Amber had mentioned how tired she was, which Jasmine could relate to—not that she told her friend that. Amber also talked about the changes she’d seen in her body, namely in her boobs. Jasmine couldn’t be sure, but she thought Amber may have noticed that they had that in common.
The only people she’d told that she was expecting were Leo, Nan, and Corbin, but she figured with the way her body was changing, she didn’t really have the option of keeping it private much longer.
Jasmine took a deep breath as she ran her hand over her belly. She’d been waiting for the right time to tell her friend the news. She’d visited her once since she’d had Cam Jr. and hadn’t been able to build up the courage to spit it out face to face.
She knew it was the coward’s way out to do this over the phone, but she’d cut herself a break since her entire journey to motherhood hadn’t been what she’d planned.
“Um, actually, I had to get something new because none of my other dresses fit me.”
“Have you not been eating again?!” her friend shouted.
In the background, she heard Phoebe’s tiny voice. “Shh, Mama, the baby is sleeping.”
“You’re right. Sorry, dumplin’.” Meg lowered her voice to a whisper-yell. “You’d better be taking care of yourself. I know breakups are hard but—”
“I didn’t lose weight, I gained it. Almost ten pounds.”
There was a beat of silence and Jasmine figured her friend must’ve used context clues to guess the reason why she’d packed on ten pounds.
“Damn, I bet you look like a Kardashian. I can’t wait to get my body back.”
Jasmine instantly felt like an asshole for assuming her friend’s silence was due to her puzzling together the riddle of her weight gain. The entire world did not revolve around her and the secret she’d been keeping.
“I don’t know about a Kardashian and I’m sure I’m going to feel the same way as you do in a few months.”
Because I’m pregnant.
Why were those words so hard to say? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Not that her friend was the judgmental type. Jasmine knew Meg wouldn’t so much as blink, even if she’d ended up in her condition from a wild orgy and had no clue who the father was. One of the things that she loved the most about her bestie and mentor was her unrelenting acceptance. Meg saw people and accepted them for who they were.
“What do you mean…Wait…You’re not…?”
“Yes. I’m pregnant.”
“What?!” Her friend screamed.
Not a second after her exclamation another scream was heard. This one was from a much tinier person.
“Mama! You woked him ups!” Phoebe shouted.
“I know, I know. Sorry. My bad. Girls, go watch Frozen.”
Jasmine could hear the crying getting louder. She listened as her friend shushed her son and wondered what it was going to be like when she was interrupted on phone calls by the screams of her own baby. Or during the middle of a grocery shopping trip. Or woken up in the middle of the night. There were so many unknowns.
The screaming was growing louder and louder. “I’ve got to feed him. Call me when you get back tonight. I don’t care how late it is. I don’t care if it’s two in the morning.”
“Okay,” Jasmine agreed.
“Ahhh!” Meg let out one more scream. “I can’t believe you’re gonna be a momma. That kid is so lucky.”
With that declaration, her friend ended the call.
Jasmine felt herself getting emotional over Meg’s parting words. Out of everything her friend could’ve said, that was probably the most meaningful. While she hoped that she would be a good mom, she had her doubts.
It was hard to shake the feeling of not being good enough. In her early twenties, she’d gone to counseling and learned that it was a common feeling among children who didn’t know their birth parents. Logically, she knew that her mother hadn’t abandoned her because she hadn’t loved her. But emotionally, she had to remind herself all the time.
She may not have as much confidence in her parenting abilities as other people did, but Jasmine did know that no matter what, this baby she was carrying would feel loved.
When she saw the time, she cursed under her breath. If she didn’t hurry, she’d be late. She snatched her camel wedges out of the shoe rack, slid them on and tied them up. Then she grabbed a cardigan and was out the door.
Thankfully, nothing in town took very long to get to, so even though she had fifteen minutes to get to the barn where Leah and Lance were tying the knot, it would only take her ten. Still, when she found herself pulling into the dirt lot with only five minutes to spare, she started getting panicked.
It wasn’t until she was in her seat that her pulse began to slow to a normal rhythm. But that all changed when music began playing and the wedding party entered the room.
Wow.
That was the only word that came to mind as Jasmine sat in the third row of white folding chairs and watched as Leo walked beside his cousin Lance. The two men stopped in front of a large wooden arch that had flowers winding around it. The duo looked like they walked straight out of the pages of GQ.
Each wore a black suit, a crisp white shirt, and a red tie. They were both attractive in their own right, but Jasmine couldn’t stop staring at one of them. Lance was a good-looking man. There was no question about that. But Leo…Leo took things to an entirely different level. He had a sprinkle of stubble covering his square jaw and his normally messy hair was styled. He cleaned up well, not that he ever looked bad.
Jasmine felt her body heating up from the inside out, the way it always did whenever she looked directly at Leo. He had the same effect on her as the sun did.
“Is this seat taken?”
She looked up and saw Chris Simmons, who tended bar at The Grill and had been two years ahead of her in school.
