The Lost Groom: Bachelor Billionaire Romance (A Park City Firefighter Companion)

by Taylor Hart

  For a second, she wanted to tell him no, she wasn’t. That he was having some kind of teenager effect on her and she didn’t like it. It wasn’t just a teenager effect or a memory, though. It was “the now.” She didn’t like it, but she smiled at Lincoln and held a stuffed animal above his face. “That’s just fine,” she said, all singsongy. “You were here first, huh, Lincoln? So what do we do?” She grinned at him.

  The baby grinned back and let out a tiny giggle, and the binky slipped from his mouth. Smiling, she held the stuffed bear up again and wiggled it. Lincoln giggled again.

  Luke put his hand on it. “Can I try?”

  She passed it over, and Luke held it high before bringing it whooshing down like a fuzzy skydiver. Lincoln laughed louder.

  So it went for a couple of minutes—the bear, Luke’s plane noise downward, and extreme giggling from all parties.

  Luke’s eyes met hers, and it was like they were stripped down to being kids again. It was like jumping off the cliffs into the lake. It was feeling free, riding bikes in the summer as they put their hands up and yelled, coming screaming down the street.

  For the next hour they immersed themselves in baby Lincoln, playing with him, making him laugh. She pushed all thoughts of how this could have been her life out of her mind. It was just the now, and it was perfect.

  When the energy faded, she bundled Lincoln tighter and just rocked him.

  Luke let out a sigh. “This is nice.”

  Lincoln’s eyes opened a little bit, then closed again.

  “Shh.” Savannah pointed to Lincoln.

  So they sat in silence for a few minutes, and she loved watching Lincoln’s face do little twitches into half smiles, then finally relaxing.

  While she didn’t look at Luke, she felt the pull between them. When she’d seen him here, she hadn’t wanted to talk about the other night, the confessions. She’d stayed away and kept him away because it was too much.

  Part of her felt ashamed for not admitting the other part of the truth to him. She had to help Luke find a good wife and move on and be happy, then take the money and leave the past behind. Yes, she felt herself recommitted to this idea. “I found some dates for you today.” She looked up at him.

  He was already looking at her, his face thoughtful, but now the side of his lip twitched up. “Really?”

  “Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “Even with your impossible standards.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t believe in impossible. The very word says ‘I’m possible’ in it.”

  She frowned at him.

  Then they both sat shrouded in silence and she couldn’t help but think about what Luke was insinuating. Did he want them to be possible?

  “I’m going to be truthful here,” Luke said quietly.

  She gave him an unsure look. “Honesty is good.” Even though she couldn’t be honest.

  “Right.”

  Staring at baby Lincoln, she felt her heart start to melt a bit. The baby was sleeping, but he looked so peaceful. Gently, she rested a hand on his head.

  “I wanted to come find you today.”

  Her stomach flip-flopped. “But you remembered the number one lesson.”

  He held her eyes. “I wanted to not push.”

  Coughing, she tried to hide her discomfort. It was easier to resist Luke when he was just a guy obsessed with success, it was harder to resist when they were sitting here laughing and holding a baby together.

  “Yes. Plus, you’re gonna love these women I found for you.” She looked away, feeling nervous. “I would even marry them.”

  He gestured to her and smiled. “You would marry them.”

  Rolling her eyes, she focused on Lincoln and not the way she was blushing. “If I were a man, then yes, I would.”

  The door opened, and the doctor came in and looked around. “Excuse me, are you Mr. Freestone?”

  “Oh.” Luke stood. “Yes.” He hesitated and glanced at her, then back to the doctor. “Um, could we talk in your office?”

  The doctor gave Savannah a look, then turned to Luke. “I’m sorry, I’m rushing out to another hospital, but I heard you were in here and I just wanted to stop in and tell you how much the money means to these babies and to our research.”

  Luke looked oddly uncomfortable. “Um, you’re welcome. I’ll come back and we can talk about it another time.”

  The doctor began to back up. “Okay, I have to rush.” He averted his eyes to her, then back to Luke. “Sorry if I misspoke, Mr. Freestone, but thank you. Thank you.”

  Luke looked upset as the doctor left. He let out a breath and his hand briefly formed a fist.

  She couldn’t stop the smile on her face.

  “What?” Luke turned to her, still looking apprehensive. “It’s a tax write off, that’s all.”

  Warmth filled her. “Why don’t you want me to know you gave money to the hospital?”

  Luke moved back to her and sat heavily in the rocker next to her. “I didn’t do it for you.”

  She rocked baby Lincoln and cooed over him and felt so happy, but she could feel Luke’s angst. “What’s your deal, Freestone?” she asked.

  Luke sighed. “I … the other day when you told me I should help Lincoln, I realized … I should.”

  It was funny to her that Luke was so flashy in so many ways, but he wasn’t flashy in a way that counted. So that was good. It confused her, but it was good. “Well that’s a good thing.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and looked away. “I spoke to the nurse earlier and his vitals are looking good.”

  Clearly he was changing the subject, but she would let him off the hook. “That’s good news, too.”

  Luke nodded.

