The Alpha's Surrogate [The Alpha's #1]

Chapter 16

ANASTASIA MULBERRY

"Well, thanks for the ride." She turned to smile at him as he parked his truck in the driveway, having given her a tide home after his shift at the garage had finished.

"No problem, Ana." Harvey grinned widely as he pulled out the keys and allowed the engine to hum quietly to sleep. "We're hoping the parts for your car will come in by the end of the week and once they do, we'll work to get everything installed as soon as possible."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that." Her lips twitched higher even though she internally groaned at the idea of having go take the bus into school every morning. While she wasn't a snob that turned her nose up on public transport, she didn't appreciate all the looks she would get from judgy conservative grandmas and grandpas for walking around with a round, full belly without a ring on her finger.

While she didn't particularly care what people thought or said about her, she was only human and even the most patient person sometimes lost it.

"How much do you think the bill will come out to be?" She asked politely, figuring that however much it may be, she would be able to cover it with her savings even she grimaced at the idea of the repairs taking such a big chunk out of her bank account.

"Don't worry about it." He said, a small smile on his face. "It's all taken care of already."

"What? Who take care of it?" Anastasia asked, her lips tugging down at the corners as she stared back at him.

While she appreciated the gesture, she didn't take charity and it felt wrong to accept what she could only assume was a very expensive favour from a friend; let alone someone she hardly knew. It was even worse as Harvey, on more than one occasion, had expressed his desires to take her out to dinner. Pregnant or not.

"It doesn't matter who took care of it. Just the fact that you don't need to worry about it." Harvey tried to dismiss the matter with the intention if very quickly changing the topic, but he was far from successful as she cut him off.

"I'm not on board with this." She denied, shaking her head.

"Ana, just let me do this for you."

"But why?"

"I think you already know why." He murmured quietly as he stared ahead at the cosy little house that she lived in.

Anastasia sat stunned in her seat for a few moments, unsure of how to comprehend this piece of information, one which was not all that surprising or newfound.

Before she had the chance to respond, Harvey coughed awkwardly and turned his gaze away from her.

"I should get going." He murmured quietly, his lips pulling up at the corners even though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "But it was great seeing you, Ana. I'll give you a call when your car is ready to pick up."

The easy option would have been to nod her head, murmur a goodbye and slip out of his truck without so much as looking back however, Anastasia was never one to choose the easy option.

"Do you want to come in for a cup of coffee?" She turned to him and asked, surprising even herself with the request but once the words had passed her lips, there was no turning back; no time for regrets.

While she had thought that she would have to turn down Harvey for what felt like the third time – fourth or fifth maybe as she had lost track – in the past couple of hours, it appeared that she much preferred it when he was friendly instead of anything more.

Enough to ask him to stick around even if making him leave was probably the smart decision.

Ultimately and in the long run, she just hoped she wouldn't come to regret extending this grapevine.