“It’s all yours.”
When he sat down, their legs were touching so Jasmine shifted in her chair. When she did, the material of her dress hugged against her belly. She quickly adjusted herself so it was loose.
Chris leaned toward her and said, “You look really beautiful tonight.”
“Oh thanks. It’s a new dress.” She really did love the dress, even if she’d had to buy it last minute out of necessity.
“I’m not talking about the dress.” His voice was different than it had ever sounded and her eyes whipped up to his.
“Oh. Thanks.” She felt her cheeks flush. Not because she was affected by his compliment. Well, she was, but not in a good way. She felt embarrassed. Shy, even.
One of the things she’d appreciated about being with Corbin was that everyone knew they were together. She didn’t get a lot of attention from men around town, and she liked it that way.
“I heard about you and Corbin,” Chris spoke quietly.
“Oh, yeah.” It had been so long since she’d been single, and she’d never been single as an adult, she had no clue how to deal with conversations like this.
“I was thinking maybe you and I could grab some dinner sometime.”
“Oh, um, I don’t know, I’m not really…”
Thankfully, her fumbling response was cutoff when the bridal march started and everyone stood. As Leah walked out, being escorted by her twin sister Bea, Jasmine was overwhelmed by two things.
One, Leah looked absolutely breathtaking. She could’ve easily been walking the runway at a bridal fashion show. And two, Jasmine felt like she was on the outside looking in. She was alone in the room filled with people she’d known almost half her life. No one here even knew she was pregnant.
Well, one person did. Her eyes once again fell on Leo’s. This time he was staring back at her. When their eyes met she felt the same connection, the same familiarity that she always did.
It was a good thing she didn’t believe in fairy tales, because if she did, she’d have been sure he was her knight in shining armor. Even as it was, she was having a difficult time convincing herself he wasn’t.
Chapter 19
Leo had been watching Jasmine for the last half hour while he was stuck taking photos with the bride and groom. Hell, who was he kidding? He’d been watching her the entire damn wedding. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. And he’d been counting the seconds until he was free so he could go check on her.
Guy after guy had been coming up and shooting their shot. He’d known that it was bound to happen, and he couldn’t blame them. He’d even warned her about it.
At first, as much as he hated to admit it, he’d been jealous. But then he’d noticed her reaction to the hopeful bachelors offering her a rose. She was smiling, but it wasn’t reaching her eyes. She was laughing, but it wasn’t from her belly. She was talking, but she was distracted.
In a word, she looked uncomfortable. Once he’d noticed that there was something wrong, the fact that guys were drooling over her in that dress that she looked so sexy in it should be illegal made no difference to him. He hadn’t given them a second thought.
One thing and one thing only mattered to him, and that was making sure she was okay.
Every primal instinct in his body fueled him as he stalked toward her. He was a man on a mission. Something was bothering her and he was going to find out what it was. If someone had done something to upset her, he was going to have something to say about it whether it was his business or not.
Leo may have spent significant time in the jungle, but he’d never been the “Me Tarzan, you Jane” primitive sort of man.
Until he’d laid eyes on Jasmine. Something about that girl tripped a wire in him, lit a fire he was unable to put out.
“Hey there, where’s the fire?” His grandma stood in front of him.
Fire. Funny she’d used that term.
“I was just going to see if Jasmine wanted to dance.” He figured his grandma would buy that since he’d taken four weeks of ballroom dance now and wanted to put his skills to good use.
“Ah, I thought so.” A knowing smile slowly spread on his grandma’s face.
He had no clue why she looked like the cat who ate the canary. “What?”
“It’s her.”
“What’s her?”
“The reason you’ve seemed so settled. I figured you’d be counting the days until you could blow this popsicle stand, but you haven’t been. And now I know why—one Miss Jasmine Bell.”
Her statement surprised him for two reasons. One, he had no clue that his grandma knew how he felt about being back in town. Every time he’d spoken to his grandparents, they’d talked about the future as if his move was a permanent situation. And two, since he met Jasmine, the only days he’d counted were how many he’d gone since he’d seen her last. Which, thankfully, had never been more than one since she worked at the clinic, lived across the street, and taught the ballroom dance class he accompanied his grandma to every week.
All of the claustrophobic feelings he’d had when he’d come back to Harper’s Crossing had vanished. It wasn’t that his plans had changed, they hadn’t. It was just that he hadn’t even given a passing thought to when he’d be “blowing this popsicle stand,” as his grandma put it. And how could he, when every thought, stagnate or passing, was about Jasmine?
“Now you listen…” His grandma took the same tone she did when she was shaking a spoon at his grandpa. “She’s not one to be messed around with, Leo Taylor. Unless it’s real, leave it alone. I don’t want to see that girl hurt.”
His grandma’s warning came as a shock to Leo because she’d never taken that tone with him. People had always teased him that she thought he walked on water, and they weren’t wrong. He’d never known her to take anyone’s side but his. Even when it came to his grandpa, she’d always been firmly on Team Leo. But here she was, using his first and last name.
