Bachelor Mother Read Free Page A

him to throw off his clothes and jump her bones as if she were a casual date. His dates were women who wanted physical sensation, pleasure and release, and who definitely knew the score. Who wouldn’t be hurt.
    Would I hurt her by doing this?   The thought had plagued him for hours. Yet he couldn’t bear the idea of her picking up some stranger in a bar.
    If there was a woman in his life he knew inside and out, it was Melanie Randell. He’d practically lived at her house and watched her grow up. He knew how much she loved children and animals, how she hated Japanese food. He was also well aware of the stubborn streak of independence that surfaced in her fights with her overprotective big brother. Donnie could be a pain in the ass.
    But more important, he knew that underneath that strong-as-steel exterior was a sensitive woman who felt deeply. It had cost her a lot to come to him with her problem. He’d seen it in her face, how she’d hated asking him if he’d father a child for her. She’d been as awkward, as embarrassed, as he’d been.
    So do you do it or not?
    He closed his eyes as a subtle wave of dizziness washed over him.
    Great planning. You should be getting a good night’s sleep, popping zinc pills and pumping iron, not getting dead drunk and lying on the couch at – he raised his head and blearily eyed the clock on the wall – four in the morning.
    He rested his cheek against a cushion and stared at the far wall, the colors in the curtains blurring. There was no way he was going to let Mel have sex with a perfect stranger. What if she ended up with a real loony tune, someone who messed her up? Or what if the guy found out and tried to take the child away from her?
    I don’t think I can do it.
    He cursed Phillip fluently as he slowly rose to his feet and began to climb the steps to his bedroom.
    It was a mess. Though he hired a cleaning lady to come in once a week, and was quite adept as far as cooking and dishes went, he tended to let his bedroom mushroom out of control like a nuclear blast. There were dirty clothes piled up in one corner, a stack of architecture magazines in the other. His bed was unmade.
    It didn’t look inviting.
    You aren’t going to be getting any sleep tonight. You might as well clean it up.
    Bubba stalked into the bathroom and filled the sink with cold water. Gritting his teeth, he stuck his head underwater for as long as he could stand it. When he finally surfaced and reached for a towel, his head felt slightly clearer. This accomplished, he began to straighten his bedroom.
    One look at this and she’d run out screaming. No mother would want her child to inherit messy genes. He sighed. Just tell her you don’t think you can do it.

CHAPTER TWO
    When Melanie opened her eyes the next morning she wondered why she felt so disoriented, so out of sorts. Then she remembered. Bubba. Last night.
    Why did I ever ask him?
    I was a strange request, even of a best friend. With all her heart, Melanie wished she could have done everything in a more emotionally logical order – fallen in love, married, had a child.
    But with her medical problem, there simply wasn’t time.
    She lay back among the white sheets and remembered her entire evening at Bubba’s house. Obviously she’d caught him off guard. He’d thought she wanted him to tell Phillip to shape up. She found herself smiling at the thought of Bubba marching into Phillip’s law office and demanding he marry her. She doubted anything would change Phillip’s mind.
    The expression on his face when she explained her predicament had been so clear. He’d waited just a second too long before he responded, then had been so very careful to choose the right words. He was such a lawyer, with such precise, unfeeling language. Phillip’s hesitation had answered her question long before he began to slowly find the correct words to let her know she didn’t have a chance in hell with him.
    What could she expect from a man she’d been dating