Do Me Baby (The Beaumont Series) (22 page)

“My big sister’s got that good-good,” Harmony cackled.

Both Debra’s phones started ringing. First the house, then her cell phone.

“Are you going to get that?” Harmony asked, the expression in her gold-green eyes was amusing.

Hell, no.
Debra shook her head, knowing she was the source of her baby sister’s next peal of laughter.

Her heart was beating so hard she could barely breathe.

Rance was on his way.

Chapter 22

Debra barely slept that night, and the next morning she woke to find Channel 8 News camped out in front of her apartment complex. That damn Carren Clark! Leave it to her to want the lead story. It was going to be all Sheraton Beach had to talk about. The last thing she wanted was to be the topic of the rumor mill again. But she was, thanks to Rance Beaumont and his big mouth.

She made coffee and got ready to head to the bakery like it was just another day. Unfortunately, it was far from it. Her answering machine on the house phone was full, as was the voice mail on her cell. Bianca had texted her a half dozen times, which she ignored. Debra was certain the only reason her best friend hadn’t popped up at her door was because London had told her to butt out.

Debra grabbed a big floppy hat and a pair of shades and headed for the door. She pulled out of her assigned parking spot and down the street and made it to the bakery without any problems. Of course the media circus was already in the parking lot of the strip mall. Quickly she swung around back and parked her car in the alley, going in through the side door.

  
*

Two hours later Debra finally stopped pacing to pull another batch of cupcakes from the oven. Then she added two more. At the rate she was going she was going to have enough cupcakes to feed the entire town.

She set the timer and walked up front, into the store, peeking out the window. It was a little after eight, and there were more people crowded around the strip mall than there had been the last time she’d checked, only fifteen minutes ago. She could just imagine what was going to happen once she opened the bakery at ten. Blake and Jenna would be arriving at nine-thirty, and hopefully they could help her fight off the media.

In the meantime she needed to figure out what she was going to say, what she was going to do, when Rance arrived. Skitters of expectations jolted through her.

She could feel it. He was definitely on his way.

It was almost nine when she heard someone knocking at the door. Debra assumed it was Harmony arriving in the van to icing the cupcakes. She wiped off her hands and moved through the kitchen into the store. There was another knock, but this one was stronger. Powerful. Masculine. Debra gasped.

Rance had arrived.

“Deb… Open up the door.”

Heart pounding, she fumbled nervously with the lock and cracked the door. He was standing in the doorway. Since she’d last seen him his hair had been cropped close, but he still couldn’t get the waves out no matter how hard he tried. Rance was standing there in relaxed jeans and a Sixers’ t-shirt. Goodness! The man was a walking, talking advertisement for tall and sexy.

His stance was stiff and his eyes were dark and determined. “Are you gonna make me stand out here and talk through the door with the media and half of Sheraton Beach watching, or are you gonna let me in?”

He was right. There was a crowd gathering, with people sitting in their cars. Two more news vans were parked out front, and then all the people who just
happened
to be in the area.

Yeah, right.

She moved aside, allowing him the room to step into the store. Cameras were flashing and people were calling out to them. Rance immediately swung the door closed behind him.

“We need to talk,” he said.

“So I’ve heard. And the millions of others who watched the playoffs.” Debra planted a fist as her hip and glared up at him. All this unwanted attention was his fault.

“I’m sorry for that.”

“Sure,” she said, clearly annoyed. “Follow me in back. I have cupcakes to get ready for this morning.” She didn’t wait for him to respond. She walked swiftly through the door and into the kitchen.

When she turned around Rance was standing right in front of her. She gasped. He was so close she leaned back against the counter, trying to put a little space between them.

*
 
*
 
*

Rance stared down at Debra. Damn he’d missed her. Now that he was here in Sheraton Beach, standing right in front of her, he was dying to draw her into his arms and kiss her senseless. But he was sure she wouldn’t appreciate that. In fact, she might even punch him in the chest.

“Listen, before you say anything I need to apologize,” she said, nibbling on her lower lip. He’d been around her long enough to know that was a sign she was nervous.

He stared at her, surprised by her words. “Apologize for what?”

Debra gave him an impatient wave for interrupting. “I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I have to thank you again for buying me that property.” Her voice was soft and raspy, and he couldn’t ignore how sexy she sounded as he blew out a long breath. It reminded him of their last night together, before everything had gone all wrong.

“Rance, I can’t even begin to tell you how it felt yesterday, driving down on Main Street to see my sign hanging over the storefront.” Tears brimmed in her eyes. His first instinct was to gather her in his arms and comfort her, but she held up a hand, halting his action. “Don’t. Please. Let me finish.”

He nodded.

“You are responsible for making my dream come true. And that is probably the most selfless thing anyone has ever done for me. I’ll never forget that.”

Why did it feel like there was a “but” coming?

“I’m glad I could help you,” he dismissed with a shrug. “Like I said before, I admire people who have dreams, and I was willing to do anything I could to make sure that happened. I care about you,” he added. He wasn’t sure why he had the sudden need to make sure she knew how he felt before she said anything else.

“Well, thank you. Thank you so much.” She looked up at him through lowered eyelids, and he felt that stirring in his chest and pants again. He wanted her. Not just for sex, but in his life. He wanted her with his every breath.

