So eager that I felt like a jerk for getting aroused at the feel of her tits pressed against my hard chest. “My pleasure. Sort of. Hearing the heartbeat was pretty damn cool.”
“Wasn’t it?” She let out a wistful sigh, a happy smile on her face as her stomach let loose a loud growl that almost echoed in the room.
“Food?”
“You don’t have to spend the entire pregnancy feeding me. I hope you know that.”
I did know that but I also knew she worked hard and felt sick often. “I promise not to feed you the whole time, now are you hungry or not?”
“Totally hungry. And I’d like to make another stop if you don’t mind?”
My mind entertained thoughts of stopping back at her place, or mine, for an afternoon of sweaty fun, but that wasn’t what she was thinking about. Was it? Almost certainly not. “Sure. Whatever you want Olive.”
Her mischievous grin almost made me rescind those last four words. Permanently.Olive“Isn’t it a little early for all of this?” Liam stood in the middle of an aisle filled with breast bumps and other accessories for a breastfeeding mother. His gaze slid to my ridiculous cleavage and his tongue slicked out across that plump bottom lip that recently made its way into my dreams. “Isn’t it?”
“You heard the heartbeat, Liam. You saw the baby’s butt, how much longer should I wait?” Besides, the baby book he’d gotten me said it was best to start shopping early just in case pregnancy became difficult in the later months.
“I don’t know,” he admitted on a sigh. “It just seems soon for breast milk coolers.”
His bland delivery made me laugh loud enough to draw stares from passing mommies-to-be and baby shower shoppers. Despite the blush crawling up my chest and face, I scowled at Liam. “It’s safe to start buying things now that we’re into the second trimester and I want everything ready before I get too fat to paint and set up the nursery.”
He blinked and looked at me. “I’ll paint the damn nursery. You can’t get up on a ladder in your condition.”
Even though he sounded grouchy about it, this was the side of Liam that I found most irresistible. He was a nice guy. A good guy. Even if it was reluctantly. “I can do just about any damn thing I want in this condition.” To punctuate my point, I fisted my hands at my sides and gave him my best intimidating glare.
I should have known the man didn’t intimidate easily, he spent half his time saving the world from bad guys and falling out of trees. Apparently. At my words and my less than intimidating glare, Liam got right in my face with a glare of his own that was sufficiently intimidating. “I’m painting the damn nursery, Olive.”
Well he had me when it came to size and badassery, but I had my own special powers and I smiled up at him. “Then you can help me pick a theme.”
As I expected, Liam’s tan skin went pale and a low groan escaped. “Fine. I choose Transformers.”
“And if this baby is a girl?”
His blank expression was still in place. “You saying girls can’t be into cars or awesome cartoons and movies?”
The tears came before I could do anything to stop them. “I’m sorry, it’s…,”
“Hormones,” he finished for me and once again I found myself wrapped in Liam’s strong arms. “It’s all right. I mean I have no clue what I said, but I’m sorry?”
His confusion matched my own and I managed a smile but I kept my face buried in his massive chest because he was warm. And he smelled good. Really good. “Why do you smell so good?”
“Um, I showered?” The amusement in his voice earned him a glare but I was reluctant to move out of his arms. It was nice and comforting here. And he was so hard and so muscular.
“Good. Keep it up. It’s working.”
“So you’re not mad?”
I frowned at the question until I remembered what had prompted the tears. “No. You were just being really…sweet.”
He groaned again at the dreaded ‘s’ word and I found myself laughing. Again. This wasn’t exactly how I pictured bringing a baby into the world, but it was turning into something good. Unexpected, even. “Yeah, thanks. So breast pumps, huh?”
I nodded and put the guy out of his misery, deciding to make up my mind once I’ve done more research. “Next, baby furniture.”
“Furniture? Like a crib and a baby sofa?”
Instead of laughing, I grabbed his big hand and ignored the zing of electricity that straightened my spine and tugged him towards the back of the store with a wide smile. “Welcome future daddy, to the land of baby furniture!”
Liam looked around in a daze, an actual daze as he raked both hands through his thick black hair, his hazel eyes projecting just how overwhelmed he felt. “Shit.”