"Fine. Is it a date?" she asked.
"Do I get to grab your butt?" he asked.
"No." Her eyes narrowed.
"Then yes."
"I'm confused," she said. "If I said yes to letting you grab my butt, would it not have been a date?"
"It still would have been a date," he said. "I just wanted to see if you'd say yes."
"You jerk!" Despite the jab, she gave a snort of laughter.
"Finally, you laughed," he said.
"That was the goal?"
"Naturally," he said. "So when do I pick you up?"
She stared at her bakery. Through the window, she could see that diners were eating rolls, croissants, pastries, and homemade cakes. She wasn't needed now. Most of the food was baked in the morning before the restaurant even opened. Even her pastry dough could wait until later. And besides, she was starving and tired. The chocolate-filled croissant she'd choked down that morning had come back up again a half an hour after she'd eaten it. She needed something substantial if she wanted to battle with her employees and her cook in training who couldn't even tell the difference between salt and sugar.
She bit her bottom lip. "Can you come, well, now?"
"Sweetheart, I'm already on my way," he said.
Sebastian ended the call. Sighing, she stared at the blue sky and pressed her hand against her abdomen. It would be nice if she could pretend that the light movement beneath her skin was the result of her baby swimming around within her, but she knew it was her churning stomach. Just as she was grousing about all of the pains she was experiencing, Sebastian drove a fancy black car into the parking lot. It was no BMW, but it was definitely not the vehicle of a poor man. She headed over to the window, and he rolled it down, giving her a grin that made her heart race.
"You were fast," she said.
"I was already in Seattle." He smirked at her.
She studied him. "Why?"
"I was just doing some work," he said.
"What kind of work?"
Suddenly, he couldn't meet her eye. "You know, just boring stuff."
"You're really great at giving nonanswers." She crossed her arms.
"I'm great at most things," he said.
"Are you really that conceited, or are you just pulling my leg?" she asked.
"I don't like the word conceited," he said. "I like to say I'm knowledgeable about my strong points."
"Okay, Mr. Hot Shot, name one of your weak points," she said.
"Humility." His grin widened.
Well, he had her there. "I'm going to give you points for irony."
"I'm good at being ironic too," he said.
"I'm never introducing you to Mary Lou," she muttered under her breath.
"Who's Mary Lou?" He straightened up, intrigued.
"You heard that?" What was he, a dog?
"I have—"
"You have good hearing," she interrupted, predicting what he was going to say before he said it.
"See, you're reading my mind again." He winked. "Pretty soon, we're going to be finishing each other's sentences like we've been married for fifty years."
"I doubt that." She grimaced. "Now I'm getting in. I'm starving."
Before he could make another comment, she trotted over to the passenger door and climbed inside. She settled into the seat and smelled leather.
"New car?" She glanced around.
"Had it for about a month," he said. "I think I'm going to trade it in."
She gazed longingly at his sunroof. "Why?"
"I'm going to need something more practical." He put the car in reverse and backed out of the lot.
"Like a pickup truck?"
"Like a van." He glanced pointedly at the back. "I'm going to need room for a car seat and a stroller. I also like the idea of getting one of those cars with a mini-TV built in the back of the headrest. That way, the baby will always be entertained."
The words stunned her. Here she was running around like a chicken with its head, wings, and rear end cut off, and Sebastian was calmly talking about trading his fancy-schmancy car for a van with room for a car seat and a stroller. Sebastian was taking the whole I'm-going-to-be-a-father thing by storm. She, on the other hand, was just counting herself lucky that she'd managed to make it through the day without suffocating on her own vomit. The man was sure making her feel inadequate in the parent department.
"You okay?" Sebastian's grin faded. "You look pale."
She waved away his words. "It's nothing."
"Emmy." He frowned at her.
She stared determinedly out the window. "Really, there's not a problem."
"Tell me what it is." The man nudged her with his elbow.