10. Emily

Chapter ten

Emily

T hings start to get weird after my lunch with Easton. Well, weirder, I guess. Weirder than normal.

I walk into the shop the next morning, later than usual because I slept through my alarm, and find a large package at the door. My belly won't let me carry it in, and I can't leave it until A.J. shows up at one unless I want the local porch pirates to make off with it, so I find myself scooting it in slowly across the uneven floor. I take a box cutter and open it just a few feet from the doorway only to find an air purifier with dozens of filter refills in the box. There's no card or note, but the only one I've even spoken to about air purifiers was Easton.

"Why are you here?" I ask the air purifier. It's not romantic, but it's sure as hell expensive. It's the top-rated one when I look it up online. Is this some weird way of expressing interest in me? Does Easton Degarmo have a preggo fetish?

I miss sex, and I certainly wouldn't kick Easton Degarmo out of my bed if he offered, but the logistics of pregnancy sex with someone new…just the thought of it makes me cringe. Talk about making an already awkward situation even more awkward. I try to picture it–me on all fours, Easton's giant body hovering over mine. I'd need a support belt or a giant stack of pillows. One of us would surely move the wrong way, and I'd end up like a turtle stuck on my back, unable to move. He'd run off faster than Ivan.

"Why am I even thinking these thoughts? This is so stupid. Easton Degarmo isn't hitting on me."

" So uninterested men just throw down five hundred dollar gifts?" Angie asks when I call to tell her about it.

"Why not just send me flowers?"

Angie sputters. "You have flowers. What is he going to do? Order from you? Buy you flowers from your competition?"

"Touche."

"So what do I do now? He's a Degarmo."

"He's loaded. How could having a rich boyfriend hurt?"

" Angie–"

"So he's a crime lord. At least you know what he's up to this time, unlike someone we won't name."

I cradle the phone between my ear and shoulder as I pull the purifier out. Despite the size of the box, it's not huge or heavy. It fits easily on the counter. I put in the air filter and plug it in. "You just want me married off," I tease.

"Nope. I just want you to be happy. Unfortunately, sometimes those are two different things. You don't have to marry him, but it could be fun having a hot, rich guy in your life."

"Or I could end up on a true crime show."

"Girl, we're all one meltdown away from ending up on a true crime show. You can't tell me if Ivan showed up right now, you wouldn't be tempted to run him over with your car."

"I don't know about running him over…but I might bump him really hard."

She laughs. "I wouldn't worry about it. From everything you said, he seems polite enough. Wasn't handsy. Why not just see where it goes?"

"Because every time I see where something goes, I end up getting screwed over."

"Well, you're already pregnant, so there's not much more anyone can do in the next six weeks."

I huff a laugh. "Thanks for the perspective, love."

"Always. Anyway, I've got to go. Mrs. Murphy's sexually harassing one of the young nurses, and I have to go save him. Okay bye."

The call ends and I sigh.

As weird as it is to take the gift, the air purifier does seem to help. I definitely spend the morning sneezing a lot less. I work straight through till lunchtime without an in-person customer and am just about to turn the sign closed for lunch when one of the younger kids who works at Mario's comes to the door.

"Emily Grayson?"

"Yeah, that's me," I say, wiping my hands as I come around the counter.

"Got your lunch order. Lola needs you to pick what you want for tomorrow." He shoves a paper bag and menu in my direction.

"Sorry, there's been a mistake. I didn't place an order."

"Some dude placed it for you–tall werewolf guy."

I take the bag and the menu he's holding out to me. "Werewolf? Degarmo?"

He shrugs. "Sorry, I didn't catch the name. Lola would know more than me. Can you circle what you want for tomorrow? I've got to get back."

I do as he asks and hand the paper back to him. Part of me wishes I could thank Easton, and another part of me is even more weirded out by this whole thing. I have no way to contact him, but if he's footing the bill for my lunch and sending me expensive gifts, I doubt it'll be long before I see him again.

But it turns out, I'm wrong.

An entire week passes, and there is no sign of the werewolf. Lunches keep coming, so I'm on his radar. But the longer that time passes, the more and more it seems Easton Degarmo was just doing a good deed. Weird. A mafia boss doing a good deed. I guess stranger things have happened. But if Easton really is loaded, then the ten bucks he's spending to feed me every day and even the five hundred he threw down for the purifier could be a drop in the bucket for him. He was just helping out some pathetic, unwed mother.

The more and more I think about it, the more this seems like the most likely scenario.

Disappointment weighs heavily in my gut at the thought.

I'm an idiot, of course.

Hot, rich, dangerous men don't pine after preggos.

But it was fun hoping…