Petri-citing!
Petrifying, because her heart was still bruised from Darrin. She’d thought he was one of the good guys—until he broke up with her because she wanted children. He didn’t. Ever. And didn’t see the point in falling deeper in love with her if they were only going to part ways down the road. Because the kid thing was a deal breaker—for both of them. It wasn’t like she wanted to have a baby ten months after they graduated. She tried to explain that to Darrin; that there was no rush. He argued that they’d have an easier time finding someone else if they started looking now. As if replacing Cedar was just a matter of picking up a new girlfriend at the grocery store. She hoped it wasn’t that easy for him. That would juststink.
Exciting, because here she was havingfeelingsfor Teo. Which was electrifying because Teo made her feel comfortably desirable. A feeling that also needed its own word. Combinations of those words already existed.Comfortablewas sweat pants and messy ponytails. She didn’t feel like that with Teo. When Teo looked at her, she felt like a little black dress, glossy lips, and—forgive this thought—a tight butt. Because what woman doesn’t feel amazing when her backside looks perky?Desirabilitywas another combination of comfortably and desirable that didn’t quite fit because it brought to mind women who wore little clothing to garner a man’s attention, and she didn’t have to do that with Teo. She wasn’tworkingto attract him. Well, besides making sure her hair and makeup were done each day, but she would do that for anyjob.
So what did that leave her with? A whole lot of confusion, that’s what. She couldn’t be falling for Teo. The timing was off. Darrin was too fresh in her mind to even consider another relationship. Her attraction to Teo was nothing more than the admirations of a fine man with a perfect body. She fanned her face. The. Perfect.Body.
Akoni slammed into her legs. He laughed as he watched her hands flap for balance and then tried to copyher.
She lifted him into a hug, which he snuggled right into. While she may have things she wanted to accomplish before she became a mother, she sure loved Akoni. He made it easy to fall for him. “One more thing you have in common with your dad.” She kissed his temple. “I guess you have a new nickname, Tough Guy. Let’s see if that’s manly enough for your daddy.” She set him down so he could walk. He stayed close as she headed to the nursery to find the diaperbag.
The irony of the situation—her finding a diaper bag for a business meeting—was not lost on her. But then, she was calling the snuggle bug in her lifeTough Guy,so apparently it was a day forcontradictions.
* * *
Cedar coveredher full mouth with a napkin to hide her laughter. Elijah had dropped his fork and bent to pick it up, only to have Akoni swipe a yam-covered hand across his cheek. The look on Elijah’s face was part terror, part disgust, and parkshock.
She swallowed quickly and dove for the diaper bag to retrieve the wipes. Leaving the sweet potatoes to grow cold on Teo’s agent’s cheek wasn’t good form. Elijah was going to need more than a linen napkin to feel completely clean. “Sorry, I should have warned you not to enter the splash zone.” She hoped to pass off Akoni’s attempt to start a food fight with a little bit ofhumor.
Elijah accepted the wet wipe and leaned to the left, as far from Akoni as he could get. He folded the wipe in exactly half before cleaning his face. “It’s good for me. I need to learn thesethings.”
Cedar pressed her lips together to hold in the questions that statement brought up. She exchanged a look with Teo, silently pleading with him to ask if Elijah was going to be a daddy because it wasn’t any of her business. But Teo… Teo had known him longer. They worked closely together, talking on the phone on an almost daily basis and met once a week. Though she’d just met Elijah, she could tell he had his stuff together. He was the type of person she would want on her team, and she was grateful Teo had found him—for Teo’s sake. Not that who Teo worked with was any of her business either. But, she believed some of the stereotypes in chick flicks that cast agents as little better than a desperate used carsalesman.
Teo took a long sip from his water glass. Meeting her eyes over the rim, he winked. Like the traitorous organ it was, her heart flipped and flopped and then decided to do a little dance. She wasn’t sure when they had started communicating without words—it was a skill she hadn’t known she possessed. Yet they pulled it off as if they’d been doing it for years. Thank goodness she was already sitting in a chair since her knees went weak and her legsnumb.
The tension of the unasked question grew while Cedar worked to calm her racing pulse.Focus on the elephant in the room.She widened her eyes, practically begging Teo toask.
Elijah watched the two of them, a half smirk on his face. He wasn’t about to give up the information though the pride on his face, shining like the mid-day sun, pretty much answered thequestion.
Teo slowly set down his glass, wiped his lips, and said, “Are you trying to tell us something?” He appeared half-interested—only making Elijah seem all the moreantsy.
Elijah sagged with relief and a slow grin settled on his bright face. “Deja’spregnant.”
Cedar squeezed her hands together in delight. “How far along isshe?”
“Four and a halfmonths.”
“Ha!” Teo smacked Elijah on the back, sending him crashing into the table and making their cutlery clatter. “Congratulations,” heboomed.
Cedar steadied her water glass. “That’swonderful.”
Elijah coughed—probably from being congratulated so heartily by Teo. “We’re pretty excited.” He glanced at Akoni and swiped at his now-clean cheek as if he could still feel the yams. “Mostlynervous.”
Cedar held back a giggle. Akoni was a prince compared to some of the kids she’d watched over at camp. If he made Elijah nervous, then the new parents could be in for quite a ride. Of course, most parents loved their children’s antics or at least tolerated them better than they did other people’s children. Something about that parental desire to love and protect put up a shield against annoying habits. For the most part. There were always exceptions, but Cedar didn’t want to think about her dad rightnow.
Teo shook his head. “No wonder you’ve been begging me to get thingsdone.”
Elijah nodded. “The more I do now, the more time I’ll be able to take off when the babycomes.”
“Let’s get down to business.” Teo folded his arms and leaned on the table, making it tip slightly his direction and giving Cedar an amazing view of his muscular definition. He caught her eye and nodded, telling her she was a part of this. Her cheeks warmed with hisinvitation.
Elijah snapped up his briefcase like he’d been waiting for the green light. “There are three local small-business owners looking for start-up money: a car repair shop that specializes in computer and sensor problems in newervehicles…”
Cedar tipped her head to the side. The idea was interesting. She liked that they specialized in something that was usually handled at a dealership level, allowing them to break into a new market. The drawback was that it would take six months to a year to get something like that off the ground. Word of mouth only spread so quickly in a specializedfield.
“… a dry cleaner …” continuedElijah.
Not a bad idea either. This business was general, could serve a lot of customers, and had a quick turnaround so they could take in loads of work—no pun intended. But there were a great number of dry cleaners in Dallas. What made this one so special? If they didn’t have a fantastic location, then they could sinkquickly.
