Love You, Baby

by Stacey Joy Netzel

  “Beggars can’t be choosers,” Grayson advised stiffly. “You got a problem working for a woman?”

  “I got a problem begging the woman I slept with at Asher’s wedding and who’s now pregnant with my baby to give me a job.”

  Grayson blinked and lifted his eyebrows, then turned his head to gaze off toward the Rockies. Merit got the impression the sonofabitch was trying not to smile.

  When he looked back, he let loose a sigh. “How many places have you applied at?”

  “I sent my resume to at least two dozen places the past two weeks. I got thank you but no thank you from every single one, including the interview this morning.”

  His brother nodded sagely. “What do you have that you can sell?”

  Sell? Huh. He hadn’t really thought of that.

  “How about some artwork?”

  “What?” He jerked his head toward Grayson, his heart thumping hard in his chest. How in the hell would he know about his art?

  “You know, paintings, sculptures. That kind of crap.”

  Okay, so he didn’t know, but…crap? He clenched his jaw and released. “No. No paintings.”

  “I thought all you rich guys had useless shit like that in your McMansions.”

  Merit forced a tight smile. “Nope.”

  “All right then.” His gaze slid down and along the length of the SUV. “How many cars you got?”

  “Just this one.”

  “Is it paid for?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sell it. Get something cheaper.”

  “Sell the Jaguar?” he asked in surprise. Another option that hadn’t occurred to him. Didn’t appeal to him, either.

  “Yeah.” Grayson leaned forward slightly at the waist, as if he was talking to an imbecile. “You have a baby on the way. Get a cheaper car until you can get a damn job. And speaking of the job—it’s time for you to pay your dues.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  Now his brother smiled broadly as he straightened. “Minimum wage, man. Minimum wage. Flip burgers. Take out the trash. Scrub floors. Whatever you gotta do to bring home a paycheck to support the baby.”

  The bastard was enjoying this part. As his last word echoed in Merit’s mind, something else clicked and his stomach sank at a nauseating rate.

  “Oh, fuck.” He grabbed his phone, checked the text from Mae on Saturday, and then leaned forward, eyes scrunched tight, forehead against the steering wheel. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  “What?”

  “Mae had a doctor appointment this morning.” He raked his hands through his hair as he sat back with a groan. “I promised I’d be there, but it was at the same time as the interview, and I completely forgot.”

  “Oh, yeah, you’re fucked all right.”

  How could he have forgotten about that? He was such a jerk. A selfish sonofabitch who deserved nothing good where Mae was concerned.

  Deserved nothing, but wanted everything.

  “Shit.” He heaved a sigh, hand fisted on the steering wheel. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten something so important. To him and her. Especially after what Ian’s father had done. “What the fuck do I do now?”

  Grayson looked at him like he’d asked if the earth was round. “You beg forgiveness. On your knees. And you never do it again.”

  “That was more rhetorical, but...” He drew back slightly. “On my knees? Literally?”

  “Seems to work in the movies.”

  Movies? Great. He didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

  “Do you care what this woman thinks?”

  It was a serious question, and he gave a serious answer that made his pulse speed up. “I do. A lot.” So much so he was afraid he’d completely blown it.

  “Then you do whatever it takes.”

  “Yeah.” Tension gripped his shoulders as he reached to put the SUV in reverse. “I gotta go.”

  He’d only backed up a couple feet when Grayson loped back to the window. “Hold up.”

  Merit braked as his brother dug into his front pocket and then handed him a twenty.

  “Get some flowers.”

  He was slightly taken aback by a wave of embarrassment. “I don’t need you to give me money.”

  “Yeah you do. Besides, it’s a loan, not a handout.”

  After a moment of hesitation, he took the money. “Thanks. I’ll pay you back.”

  “You bet your ass you will.”

  With that, Grayson tapped the edge of his door window, and Merit headed out as his brother watched him leave with another wide grin on his face.

