The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [95]
Again, he easily ignored her sarcasm. “How far along are you? You sure as certain don’t look pregnant.”
She laughed shortly. “Yeah, just think, if I did look pregnant we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now!”
“Malone?”
“Three months.” She gave him a crooked grin. “From what I understand, I may not start to show until my fifth, maybe even my sixth month. By then, I’ll be a distant memory for you, Morgan.”
“But you’re sure you are—”
“Had the test, so yes, I’m sure. Besides, I feel the pregnancy in other ways.”
His gaze went unerringly to her breasts, now thoroughly hidden beneath her sexless robe. Still, she practically squirmed with the need to shield herself with her hands. She resisted the telltale reaction. “Yep, I’m bigger now,” she said, doing her best to sound flippant, unaffected. Trying not to blush. Her glasses slipped a bit, and she pushed them back up.
“What about your job?”
Hedging, she asked, “What about it?”
“It occurs to me that I don’t know all that much about you.”
Her eyes widened and she laughed. “Now there’s a revelation for you. Of course, anytime you don’t know something, you just fill it in with fiction.”
He touched her cheek with the back of one finger and his expression was regretful. “I admit to making some pretty hasty assumptions. But you haven’t helped, Misty, coming on the way you did.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yeah, you did.” He smiled just a little, making her heart twist. “You flirt with everyone.”
She sighed. “True enough. I was trying to act cheerful and worry-free so Honey wouldn’t suspect anything. Maybe I overdid it just a bit.”
“And maybe I want you bad enough that all you have to do is breathe and it seems like a seduction. At least to me.”
Her gaze shot to his face; she was speechless.
“It’s true, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a woman the way I do you.” His hand opened and his palm cupped her cheek. “Even now, with you looking like a maiden aunt and after you tossed your cookies in the bushes. Even knowing you’re pregnant with another man’s baby, I still want you.”
She shook her head, words beyond her.
“I know. It’s a damnable situation, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not.” She was resolute, driven by her emotional fear. “I’m leaving, this morning, right now if you’ll just stop questioning me and let me leave without a fuss.”
“It’s not that easy, Malone, now that I know you’re in trouble.”
“Such an old-fashioned sentiment! Unmarried pregnant women are no longer in trouble. They’re just…pregnant.” She gave a negligent shrug.
“All right, if you say so.” He looked far from convinced. “So quit hedging and reassure me. Where do you work?”
Knowing that, as sheriff, it would be easy enough for him to check, and not doubting for a moment that he probably would, she sniffed and said, “I only recently left Vision Videos.”
“Vision Videos?”
“A small, privately owned video store. It’s located in the town I…used to live in.” She sincerely hoped he missed her small hesitation. The idea of being homeless was still pretty new to her. “It’s very small scale, only three employees besides the owner, but the store did incredible business. He’d planned to open another location by the end of the summer and I was going to run it for him.”
“But you’re not now?”
“Now, I’m in the process of reevaluating my options.”
He stared, and his softly stroking fingers went still. With disbelief ringing from every word, he said, “You’re unemployed?”
“Momentarily, yes.”
His eyes narrowed. “By choice? Because I’ll tell you, if your boss fired you for being pregnant, that’s against the law….”
“No, he didn’t fire me for that.”
Morgan’s back stiffened, and his scowl grew darker. “But he did fire you?