It Started with a Pregnancy

by Christy Jeffries

Eventually, she took a step back, forcing his hand to drop as she pivoted to rearrange some papers on her desk. Without making eye contact, she began to speak. “Well, I appreciate you stopping by and...you know...”

  “Bringing you your keys?” he suggested, not about to let her simply dismiss him without some sort of confirmation that she would be in contact with him soon. “Oh, and for offering my unflagging support at the doctor’s appointment as well as with any decisions that need to be made?”

  “Are you hoping for a certain decision, Grant?” Even from this side view, he could see her shoulders square off as though she was preparing for battle. So it was no surprise when she fully faced him with the dimples in her cheeks completely hidden as she forced out a heavy breath. “Perhaps one that lets you off the hook?”

  For the first time in his life, he felt completely unequipped to handle the situation before him. Grant was the problem solver in his family, the one who dropped everything to help those who needed him. However, the determined line of Rebekah’s clenched jaw suggested that she didn’t want his assistance in solving this problem.

  Not that her being pregnant was a problem, he corrected himself as he rolled his shoulders backward to loosen the tense muscles.

  He carefully thought about his next words. “Actually, if the decision were up to me, I’d have a house full of kids.”

  Her perfectly arched brows shot nearly to her hairline, and before she could open her mouth, he already knew what she was thinking.

  “Not that I would have purposely gotten you pregnant!” The words tumbled out of his mouth defensively and his right hand lifted as though he were swearing a solemn oath.

  “Shhh!” Her eyes darted right past him and toward the reception desk. From outside the office, he could hear a door opening and what sounded like a couple of volunteers discussing last night’s episode of Top Chef.

  He lowered his voice. “I’m just stating for the record that none of this was my intent. In fact, I even used that hot-pink condom that left glitter all over my...”

  She immediately clapped her hand to his mouth.

  He mumbled more words behind her palm, but she didn’t remove it. So he did what any man would do when presented with a beautiful woman’s skin so close to his lips. He kissed the sensitive spot right between her thumb and forefinger.

  Rebekah yanked her palm back and her eyes narrowed into a warning glance. Her voice came out in a fierce whisper. “Well, at least I had...protection.”

  Her implication hung in the air between them.

  “Listen, I’m sorry for not being better prepared.” It was an odd feeling, being on the defensive like this, and for a moment it was difficult for him to get the words out. “As much as you might want to think otherwise, I usually don’t go home with—”

  “Grant,” Aunt Bunny interrupted as she swept into the office. Rebekah jumped away from him so quickly, he heard a thunk against her desk. The sweet older woman glanced down at his preferred beach attire. “I wasn’t expecting you this early. Were the waves too small to hold your interest this morning?”

  “You know me too well, Aunt Bunny.” Grant lifted his arms and shrugged his shoulders. “When I saw that the surf was under two feet, I caught an earlier flight into Raleigh–Durham and figured I’d rent a car and swing by to go over the marketing plans for the upcoming adoption events.”

  Bunny’s attention turned to Rebekah, who was holding herself so rigidly she could’ve been one of his surfboards. Except with many more curves. Did it make him a bad person to want to pull the sexy and stiff woman close to him and run his hands along her waist and over her full hips until she relaxed and melted in his arms?

  His normally absentminded aunt might tend to pay more attention to animals of the four-legged variety than she did to humans, but her eyes were uncharacteristically sharp as her glance bounced back and forth between Grant and Rebekah. Finally, Bunny asked, “Where are they?”

  “Where are what?” Grant sidestepped around the upholstered chair, pivoting his body in the hopes of blocking Bunny’s view of the empty pharmacy bag threatening to fall off Rebekah’s desk again. He had to command his own eyes not to scan the room for the prenatal vitamins.

  “Your marketing plans?” His aunt lifted a thin gray brow.

  “Oh. On my laptop,” Grant replied, hoping she wouldn’t ask why he’d left his computer in the rental car. He didn’t want to admit that he’d been in such a hurry to follow Rebekah inside the building this morning, he hadn’t given his initial excuse for flying into town a second thought.

