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asked when she could.
    Always . “Just in case.”
    A little more of the tension around her eyes eased, and seeing that did the same for him. He grabbed a chair and sat, and then shifted her so that she could lean back into him. Once she did, he slid his arms around her, gently kneading her belly, feeling better when she relaxed into him.
    He ran a finger over the gold heart locket she wore nestled between her breasts. “You got it.”
    “I knew it,” she muttered. “Who was your delivery boy? Not my sisters or Jax or Ford.”
    “Are you kidding?” he asked. “None of them can keep a secret. Lance.”
    She laughed a little breathlessly. “Makes sense. I especially loved the doughnuts.”
    “Thought you might.”
    Another cramp hit, and her sisters moved in, fussing over her. And it was a sign of just how much she hurt when she let them. Their conversation went on around him, but he let it, concentrating on the woman in his arms. She was drifting, he thought, resting. And then she sucked in her breath and sat straight up.
    Another one. Three minutes apart. “You’ve got this,” he said, and held her through it.
    When she relaxed back into him again he took his concentration off her long enough to meet her sisters’ worried gazes. He considered their surroundings and the conditions and what their next move should be.
    The windows were lit by the strings of lights, and he could see the heavy snow still falling. Shit. The huge room was filled to the brim. Just about the whole town of Lucky Harbor was here tonight, and that was a good thing, considering people like Dr. Josh Scott were out there on the dance floor, Josh doing his white-boy thing. If the Bean was coming tonight, things could be worse.
    One song ended and the next began. Chloe was quiet. While around them the place was loud and warm, they were cocooned from the outside world. Voices filtered to him, and his cop brain processed through the tidbits with one ear.
    “Yeah, he’s still the hottest guy here,” came a woman’s voice.
    “Damn her for finding him first.”
    “Maybe it’s not too serious between them,” the first woman said.
    The other one snorted. “Right. I mean, sure, they have a house and now a child together, and there was that whole wedding thing, but other than that…”
    Tara snorted and Maddie shot the two other women a hard look.
    Sawyer tuned them all out and once again turned to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the north wall.
    Snow and more snow.
    He and Ford exchanged long looks over Chloe’s head.
    Nope, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Chapter 6
    I ’m fine,” Chloe told Sawyer after another gut-wrenching, heart-stopping contraction.
    No, Sawyer thought. She was not. And it was his responsibility to make sure that was fixed ASAP. He pulled out his phone and sent a text. Two minutes later, Josh made his way out of the crowd toward them, with Mallory at his side. Mallory was married to Ty, another good friend of Sawyer’s, and she was a nurse.
    “What’s going on, sweetness?” Josh asked Chloe, putting a hand to her wrist.
    Taking her pulse.
    Chloe opened her mouth, probably to say nothing was wrong, when another cramp hit.
    “Two and a half minutes from the last one,” Sawyer told Josh. “Four in the past twenty minutes.”
    Mallory crouched on Chloe’s other side in her full-length ball gown and put her hand on Chloe’s taut stomach, undoubtedly feeling the same clenched muscles that Sawyer did. Mallory’s gaze was on Chloe’s face as she panted through the pain.
    “Probably false labor, right?” Chloe gasped.
    Both Josh and Mallory shook their heads.
    “Damn it,” Chloe said. “I’m not leaving this party—” She broke off as another cramp hit, and the breath seemed to get squeezed out of her. “Holy cow,” she said between clenched teeth. “The Bean’s determined to be as big a pain in the ass as her daddy.”
    Everyone but Sawyer laughed. He couldn’t take his eyes off