  Chapter 22

  Mae glanced out at Ian kicking his soccer ball around in the backyard before sliding the take-n-bake pizza into the oven a little after three o’clock. She’d left Shelby’s work site in her forewoman’s hands and knocked off early to pick up Ian and the Cowboy pizza as a treat. She set the timer just as a firm knock sounded at her front door. A quick glance out the kitchen window past her red work truck in the driveway revealed a boxy, hunter green SUV parked on the street between her house and her neighbor’s.

  Another thump drew her to the door, curious as to who’d be at her doorstep in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. Probably a salesman, offering pamphlets or a ‘free’ carpet cleaning. Steepling her fingers against the door to brace herself, she rose on her tiptoes to peek out the corner of the window at the top.

  A glimpse of Merit’s profile jammed her heart up into her throat. Conflicting emotions rushed forward. An initial spike of excitement was obliterated by a punch of hurt and anger. When he started to turn back toward her house, she dipped down out of sight, her heart racing fast enough to shorten her breath.

  Another rap of his knuckles made her jump. Damn it. With her truck in plain sight, she couldn’t even pretend she wasn’t home.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, drew in a deep breath and blew it back out, then slid to the right and yanked the door open. Her brain registered too damn handsome and a large bouquet of flowers as she snapped, “What?”

  Merit’s solemn brown gaze met hers, and after a tense moment, he stepped back and dropped to one knee.

  Mae lost her breath all over again as her eyes widened in shock. “Are you out of your mind? What the hell are you doing?”

  He lifted the flowers. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there this morning. I’m an asshole jerk who doesn’t deserve your forgiveness but I’m begging for it anyway.”

  Oooh. He was apologizing, not proposing.

  That made a lot more sense. Because how insane would it have been for him to propose?

  She stared at the colorful array of peach, blue, and white carnations. How insane was it that for a split second she imagined saying yes?

  One hundred percent insane.

  Two hundred percent insane—especially after he’d let her down this morning and hadn’t even bothered to text or call.

  That reminder brought back her anger. He had deserted her without a word since the brunch two days ago. She gripped the edge of the door in one hand and propped the other on her hip. “Why weren’t you there? Besides the fact you’re an asshole jerk.”

  He started to rise up, and she lifted her hand to keep him right where he was. Cheap flowers or not, she wasn’t going to make this easy on him. How much he was willing to beg would say a lot. When he dropped back onto his knee, she ignored a small stab of guilt.

  “I...ah, I had a job...thing.”

  For the first time, she realized he was wearing a dress shirt and suit pants instead of his usual T-shirt and jeans, and he was clean shaven. It made his explanation somewhat plausible. Somewhat.

  “And what—your phone died? Got broke? Lost? Because if you weren’t going to call, the very least you could’ve done was send a text.”

  Guilt flooded his face. “It was last minute this morning, and I forgot about the doctor appointment, otherwise I would’ve called. I swear.”

  “Right. Just like you said you’d call when you ran out of
here on Sunday.” She clenched her jaw, then forced it to relax, desperate to keep the hurt from her voice. “Good to know how easily forgettable we are.”

  She stepped back to close the door in his face, but he surged forward, palm flat against the wood to keep it open.

  “That is not what happened.” His gaze locked with hers. “Mae, please. You have every right to be mad at me right now. And that’s fine, but please give me a second chance here.”

  “Why didn’t you call? After Sunday, I mean.”

  His gaze dropped as he lowered his arm, and his Adam’s apple jerked up and down with a hard swallow. “I was embarrassed.”

  And just like that, the humility in his tone softened her heart. She steeled herself against weakening. She couldn’t give in just because he brought flowers and said he was sorry. While on his knees.

  No. She had to stay strong for the baby and Ian.

  “About what?”

  “Everything with my dad. Him cutting me off, the whole drama scene in front of everyone. He’s been riding my ass for a while now, and it all kind of blew up, right in front of you.”

