pretend to be your partner today.” For all anyone else knew in the class, he could have told her he loved her. The guy knew how to be discreet, and from the way her heart pattered from his entrance he may as well have just run down a list of sweet nothings.
He’d obviously picked up on her anxiety the instant Gabriella had told her back in that hallway to be sure to bring her partner. He was here solely to spare her feelings.
Joseph Matthews truly was a knight in shining armor! Or in his case cargo pants and work boots.
As he settled in next to her his larger-than-life maleness quickly filled up the space between them. Warmth suffused her entire body. Being this close to Joe, having access to gaze into those rich brown eyes, would definitely make it difficult to concentrate on today’s lesson.
“You’re next, Carey. Introduce yourself and your partner,” Gabriella said, emphasizing the partner part.
Joe hadn’t meant to put Carey on the spot, but after seeing the panic in her eyes earlier, when Gabriella had told her to be sure to bring her partner, he couldn’t let her go through this alone. At first he’d wanted to run like hell when he’d shown her the classroom. Coming here had brought back more awful memories. He and Angela had actually started this class before she’d moved out.
Feeling uneasy as hell when he’d dropped Carey off earlier, he’d gone back to his work station, but had soon found he’d been unable to concentrate on the job. His mind had kept drifting to Carey sitting here alone, feeling completely out of place, and he couldn’t stand for that to happen. Besides, wasn’t it time for him to move on? Determined to put his bad memories aside once and for all—his divorce hadn’t been his fault—he’d made a decision. She shouldn’t have to attend this class alone. If offering her support could ease her discomfort, he’d take the bullet for her and be her partner. The woman had been through enough on her own lately.
“Oh,” she said, as if she’d never expected to have to introduce herself, even though everyone else just had. “Um, I’m Carey Spencer, I’m a little over three months pregnant, I, uh, recently moved to California.” She swallowed nervously around the stretching of the truth. Joe reached for her hand beneath the table and squeezed it to give her confidence a boost. “I’m a nurse by profession, a first-time mother, and...” She looked at Joe, the earlier panic returning to those shimmering green eyes. He squeezed her hand again.
“I’m Joe Matthews,” he stepped in. “Carey’s friend. Good friend.” He glanced at her, seeing her squirm, letting it rub off on him a tiny bit. “A really close friend.” Overkill? He gazed around the room, having fudged the situation somewhat, and all the other couples watched expectantly. “We’ve been through a lot together, and we’re both really looking forward to taking this class and learning how to be good parents.”
Okay, let them think whatever they wanted. His statement was mostly true—in fact, it was ninety-nine per cent true, except for the bit about being “really close” friends, though they had been through a lot together already. Oh, and the part about him ever getting to be a parent. Yeah, that would never happen. The reality hit like a sucker punch and he nearly winced with pain. Why the hell had he willingly walked into this room again? Carey’s cool, thin fingers clasped his hand beneath the table, just as he’d done to support her a few seconds ago. The gesture helped him past the stutter in thought.
He’d come here today for Carey. She needed to catch a break, and he’d promised the night he’d found her in the alley that he’d look out for her. If she needed a partner for the parenting class then, damn it, he’d be here.
“I’m a paramedic here at the clinic, so if I ever need to deliver a baby on a run, I figure this class will be good for that, too.” He got the laugh he was hoping for to relieve his mounting tension as the room reacted. “It’s a win-win situation, right?”
He shifted his eyes to the woman to his left. If taking this class together meant having to really open up about themselves, well, he was bound to let her down because he was far, far from ready to talk about it.
Carey didn’t know squat about his past, and if he had his way, she never would. Why humiliate himself again, this time in front of a woman he was quickly growing attached to, when once had already been enough for a lifetime?
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