Chapter 1
Chapter One
On the last day of March in the small town of Medicine Creek, Wyoming, Riley Thompson stood staring anxiously out the front window of her house on Adams Street. Be?yond the porch roof, the slowly darkening sky was clear.
Tonight is the night, Riley silently vowed. Tonight, she would finally tell her secret lover, Josh Bravo, that they were having a baby.
She would tell him as soon as he walked in the door, tell him before he gathered her into his lean, hard arms and kissed her. It mattered that she speak up before he kissed her. Because Josh Bravo’s kisses had a tendency to turn her brain to mush.
But not tonight. She simply couldn’t put it off any longer. She was twelve weeks along and starting to show. The evi?dence was slight as of yet, just the softest outward curve to her belly. So far, he hadn’t noticed—or if he had, he hadn’t said a word about it.
But tonight, everything would change. Tonight, she and Josh would finally start figuring out where to go from here.
No one would interrupt them. Josh’s son, Shane, was with his ex-wife. And Riley had taken her son, Dillon, to his beloved Grammy Annette’s house for a sleepover. Riley and Josh would have plenty of time to talk.
All she had to do was lead him straight to the sofa when he walked in the door and gently urge him to sit down. Then she would lay the truth on him. All it would take was two simple sentences.
Josh, I’m sorry but there’s been a little screwup with my contraception. I’m pregnant. It’s yours and I’m going to keep it.
Okay, that was three sentences. But three sentences should be easy.
Three sentences should be out of her mouth in ten seconds, max.
She just needed not to stall, not to get flustered or second-guess herself.
Not to get sidetracked while looking into his clear hazel eyes or staring at his mouth that still, after six months of kissing him every time they were alone, she could not get enough of.
If she hesitated, he would reach for her.
And she would melt into his arms. Once he put his hands on her, she would be lost. All her good intentions would fly right out the window. Josh was a really good kisser. Just thinking about his kisses made her pulse pick up.
Honestly, Josh Bravo? She never would have guessed that sex with Josh could be so absolutely, amazingly out of control.
After all, she’d known Josh all her life. They’d been friends forever. Back in second grade, he’d chased her around the playground threatening to slime her with a big, warty toad.
Who knew that more than twenty years later, after he’d been married and she’d been married and their sons had be?come best friends, he would come over one October night to play poker with a few other friends and be the last one to leave?
He had kissed her. One kiss.
And everything changed…
Blinking away the steamy memory, Riley watched as Josh’s big crew cab slid in at the curb. When he got out and started up the front walk, she backed away from the glass so he wouldn’t catch her staring out.
The doorbell rang.
Her heart stopped—and then began pounding like it would bust open the walls of her chest.
“Deep breath,” she reminded herself in a whisper and then made herself draw in air deeply and let it out nice and slow.
Her knees were a bit shaky as she went to let him in. He spotted her through the fanlight window in the top of the door, and he smiled.
Straightening her shoulders, she drew another slow, careful breath and pulled the door wide.
“Hey.” Those gorgeous hazel eyes gleamed at her, making her heart rate spike and her breath come too fast.
She wanted him. A lot. All these months she’d been waiting for the wanting to fade a little. That hadn’t happened. If anything, it just kept getting stronger.
“Hey.” She stepped back.
He crossed the threshold. And then they just stood there, looking at each other. His fine mouth curved in another slow, knowing grin. She shouldn’t grin back.
But she did.
“Riley,” he said, low and gruff. “I’ve been waiting all damn day…”
She gulped and reminded herself again that it was time—past time. She had to tell him. He had a right to know.
A strange, ragged sound escaped her. “Let’s, uh, go sit on the…”
That was as far as she got. Because right then, he reached out those big, hardworking hands and grasped her shoulders.
Another wordless sound found its way past her lips. It wasn’t supposed to be a moan. But it sure sounded like one.
He pushed the door shut with the heel of his steel-toed work boot—gently, so it drifted closed with no more than a faint click. Then he pulled her even closer. It felt so good, her breasts pressing into his hard chest, the warmth of him, the clean scent of his skin.
She gulped again, caught one of his hands and gave it a tug. “The sofa,” she said.
He had that look, like he was going to sweep her high in his arms and take her up the stairs to her room. But he didn’t. “Sure, Riley. The sofa it is.”
Before she could throw herself at him all over again and beg him to kiss her and carry her to bed, she turned on her heel and marched from the entry area, past the stairs and into the living room.
