Page 250 of Mountain Men Heroes

My gaze scanned the busy room for what felt like the millionth time. Several desks were pushed together in the area where I sat. The messy desktops triggered my cleaning compulsion even harder than the one next to me. A couple of plainclothes police officers sat at those desks. As I looked, one of them caught my eye. I offered him a smile and he turned away quickly to examine a file.

I was beginning to feel like a bug under a microscope that had only a small hint he was being studied. I was also beginning to think maybe the instincts that led me here had steered me completely wrong.

I sighed as I could almost hear Amber's voice in my ear telling me she told me so. But it was the only lead I had to find Mac. My first thought had been to hire a private investigator. But after a little research, I found the cost of hiring one was not in my budget.

So I decided to play detective myself. I started with a phone call to the Hardwood police department. We hadn’t shared much during our time together, but interludes led to a few details being exchanged. Like names and where he lived.

Not typical one-night stand behavior but it worked for us.

When I phoned, I explained I was looking for someone who lived in the area. The officer I spoke with told me a new security firm opened over in Wilde Ridge that offered some private investigation services. But again. Money.

He seemed to think that was my best bet.

In the two weeks since I discovered my pregnancy, I felt a driving need to be here doing what I was doing—finding my baby’s daddy. No third party needed.

After the call to the Hardwood PD, my frustration had grown to such heights, I felt like something was caged inside me and nothing could calm the wildness inside me but Mac. The feeling of needing someone so strongly left me off balance. Hell, it scared me.

Yet here I stood.

Over the next two weeks, I quit my job as a tattoo artist at Inked Forever, packed up my meager belongings, and despite Amber’s warnings, and my own misgivings, I’d gotten on a bus and started the journey to Hardwood.

Traveling from Lover’s Cove to Hardwood by bus would have been harrowing enough on the winding roads, but add morning sickness that struck at all times of the day and night and weird reactions to strange smells and I’d be happy to never, ever, ever see the inside of a bus again.

I huffed out a breath and scanned the room one more time. The woman I spoke to had introduced herself as Chief Marion. She’d listened as I explained I wanted to reconnect with an old friend from the area. The minute I’d shared that the person I was looking for was Captain Mac Becker, her eyes had changed from slight suspicion to flat-out distrust.

I could understand the feeling. Trust wasn’t something I gave out easily myself. But since talking to the local police was the only idea I’d come up with, I had to hope her sense of duty would move her to help me despite her suspicion.

She’d told me she might be able to help. But that was a good twenty minutes ago when she’d found this seat for me and told me she’d be back as soon as she could. She’d stepped into an office and closed the door and hadn’t shown her face since.

Maybe she hoped if she left me long enough, I’d wander off. I sighed and pressed my clasped hands into my belly. Under any other circumstances, I’d do just that.

Hell, I didn't want to count on strangers any more than she wanted to help one. And that included counting on Mac. He might be the father of my unborn baby, but that didn’t mean full-blown trust came with the title.

Which is why I concocted a story in all those hours I spent with my cheek pressed against the cold glass windows of a bus. I’d decided to keep the news of my pregnancy to myself. I’d come up with an excuse for looking him up, and hopefully, I’d get the chance to spend some time with him or at least talk to some people who knew him better than I did, before I shared my secret.

He'd seemed like a good guy when I met him. Troubled, but decent. He'd been protective of me when we walked from the club where we met to his hotel room. He'd given me the option of walking me to my own front door instead of the hotel. But the bulk of the night had been spent with the two of us naked and entwined in the sheets on his hotel bed.

And I’d be damned if I’d decide to include him in not just my life, but the life of my unborn baby, based on what I learned about him in one night where very little talking had taken place.

Instead, I made up my mind to find him, get to know him, and then make a decision on how much I shared with him. If he was a decent guy, I could tell him the truth. If he was a dickhead, well, I didn’t want to keep the baby a secret from his father, but I’d do it if it meant protecting the little soul growing inside me.

Thank goodness I wasn’t showing yet.

“Miss Cole?”

I shot up from my seat at the sound of my name.

“Yes? Do you think you’ll be able to help me?”

Chief Marion’s only response was a nod toward the front of the room. I glanced to the spot she indicated and my breath left my lungs on one big whoosh of air.

As if conjured by my thoughts, Captain Mac Becker stood there.

Three

Gabriella

Mac looked even better than I remembered. His dark hair was slightly longer than the close-cropped, military issue haircut he’d had when I met him. The chiseled jaw and strong, bulky build were the same.