen it till now.”

I glanced down and realized he meant my baby bump, which by all means wasn’t large at all at only six months but was still there.

“You look cute.”

I flushed and focused hard on my food. Being called cute while pregnant was the last thing I had thought of. I’d never thought being pregnant could be cute. Just big and bloated. But, if the idea of impregnating a girl had done it so much for Joshua that he’d risk stabbing holes in the condoms without telling me, maybe seeing an actual pregnant girl did it for some guys.

That just led to a horrible thought for me.

“You’re not—you’re not interested in me because you get turned on by pregnant girls, are you?”

For a split second, he stared as though the CPU of his brain was lagging over that particular sentence. Then he flushed just as dark as me, so quick I wondered if it made him light-headed.

“No! I mean, you’re cute, and I wouldn’t—I’ve never thought of it that way! I’ve heard of some—well, Kim did say—but I don’t have a collection of pregnancy porn or anything sick like—wait, you’re thinking of your ex, right? No! No, I am not like him, not at all.”

The way he waved his hands and almost fell off the stool, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know, you’re a strange one.”

He had his face turned away from me, but I could still see his ears. “What do you mean by that?”

“When I first met you in the office, or even in the club, I thought you were this cool, confident, always in control kind of guy with an intimidation factor of twenty-five. Like James Bond gone business tycoon.” I leaned my elbow on the stone countertop, leaning my cheek on my hand. “But the more I get to know you, the more you come out as the opposite of that.”

He cleared his throat and glanced at me over a knuckle. “Is…that a bad thing?”

“Nah. I don’t like guys who seem too good to be real.” I slipped a slice of soggy French toast into my mouth. “I’m insecure enough as it is.”

“You keep saying that, but whenever you open your mouth, you sound like, dare I say, cool and confident and in control?” he flashed me a wry half-smirk.

“That’s because I don’t speak unless I’m absolutely sure of what I’m going to say. You only hear about a tenth of my thoughts.”

“Then I’ll make it my personal goal to be witness to them someday.”

“You already have.” I didn’t like admitting this, but heaven forbid this guy should try harder than he already was to get closer to me. I just might die. “I didn’t mean at all to tell you about Joshua or my feelings. I still want to keep you away with a ten-foot pole, but then you have to come in at just the right time and feed me soggy French toast.”

He winced. “I can put it back on the pan. I really am sorry.”

“You cooked me food. What are you sorry for? I’m the one who should be sorry for mentioning it.”

He cleared his throat again, making me wonder if that orange juice had pulped up his vocal cords or something. His ears were still a little pink.

“Um, about this…opposite of what I seemed at first…do you like it? At least more than the, um, James Bond impression.”

I looked at him for a moment, long enough for him to turn his face away again and try to pretend to focus on the remains of his own breakfast, which he’d only succeeded in pushing around his plate.

I smiled. “It’s dorky.”

His nose wrinkled and almost squeaked, “Dorky?” Oh dear, he sounded mortified.

“Hey, don’t bash it. Dorky is the new sexy, if done right.” I’d finished my French toast much quicker than I had anticipated. When the preggo eats, they eat. “Enough flirting, though. I have errands I need to run today. Can you give me your wi-fi password or something so I can figure out where the heck I am in this city?”

“Where do you need to go? I can take you.” He all but jumped from his stool, though I didn’t miss his visible efforts to do it cooly. He even ran a hand down his black hair to smooth over the drying strands that had escaped.

“You can take me, but I guarantee it won’t be any fun. I need maternity clothes.”

“Why would you think that’s not fun for me?”

I gave him a look. “You like buying maternity clothes? Should I be concerned?”

His ears were never going to get back to their normal color at this rate. “I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t—I just go with whatever Kim and my sisters recommend to me when it comes to fashion, but if it’s with you, we could talk. That’s fun.”

“Your ear color is telling me else wise.”

His hands jerked towards his ears, then dropped back into his jean pocket. “You’re teasing me. It’s a far cry better from where we started. And we could get lunch. You gave me permission to spoil you with food.”

“Yet you squeezed in toiletries and clothes anyway.” I gestured down to what I was wearing.

He just gave me a sheepish grin.

“So, can I? Take you on an impromptu date?”

And he somehow managed to give me such a charming look, despite his embarrassment, that I felt myself melting. How anyone could have resisted melting was beyond me. Seriously, how could someone like me even be seen around a man so handsome?

It was getting almost impossible to be defensive against him anymore.

I still made a show of sighing. “Alright. But you need to take me home afterward.”

This didn’t please him. His expression turned stony.

“Alaina…are you sure you’ll feel safe there? I brought you here with cramps. What about Baby Bean? I’m already worried about your stress levels and working.”

“I get that, but I also have morals. Standards, if you need a better word. We’re not married, so it would be a bad idea to live with you, that’s....” I hesitated. “If we get too close before we’re ready to make the commitment, we could screw each other up, royally.” Correction, getting that invested just to be dropped and shattered again might destroy me. I don’t even know how I made it through Joshua anymore. “I’m sorry if that sounds… old-fashioned and hypocritical.”

“No,” he said quickly. “I get it. We can’t rush this too quickly, but I think your and the baby’s safety take precedence over doing things in the right order. But, of course, I’ve already pressured you one too many times, and I don’t want to ruin our first date, so just think on it, okay?”

I rolled my lip beneath my teeth, then reluctantly nodded.

Yes…perhaps, for Baby Bean’s sake…

And kind of hard to do things in the right order when you’ve already put the horse before the carriage and a horse that wasn’t going to be changing positions any time soon.

Still, maybe I’d be lucky, and my words had scared Joshua away for good. Surely, he wouldn’t be chasing after some ex pregnant with someone else’s kid, right?