  “All that will have to wait.” Bunny waved a work-roughened hand at him. “Since I have both of you together, come outside and see our new sign. The old one was destroyed with all that tornado damage, and we wanted to install an extra one at the edge of the parking lot so people can now see it from the road.”

  “Oh, they’re early.” Rebekah jumped at the excuse to get out of the office and away from the conversation they’d been having. Literally. Her knee-length skirt fluttered open at the slit as she made a little hop to skip past him.

  As he followed her and Bunny past the reception desk and through the lobby, Grant had to restrain himself from hurrying to catch up with them. Now that Rebekah was no longer watching him so intently, waiting to see if he’d give the wrong reaction, he could take a moment to let her words sink in.

  She was possibly pregnant. With his child.

  What he’d told her about wanting a house full of children was true. However, he hadn’t expected to become a father quite so soon. Rebekah’s earlier revelation had landed like a sucker punch to the gut. The blow had been swift and unexpected and heavy, dropping him into the chair as he attempted to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Then, just as quickly, Rebekah had pulled back emotionally, that initial hit leaving a hollow, empty feeling in his stomach.

  He was used to being needed and usually relished his role as the guy who came in and solved things. It was what made him so good at his job. It was why his mom and his sisters often relied on him to keep his family’s surf shop on top of the latest trends. It was why he was currently in Spring Forest to oversee his elderly aunts’ troubled financial situation.

  But Rebekah didn’t seem to want anything from him. At least, not yet. Maybe she would change her mind after the appointment next week.

  Either way, the woman would need to get used to Grant being around. If she was, in fact, having his child, she would soon learn that he always put his family first.

  Chapter Three

  Rebekah had never been so relieved to see someone as when Bunny Whitaker had walked into her office five minutes ago. Sure, she’d had to paste a calm smile on her face while awkwardly reaching behind her blindly in order to shove the bottle of prenatal vitamins into the tote bag sitting on top of her desk.

  Still, the older woman’s fortunate arrival got Rebekah away from facing more of Grant’s potential follow-up questions. Questions Rebekah didn’t have all the answers for yet.

  Speaking of the man, his flip-flops smacked against the flat gravel as he caught up with them in the parking lot. Rebekah’s jaw clenched as he approached behind her. She had to swallow several times and take deep breaths in through her nose—not so much from annoyance at the man for always appearing at the worst times, but from the fact that her stomach was still doing somersaults and she was afraid that the morning-sickness fairy was currently paying her a visit.

  “Hey, Aunt Bunny, what happened to the logo that my graphic designer sent you?” Grant asked from behind Rebekah’s shoulder. Rebekah’s eyes shot to the five-foot piece of painted aluminum tilted between two men wearing Signs 4 Less T-shirts.

  Oh, no. Rebekah ignored the tiny rocks flicking between her toes and the soles of her wedge sandals as she strode across the parking lot to make sure she wasn’t reading the sign wrong. She could hear her boss’s voice as Bun
ny and Grant caught up to her.

  “Well, the owner of Signs 4 Less felt real bad about not taking our advice to get his dog spayed, so when we found foster homes for all of her puppies, he offered to give us a great price if we just used standard lettering with no artwork.”

  “But I’d already negotiated a deal with the sign company out of Raleigh,” Rebekah said. “I left the contract on your desk last week so you could approve it and sign it.”

  “I know, honey, but poor Marv had really bonded with those sweet pups and he was just an absolute wreck when he had to say goodbye to them. He started crying right there in the foster intake area and told me that his wife was moving out and his company wasn’t doing so hot.” Bunny shrugged her shoulders. “Plus, he gave us a nice discount if we cut out the logo and used fewer letters. I meant to tell you, but it must’ve slipped my mind.”

