Natalie Patrick - Boot Scootin' Secret Baby

“Our management services,” Shelby corrected. “A client like Cub Goodacre could provide the kind of financial anchor we need for our business to stay the long course.”

“A client? Cub?” She clutched the case like a life preserver and gave a breathy laugh that didn’t fool a soul. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be interested in a small-potatoes management firm like ours. Would you, Cub?”

“Gee, I don’t know.” He stroked his chin, his eyes downcast as though he were truly considering it. “I was always partial to potatoes.”

Not funny, she warned with a glance, sensing he was up to something.

He lifted the toe of his boot from her pump, situating it so that the sides of their legs kept in contact.

Her entire body stiffened but she did not move away from the warmth of his nearness. “What I meant was, I don’t think we’re ready to handle Cub.”

His gaze met hers from under the shadow of his hat. He cocked one eyebrow and his mouth lifted on one side. “I don’t know, Alyssa, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have handling me.”

She wet her lips. Her fingers caressed the smooth, textured surfaced of her briefcase. “I’m...we’re not prepared for that, Cub. You’re just...too big.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

His husky growl rattled down her spine and created tremors low in her body.

The images and sense memories ambushed her from every direction. The musky scent of their shared bed. The golden light of the sunset streaming on their naked bodies that first time. The insatiable aching deep within her that only the hard, rhythmic power of this one man could ever slake.

A film of sweat dampened the back of her neck; her eyes could not quite focus on anything but Cub’s face, Cub’s incredible body. She swallowed and brushed her hair back with one limp hand.

“It’s...it’s not...bad,” she murmured. “Not bad. But—”

“Are you kidding? It’s terrific!” Shelby reached out to slap Cub on the back, but one cutting glare from under that hat brim made the taller man pause mid-gesture and settle for a light jab in the air. “It’s terrific. Does this mean you’ll consider signing with Crowder and Cartwright?”

“Hell, no.” It came more as a chuckle than a curse or an outright rejection.

“No?” Shelby ran one hand back through the waves of his dark red hair. “But can’t you see the advantages of—”

“Don’t push this, Shelby,” Alyssa whispered, hissing out every s through clenched teeth. “The man said no and that’s it.”

The look on Cub’s face told her that her new assertiveness took him by surprise. And she felt surprise in return that he did not seem put off by the change in her.

Buoyed by the moment of quiet personal triumph, she angled her chin up and straightened her arm to put her briefcase at her side. “We have clients to meet, Shelby.”

“Yeah, I suppose we do,” Shelby muttered. Giving Cub a terse nod, he added, “Nice to meet you, Goodacre. If you should have a change of heart—”

“Alyssa will be the first to know,” Cub finished for him.

“I’ll talk to you later,” she told Cub, hoping the air of aloofness would keep him from seeking her out before she was ready to deal with him.

“Guess you will, ” he replied. “Providing I ain’t too big to talk to you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and contemplated some scathing remark but the sharp, steady beeping of Shelby’s pager intruded.

“Good gosh, Alyssa, this is it.” Shelby spun on his heel and almost ran straight over her in his rush to get to the hotel door.

“Are you sure?” she asked, stopping his flight with an upheld hand. “Remember last time, it was just a desperate plea for Chinese food.”

“Oh, I’m sure all right. I mean she is eight days overdue already and—” He checked the beeper clipped to his belt, then put his hands on Alyssa’s shoulders to gently move her aside. “I can’t have this discussion now, Alyssa. I have to go.”

“But what about our meetings?” she asked her partner’s back.

“You can handle the meetings. I have complete faith in your abilities.” He reached for the silver bar handle on the swinging door.

“But what if I mess up?” Panic strangled her voice.

“You won’t.”

“But what if—”

“You won’t. You’ll do fine.” He shoved open the door and glanced back, a great, big, goofy grin on his handsome face. “I’m the one should be worried, partner. After all, it’s my wife about to have our first baby.”

A whoosh of air and Shelby was gone.

Alyssa’s fingers wound around the briefcase handle until her nails dug into her palm and her knuckles throbbed. What was she supposed to do now? Could she really get out there and pitch the business all by herself?

A wave of nausea hit her, her stomach churned like boiling oil and her skin grew cool and clammy. She did not want all this responsibility to rest on her shoulders just yet. She wasn’t ready and if she failed...

A big hand clamped down on her shoulder, disrupting her misgivings and misery.

Cub. He’d heard the whole exchange. Just when she thought things could not get any more complicated or any more difficulties crop up between her and her dream of independence, the man gently turned her to face him.

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