Temptation Trails (The Haven Brothers #3)

Why they flew into my head at that particular moment, I had no idea. I hadn’t met them yet. But that was the point—I was having a baby with their son, and we’d never even met.

What were they going to think of me? Would they like me? Accept me? Would they hate me for getting knocked up? Did they want me around their grandson?

Okay, so maybe fatigue and mild nausea weren’t the only pregnancy symptoms I was experiencing. That wasn’t the first time my mood had flipped like a light switch. Dancing in the kitchen in a blissful daydream one moment, panicking about meeting my baby’s grandparents the next. Hormones were wild.

I got up to stir my meat sauce without the spaghetti. What can I say, it sounded good. It needed to simmer for a few more minutes, so I grabbed the package and a pair of scissors to slice open the packing tape.

It was a small box, maybe nine by six inches or so. The label had my name and address, but there wasn’t a return address at all. Where had this come from? Usually things I bought online had some indication on the box as to what store they were from.

Weird.

I slid the scissors through the tape and opened the box. It was filled with crumpled brown packing paper. I took it out and set it aside.

At the bottom was a pair of beige underwear.

Wrinkling my nose, I pinched a bit of the waistband to pick them up. They were sort of crumpled, as if they’d been wadded up and tossed in the box. That was so weird. It was just one pair, and although they didn’t look dirty, they weren’t in any sort of packaging.

What was weirder, they looked exactly like my underwear.

Same brand, same style, same size. I even had some in that color.

The scent of burning food wafted through the kitchen.

“Sugar cookies,” I spat out.

My dinner was quickly getting overcooked. I dropped the underwear back in the box and hurried to the stove. Of course I’d been distracted enough to ruin my dinner.

Just my luck.

I turned off the stove and moved the pan from the burner, eying the package with suspicion. It was creeping me out. Why had someone sent me an unmarked box with a wadded-up pair of underwear?

They weren’t sexy. In fact, they were so dangerously close to granny panties as to be embarrassing. If Garrett wanted to send me a pair of underwear, he wouldn’t have picked those.

But why did they look so much like mine?

Wait. Were they mine?

Obviously, that was impossible. It wasn’t like I’d ever left a pair of panties somewhere and a well-meaning townsperson had sent them back to me. And I was the first to admit I was superstitious, but that didn’t extend to the belief that a pair of underwear could magically transport itself from my drawer and mail itself to me.

But the likeliest alternative was unthinkable.

Had someone been in my house?

My heart rate picked up as I walked to my bedroom. Nothing seemed amiss. There were a few items in my laundry hamper, including underwear. I opened the top drawer of my dresser and rifled through my bras and underwear.

Was anything missing?

I couldn’t tell. There were a few other pairs of the same beige granny panties, but I didn’t remember how many I had. Was it four? Or had it been five? Six? I had no idea.

Panic rose and my chest felt tight as I backed out of my room. Were those mine? Had someone broken into my house and stolen them? Why? And why send them back?

I was so not okay.

Hurrying back to the kitchen, I found my phone. I had the presence of mind to take a few deep breaths before calling Garrett. I didn’t want to sound freaked out, especially if it turned out to be nothing. After all, I was super hormonal. Maybe this was just my imagination running away with me.

“Tiny one, are all these wild hormones messing with my brain?” I asked, looking down at my belly.

Talking to a baby that was probably the size of a pea? I was definitely not okay.