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“Shit.” I crouched down, searching under the car for the keys.

“Sierra?” Blake walked over to where I was a shaking, nervous wreck. He dropped to the parking lot and scooped up the keys from behind the front wheel.

“Hey.” I let a nervous reply eek from my lips as I tried to stand.

Blake hopped to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

“I-I…” None of the prepared speeches I had rehearsed on the plane or in the car seemed to fit this moment. Seeing him with Cece had changed all of that.

I’m having your baby seemed like a ridiculous thing to say right now.

“I don’t even know what to say.” He stepped closer, causing my senses to buzz from the nearness.

“I should get going. Just popped by to say hi.” I reached for the keys that were in his fist.

Blake scanned my eyes. “What? That’s it? I haven’t seen you in almost two months and you’re just out of here?”

I froze. What in the hell did I do now?

38

Blake

I had no idea what was going on with this girl. I thought I had seen a damn mirage when I looked over at the bar door and locked eyes with her. Nothing was going to stop me from running after that blonde, just in case it was Sierra. I knew I had it bad.

There wasn’t enough whiskey or beer last night to drink her out of my head, and I had sure as hell tried.

I thought I saw Sierra everywhere I went. The girl I spun around in the grocery store yesterday almost clocked me. Even my cousin, Cece, had started teasing me about it. The music helped; singing about Sierra helped. When those notes were in the air and I could sing about her, my heart didn’t hurt quite as much for that one song. Taking a hit on the field, or scoring a touchdown took the edge off. But, now here she was, already running out of town, and she hadn’t been here five minutes.

“I shouldn’t have come. Big, big mistake.” She fiddled with the door handle, suddenly very clumsy. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll call you later.”

I reached around her and took the keys from her hand. “Call me later?”

I wasn’t letting her out of here until we had it out. I was still a little drunk. Drunk enough I wasn’t going to hold anything back.

Her eyes fell to the pavement. She pinched her lips together.

“Say something before you leave. Have a beer with me at least?” I realized I might be begging a little, but this was crazy.

“I think you’ve got that covered. Cece’s keeping a barstool warm for you, isn’t she?”

“What?”

“I saw you two. You don’t have to say anything else. We’ll talk another time. Just let me go, Blake.”

I laughed. Once it started, I couldn’t stop. I wiped the tears that started squeezing from the corners of my eyes.

“I’m glad my humiliation is so funny to you.” Sierra stood, looking disgusted as I tried to control the jolts of laughter.

“You-you’re mad, because you think I’m with Cece.”

“Aren’t you?” She sputtered the question.

“No, she’s my cousin. She’s here every week with her friends.” I stopped laughing long enough to brush a lock of her hair away from her face. “She heard I was here for tonight so she didn’t want to miss it. Don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Sierra’s eyes softened. “So, you’re not with someone else?”

My hand moved along her neck and snaked its way through her hair. “No, didn’t you hear that song I wrote about you? I am not with anyone else.” I was still trying to wrap my head around her being here.