Desperately Seeking Fireman by Jennifer Bernard Read Free Book Online Page A

the spot where his heart beat fast and steady. He covered her hand with his.
    “What is it?” He asked gently, as if he really wanted to know. And that was what undid her. Even knowing that their “date” might end after one great kiss, she couldn’t resist the worry in his gold-striped eyes.
    But she had to look away before she could say it. Fixing her gaze on a row of hammers on a pegboard, she braced herself and said, “Bradford left me because I got pregnant. He wasn’t interested in having a child with me. Then, when I was four months along, I lost the baby.”

 
    Chapter Five
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    N ITA HAD HER eyes squeezed shut, as if afraid to face him after her revelation. Jeb cupped her face in one hand and brushed his thumb against her mouth, still plump from his kiss.
    “That’s rough,” he said. “Really rough. Are you doing okay now?”
    “Better,” she said cautiously, opening one eye a sliver and looking almost surprised to see him.
    “I’m still here,” he reassured her. “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
    She opened both eyes. “It’s not exactly first-date entertainment material.”
    “I asked, remember? I asked because I wanted to know.” Now that he knew, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Clearly she was still raw from the whole experience. “I knew Bradford was an ass.”
    Maybe he’d picked the right tack, because she managed a smile. “He wasn’t a total ass. Maybe about seventy-percent ass. He said he’d pay child support. I decided to have the baby by myself, even though my mother cried for a week. But I’m smart and capable, right? I was scared, but happy too. Then, at about sixteen weeks along, it all just ended. There was an infection, and I had to go to the hospital. The doctor said it happens.”
    She looked so slim and wounded standing there in the shadowy shed where he’d kissed the hell out of her. Had she really gone through all that alone? “And Bradford? What happened to him?”
    “He sent me a condolence email.” A wry smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. “He couldn’t disappear fast enough when I got pregnant. That’s why I was so fascinated by how you helped Melissa. I don’t think Bradford’s ever a found a woman a bush to pee on.”
    “To be accurate, she peed behind the bush, not on it.”
    The smile gathered steam, dragging the other corner of her mouth along with it. Her eyes sparkled from a light sheen of tears. “Thanks for the clarification.”
    “And if that had been me, you wouldn’t have been able to tear me away.” The words came out much more fiercely than he’d intended. But it was true. When Belinda had gotten pregnant, he’d married her and they’d centered their lives around Alison. Even now, knowing the truth about Belinda, he didn’t regret it. He couldn’t imagine making any other choice. “Not to judge the guy. Everyone has his road. But I wouldn’t have picked that one.”
    “Well. I don’t blame him. My mother said it was my fault for waiting so long and caring about my career too much.”
    “Ouch.”
    “Yeah. Well. Moments like this, when the man I work for has become a laughing-stock, it’s hard to argue.”
    She gave herself a brisk shake, as if throwing off her blue mood. He wondered if their kiss had made her sad. He didn’t want that to happen. Maybe he should try another one, see if he could get a different result. Something more in the line of blissful. That seemed a little risky, though. The moment for kissing had passed. He should return to his handyman approach.
    He cast his eyes around the shed and located a post that he could easily cut down to the proper size for the gate. Picking it up, he hefted it in his hand, testing for rot. “One gate repair, coming up. And by the way, I think we’ve successfully made it through dinner.”
    Her face lit with a smile so dazzling, it made him lightheaded. “Really? Good. Because I’m already eyeing dessert.” She raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down,