Melanie caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to the seat across the aisle.
“I’m so tired,” Lindsey complained as Owen hefted her to her feet. “Do I really have to check into a hotel tonight? Can’t you just let me crash on your couch? I promise I won’t sneak into your bed and try to molest you while you’re sleeping.”
She rubbed her belly with one hand and covered an extended yawn with her other as she shuffled toward the exit.
“I’m tired too,” Owen said, sounding more cross than Melanie had ever heard him. “Do you think I want to deal with this right now? I’d much rather be with Caitlyn than trying to figure out what to do with you.”
Lindsey’s eyes filled with tears and she turned her back to him, struggling not to cry. Melanie was on her feet, prepared to comfort her, when Owen closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and placed a hand on her shoulder. He gave it a slight squeeze.
“Fine,” he said, “you can stay at my place tonight, but don’t think it’s going to become a permanent situation.”
“Thank you,” she said, and hugged him with one arm. “I wouldn’t even ask to stay, but I’m so exhausted. What time will Caitlyn be over in the morning? I’ll be sure to be gone before she gets there.”
Melanie had a hard time reading the young woman. Lindsey seemed completely sincere, but Melanie couldn’t help but wonder if the pregnant woman was really on a mission to turn Owen’s head. Melanie didn’t know whose side she should champion. She’d never met Caitlyn, though Owen seemed to be smitten with her. But shouldn’t a man be a little more concerned about the mother of his child? But was it his child? Melanie still wasn’t sure.
She glanced at Gabe and found him looking half-sick as he watched Owen assist Lindsey down the bus steps. “Something wrong?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Everything is right in my world now that you’re here,” he said.
“Are we going to camp out on this shuttle tonight?” she asked, wondering why he was taking so long to disembark. “I did enjoy my nap on your shoulder, but I can’t guarantee your safety when you wake me from that position.”
He unfolded his tall frame from the seat and took her hand.
The driver was waiting for them to leave. The woman covered her mouth to stifle a yawn as Melanie and Gabe made their way to the luggage rack.
Within minutes Melanie was scrambling into Gabe’s enormous pickup truck and settling into the comfortable leather seat. She smiled at him in the glare of the cabin lights when he climbed in beside her.
“I know you’re not compensating for anything,” she said, nodding at his crotch, “so what’s with the ginormous truck?”
“I need something to pull my boat,” he said. “It’s badass.”
She grinned at him, loving that he could be such a guy.
As it was so late, traffic was light outside of Austin. Away from the city, they scarcely met another car on the desolate road.
She was still a bit sleepy, but did her duty and talked to Gabe about trivial things, such as his boat and the weather, to keep him awake. Though he looked ready to pass out from exhaustion, he perked right up when she got up the nerve to ask what was truly weighing on her mind.
“So what’s the deal with Lindsey?” she asked. “Madison seemed to think the baby is Owen’s and Lindsey does too, but you don’t seem convinced.”
“It’s probably his,” Gabe said, reaching for the stereo knob and turning blaring metal music on.
Melanie turned it back off. “How can it probably be his? It either is or it isn’t.”
Gabe rubbed the back of his neck and became fascinated with the side view mirror.
“Gabe!”
“You’re not going to like what I have to say.”
Her stomach dropped. “It’s yours, isn’t it?”
“I’m pretty sure that it’s not.”
“What the f**k, Gabe? Did the entire band have an orgy with the chick or what?”
He blew at his cheeks, still refusing to look at her. “Yeah, pretty much.”
She’d been joking, so his validation of her question made her eyes bug out.
“It was Christmas Eve,” he said. “We were far from home and trapped on the bus together in a blizzard with Lindsey and her friend. Things got out of hand. I honestly don’t remember much about it. I do know that I never have sex without a condom, but I was completely trashed that night. So like I said, I’m pretty sure it’s not mine, but I can’t guarantee that it’s not.”
Melanie was too stunned to form a response. Should she berate him or console him? She couldn’t decide.
After a long tense moment, he reached for her hand. “If it is mine, will you turn your back on me?” he asked.
Would she? That was a pretty big question to ask so early in their acquaintance.
“Would you want to be with the mother if it’s your baby?” she forced herself to ask, not sure if she could handle his response. She liked him so much. She didn’t want anything to come between them.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “No,” he said. “I want to be with you, but I can’t lie. I would feel an obligation toward the child. Not just financially. Emotionally.”
And she wouldn’t want him to feel any other way.
“I want to be with you too,” she said. “I want this to work even if…” She took a deep breath. “Even if the baby is yours.”
He smiled. She saw the flash of his white teeth in the headlights of a passing car. “But I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
And secretly she really hoped it wasn’t. She wasn’t thinking about marriage and having a family just yet, but if she did fall in love with this man and have his children, she selfishly wanted all of his babies to be hers.
“I can’t help but wonder why Lindsey’s convinced that the baby is Owen’s. Maybe she knows he didn’t use protection or something.”
“She’s convinced because she likes him and wants it to be his. Owen used protection. He does have his c**k pierced though, so if one of us was going to compromise the integrity of a rubber, it would be him. Still, no guarantees that’s what happened either.”
“So we won’t know who the father is until the baby’s born?”
“You planning to stick around that long?” He looked at her and squeezed her hand. His hopeful smile was barely illuminated by the dashboard lights.