Guarding Me by Megan Slayer

Chapter One
     
     
     
    “For once, I’d like someone hot to walk in here.” Maya adjusted the pins holding the twist of her hair in place. “Just once.” She finished fixing her hair, then strolled back to the kitchen to check her orders. Working at the Dinner Plate paid the bills but the hole in the wall restaurant wasn’t exactly rolling in sexy men.
    The order of bacon and eggs waited on the shelf and Marty, her boss, grinned. “I can’t bring in tons of hot guys for you or I’d lose my wait staff.”
    “Truly.” She nodded and picked up the plate. Once she delivered the order, she headed to the register to total up the order. “Seven twenty-nine,” she murmured and printed the bill. When she looked up, Nicky Mack, her boyfriend, ambled up to the front door.
    “Hey, baby,” she said and grinned. “What are you doing here this early? I’ve got my four-month appointment with the obstetrician tomorrow. You’re coming, right?” Seeing him made her heart light, but also forced a headache behind her eyes. Nicky always wanted something or someone to do something for him.
    “Maya, I’ve been thinking.”
    She bit her tongue. She wished he hadn’t been thinking. Bad things happened when he got an idea into his head.
    “I need more from life.” He bowed his head. “I got my things out of the apartment and I’m heading to California. I’ll send you and the baby money if you want, but you’re better off without me.”
    “Like that? Just like that?” The dipshit was leaving her? After he got her pregnant? “Why?”
    “Remember how I always said I wanted to get into rap?”
    “You’re kidding me.” He couldn’t sing or rap his way out of a wet paper bag. “California will help you?”
    “Can’t hurt.” He winked. “I’ve got some friends who know people in the industry, and they said they’d hook me up. It’s a once in a lifetime chance. I’ve got to follow my dream. You know you and I weren’t ever going to work. You’re a control freak and I’m a free spirit. Those opposites don’t attract for very long.”
    “Last week your dream was to play pro basketball.” She folded her arms. “You know...go for it. I won’t hold you back.” Not that she wanted to—even for the sake of the baby. “I hope you make it.” Or rather, she hoped he fell flat on his face. Nicky had a tendency to fall, but something always kept him from getting hurt. It was about time he felt the pain.
    “I knew I could count on you. You’re going to make a good mother after all.” His grin widened. “I leave in an hour. The plane takes off from Columbus, so I gotta go.” He stepped towards her, and then stopped. “You deserve a man who will treat you right. One that won’t run off to follow all his crazy dreams. Once you find him, snap him up. He’ll have found the best woman in the world.” Nicky did a little dance, hitched up his drooping pants, and strolled out the door and out of her life.
    So that was what the end of a five-year relationship was like—boom and done. Huh. She stared blankly at the space he’d once occupied. Five years, some good, some bad, down the drain.
    “I never liked him anyway,” Rosie said. The other waitress tied her apron around her ample waist. “He was a jerk and treated you like crap. You’ll do better on your own.” She nodded once, making her silver-haired bun wobble. Trust her friend to speak the truth.
    “He says he took his stuff. I bet half of mine is gone, too.” Maya gritted her teeth. As long as he left her dog, Peaches, she’d be fine. Just thinking about the little rat terrier made her smile. Peaches had been a yearlong resident at the animal shelter. The moment Maya saw her, she knew she’d found her best friend. Now life would be her, the dog and the baby.
    She’d make her situation work. Sure, there were potential barriers to keep her from what she wanted to do—whatever it was she wanted to do—but she’d figure something out. Always did.
    A