  Rebekah knew the woman and her sister were incredibly smart when it came to animal care, but when it came to business matters, they tended to follow their hearts instead of their heads. It was why they’d hired a director in the first place. It was also why they’d hired an attorney earlier this year to look into quite a bit of money that had gone missing. Unfortunately, they didn’t always follow Rebekah’s or the attorney’s recommendations.

  Worse than that, they tended to rely on the wrong people. They’d entrusted their money to their brother Gator—Grant’s uncle—and it looked like he might have embezzled from them. And they’d entrusted this sign to Marv and...well...

  Rebekah shot a pleading look at Grant and once she caught his attention, she pointed her chin first at the sign and then at his aunt. She wanted to tell him that this wasn’t her fault, but first she needed to make sure he was seeing the same thing she was.

  “Poor Marv, huh?” Grant nodded toward the sign that the workers were trying to hang between the wooden posts. “Let’s just hope his return policy is better than his screen-printing skills.”

  In bright red letters were the words F-EVER PAWS, however the hyphen between the F and the E was so minuscule, that from far away it appeared to say, FEVER PAWS.

  “I’m not sure if he has a return policy.” Bunny pushed a strand of white hair back into her messy bun. “I think we should just leave it for a few days. I’m sure it’ll grow on us.”

  Grant groaned and Rebekah experienced an unfamiliar tug of solidarity at his frustration. “Aunt Bunny, it says Fever Paws. Customers are going to think all the animals here are sick.”

  “Grant, we don’t have customers.” Bunny waved another hand at him. “We have prospective adopters looking for family companions.”

  “Well, your prospective adopters are going to drive right by when they see that sign,” Grant replied.

  “I guess you’re right.” His aunt sighed. “Well, we’ll just have to call it a loss. I don’t want Marv to be out any expense.”

  “Aunt Bunny.” Grant gently rested his hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “Your heart is bigger than your current bank account. The shelter really can’t afford to take a loss like this. I’m going to tell the guys to take the sign back and re-do it.”

  Rebekah’s heart softened at the way he gently, yet effectively steered his aunt back to reality. Really, it was her job to keep Furever Paws on a budget and, as the director, she should’ve been the one talking to the Signs 4 Less guys, not Grant. But she had plenty of other headaches to look forward to today, and if it got the man out of her hair for a few more minutes, she’d take whatever breaks she could get at this point.

  Turning on her heel, she headed toward the shelter’s entrance and thought about the cool air-conditioning and chocolate croissant waiting for her in her office. But a movement in the oak trees near the street caught her eye.

  Bunny must’ve seen the streak of gray fur, too, because her boss let out a squeak before announcing, “Everyone stay completely still.”

  Rebekah knew that most of the staff at the shelter, as well as a few people in downtown Spring Forest, had reported sightings of the elusive gray dog that always seemed to outsmart them. She held her breath as Bunny slowly walked toward the stray, one of the treats she always carried in the front pocket of her faded overalls now outstretched in the palm of her hand.

  Unfortunately, before Bunny could get within ten feet of the animal, one of the installation guys dropped his end of the FEVER PAWS sign and the sound of the aluminum clanking against the gravel burst out with a gong-like echo. The scruffy dog took off on its short legs, running directly toward the oncoming cars traveling in both directions on Little Creek Road.

  Without looking, Bunny took off after the creature and only stopped when the horn of a big rig blasted through the air seconds before its huge chrome bumper nearly clipped the older woman. Grant caught up to his aunt first, and when Rebekah made it to the shoulder of the road, she could hear his admonishment about Bunny getting herself killed. His words fell on deaf ears as the woman craned her neck, watching the dog dart into the copse of trees on the other side of the street.

  “I can’t believe he got away again.” Bunny shook her head as a mail delivery truck drove past, leaving a heavy gust of wind in its wake.

  “Come on, Aunt Bunny,” Grant said as he led his aunt toward the building. “If that dog wants to be caught, he’ll come back.”

  “What do you mean if it wants to be caught? He’s a stray, running from place to place. Why wouldn’t he want a real home?” Rebekah heard the words coming out of her mouth and tried not to flinch at her accusatory tone.