“I would never do that.” He hoped that she didn’t see the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.
It wasn’t there because he would never do anything intentionally to hurt her. He wouldn’t. But he worried that his actions, even as well-intentioned as they were, would end in the same result. He knew that the right thing to do would be to stay away from Jasmine while he was in town. But, for the first time in his life, he just couldn’t bring himself to do the right thing.
“Make sure that you don’t,” she warned before something caught her eye and she sighed. “Oh, lord. I need to go save your grandfather.”
He turned and saw that the M&M sisters had cornered The Colonel and his grandfather. His grandma lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek before beelining it to the cake table where the group had congregated.
As he continued on walking toward Jasmine, his grandma’s words played in his head.
Unless it’s real, leave it alone.
That was her warning to him, even without knowing that Jasmine was pregnant. If she’d had that piece of information, then he was sure she would’ve reached up, twisted his ear, and dragged him out of the barn.
What am I doing? Leo thought to himself as he lowered down in the chair beside her.
Her back was to him and he heard his grandma’s words once more.
Unless it’s real, leave it alone.
He could back up, walk away, and leave her alone.
Instead, he said, “Hi.”
She glanced over her shoulder and when she saw it was him, she pulled her cardigan up on her shoulder and her eyes scanned the room at the other guests. “Hey.”
Leo had never encountered someone who appeared to be so uncomfortable at his arrival. “Are you embarrassed to be talking to me?”
“What? No…” She was clearly lying.
“Be careful, your nose is growing.”
“What?” She lifted her hand and touched the tip of her button nose.
“Like Pinocchio,” he explained.
“Oh!” She chuckled, not denying the deception. “I just…I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
“What idea would that be?”
Her head tilted to the side and she gave him a stare that clearly communicated that she thought he already knew the answer to that. Which he did. Normally, he didn’t play games, but right now he wanted Jasmine to spell it out. So, he feigned innocence.
She grinned and spoke in a whisper through clenched teeth. “That there’s something going on between us.”
“So what if they did?” He’d never cared much about what people thought. But even if he had, he’d hope they got the idea that he and Jasmine were more than just friends.
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what if they did? He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to push the situation, but that was exactly what he was doing.
“That would be bad.” Her words came out slowly, deliberately, as if she were explaining something to a young child.
“Why?”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded.
Her lips pursed and it was all he could do not to lean over and kiss the scowl right off of her mouth.
At work, it had been difficult enough to keep a professional distance. When he went to her home, it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms. Now that they were in a social setting, he was finding it damn near impossible not to lean over and kiss her.
She did not seem to be suffering the same dilemma, since she straightened her back and shifted slightly away from him.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she replied, clearly not fine.
This entire interaction was going downhill fast. So instead of trying to salvage it, he held out his hand. “Can I have this dance?”
She looked at him like he might have lost his mind.
“Seriously?”
That was the second time in the past minute that she’d questioned his seriousness. Apparently, she really had zero clue how he felt about her. To be fair, he wasn’t exactly clear on the subject, either.
One thing he did know for sure, he needed to touch her. There was some
thing about her that drew him like a moth to a flame. At the clinic, he found himself walking past her, behind her, in front of her, and brushing against her as he did. Not in a creepy or harassing way. Just a tiny bit of contact. And every single time he did, he felt the same charge he’d had the first time.
She glanced around nervously.
“Come on. One dance.” He could see the battle raging behind her big, amber eyes, so he tried one last thing to sway her in his direction. “My grandma’s just run Mabel and Margie off from The Colonel and my grandpa. I’m afraid I’ll be their next target.”
Her lips parted in a sigh. “Fine.”
“Wow. You really know how to make a person feel wanted.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You do not need any help in that area. Every single girl here, including some that aren’t so single, would love to dance with you.”
“I doubt that.”
“Really?” Her brows rose. “Look around.”
He did, just to humor her, but his eyes automatically shot back to hers. “Sorry. You’re the only one I see.”
A slow smile lifted on her face as she stood. “You really are smooth.”
“I’m not, actually. Just honest.” He placed his hand on her lower back and led her out to the dance floor. As if on cue, the moment they reached the middle of the floor, the music slowed.
She glanced up at him, her eyes narrowed as if he’d planned it that way. He lifted his hands, displaying his innocence. If he could have, he would have, but unfortunately he couldn’t take credit for it.
With a roll of her eyes, she stepped into him and put one arm on his shoulder and the other in his hand. As the music swelled, he started the waltz box step that he’d learned. He wasn’t nearly as good a dancer as she was, but he’d been able to pick up some moves in her classes—that is, when he wasn’t busy being mesmerized by the way she moved.
She had an effortless grace that he found irresistible. He’d never considered someone’s movements a turn-on before, but with Jasmine he was discovering a world of things he’d never known before.
Just One Touch - Leo & Jasmine (Crossroads Book 16) Page 18
