Savage

BECKY

I pushed the cart through the
produce section and stopped in front of the avocados. I gave one a gentle
squeeze, then another, finding some that weren’t too firm or soft. I added a
bunch to my cart. I never used to like avocados, even avoiding guacamole at
Mexican restaurants as if it were some kind of green slime.

Now? I couldn’t get enough of the
things, which wasn’t helping my bank account. November in Montana wasn’t the best time to get them, but my body wanted the dang things, and they stayed
down. At least it was healthy, unlike my ridiculous craving for cocktail
wieners.

I’d only thrown up once today, which
was a miracle in itself. I worked on the labor and delivery floor at the
hospital. I knew all about pregnancy. Well, I thought I had, until I was
pregnant myself. My OB assured me that while having morning sickness into my
second trimester was perfectly normal, it wasn’t fun.

No shit, Sherlock.

It wasn’t too severe that I worried
about nourishment or being dehydrated. My little peanut gave me a reprieve for
most of the day to get food down. And keep it down. The rest of the time?
People needed to watch out.

It just seemed like a long time
since the nausea began. Since I found out. Even longer since that night. That night.

The night that Clint the Hot Cowboy
and his super sperm got past a condom and knocked me up. Not only had the wild ride he’d given me in the storage room been a surprise—I’d never had a quickie before in my life—so were the two blue stripes on the pregnancy test I took a few weeks later.

I’d worked at a clinic telling
people the importance of using condoms, that they weren’t a foolproof method of birth control.

Again, no shit, Sherlock.

The fateful July party was supposed
to have been fun. A little wild. Something for Audrey to remember as a crazy
bachelorette party before she tied the knot with her hot rodeo champ, Boyd. She wasn’t the only one who wouldn’t forget it.

I knew Boyd and Audrey went at it
like rabbits. Even back then. Especially
back then. But they hadn’t been the ones to get all hot and heavy in the
storage room.

I had. With Clint Tucker. While I’d
never met him face-to-face before that night, I’d seen him in passing, and I’d
liked what I’d seen a whole hell of a lot. I’d been friends with Audrey since
she first moved to town, and we began working together at the hospital. After
she met Boyd, I’d gone to the ranch and seen Clint in the corral with the
horses. That was when I realized I had a thing for cowboys.