Pit Stop: Baby! (Crescent Cove 4)

“It’s more like I hate feeling as if someone has to. Because I can’t figure my shit out for myself, so what right do I have to bring a baby into it?”

“Rights or not, he or she is going to be here. And you might surprise yourself.”

“Maybe. I hope so.” She looked up at me under her lashes. “You’re already surprising me. I guess I’m afraid I’m going to start depending on that—on you—and you’re going to…”

“Take off?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, pretty sure my brother thinks the same. Your sister too.” I scraped a hand over the back of my head. “Just means I’ll have to work twice as hard to prove to everyone I can stick.”

Even to myself.

“I get what it’s like trying to convince people you can be different. And you never even did anything wrong. You got a lot right.”

Her unexpected praise made me smile. “So did you.”

She snorted. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“You rise to every challenge. Every time something knocks you down, huntress, you get back up.”

“Yeah. I do.” Lightly, she touched her belly. “Even bumpy areolas won’t hold me down for long.”

It felt good to laugh. “The book isn’t all bad. There’s a chart for how big the baby is at each stage.”

Her throat moved. “Like weight and inches?”

“Yeah, in comparison to fruit.” I sat down and reached out to touch her belly, then stopped with my hand halfway there. “May I?”

She nodded, her eyes huge.

I brushed my fingertips over her belly, and all at once, the scary shit invading my brain disappeared. There was just wonder and amazement and more than a little arousal at being this close to her again. “A plum,” I said softly, swallowing hard. “Ours should be about the size of a plum right now.”

“I like plums.” She moved infinitesimally closer to me on the sofa.

I inched toward her as well, and we met in the middle. “Me too.”

She tipped her head up to mine. “In case you’re worried, my nipples really aren’t leaking.”

I had to grin. “Whew.”

“And I brushed my teeth four times before I came out here. Did the mouthwash thing also.”

“Good to know.”

She glanced down at her chest, nicely outlined in her sweater. “As far as some of the other stuff I read, they seem the same color too.”

“Did you check after you read that?”

“It would probably sound sexier to say yes, but I had to toss my cookies. Right afterward, I wasn’t really focused on my nipples. But I checked myself out pretty thoroughly before I got dressed this morning, looking for any differences. My breasts weren’t of note.” She shifted toward me until her knees bumped mine.

“Speak for yourself.”

Her lips twitched. “You appreciate them in a different way than I do.”

“Damn straight.” I sure as hell was appreciating them right now. Her nipples seemed to get harder the longer this conversation lasted.

“That whole sensitive thing—” She exhaled. “It’s feeling like a factor right this second.”