  For a few moments she just held the baby, loving how it felt to have the solidness of a baby in her arms. Something she’d longed for, for so long. Her mind drifted back to Sean and how many fights they’d had over the fact she wanted to keep on trying to get pregnant.

  “Are you okay?” Luke asked.

  She wondered what expression she had on her face, but she quickly smoothed it out. “I’m perfect. What else did the nurse say?”

  Luke sighed. “I … for now they are keeping him here. But as they move forward with his illness, they are trying to figure out precedent. Do they keep him here? Do they look for foster parents?”

  A twinge pinged through her heart. She imagined some parents taking care of baby Lincoln, a scene just like this one—a woman and a man taking care of him. Briefly, she had the thought she and Luke could do it.

  That thought was quickly dismissed. What was she thinking? No way.

  They both relaxed as she rocked baby Lincoln.

  “So tell me about these awesome women you would marry.”

  “Shut up.”

  He lifted his hands. “Hey, that’s just how good you are. Why do you think I hired you?” He grinned.

  It was nice to see him get a bit flustered. She scoffed. “Do you really want a wife, Luke?” Might as well deal with the elephant in the room.

  Hesitating, his jaw tightened. “Yes, Savannah, I want a wife.”

  “A wife from the women I’m setting you up with?”

  Holding her eyes, he seemed to be deciding something. “Yes, of course. Why else would I be going through all of this?” He cocked an eyebrow.

  Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she shoved them away. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.”

  “Okay. But I was going to tell you I have to go to Jackson the day after tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” She looked surprised.

  “Business.”

  “Okay, then I’ll set up two dates for tomorrow.”

  He hesitated. “Tomorrow?”

  “You’re in this, right?”

  “Right.” He agreed. “Great, do it.”

  They sat there for a few more minutes, and it felt good. Easy. Nice.

  A nurse came in. “I’m sorry, we have to ask the volunteers to leave. It’s time to feed the babies and get them
ready for bed.”

  After giving Lincoln a little hug, Savannah reluctantly handed him over to the nurse. “When can I come back?”

  The nurse smiled. “Visiting hours are every day between ten and six. But I’m sure they would make exception for Mr. Freestone.” She winked at him.

  Luke nodded but looked away from the nurse, embarrassed.

  They went through the process of taking off the special clothes the hospital issued when a person visited the babies. Luke turned to her. “Hey, could I get a ride home with you?”

  She frowned, confused. “How did you get here?”

  He shrugged. “Uber.”

  Looking him up and down, it felt like she’d been set up or something, but she didn’t know why she would be. “Sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  They made their way out of the hospital and into the parking lot. To her dismay, he tried to open her car door for her. She unlocked the door and waited. “You don’t have to do that. It’s, we’re not …”

  He was already moving around to the passenger side of the car. “Get over it.”

  As she pulled out of the hospital parking lot, she didn’t know why it made her nervous to have him in the car with her. “Tell me why you didn’t drive your own car.”

  Glancing at her, he shrugged. “I had some work to do and figured I may as well do it on the way down the canyon.”

  That didn’t make sense to her. “Where’s your computer?” she accused.

  He flashed her a grin and held up his phone. “I had calls to make.” He lifted his eyebrows.

  “You don’t have your own car so you could drive and talk on the phone? I do it.” She gestured to her Bluetooth.

  Turning away, he let out a breath. “Nope.”

  She didn’t believe him, but it felt stupid to fight over.

  “Hey.” He turned to her. “Are you hungry?”

  Now she felt the true setup. “No, I’m not.” Even though she was truly starving. She tried not to meet her candidates in restaurants, and always felt coffee shops were faster and somewhat safer if they were in fact a creeper.

  “Okay.” He turned to look out the window. “But there is a killer Thai place at the Gateway. Remember when we used to drive to Midway to that dive?”

  She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Remember when Sean ate so much that night you had to pull over so he could throw up?”

  Luke laughed too. “Ah, he was such a pig with Thai food.”

  She nodded, feeling the camaraderie. “He was such a pig with any kind of foreign food. Mexican.”

  “True,” Luke agreed.

  “Korean, too. It was so funny when we lived in Germany and he’d do the same thing with any foreign food. Even American food in Germany. He acted like he would never eat another meal again.” Memories flooded her.

  “Oh, turn left here.”

  She did so, laughing along with him as they recounted story after story about different restaurants where Sean would overeat.

  Luke kept giving directions, which she followed without thinking, and they ended up at the Thai restaurant. Cutting the engine, she shook her head. “You tricked me.”

  “I just distracted you.”

  He’d always done that. She rolled her eyes and got out. “That’s how you always got your way, wasn’t it?”

  Getting out, he beamed. “I wouldn’t say I always got my way. I think you got your way plenty of times. We would always stop at that hole-in-the-wall bakery in Midway, remember?”

  She did remember. “Is that bakery still there?”

  “Nope, closed the place. There’s an automobile repair place there now.”

  It was stupid, but it made her sad. “Hmm, I guess things change.”

  His eyes met hers, and she knew they weren’t talking about restaurants anymore. “And some things stay the same,” he said lightly, before gesturing to the restaurant. “This place is good.”