  “You think I care about any of that?”

  “I don’t know, but I didn’t want you to think less of me than you already do. After everything that happened, it felt like I was looking a lot like Ian’s dad.”

  Whoa. There was a lot to unpack there. She bit the corner of her lip as she processed his words. “I knew you were upset after brunch so I gave you some space. However, I didn’t think less of you until after you didn’t show for the appointment you insisted on going to.”

  “I am so sorry about that.” He shifted his position with a wince. “And for not calling. The other morning when you said this is all new to you? Well, it’s new to me, too, remember? Figure things out as we go.”

  “You have to be present to figure things out, Merit.” Her chest tightened, and she had a hard time swallowing past the lump in her throat. “I thought you’d decided to walk away.”

  His gaze locked with hers. “No. Never. Just…doing a little growing up, as humiliating as it is to say.”

  And then his mouth tugged up at one corner the tiniest bit and her stomach fluttered. Oh, great. How the hell could she not forgive him now? She certainly couldn’t keep from smiling at his sheepish admission.

  “For heaven’s sake, tell the boy yes already!”

  Mae jerked her head up to see Henry and his lady friend standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. Good Lord, now they thought Merit was proposing!

  She glanced down to see him frowning over his shoulder. She grabbed his arm to haul him to his feet, and while pushing him inside the house, she called out, “That’s not what this is, Henry. Move along. There’s nothing to see.”

  Merit stumbled back a step as she shoved him past the door and slammed it shut. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Nosey neighbors.”

  “Did they think I was asking you to marry me?” The look on his face was exactly like when she’d told him she was pregnant.

  “Relax. Clearly they don’t have a clue what’s going on.”

  All of a sudden his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows dipped low. Her pulse skipped when she saw the wheels turning in his head.

  “Oh my God—is that what you thought I was doing when you first opened the door?”

  Heat seared her cheeks as she avoided his gaze. “Of course not. That would be insane.”

  The oven timer went off, and she nearly ran for the kitchen in relief.

  “I’d have to be out of my mind, wouldn’t I?” Merit said as he followed her.

  Her specific words thrown back at her confirmed he didn’t buy her denial. She shut off the timer and the oven, peeked inside, and decided the pizza could wait a few minutes in the warmth. Closing the door, she spun around to find him watching her, taking up all the room between her counter and island, as well as most of the oxygen in the room.

  She sighed and looked pointedly at the bouquet still in his hands. “Well, what’d you expect when you drop down on one knee on a woman’s front porch with flowers in your hand?”

  “I didn’t think about it, but...” He trailed off, eyes closing as he leaned his head back to curse at her ceiling. “Fucking Grayson.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Dropping his chin back down, he winced and glanced toward the backyard where Ian was still busy playing. “Sorry. It’s just that my brother is the one who told me I should get the flowers and get on my knees when I apologized. No wonder he was grinning when I left.”

  Mae fought her own smile, because it was kind of funny to see him realize he’d been played. He really was clueless when it came to women—except in the bedroom. She may not have much experience, but she was pretty damn sure in the bedroom, the man was a frickin’ specialist.

  “That’s what you get for believing him,” she taunted.

  “I didn’t, though.”

  She gestured toward the front door and let her grin loose. “And yet, there you were.”

  His return smile was half-grimace. “When he told me they did it in the movies, I knew he was full of sh—full of it, but then you opened the door, and I panicked.”

  Thoroughly pleased with that statement, she held out her hand. “Give me your phone.”

  “Why?”

  She waited patiently. Finally, he dug it from his front pocket, keyed in the password, and handed it over. Mae found his calendar app and scheduled the date of her next doctor’s appointment. Then she held up the screen for him to read the entry.

  His gaze shifted from the phone to her. “Ultra sound? That’s where we get to see the baby, right?” She nodded and his gaze dropped to her belly. “How’d it go today? Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is just as it should be. I even heard the heartbeat this morning.”

