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couldn’t find the words, so I reached behind me and gave his leg a soft caress.
     
    “Thank you for letting me stay… for giving me a chance,” he murmured as he nuzzled at my neck.
     
    I smiled and sighed softly to myself as I closed my eyes. I floated, hovering between wakefulness and sleep, that period when everything seemed so clear, and I wondered why I had been frightened of him. Here, now, in his arms, I felt as safe and protected as I ever had in my life. He would always be here for me; I could feel it in the way held me. I was safe, and everything would work out for the best. I sighed again and allowed sleep to take me, my smile still on my lips.
     

 
    Chapter 4
     
    I was sitting in my new office, fuming. Peter had dropped the news on me yesterday that I had been replaced as the bartender, effective immediately. That little tidbit of news had come less than a week after I came clean and admitted to him I was pregnant. I didn’t want to tell him, but I felt like he should know before he figured it out himself.
     
    Up until yesterday, these past two weeks had been better than any time since I found out I was pregnant. After he had left, Cain had called me every afternoon before I left for work, and having him try to cheer me up after a bad night was nice. I was still struggling with my act and he had encouraged me to come clean with Peter. The worst that could happen, as he pointed out, was I could be fired.
     
    I hadn’t been fired; I had been “promoted,” if you could call it that. I was now in charge of inventory at the bar. Peter had told me he needed someone to take some of the bookkeeping duties off his plate, and claimed this was a perfect opportunity. I had even been given me a small raise. The problem was that over half of my income before came from tips… tips that I no longer received.
     
    Even worse, he had replaced me with “Titillating Tina,” the bartender from Over Easy, a competing joint from across town. She was a pretty good flairtender, but not as good as I was, and I had taken her out in the local flairtending competition to move on to the district match. That was just another thing in the long line of bad blood between The Cat’s Claw and Over Easy , each establishment talking smack and stealing talent from the other.
     
    I picked up my phone and dialed Cain’s number. He would be calling in a couple of hours for his regular check in, but I needed to vent now.
     
    “What are you doing up so early?” he asked in greeting.
     
    “I’m at work.”
     
    “Work?”
     
    “Yeah. I’ve been promoted.” I got up and shut my door. I didn’t need Peter to overhear me bitching.
     
    “That’s great! Promoted to what?”
     
    “No, it’s not great. I’m in charge of inventory, ordering the food and liquor, that sort of thing. The only good thing is that I work eight to five, Monday through Friday, like a normal person.”
     
    “Why isn’t that good?”
     
    “ Because now I don’t get tips. Even though I got a raise, I am still taking a huge pay cut.”
     
    “Oh. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. At least now maybe you can rest better and you won’t be around all the smells that upset you.”
     
    “I guess,” I mumbled.
     
    “Are you surprised?”
     
    “No. Well, maybe a little. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had fired me.”
     
    “Well, he didn’t, so that must mean that he thinks you’re valuable enough to keep around. He was also probably worried about you and the baby.”
     
    “How so?”
     
    “The way things are today? He may have been concerned that if the baby was born with a problem, you would sue him for an unsafe workplace or something.”
     
    “I wouldn’t do that!”
     
    “I know. But I’m sure it has happened before.”
     
    “Yeah. Maybe.”
     
    “Hey, cheer up! Now maybe you won’t feel sick all the time. That has to be worth something, right?”
     
    I smiled. “Yeah. A lot actually. If it