At checkout, Adam handed the furniture tag and his credit card to the cashier. “The plant, too,” he told the cashier. “I’m getting all of it.”
“Wait, what?” Kyra turned to him. “I don’t need you to do that. That wasn’t what I planned.”
“I know,” Adam said, shutting her protest down before it even really got started. “I want to buy these things for you, OK? Please allow me, just this once.”
Her cheeks reddened and she bowed her head. “Thank you. It’s really sweet of you.” On their way back to the truck, she spoke again. “It already has, you know.”
“What?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“Life,” she clarified. “It’s already surprised me.” She turned to him and added, “In all the best ways.”
Adam’s chest swelled with what he could only assume was pride and affection. He refused to apply the word love to it, but he also knew he was being stubborn beyond measure. If he didn’t love her right now, then he’d probably never love anyone. That, he knew without a shadow of a doubt.
CHAPTER 14
ADAM
Six months into her pregnancy, Adam started to notice Kyra’s difficulties. Though he’d assigned her the less physically demanding jobs on the ranch, there came a time when even those gave her a bit of trouble. She would, of course, always insist that she could handle it when Adam offered to help her. Her optimism and positive attitude could be infuriating sometimes. But more often than not, Adam found himself loving it anyway.
One day, he couldn’t find her in any of her usual places, and he briefly panicked. It wasn’t like her to disappear. He couldn’t help wondering whether something had gone terribly wrong. Who would she call, if something happened? They didn’t live close enough to any hospital. The time it would take for him to find her and then drive her to the hospital wouldn’t give her any kind of leeway should anything go wrong.
He hopped onto his four-wheeler and drove around his property looking for her, calling her name. He checked the main house and the barn. He even checked the detached apartment, thinking she might have gone there for some time to herself. She wasn’tanywhere. The last place he thought of to look for her was where he finally found her.
She was out in the cow pasture, patching a stretch of fence that Adam hadn’t even known needed patching. The boss in him wanted to praise her, but the man in him was horrified that she was being so careless about her own safety. His response, therefore, was some kind of mixed version of both.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted.
She turned and rolled her eyes at him. “My job?”
“Exactly,” he said. “I mean, good job, but why are you all the way out here without telling me where you were? How am I supposed to ensure your safety?”
She sighed and awkwardly pushed herself to her feet. “I’m fine.”
“You keep saying that. I’m starting to think it’s a reflex at this point.”
She spun in place with her arms stretched out. “See? Perfectly fine. I’m pregnant, not broken.”
“I’m not suggesting you’re broken.” Adam hopped from the four-wheeler and approached. “I don’t doubt you can do anything you want to. I’m pretty sure you could run a marathon if you put your mind to it. But that doesn’t mean youshould. Listen, I’ve got a lot of administrative work on my plate, and I was hoping you’d be willing to help with it.”
She pulled the kind of face a child would pull at being offered a plate of nothing but broccoli. “Aww, come on,” she whined. “Don’t make me do desk work.”
He sighed and racked his brain. Why hadn’t he anticipated her being this resistant? Honestly, he should have. She’d always enjoyed the physical labor. She got bored easily if she wasn’t allowed to move around. There wasn’t a lot he was going to be able to do to convince her. So, he decided to pull rank. “I’m your boss. I’m assigning you a task. Either do the task or I’ll replace you with someone who will.”
She gasped in a half-serious, half-playful way. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” he said.
“Ugh, fine.” She pouted but willingly joined him on the four-wheeler after packing up the tools she was using.
“I’ll come back for the lumber later,” Adam said. “Right now, I want to get you trained on administrative work before your shift ends.” Truly, he mainly wanted to avoid her lifting anything unnecessarily heavy or awkward, but he didn’t dare admit to that. No doubt, the second she realized he was trying to protect her from hurting herself, she’d find her rebellious streak again.
On the four-wheeler, she struggled to put her arms around him with the same ease she had before. Her grip was tighter for that reason, and he could feel her stomach pressing into his back. Her stomach, which was heavy with his child. A cool dread rose up in him, but he quickly reined it in again.
When they pulled up at the main house, Adam parked the four-wheeler and helped Kyra to dismount. Though she hardly needed the help, she accepted it graciously, and he was grateful, if only because it allowed him to hold her hand for a moment without needing to worry about what it meant. The last thing hewanted to do was get her hopes up and then break her heart. She was too good for that. She was too good for him.
He led her into the main house. “Do you want something to drink before we get started?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Are you serious?”
