Page 17 of Knocked Up By The Mountain Man

Nobody else in my life would ever call me those things.

Asshole, sure. Idiot, maybe. But definitely not “sensitive” or “emotionally intelligent.”

And now she's found out how wrong she was because I probably said something very emotionally unintelligent just now, and that's why she won't meet my eyes as she reluctantly accepts the favor from Adam, the same favor she wouldn't accept from me.

I glare at Adam.

"Take care of her," I say.

He rolls his eyes.

“I’m just giving her a ride into town," he says. "It's not a big deal."

I give him my best menacing stare, hoping that the message sinks in and that my intent is clear without having to verbalize the threat in front of the woman who already seems like I've scared her.

Adam's expression turns serious. He nods, dropping his voice.

"I'll look out for her," he says. "It'll be fine. All right? You can call me if you need an update."

I nod.

And then I watch as my woman gets into his truck and wonder if she's even going to come back tonight.

This was supposed to be my second chance.

And I might have blown it.

CHAPTER 9

ALYSSA

I'm in a car with a virtual stranger going down a remote mountainside. All of my survival instincts have gone out the window, though, because all I can think about are the words that I just overheard from the very man whose genetic material is currently growing in my womb.

"Maybe you should think twice before setting me up with some woman who wants to tie me down with the burden of kids."

That word, burden, sticks in my mind like unwelcome superglue.

Burden, burden, burden.

It's the same thing that my mother used to call me. The same word that I internalized before I was even six years old. I didn't understand what the word really meant. All I knew is that it defined me and that it was a bad thing.

And then, as I grew up, I learned what the word meant.

A burden is something unwanted that a person is saddled with. They wish they could get rid of it, but they can't. They're stuck. They resent its presence. They would remove its presence if they knew how.

That's what a burden is…and that's what I was to my parents.

And it's how Jack is going to see our baby.

Dammit! I was just about to figure out how to tell him. I had the ultrasound photo and was going to hand it to him and tell him that we needed to talk. And then this guy showed up.

“Adam, right?” I ask him out loud.

He raises a brow but doesn't take his eyes off the road.

"Yeah," he says. "And you must be Alyssa."

"How'd you know?" I ask.