Page 61 of Forsaken Trail (Runaway 4)

She waved it off. “It’s fine.”

Was it fine? Because it felt right. So fucking right. Like we should have been kissing all along. Every day.

“Aria.” Marty poked his head around the corner. “Miss Julia from the diner is here. She was hoping to meet you.”

“Okay.” Aria put on a smile. “Be right there.”

“I’ll see you at home,” I said after Marty disappeared.

Aria nodded, her eyes fixed on a rose. She didn’t look up as I turned to leave. The color had drained from her face. Her hand rested on the swell of her belly. She looked . . . petrified.

Damn it.

What the actual fuck had I been thinking?

“Oh my God.” Aria gasped as light flooded the kitchen. Her hand was pressed to her heart. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” I said from my seat at the island.

“What are you doing?”

“You asked for dinner together.”

“On Monday.” She walked into the room, wrapping her arms around her middle. “That was three days ago. And it’s nine o’clock.”

I shrugged. The stool was hard and my ass had gone numb hours ago. As darkness had settled outside, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to move.

“You didn’t eat?”

“I was waiting.” And thinking. And kicking myself in the ass for kissing her earlier.

Aria’s shoulders fell and her arms dropped to her sides. She was wearing a baggy sweatshirt that hit her midthigh. Her toned legs were encased in black leggings. Her feet were bare and her toes painted a sexy hot pink.

Maybe waiting, hoping she’d show, had been a bad idea. I’d wanted to apologize and work this out. But now, seeing her relaxed and at home here, well . . . now I wanted to kiss her again.

“I’m sorry about the kiss,” I said. “When it comes to you, I can’t seem to help myself.”

She padded to the seat beside mine.

I pulled it out for her, waiting until she sat. Then I twisted, leaning an elbow on the counter. I’d discarded my navy pinstripe jacket in my bedroom. I’d rolled up my baby-blue shirtsleeves and undone the top two buttons. Even my tie was gone.

“What are we doing, Brody?” she asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.

“No idea.”

“What do you

want?”

You. To be a good father. “A healthy baby.”

“Then that’s our common ground. It has to be our common ground.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“But—”

“Please, don’t leave,” I blurted. That was all I could think about tonight. That my kiss in the shop earlier would drive her away.