Page 47 of Surprise Baby for Mr. Fischer

He’d just pulled a T-shirt over his head when his gaze narrowed on me. “Something?”

I twisted my hands together. Not many people knew my secret, and honestly, how well did the two of us know each other, despite the fact that we were soon going to be co-parenting?

“Harper, what aren’t you telling me?” He threw on boxers and a pair of sweatpants. How he appeared so put together in casual clothing was beyond me. He looked ready for a commercial, while if I tried a similar outfit, it would look like I got dressed in the dark.

“It’s nothing.” I found my underwear and shimmied into it. His eyes followed me as I looked for my pants.

Lincoln’s hand stuck out in front of me, my pants dangling off the end of his fingertips. “Harper,” he said quietly. “Is it about the baby?”

My head snapped up. “Oh, Lincoln. No, no. It has nothing to do with the baby. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

His tense shoulders lowered a bit. “You twist your hands together when you’re nervous about something.”

“You noticed that?” I don’t know why it surprised me, but it did. A warm, fuzzy feeling grew inside of me that he even took the time to notice.

He nodded. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry into your personal life.”

I paused. “Can you keep a secret?”

“I think I can.” He gave me an encouraging smile and sat on the end of the bed.

I paced while I tried to gather my thoughts. My pants now waved like a flag. The movement helped me channel what I wanted to say. “You know how I love the picker side of our business?”

“I do.”

“A year ago, I got this idea that I wanted to share what I do with the world, but not as me.”

He gave me a puzzled look. “I’m not following.”

“I have a vlog where I show off my picker finds and tell people their history.” I worried my hands together so tight, I was afraid I might cut off circulation.

“Come here.” Lincoln motioned me closer. When I was in front of him, he grabbed my hands making me drop my pants to the floor. He placed one hand on his leg and started rubbing and massaging the other one. “Tell me more about the vlog. How is it that people don’t know it’s you?”

“I don’t show my face. And I use a fake name. The Singing Picker.” I closed my eyes. Now that my hands were relaxing, other parts of my body were waking up. I hadn’t put a bra on yet, and I was sure he hadn’t missed my nipples pointing right at him.

“The Singing Picker. Interesting. How did you come up with that?” He looked up, his gaze firm, his stare intense as he took in my obvious state of desire. His nostrils flared and he quickly shifted his gaze back down. His fingers rubbed a little harder at my hand, and he let out a long breath.

“I, uh, sing when I talk about the pieces. It helps my nervousness when the camera turns on.”

His head popped up, careful to look straight at my face. “You sing?”

“I do. You know all the discarded things the little mermaid has in her treasure trove? I kind of feel like I’m her sometimes.”

Lincoln was silent.

I stared at the ground. “It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“No. Not at all. I think it’s adorable.” He tapped my nose with a finger.

I scrunched up my nose and muttered. “Adorable? I guess that’s better than dumb.”

“What does that have to do with why you need to leave today?”

“Being pregnant and so tired all the time, I’ve fallen behind my filming schedule and I need to record tonight. My viewers are expecting to see something new tomorrow.”

“Ah.” His eyes lit up in understanding. “Do you have a piece picked out?”

“No, usually I’m at least five episodes ahead, but I’ve been off my game lately.”