“No sweet talking necessary. I’ll bring one in for you tomorrow.” Dakota’s eyebrows pulled together. “Is it safe though…”
“Safe for?” she asked, her breath leaving her chest as his eyes dropped to her stomach. She was going tokill Lachlan…
“The baby.”
Jessie’s eyes went wide. “How do you…”
Dakota moved his hand out from behind his back, revealing a small bunch of flowers in a blue ceramic vase. “I overheard you and Lach the day you told him. I know I’ve been out of town for a while, but the guilt has been eating me alive. Hope the flowers can make up for my accidental eavesdropping.”
She cringed. “You’re fine. I should have made sure we were alone. Please don’t…” Her stomach dipped as head went fuzzy. “Please don’t mention it to anyone else, though. Okay?”
“Yeah. I heard that part, too. It’s all good. I won’t say a word.” Dakota set the flowers on the table beside her. “As long as you promise if you feel worse, you’ll take off, okay? No sense in filing paperwork when you’re feeling rough.”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks.”
Dakota turned to walk back to the garage, but Jessiestopped him. “Hey, do you know when Lachlan is supposed to get in this morning?”
“He’s over at the McFarland farm trying to see what’s going on with their truck. I doubt he’ll be in until this afternoon.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
Dakota lingered just outside the office door for a moment before taking two steps back inside.
“It’s probably not my place to say anything, Blue Jay. But is he stepping up?”
“He?”
“The baby’s dad. If you’re not in a good place with him, if you need some place to land, I thought maybe…” His hand went to the back of his neck and she watched heat flood his face. Oh… oh!
“That is incredibly sweet of you. But I’m fine. We’re figuring things out… the baby’s dad and me. But yeah, he’s in our lives and he’s stepping up. He’s actually been incredible. I’m the one holding things up between us.”
He nodded. “You’ve always been stubborn.”
“Don’t you think you should be out on the floor working?” Jessie sighed as she bit down on the cap of the pen she was holding.
Dakota shrugged his shoulders, giving her a smile that would have absolutely made her blush if she was still sixteen. But now, it had no effect on her…. other than to make her realize how much she wished Hawk was there in that moment. “Yeah, alright. I’m going. Just… remember, I’m here if you need me.”
She nodded, afraid to try and speak past the lump in her throat. Instead, she moved the vase of flowers to the far side of the desk where there was a spot clear from the files she was trying to organize.
Her brother had been tight lipped since the bank incident.She’d only brought it up with him once, and he’d shut her down so fast it had felt like whiplash.
It was just a problem on the bank’s end, Jess. Leave it alone.
Lachlan’s voice played over and over in her mind. But the more she thought about it—and the more she looked through the records in front of her—the more she knew something else was going on.
“Well, look who it is, Leo. That pretty little thing from the diner works here too.” Jessie’s eyes moved from the laptop screen to the doorway.
“If you need one of the services we provide here, you’ll have to step away from that door and come see me over at this window.” Shit. She’d completely missed Dakota not shutting the door behind him when he went onto the floor to work. Unease settled in as the men smiled at her, but didn’t move.
“We could just come see you in there? Might be easier to show you what we need done if we can lay the parts out on the desk there.”
“You heard her. Step away from thefuckingdoor.” The room spun and she fought the urge to put her head between her knees. Hawk walked in, all broad shoulders and scowl as he looked at the two men, now on the other side of the reception window.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him as she turned to the men. “What can I do for you today?”
“We need to see Dakota.”
Her brows furrowed, and she turned to the small TV that’s screen was split, showing the four camera feeds from the floor of the shop. But Dakota wasn’t in any of the frames.