  “I told you I wasn’t hungry,” she said, but she opened her door and got out.

  They fell into step toward the restaurant, and he lifted his eyebrows and smiled at her. “But Thai food is your weakness. Plus, you probably haven’t eaten today.”

  It was annoying he knew her so well. “This is a work meeting, that’s all.”

  “Sounds good. You can give me more lessons. Maybe we can talk table manners.”

  “Good idea.” She felt better about it, even though he was silly.

  “That means I’m paying, since I’m your client.”

  “No, I should be paying.”

  He glanced at her. “But you know that would emasculate me, and you wouldn’t want to do that right before I’m about to go out on a first date you hooked up for me.” Dramatically, he sighed. “Bad for the egomaniac.”

  He was a good negotiator, had always been. “You are so infuriating.”

  He stuck his tongue out at her, just the way she’d done to him the other night.

  “You’re such a brat.”

  He laughed. “Takes one to know one.”

  “I’m not even going to say I’m rubber and you’re glue, because that would just make you too happy.”

  “Way to hold out on me.”

  She hated the fact she was having so much fun with him. The more she tried to stay focused on the now, the less it worked. The past and the present were all mixing together and it felt harder and harder to fight.

  Luke walked up to the greeter and said a few things, then watched as the man waved her ahead of the rest of the line.

  “How?” she asked.

  “I know the owner.” He took her hand to pull her behind him as they followed the server.

  His touch electrified something inside of her. Not to mention that rain smell he still had going on for him. She’d ignored it at the hospital, but now she found herself getting caught up in being with him. It was uncomfortable, too close to a real date. She tugged her hand back just as they arrived at the table.

  The server pointed to a booth. “Here you go, Mr. Freestone. I’ll send out Mr. Chayond.”

  Luke waited for her to scoot in and thanked the host.

  She let out a breath and shook her head as she opened the menu.

  Luke caught her eye. “What’s wrong?”

  “How did I end up on a date tonight?” she asked.

  22

  Did Luke feel bad he’d kind of tricked her into a date? No way, no how. That summed it up. If anything, he was mad at himself for not thinking about it sooner.

  Did he take an Uber car to the hospital? Uh, no. They’d walked past his Porsche when they went to her car. He’d needed an excuse to drive with her, and she never would have agreed to it if he would have told her the truth.

  Granted, they had a crapload of baggage between them, but he’d dated enough to know what he did and didn’t want. He wanted her, plain and simple. Even with all the crap. It was all he could think about as he watched her holding baby Lincoln.

  Dang it, he wanted her to be holding their baby. Clearly she wasn’t on board about it, and it would take time, but he could see she had feelings for him in little snapshots between them.

  The other night, like it or not, they’d broken through her walls … and if it could be done once, it could be done again.

  It frustrated him Savannah was not the kind of business thing he could push. Yes, it was like the billion-dollar deal he was working on.

  He couldn’t push, not directly.

  So he had to go along with this. He had to. He would keep going, but he would take every chance to be with her he could.

  He would be patient. He would. He could, he told himself.

  Sure, it was messy and murky in their past, and she had a lot of guilt from Sean, but she had to see what they had now. What they could have. He would have to gently help her see it.

  He watched her pore over the menu scrupulously. Glancing at him, she frowned. “Lesson number one.”

  “Right. Non-weirdo look.” He looked at the menu to appease her.
/>   “I know it’s a standard that’s high, but please try to attain it.”

  He let out a soft laugh, finding her ridiculous. “I may be staring at you, but it’s not creepy.”

  Shutting her menu, she nodded emphatically. “Totally creepy.” She opened her purse and pulled out a small notebook. “In fact, let’s talk about some of the creepy habits you need to break before tomorrow.”

  Finding this a bit funny, he relented. “Okay, tell me what a creepo I am.”

  Listing numbers from one to ten, she put down staring first, then shook her finger at him. “You’re giving me the creepo stare now.”

  Widening his eyes into his best serial killer impersonation, he asked, “You mean like this?”

  She scoffed as she focused her attention back to the list. “The zombie look might be an improvement to this.”

  He kept it up.

  “Ha. Ha. Remember, you sprained my ankle with this same kind of juvenile stunt.” She half giggled, and the sound of it ignited something magical inside of him.

  He found all he wanted was to see her giggle more. “Oh, you like that.” He did the zombie thing again.

  She couldn’t hold her serious face.

  “Baa, baa.” He made zombie sounds and reached out to her like he would choke her. “I bet you watch creepy zombie shows.” He turned his voice to a Dracula impression. “Let me suck your blood.” He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her toward him.

  She laughed and pretended to bat him away. “Zombies aren’t vampires. Get your underworldlings straight.”

  He grabbed her for a few more seconds, then relented after a harder slap to the hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Sheesh.”

  Someone cleared their throat. When they both turned, Luke’s friend, the owner, was giving them the kind of incredulous look the owner of a restaurant would give two misbehaving teenagers. Feeling embarrassed, he apologized. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  When Savannah snickered, he felt like a kid again, sharing an inside joke. She’d opened the menu and was hiding behind it, laughing.

  He couldn’t not laugh. “Stop.” He took the menu away from her.