  Grant shrugged. “I mean not every animal should be domesticated. Some things are meant to be wild and untamed.”

  Some things? Or some people? Rebekah bit the inside of her cheek to keep from asking Grant if he was referring to himself. He’d better not be implying that her getting pregnant was any sort of attempt to domesticate him. Not that she’d ever want to, but even if she’d been willing to try, she knew she’d have better luck taming a tidal wave than taming the unpredictable force that was Grant Whitaker.

  She took several calming breaths and commanded her legs to walk confidently back inside the building despite the tiny pieces of gravel that were now digging into the arches of her feet.

  She refused to give him a second glance as she stormed ahead of him. The man had absolutely nothing to worry about. She wasn’t about to force anyone to be anything they weren’t.

  * * *

  The following Thursday, Grant was still kicking himself for not getting the address of Rebekah’s doctor before he drove into Spring Forest. He’d had to take a red-eye flight from San Francisco with a layover in Chicago to make it to Raleigh before ten this morning. After landing, he’d barely had time to splash some water on his face and brush his teeth in the airport bathroom before racing to Furever Paws. If she’d called him, or offered her own phone number, he could’ve driven straight to the appointment and met her there with nobody being the wiser.

  As it stood, they now risked having his aunts and everyone who worked at the shelter see them leave together. But at least he was pretty sure she’d be spending the morning at work since she’d scheduled the doctor’s appointment during her lunch hour.

  Grant checked the clock on the dash of his rental car right before pulling into the parking lot at the animal shelter, then felt his chest ease the second he spied Rebekah’s blue car. She hadn’t left yet.

  Just as he turned off the engine, one of the double glass doors opened and a very beautiful Rebekah strode out wearing a sleeveless dress that hugged her waist before floating down to her knees. Again, she was wearing heels and the sight of her long, shapely legs made his lungs constrict.

  By the time he’d exited his rental, she already had the back of her sporty little European car open and was wrestling the giant tote bag she always carried off her shoulder.

  There were several other vehicles in the lot, but nobody else was outside. Still
, Grant kept his voice low when he strode over to her. “Hey, looks like I’m just in time.”

  Rebekah jumped back, hitting her head on the corner of the rear hatch. Grant winced at the impact and sympathetically reached out to cradle her scalp in his palm. But her own hand had already beaten him to it and he ended up resting his fingers over hers. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She nodded then took a step back, her eyes darting around the lot as though she was making sure there weren’t any witnesses to their interaction.

  “Nobody’s outside,” he said as he followed her around to the driver’s side of the vehicle.

  Rebekah cleared her throat, but her gaze was firmly fixed on the glass double doors when she asked, “What are you doing here?”

  Grant tilted his head. “You’re seeing the doctor today, remember?”

  “Of course I remember my appointment. I just didn’t really expect you to show up.”

  The implication stung, but Grant forced himself to shrug it off. “I would’ve met you there, but I wasn’t sure if your doctor’s office is here in town or if you have a practitioner in Raleigh.”

  Back when he was a kid, visiting his aunts along with his family, there’d only been a few established doctors in Spring Forest. They hadn’t needed medical services much during their trips, but he recalled one summer when his aunt Birdie had driven him to a small clinic in the older part of town for rabies shots after he’d gotten too close to a protective mother raccoon who didn’t appreciate a nine-year-old Grant wanting to hold one of her babies. He knew there was now a new medical practice located in a building off Spring Forest Boulevard, but he doubted that Rebekah would use a local obstetrician and risk running into someone from town.

  The muscles in her neck moved as she gulped. “Like I said last week, you don’t need to go to the actual appointment with me. I can meet you at Whole Bean Coffee afterward and fill you in.”

  She must’ve thought Grant was an idiot if she believed he would fall for that. Rebekah didn’t even want to be seen in the parking lot of Furever Paws with him. No way was she going to share a coffee in public with him where anyone they knew could walk by and overhear them discussing her pregnancy. If she was going to try and outplay him, then he’d just double down on his challenge.