The Things I Do for You (The Alexanders 2)

Was she really ready for that?

She dropped the suitcase on the bed so she’d be forced to unpack it before going to sleep that night, then quickly changed into shorts and a sports tank and pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

It was weird to be doing the usual things, knowing that Nick would be coming home to her in a few hours. It was almost like she was living in some alternate dimension where everything looked the same but nothing was.

It was time to figure out what her new reality would be.

* * * * *

AT HIS OFFICE, Nick was trying hard not to let his mind wander to what Raina was doing. He knew exactly what her game was. She was hoping that by pushing him away as soon as they got back to their real lives, she could write their newfound intimacy off as part of “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

But he wasn’t going to make it that easy for her.

“I brought the new bids that we were supposed to do Friday,” Kay said. “Also, I need to head out a little earlier than usual today. Jackson wants to record tonight. I sent you a message Friday as soon as he told me about it. Sorry for the late notice.”

“No problem. I thoroughly enjoyed my time off and I certainly don’t begrudge anyone else theirs.”

Kay looked relieved. “Thanks, sir. I’d better go now or I’ll be late.”

“Good luck with the recording.”

He listened with half an ear as Kay gathered her things and shut down her computer. He heard her call out when she finally left, but his mind was still on the scene that morning. How was he supposed to romance his wife when she wanted them to live in separate houses?

All the usual things wouldn’t have any effect on Raina. She probably received flowers all the time, and considering that she was a model, clothes and jewelry weren’t going to be much of a thrill, either. If he was going to give her a gift, it needed to be something she wouldn’t think to buy for herself. Something that showed her how committed to this marriage he really was.

Basically a miracle in a box.

He did an Internet search for “gifts” and browsed several pages of images. He considered a package for a luxury island vacation, then quickly moved on. Raina traveled all the time. Plus, the point was to keep her stress level low so she could get pregnant. Putting her through the rare torture of airport security and a long flight was probably counterproductive.

“This being in love stuff is harder than it looks,” Nick muttered.

The problem, he realized, was that he was trying to buy her something to convince her that he was a nice guy. But there was really no product in the world that could do that. She needed to see that his intentions were pure based on his actions, not something he bought.

His eyes went to his briefcase. The top of the pregnancy book he’d picked up at the bookstore on the way in stuck out of the top. It was a heavy tome, easily six hundred pages of tiny text and weird, black-and-white charts and diagrams. He’d tried to read a little of it in the bookstore but the pictures of tiny bloblike cells had creeped him out a little. He felt incredibly juvenile being squeamish about a book.

“I can do this. Let’s read about pregnancy.” He flipped it open and paged past the initial sections about conception. No grown man should need a primer on that part, he reasoned. He stopped at the section entitled The First Trimester. After several pages, he had to wonder if getting Raina pregnant was such a good idea. Nausea, mood swings, fatigue, and tender breasts sounded like the symptoms of a disease, not pregnancy.

By the time he’d finished the whole section, he was almost afraid to read any more. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d gone into this assuming it would just be having a whole lot of sex and then bringing Raina ice cream and pickles for nine months. But there were all these warnings and rules that he’d had no idea about. They weren’t supposed to have sex with her on her back. And then what if he penetrated her too deeply? They hadn’t even talked about a birth plan.

He had no idea what he was doing!

“Hello, anyone here?”

Nick looked up at the deep voice echoing from the reception area. “I’m in my office.” A few seconds later, Elliot walked in.

“You haven’t gotten a new assistant yet?”

Nick accepted his handshake and then they bumped shoulders. “She had to leave early. This one is actually working out. She’s a singer in Jackson’s new group.”

“You’re not banging her, are you? That could get sticky.”

Nick recoiled. “No.”

It wasn’t an unfair question, considering his past, but just the thought made him feel wrong. What a change. It wouldn’t have even registered a little while ago and he would have just shrugged it off. But now he had to wonder if this was what Raina thought of him. Did she think he just slept with anything that moved?

Was she worried about him being faithful?

“So what brings you by in the middle of the week? Mom will be excited to see you.” Elliot owned and operated a security firm a few hours north in Washington, D.C. They usually only saw him on the weekends.