“You really expect me to tell you all the things that I wouldn’t tell my best friend?”
“Only the good stuff,” Aidan said, making her smile.
“What about the boring stuff?”
“We should probably skip that stuff. I mean, I don’t think it’s a good idea to make things awkward,” he explained in a lazy drawl as he made another note.
“No, no, we wouldn’t want that. It might make things weird,” Melanie said, chuckling as she shifted to get more comfortable and couldn’t help but notice just how good he smelled. It was one of the first things that she’d noticed about him. The second had been his eyes. She knew that most women would have probably noticed how incredibly handsome he was, but there was just something about his eyes…
“And we wouldn’t want that,” Aidan said, chuckling as he stopped rubbing her belly so that he could swipe back to the previous page.
“Ready for the next rule?” he asked, returning his hand to her belly so that he could continue appeasing their son, who was finally giving her a break.
“Should I prepare myself?”
“You might want to.”
Melanie finished off her pie and reached for the package of chocolate cupcakes and held them up so that he could open them for her. Once they were open, she placed the package on the bed next to them, picked up a cupcake, took a bite, and nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?”
“I mean, can you ever really be ready when it comes to something like this?”
Chuckling, Aidan wrote something else down. “True. Then I guess there’s no reason to put this off any longer,” he said only to pause for effect before adding, “Questions.”
Blinking, Melanie paused mid-bite of the chocolate cupcake that really was delicious as she tilted her head back so that she could frown up at the man that really made a comfortable pillow. “Questions?”
“They’re expected. Next page,” he murmured distractedly as he wrote something else down.
Speaking of questions…
“What exactly are you doing?” she asked as she picked up the next cupcake.
“I’m calling in a favor,” Aidan said absently as he glanced down at the notes that he’d made from her chart.
“What favor?”
“The asshole who screwed over my brother is a pediatrician,” he said, making her frown because there was only one other doctor associated with the Bradford clan that she knew about…
“You mean McDreamy?” she guessed correctly judging by the muttered curse that he bit out.
“Isn’t that from a TV show?”
“I watch a lot of television,” Melanie explained with a nod as she glanced down at the dwindling pile of treats and realized that she wasn’t going to make it through the night.
Not with only two Twinkies and a box of Ding Dongs.
“He’s not that good looking,” Aidan bit out.
“He really is, though,” Melanie assured him as she tilted her head back so that she was looking at him.
“I’m hotter.”
“Are you really, though?” Melanie asked with a sympathetic wince.
“How do you know about Roger?” Aidan asked, narrowing those incredible green eyes that she liked so much on her.
“I love gossip,” she said, nodding.
“You love gossip?” he asked, frowning in confusion.
“I live for it,” Melanie admitted with a heartfelt sigh.
“Really? What did you hear?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head as she focused her attention back on that pile of treats that she needed to replenish before tonight.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t gossip,” she said absently as she considered her options.
“But you love it?”
“More than anything,” Melanie said, nodding.
“Fine. Then at least tell me why you hate him?”
“Because I’m sworn to hate him.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“Why would I ask?” she asked, frowning in confusion.
“Why wouldn’t you ask?” Aidan countered.
“That’s not how these things work,” Melanie said, sighing heavily with a sad shake of her head.
“Why not?”
“There are rules,” Melanie said, wondering why this was so difficult to understand.
“What rules?”
“Sorry, I can’t talk about that,” she said, which was a shame really because he probably wouldn’t hate McDreamy so much if he knew-
“I’ll never understand women,” Aidan said, shaking his head with a heavy sigh as he grabbed the notebook and tossed it on the nightstand along with the pen.
“Probably not,” Melanie murmured in agreement.
“Fine. Then at least tell me your next five things,” Aidan said, placing both of his hands on her belly.
“I thought it was your turn,” she said, tilting her head back to send him a hopeful smile.
“You thought wrong,” Aidan said with a mock glare.
“Does my obsession with gossip count?”
“Not unless you tell me what you know,” Aidan said as his lips pulled up into a sweet smile when their baby pushed against his hands.
“I’m afraid that I can’t do that.”
“What if I promised to get you pie afterward?” he offered.
“After what?” Melanie asked even as she couldn’t help but wonder if a steak and cheese sub with extra mushrooms came with that pie.
“After the asshole leaves,” Aidan said, making her gasp.
“McDreamy’s coming here?” she asked, already wiggling, shifting, and a weird combination of the two, towards the edge of the bed.
“The asshole is coming over to take a look at you. Why?” he asked, moving his leg out of her way even as he reached over to help her.
“I have to go change!”
“Wait. Why?” Aidan asked, moving to sit up.
“Because McDreamy’s coming!” Melanie said, grabbing her phone on the way to the bathroom, wondering if they had enough time to get that pie first.
Chapter 17
“Thank you for inviting me,” Rebecca said with a heartfelt sigh as she grabbed another Hershey Kiss from the large Ziploc bag that she’d brought with her and unwrapped it.
“You’re welcome,” Melanie said, popping a Hershey Kiss in her mouth as she glanced from the man standing next to him, frowning as he stared at Melanie as though he was trying to figure out how he knew her, to the small woman standing in the corner, who was glaring at the asshole next to him while Aidan stood there, regretting so many things, but he had no fucking idea where to start.
“Explain to me why he’s here again,” Kenzie, who’d dropped by a few minutes ago for her follow up appointment, asked as she gestured towards Roger, who was still staring at Melanie.
“To entertain us,” Melanie said as she popped another Hershey Kiss in her mouth while her partner in crime nodded in agreement and murmured, “He really is,” making the bastard’s lips twitch.
“Where do I know you from?” Roger asked, throwing Melanie a curious look before he focused his attention on the iPad in his hands.
“Rum and Coke,” Melanie said with a solemn nod as Aidan watched Roger suddenly go still.
“No one else knows,” Rebecca said, shrugging it off as Roger’s gaze flickered to Kenzie before focusing back on Melanie’s file.
“Knows what?” Kenzie asked, earning matching blank stares from the duo on the bed.