  He suddenly looked a little like Ian when they didn’t have his favorite ice cream at the park. “I hate that I missed that.”

  “Then don’t miss this next one.”

  “I won’t.” The two words spoken with quiet resolve were ten times better than if he’d gone on and on, swearing up and down he’d never do it again.

  She took the flowers and set them aside on the counter, then stepped forward to take his face in both hands while rising on her tiptoes. It was a stretch in her bare feet, but as she smiled up at him, he gripped her waist and bent to meet her halfway.

  His lips were warm on hers, soft, and still apologetic. Mae slid her hands behind his neck and whispered against his mouth, “You’re forgiven.”

  He stilled for a moment, then smiled. “Thank you,” he whispered back before angling his head to deepen the kiss.

  His arms slid around and banded tight to pull her flush against his body. The sensual stroke of his tongue against hers made her moan with approval while wishing to be closer still, especially when she felt him growing hard against her belly.

  She slid her leg against his, the softness of his pants a caress against the bare skin of her inner thigh below her cut-off shorts. She’d gladly trade it for the scrape of his whiskers. Heat engulfed her body—until the loud rasp of the patio screen sliding open registered past the haze of desire.

  “Mom! Is the pizza done yet? I’m hungry!”

  Mae frantically pushed out of Merit’s arms as Ian banged the screen door closed again before tromping into the house. “Yep, pizza’s done.” She struggled to make her voice sound normal as she dragged oxygen into her lungs. “I was just about to call you in.”

  “Awesome.” He rounded the table and grinned when he saw Merit at the end of the counter, forearms braced on the higher part of the island. “Hi, Merit!”

  “Hey, man. Put ‘er there.” He reached sideways for a high five, and Ian hopped up to deliver.

  Noticing Merit hadn’t turned his body away from the counter, Mae grinned as she bent to pull the pizza from the oven. From what she’d felt moments earlier, poor guy was going to need a minute or two. She was still hot—and that was before the
heat from inside the oven billowed out around her.

  “Ian, go wash your hands while I pour your milk.”

  “Aw, man. Why not root beer?”

  “Because you know the rule.”

  “Milk first,” he grumbled. “This was supposed to be our fun day.”

  “It’s still going to be our fun day. But milk first and then root beer,” she insisted as she cut the pizza into slices. “Now, don’t forget the soap and make sure you count to sixty before rinsing.”

  “Mo-om.”

  She’d be lucky if he got to thirty, which is why she told him sixty. And if she told him thirty, she’d get fifteen. “Get a move on. Pizza’s getting cold.”

  He huffed out a huge sigh. “Come on, Merit. You can wash your hands with me.”

  Merit straightened at the counter with a slight smile. “I’m not staying, Ian. I just needed to talk to your mom for a few minutes.”

  “You’re welcome to stay if you want,” Mae said as she turned to put the pizza cutter in the sink while her pulse sped up in anticipation. “Unless you have to get back for work?”

  “No…I’m good,” he responded. “But…”

  She reached sideways for the carnations, eyebrows arched at his pause. “But?”

  His gaze shifted to the flowers, and he gave a slight shake of his head. “Nothing.” He pushed away from the counter and unbuttoned the cuff on his shirtsleeve to start rolling it to his elbow. “Lead the way, Ian.”

  “What do you want to drink?” she asked, her gaze lingering on his muscled forearm until he was out of sight down the hall.

  “Milk, please,” he called back.

  She smiled as she heard Ian ask, “You like milk?”

  “Of course,” Merit answered. “It’s good for your bones. Helps you grow big and strong.”

  “That’s what Mom says. Think I’ll grow as big and strong as you?”

  “Maybe. Keep drinking your milk and—”

  Running water drowned out their voices. Mae resisted the temptation to flatten herself against the wall outside the bathroom to listen and finished putting the flowers in water before pouring three glasses of milk.