The Alpha's Baby(22)

Annabelle scrambled to come up with an excuse. "We were talking about somebody else."

"Oh, so you know another person named Emmy who has been sick all week?" Emmy raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

Annabelle looked as if she'd been smacked.

"Don't do this again." Emmy pointed at the girls.

After the duo exchanged glances, Emmy rubbed her shoulder and headed outside. Once in the warm air outside, she leaned against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut. Just as she was contemplating trying to bake herself in the oven, her cell rang. She answered it without checking the caller ID.

"Hello," she said.

"How's the bakery?" a man said.

She stared at her phone as if it had grown antenna. "Excuse me? Who is this?"

"Sebastian, of course," he said.

Oh, duh. "Sebastian…"

"Do you have that many male callers?" he teased.

"I have so many male callers I don't know what to do with them." She forced a smile, despite how bad she was feeling. "I'm hot stuff, you know."

"I've known that since the moment I met you." He chuckled. "That's why I'm working so hard to convince you to marry me."

She should have known he'd bring that up. "Well, you'll have to work a bit harder because I'm still not sure I'll say yes."

"Believe me, I'm willing to do whatever it takes," he said.

"Mmm-hmm." She shook her head. "So what if I said that I want you to bring me five hundred and twenty-nine balloons in the next, oh, thirty minutes? Could you do it?"

The man grunted in determination. "I'd give it my best shot."

"You sound like a well-prepared man," she said.

"Always." He chuckled, then sobered. "By the way, are you feeling alright?"

She wasn't feeling well at all, but she didn't want to tell him that. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I've been reading online about pregnancy," he said. "It says that you'll be tired and sick to your stomach during the first trimester."

His dedication to the baby shocked her. "You read up about pregnancy?"

"I want to know as much as I can," he said. "You can't do this on your own."

The words touched her, sending all of her negative emotions flying out the window. She couldn't believe he'd taken the time to read about pregnancy.

"You're sweet." So sweet it was shocking.

"I know."

"I thought you were going to say that." He and Mary Lou would definitely get along.

"See, you already know me so well," he said. "You can even predict what I'm going to say before I say it."

"I don't know about that."

"Hmmm." He paused, his voice laced with amusement. "Guess what I'm going to say next."

She thought hard for a moment. "You're about to tell me that you're an Elvis impersonator, and you're going to a convention in Napa Valley two weeks from now."

"Close." He chuckled. "I'm going to Vegas."

"Damn. I was wrong." She stared at the sky. "But seriously, I know you didn't call to impress me with your pregnancy-related knowledge."

"You're right," he said. "Actually, I was wondering how you felt about pasta."

"Doesn't everyone like pasta?"

He let out a pained sigh. "My brother loathes the stuff."

"Bastard," she said.

The guy chortled. "I call him that every day. He always reminds me that if he's a bastard, then I'm a bastard too."

"Smart man," she said.

"High intelligence runs in the family."

She rolled her eyes. "Yet somehow you managed to get me pregnant, Mr. Intelligence."

Silence fell.

"Kidding," she said.

"I thought you were, but I was worried I'd get smacked if I laughed."

"How could I smack you through the phone?"

"A woman scorned is a frightful thing," he said. "You'd find a way to do it."

She grinned. "Don't forget that next time you think about pissing me off."

"I solemnly swear to be on my best behavior at all times," he said. "And I'll especially be on my best behavior today if you let me take you out to lunch."

"So that's why you asked me about pasta." Here she was thinking he was just weird. "I wondered why it was so important to you."

"Are you kidding?" he said. "If you disliked pasta, it would trash our whole relationship. Pasta is that important to me."

"Yet I notice you still seem to be on okay terms with your brother who hates it."

"I tried to cut him off, but he keeps coming back." Sebastian gave a pained sigh, then brightened. "Though what do you say? Do you want to go out to lunch?"