“Now I want to apologize to you… for not telling you sooner. I was wrong about keeping the baby from you, and I’m sorry.” She pushed away from the counter and stepped forward enough for him to have reached out and touched her effortlessly. But he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. “There is no excuse for my not having been honest and upfront when I first suspected the pregnancy. But believe me when I say I had every intention of telling you.”

He looked into her eyes and he knew by just staring down into her green gaze that she was being sincere. “I believe you. I knew you were telling me the truth the second you walked out of the hotel.”

Her shoulders sagged with relief. He was glad that he was able to bring some peace to her stressful life. Stress was not a good thing for her or the baby. He could have kept that part to himself, but he felt he owed it to her.

“If you knew, then why didn’t you come after me?”

“Pride,” he told her. “Stupid pride. I told you before, I wasn’t good at relationships.” But he was more than willing to give it a try if only she would agree. He loved her and all he wanted was for Debra to love him back.

Debra’s eyes went wide. “I never asked you for a relationship. Remember? You’re the one who wanted to pretend we were newlyweds so we could play that stupid game.”

“You’re right.”
But I want one now
, he wanted to say. “I never expected things to blow up that way, and once they did all I wanted to do was protect you. Instead I just made things worse.” He wished he could put the blame on the residents of Sheraton Beach, but it wasn’t their fault they had nothing better to do than spread gossip.

She nodded and blew out a long frustrated breath. “Now there’s that media circus out there waiting to find out why you’re here.” Her gaze narrowed. “So tell me, Rance Beaumont, why
are
you here?”

“I want to talk about us and the baby.”

Debra laced her fingers together and nibbled on her lip while waiting nervously for whatever he was about to say. It was clear he was still not interested in a relationship, which meant that if he tried to propose again, he was only doing it for the sake of the baby.

She should be happy he was being honest about his feelings when it came to relationships, so why did she suddenly feel sad?

The timer went off and Debra reached for a glove and walked around to the second oven and removed two more trays of cupcakes. “I can’t be mad,” she began while her back was still turned. “You were honest from the beginning about not wanting a relationship. That’s why I didn’t know how to tell you I was carrying your child.”

“And I understand that now. I also understand that asking you to marry me for the sake of a child was not the right move, either.”

She had said the same thing to herself, only why did it hurt more when it came from Rance’s mouth? With a sigh she removed the glove and the apron tied around her yellow sundress, and walked around the table so they could finish their conversation like adults.

“Which bring me to my reason for coming here,” he said with a look of uncertainty in his eyes. The same one he had when he was playing ball. He was worried about her reaction to what he was about to say. She didn’t know if she should be excited or scared.

Her eyes strayed to the large clock on the wall. “We probably want to move this along. My assistants should be here shortly and we have to get the bakery ready to open.” She could see someone trying to peek through the blind. By now she typically had cupcakes on display in the windows, but today she had purposely decided to leave them drawn until the store opened.

He took a step closer. Close enough for her to stare directly up into his sable eyes. “I came here to apologize.”

Frowning, she reached up and smoothed back her unruly ponytail and replied, “You don’t owe me an apology. You were honest from day one about a relationship. It is what it is. A fling that crashed and burned. Nothing more.” She tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal, but she was really hurting inside. It had stopped being a fling long before they had departed that ship.

“You don’t believe that any more than I do,” he said, stepping closer. Close enough for Debra to want to tilt her chin and sample his luscious lips.

“Rance, it’s okay, really.” She moved, putting distance between them and pretending she was looking down at the cupcakes, when she was really trying to push back tears. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how much it hurt her to know she could never have him in her life. “We’re going to have a baby together. We just need to figure out how we’re going to be parents. That means at least being friends.”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you. I don’t want to be friends.” He reached out for her hands and dragged her back over close to where he was standing and continued. “I plan to be there for my child. I had a father in my life and I’m gonna be in my son’s life. Uh-uh, hush, Deb, I already claimed it.” He added with a wink.

She searched his eyes. “Didn’t you listen to a word I said? I want you to be a part of our child’s life, too.”

“But I want to be a full-time parent. I want to wake up seeing my child, and I want to put him to bed every night.”

Debra tried to yank her hand away but he refused to let go, so she frowned. “What are you trying to say? You want custody of our child?”

He nodded. “Yes, joint custody.”

Fear clutched at her heart. “How dare you—”

“Deb, I said hush. Now let your man finish.” It was something about the way he said
your man
that made her hold off from kicking him out of her store with the cameras rolling.

“Since you walked into my life, I learned a lot about myself. And one of those things is my lack of trust when it comes to women and relationship. The mistake I made was putting all women in that category.

“I’ve never met a woman like you before in my life. Funny, feisty, smart and thick as hell.” He grinned and allowed his gaze to move over her in appreciation before he continued. “I knew I had to have you in my life. I want a relationship with you.”

“But you know I want more than that. I want openness and honesty. A man I know who has my back because he knows I have his. I want love.”

“I know that. I want those things too… with you.” He lifted her hand and brought it to his mouth and kissed her fingers, brushing his soft lips against her skin. “For once basketball doesn’t matter. You and my child matter.”