He didn’t object, just followed along behind her, his heavy boots firm on the hardwood floor.
Leading him past an armchair and around the coffee table, she stopped in front of the sofa. “Have a seat.”
He turned and sat. She sank down beside him.
Where to begin? She wanted to prepare him a little. It seemed all wrong to just blurt it out in a guilty rush.
While she valiantly sought the right words, he bent, un?tied the heavy laces of his big boots and then pulled one off and set it at the end of the coffee table. Still unsure how to start, she watched as he took off the other boot and set it by the first one.
“Rile?” His voice was soft now, like velvet. It rubbed along her nerve endings, reminding her all over again of how good it felt when he touched her.
She answered with a breathless little, “Hmm?”
“You okay?”
“Ahem. Yeah. Of course…” Tell him. Do it now! What was the matter with her? He needed to know, and it was her responsibility to tell him. “I just…”
“You just what?” he asked. And then, as she struggled over how to answer, he put his arm along the back of the sofa and leaned in a little closer, bringing his wonderful scent of cedar and a hint of leather.
His breath was minty. The longing to throw herself into his arms increased with each beat of her heart.
“Okay,” he said. “Now I’m getting worried… ”
“Oh! No, don’t be. I’m fine, really. Perfect, I promise you.” I’m also a big, fat coward, she thought.
His expression had turned serious. “Want me to go?”
She bit her lip and let out a silly, weak little moan. “God, no…” With a small cry, she gave in and did what she longed to do—she reached for him.
He pulled her close and wrapped those fine arms around her.
Their mouths collided.
One more time, she thought desperately as his big hand closed around her breast. Just once more. And before he leaves tonight, I will tell him what he needs to know…
* * *
“You can’t be serious,” Riley’s best friend, Macy Bravo, accused in a whisper late the next afternoon. “You still haven’t told him?”
Macy, who was married to Josh’s second cousin, Joe, had dropped in about an hour ago. She’d brought her eight-year-old, Ana, and her baby boy, Justin, who was now sound asleep surrounded by pillows lying on the sofa between Riley and Macy.
As for Ana, she’d led Riley’s son, Dillon, into the study on the other side of the entry area. Riley could hear her in there bossing Dillon around. “Sit right there,” Ana in?structed crisply. “And be very quiet or I won’t read an?other word.”
Dillon said nothing. Riley could just picture him, sitting yoga-style on the study floor, rapt. Both Dillon and Josh’s son, Shane, adored Ana. Ana read to them from her favor?ite books and came up with fun games to play and never had any trouble keeping the boys in line.
“Earth to Riley,” Macy whispered sharply.
“Uh, sorry. Just listening to the kids…”
“Did you or did you not tell him?”
“Well…”
“You didn’t,” Macy accused.
“I meant to,” Riley whined. Macy just looked her all squinty-eyed. Riley insisted, “I really did. But then I got…distracted.”
“Distracted.” There was an eye roll. “So that’s what you’re calling it now?”
Riley felt awful. “I meant to do it. I vowed to myself that I would do it. But then we made love, and it was great. We were both just lying there, limp and satisfied, completely relaxed, whispering together, laughing at silly things… I felt so…happy, Mace. So relaxed. And Josh seemed happy, too. I just couldn’t do it—couldn’t make love with him and then announce, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m pregnant and it’s yours. ’”
“I understand,” said Macy. She sounded weary but resigned.
“Oh, Mace. Do you really?”
“Absolutely. It would have been much better not to fall into bed with him first. And that’s why you were going to tell him right after he showed up, remember?”
“And I was all set to do that. But then he kissed me and…” With a little moan, she let her shoulders droop. “I blew it again, okay? I know that I did. And now I just have to get it right the next time I see him.”
Macy’s judgy expression softened. “Aw, honey…” She reached over and patted Riley’s knee. “All you have to do is get the words out. Do it before you let him near you. Just tell him, and it will all work out, you’ll see.”
Would it? Really? Sometimes she wondered.
They had an agreement. They were having a hot fling for as long as it lasted.
So far, it had lasted a pretty long time.
And she still didn’t want it to end. He didn’t seem to want to stop, either.
“I’m afraid that when I tell him, he’s never going to speak to me again. ”
Macy leaned across her sleeping child to squeeze Ri?ley’s shoulder. “Josh is a good guy. He’ll do what’s right.”