The Baby Surprise by Brenda Harlen

dragging her Chihuahua behind her—she obviously wasn’t the only woman who thought so.
    Though Paige couldn’t hear what Melanie said, she knew her neighbor had called out to Zach, because he turned to respond. But he didn’t chat with her for very long, since he was almost at the front door when Paige pulled it open.
    Zach smiled and her pulse leaped.
    â€œI’m not too early, then?” he said by way of greeting.
    â€œNo. Emma is an early bird.”
    â€œAnd you’re not,” he guessed.
    â€œI never used to be, but I’ve learned to adapt.”
    â€œI didn’t mean to intrude on your morning,” he said, “but I wanted to get your car back before you needed it.”
    â€œI was just going to make some eggs if you wanted to join us.”
    â€œI didn’t come over here to be fed,” he protested, though not very vehemently.
    â€œAnd if I wasn’t already planning on making breakfast, I wouldn’t have offered to feed you,” she told him.
    â€œIn that case, I’d love some eggs,” he replied, and followed her into the kitchen.
    Emma’s face lit up when she saw him, and Zach’s heart melted. “Ack!” she said, which was apparently her interpretation of his name and which she followed with her favorite word, “Pawk.”
    He smiled and ruffled her hair. “Maybe later,” he told her, then, “Mmm, that coffee smells great.”
    â€œYou know where the mugs are,” Paige said. She dug his keys out of her purse and set them on the counter. “I completely forgot we’d switched vehicles last night.”
    â€œNot a problem,” he assured her, reaching around her to open the cupboard door.
    As he did, he caught a whiff of her scent. It was subtle, with just the slightest hint of vanilla, which made him think it was probably a lotion rather than perfume. Of course, that brought to mind images of Paige smoothing lotion over her naked skin, running her hands up her long legs, down her slender arms, over her—
    â€œScrambled?”
    The question jolted Zach out of his fantasy. “What?”
    â€œYour eggs.” She continued breaking them into a bowl. “Do you like them scrambled?”
    â€œSure,” he said and filled his mug from the pot.
    She splashed some milk into the bowl with the eggs, added a dash of salt and pepper and picked up the whisk.
    Zach sipped his coffee.
    Paige poured the mixture into a frying pan. “Did you bring in a cleaning crew after I went up to bed last night?”
    â€œNot necessary,” he said. “It looked a lot worse than it was.”
    â€œForgive me if I’m a little skeptical about that.”
    He grinned. “Okay, it was pretty bad, but my mother taught me to always pick up after myself.”
    â€œWell, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up this morning and not have to face the chaos I saw last night.”
    â€œIf you were impressed with a little tidying, you should see what I can do with a bed.”
    The inadvertent innuendo cracked between them, sizzling in the air like the eggs in the pan.
    Paige’s cheeks turned pink, confirming that she had taken the same mental detour he had. And he found himself wondering if her thoughts had drifted in that direction even half as often as his had. And if they had—if they were both feeling this tug of attraction—what the heck were they going to do about it?
    Nothing. He answered his own question firmly. Definitively.
    He cleared his throat. “I meant that I can make up a bed so tight that a quarter tossed down on the middle of the mattress will bounce six inches,” he explained.
    Paige just nodded and kept her focus on the eggs in the pan, while he tried to block out the mental image of bouncing on a mattress with her. Because how completely inappropriate was that? And why did he, even knowing it was completely inappropriate, find the idea so damned