To Be a Dad. Kate Kelly

which probably meant that was what he should do. Or maybe not. A guy hanging around a lingerie store probably made women nervous. Or something.

      He sat on a bench outside the store, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He should have told Teressa his favorite color was black—when it came to lingerie, that was. Imagining her wearing nothing but a couple of scraps of black lace was not a good idea. Not in public. He couldn’t believe she’d agreed to go along with his suggestion.

      He shifted on the bench. Was she interested in pursuing the physical part of their relationship? Or... This was the kind of stuff that drove him nuts. In a lot of ways, he didn’t understand her, but in other ways he totally got her. Women generally mystified him, but the stakes always felt higher when it came to not understanding Teressa.

      He’d been so ambushed by everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours, he hadn’t had a second to think about how he felt about the changes happening in his life. If he was being honest, he had to admit he didn’t look forward to going home to a crowded house at the end of a long hard day of working on the water. With so many people helping with the renos on the house it felt as though his life had been ripped wide open for everyone to look at and discuss.

      Not that he had anything to hide. As a matter of fact, his life seemed to be so...ordinary there wasn’t much to talk about. When had he slowed down? Used to be if anyone was looking for excitement they’d give him a call, because he always had something on the go. But somehow the entire summer had passed without him even going out on a date, let alone chasing after some harebrained idea. Whatever happened to buying a small seaplane or, even better, one of those islands for sale farther up in the bay? And now it was too late. He was going to be a father and had responsibilities and couldn’t afford anything like that.

      He hunched over on the bench, feeling as though someone had punched him in the gut. He was scared shitless, and he hadn’t even realized it until now. He needed...needed—

      “You look green around the gills, sailor.” Teressa stood in front of him. “Guess what I’m wearing.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

      He took a calming breath and hooked a finger through her belt loop and pulled her close enough to stand between his legs. “Euclid.”

      “What?”

      “Our baby. If it’s a boy, let’s call it Euclid.”

      She giggled. “No.”

      His tense muscles relaxed, and he grinned. He didn’t hear her giggle often enough. “Euclid doesn’t work for you, huh?”

      Her brown eyes sparked at him. “No. Sorry. Let’s go.”

      “You going to show me what you’re wearing?”

      “Not a chance, sailor.”

      He hadn’t thought so. Didn’t mean he couldn’t imagine what she looked like in her new lingerie, though.

      Teressa slipped her hand in his as they walked out of the mall, her bag of lingerie swinging in her other hand. “Every woman should buy something sexy for themselves once in a while. You wouldn’t believe how great it makes me feel, knowing what I’m wearing underneath. Thanks, Dusty.” She raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek when they reached the truck. “I’d forgotten how much fun you can be.”

      He pointed the truck in the direction of home, feeling a hundred percent better than he had in the mall. He just had to keep reminding himself who he was having a baby with. He couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t want to be with Teressa. Well, okay he could. Like when she was mad at him or in an ornery mood. But generally, he really liked hanging out with her.

      “When are you going to put on a fashion show for me?” She’d acted like a young, carefree girl in the mall, and it made him realize for all her responsibilities and grown-up ways, Teressa was still a young woman.

      “Never.”

      “Seriously?”

      She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. If I parade around in front of you in my new underwear, you’re going to get all hot and bothered.”

      “I do know how to control myself.”

      She looked at him from the corner of her eye, as if she was uncertain of herself, or of them. “We’re supposed to be taking things slow, remember?”

      He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “We will. I promise. I’m just yanking your chain.”

      He settled in for the hour-long drive home as Teressa closed her eyes and nodded off to sleep. He usually hated driving home in the dark, but with Teressa beside him, it kind of felt cozy in the truck. And it hadn’t escaped his notice that he’d gone from extremely freaked out in the mall to having fun with her teasing him. When they were good together, they were really good.