LITMIR.BIZ

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are you joking? Because this just isn’t funny.”

      “I’m not joking. And if you’ll just give me a chance to explain—”

      But before he could, the waitress approached with their food.

      Kate fumed in silence while their plates were distributed, glaring at him from across the table as if wishing she could charge him with contempt of court.

      “Okay, talk,” she ordered as soon as the waitress was out of earshot. “But make it good, because I’m having a hard time believing that you’ve been nursing a secret desire to cater to the whims of a second-trimester pregnant woman.”

      She continued her diatribe for a solid four more minutes. He didn’t bother interrupting—she wouldn’t have let him, anyway. Instead, he took the opportunity to study her.

      With her ivory complexion and thick black hair pulled back from her face, he’d have to be dead not to notice how beautiful she was. She wasn’t anything like the women he normally dated, but she piqued his interest. Smart, sexy and fiercely independent. Challenging enough to keep things interesting without ever being clingy or emotionally demanding.

      Not that he’d dream of pursuing her now. That would only screw up an already complicated situation. To make matters worse, he couldn’t help admiring how she resisted his help. Even though it made things more difficult for him.

      “I wouldn’t have to actually move in,” he pointed out once she seemed to lose steam. “But I could still help out.” Changing tactics, he said, “Beth and Stew are worried about you.”

      She rolled her eyes. “Beth and Stew always worry about me. Trust me, if it wasn’t this, it’d be something else. The part of town I live in or the hours I work. Beth is a worrier.”

      “Well, this time she feels responsible.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on either side of his plate. “Whether you like it or not, your life is changing. I can help you.”

      “What exactly is it you think I need help with?”

      “Whatever.” He shrugged. “Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking. The point is, you don’t have to be so stubborn. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

      Her eyes flashed as she leaned forward and spoke with barely concealed annoyance. “I’m not being stubborn. I can take care of myself. I am not your problem. I—”

      He recognized the slipup as soon as the words were out of her mouth. The way she broke off, then pulled away from the table to toy with her napkin as if flustered, only confirmed that she hadn’t meant to give so much away.

      Maybe he should have just let it go, but he couldn’t resist digging a little. I never said you were.”

      She wiped her fingers on her napkin and tossed it to the side of her plate. “Fine. The baby is not your problem. None of this has anything to do with you.”

      “Ah, come on. Even you have to admit it has at least a little to do with me.”

      She waved her hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, your part was very important. I certainly didn’t mean to belittle your contribution of spending thirty minutes in a locked room with a plastic cup, but I daresay you’ve done enough. This end of the deal—” she gestured to her belly “—is all my responsibility.”

      Suddenly he didn’t feel like teasing her anymore. “You don’t have to do it all on your own.”

      She cleared her throat. He could practically see her struggling for a flip response, but in the end, her answer came out sounding as serious as his had. “Yes, I do.”

      “But—”

      “Look, even if your intentions are good, we’re talking about the next six months of your life. You’re bound to get bored of playing house.”

      “I’m not—”

      “I didn’t mean that as an insult,” she reassured him. “We’re talking about half a year of giving up your spare time to coddle a pregnant woman. You’d have to be a saint to do that. And, let’s face it, you’re no saint.”

      “You have no idea,” he said, unable to shake from his consciousness all the sinful things he’d like to do to her.

      He knew this discussion was affecting her as much as it did him, because her voice sounded brusque when she replied, “Which only proves my point. Do you really think you’re going to want to spend your time off doing my laundry when you could be out on a date? Right now, all this pregnancy stuff may seem fascinating, but, trust me, the novelty will wear off.”

      “And you think I won’t stick around after the novelty wears off.”

      “I’m not about to start depending on you now, only to find out you won’t.”

      He leaned back in his seat and stretched his arm across the back of the booth. “You don’t have a very high opinion of me, do you?”

      “Don’t take it personally. There aren’t a lot of people I do have a high opinion of.”

      “That’s a pretty cynical attitude.”

      “Not cynical. Realistic. Every day at work, I see people at their absolute worst. I know what men—and women—are capable of. How they can hurt and betray the people they claim to love the most. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after four years on the bench, it’s that the only person you can really trust is yourself.”

      “What about Beth and Stew?”

      “Of course I trust them. But I certainly don’t expect them to take care of me. Especially not now that they’ve got their own baby on the way. I’ll be fine on my own. Just like I’ve always been.”

      And with that she grabbed her purse, dropped a twenty on the table and scooted out of the booth. She left the restaurant without even a backward glance.

      He stared at the money for a minute before the irony sank in. This was the biggest commitment he’d ever tried to make to a woman and she hadn’t even let him buy her dinner.

      After he dropped his own twenty on the table, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Stew.

      “You were right,” he said as soon as Stew answered.

      “I told you she wouldn’t go for it.”

      “She sounded insulted.”

      Stew chuckled. “Of course she was insulted. Basically, you told a grown woman you thought she couldn’t take care of herself. Not just any grown woman, either. This is Kate we’re talking about here. She’s been on her own a long time and she’s always prided herself on her competence. Which you just questioned.”

      “Not exactly.” At least, he didn’t think he had. “I think she doesn’t like me.”

      “No, she probably doesn’t. You haven’t made a very good impression on her.”

      Great. Of all the women he’d known in his life, and gotten along with just fine, the one who didn’t like him at all was the one carrying his baby.

      He’d been eight years younger and stupider when they first met. Too young to know that some women found charm suspicious. It hadn’t helped that she’d been so much fun to tease. She’d never gotten past that first impression of him and he’d never made the effort to convince her he wasn’t a total jerk.

      “What’re you going to do now?” Stew asked.

      “Not much I can do. The ball’s in her court. If she can’t see the logic of my offer, there’s nothing I can do about it.” Then he muttered, “Why couldn’t she be more like Beth? Beth would have said yes.”

      Stew chuckled. “Because Beth is a one-of-a-kind woman.”

      So was Kate, Jake couldn’t help thinking a few minutes later as he tucked the phone back into

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