Free Home to Stay by Terri Osburn

looked down at his tea, feeling like an intruder on an intimate moment. From the corner of his eye, he could see Will had found something else to focus on as well.
    Him.
    When he caught her eye, an attractive blush covered her cheeks.
    If she was thinking what that blush said she was thinking, maybe it was time he put a little more effort into getting to know Willow Parsons.

CHAPTER 7
    I f Joe and Randy weren’t there, I’d have beat that bitch to a pulp and thrown her over the side.”
    Sid had apparently not enjoyed her day on the water with Ms. Rebecca King. Will took a sip of her beer as she watched her friend charge around the pool table to take her next shot. Venting about her afternoon on the water with the not-so-popular reporter didn’t seem to be hindering her concentration, as she sank two more balls in rapid succession.
    “I’m surprised Joe wasn’t willing to help you,” Will said. “Did she really insinuate that you and Beth swapped brothers?”
    “The bimbo did everything but ask if we continued to swap every other weekend.” Sid pointed with her cue stick. “She better hope I don’t catch her without someone around to save her skinny ass.”
    As badass as Sid could be, something told Will that Rebecca King could hold her own in a brawl, and maybe even come out on top. The women were of a similar size, so neither held a weight advantage. Sid would fight dirty, of course, but the reporter didn’t look like the type to stick with the rules either.
    “What do you think of the photographer?” Will asked. “He seems nice enough.”
    “I don’t know.” Sid sank another ball. “He’s almost too happy. Don’t get me wrong. I can admire the pretty Orlando Bloom thing he’s got going on.”
    “I’m with you on that.”
    “But I can’t help but think of them as a pair, which makes me dislike him by association.”
    Will chuckled. “From what he said the other night, I don’t think he likes her very much.”
    Sid stood, dropping the cue by her foot. “Really?”
    “Said she’s best in small doses with long breaks in between.”
    “Hah,” Sid said. “Score points for picture boy.”
    “There you two are,” Beth said, barreling into the poolroom as if seeking a place to hide. “I need one of you to go order me a burger and onion rings.”
    Will and Sid exchanged a look, then Will asked, “Why can’t you order the burger yourself?”
    “I did.”
    “What?” Sid said.
    “I ordered a burger, but I want two,” Beth said, rubbing her stomach. “Tom and Patty are out there and I don’t want to look like a giant pig.”
    Will did the math on how much fat and calories were in one Dempsey Burger, let alone two. The numbers left her a little numb, but to be fair, the woman was eating for two. Or maybe three if her appetite was any indication.
    “Go order for her, Sid.”
    “Why me?” she asked, bent over the table in position to take a shot.
    “Because they know I don’t eat burgers, so they’d never believe I was ordering for myself.” Will wasn’t a vegetarian, but she did avoid red meat.
    Sid leaned her stick against the wall behind Will. “Then when she gets busted eating two burgers, it’s my ass on the line for aiding and abetting.”
    “Hooking up with a lawyer has made you paranoid,” Beth said, slapping a twenty onto the table. “Get me that burger and you can keep the change.”
    Burger bribery. Amazing what a desperate pregnant woman would do, but it proved how well Beth knew their little boat mechanic.
    “You got it, Curly.”
    As Sid left the room, Beth climbed onto the high-set chair across from Will, closed her eyes, and laid her head against the wall. “I’m going to be as big as Joe’s boat, but right now all I care about is eating those burgers.”
    “Cravings, huh?”
    Will hadn’t gotten far enough along to experience those, but she wondered if her little one would have sent up the red meat flag.
    “I think they’ve officially begun.” She hung