“Evidently this baby picked up your chocolate gene, because I’ve been dying for chocolate for a month.”
His grin could have melted every bone in her body. “Then I will find chocolate.”
She closed the door behind him, turned, and leaned back against it. Eyes closed, she dropped her head back and tried to slow her spinning emotions.
When she opened her eyes and met her reflection in the mirror, her breath exited her lungs in a whoosh. “Wow, you look just as bad as you feel.”
No wonder Chase was worried about her. Or…about the baby.
As if she needed one more reason to doubt his feelings for her, now they had a baby between them. One he was damned happy about.
She wished she could have kept this secret a little longer. Now, not only did she feel exposed and vulnerable, but she felt…inconsequential. The vessel holding what Chase really wanted. His sweetness just a tool to get Zahara to comply with his wishes.
A big part of her told her that was just her insecurities turned on high. But she couldn’t keep that What about me? from whispering in her ear.
Zahara pulled off her T-shirt, surprised to find the pain in her shoulder well controlled with the prescription Dr. Cardinally had provided. The one Chase had balked over. It had taken Cardinally fifteen minutes to explain to Chase the medication wouldn’t cross something called the placental barrier and wouldn’t harm the baby.
She ran a hand over her still-flat belly. “You’ve got one hell of an advocate, kid. I just hope he doesn’t smother us both in the process.”
The shower felt amazing, and the heat melted away most of her stress. She was ready for food and sleep. She stepped out of the shower and found one of Chase’s T-shirts folded on the vanity. Zahara smiled and ran a hand over the soft cotton, her mind drifting back to their weekend together. To the way she’d loved pulling his T-shirt on when their bodies had cooled from passionate sex. To the way he’d loved seeing her in it. How he’d told her it made him feel like she was his. Made him feel like the luckiest bastard on the planet.
Even after everything, Zahara still saw that weekend as one of the most memorable in her life. If she could have stopped time…
These were futile thoughts. Ones that made her yearn for something that was gone. The simplicity of their new romance had been wiped out by reality and all its complications.
She stepped out of the bathroom to the delicious scent of spices.
She found him in the living area, sitting on the sofa with a football game on the television, shoes off, feet up on the coffee table, and a room service cart sitting nearby.
“Oh my God, that smells so good.” She approached the cart and reached to lift one of the covered plates. “What did you get?”
He grabbed her wrist and used it to gently drag her around the cart to a seat beside him. She pulled her legs under her and leaned against him. And the simple comfort of being with him felt so damn good.
“Life is uncertain.” He uncovered a miniature chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. “Dessert first.”
Zahara’s mouth watered. “Oh my God, that looks amazing.”
He laughed and shook his head. “That is so bizarre.”
“I feel like an alien has inhabited my body. I guess there are worse things to crave than chocolate.”
She reached across him to get a fork from the cart, but he blocked her.
“No, no, no. The doctor said
you weren’t to lift a finger tonight.”
He cut into the cake with the side of the fork and liquid chocolate spilled from the center.
“Oh. My. God.” She barely got the last word out before he slid the cake into her mouth. The rich, decadent sweetness overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes and moaned with pleasure. “How did I get through life hating chocolate?”
“Beats me.”
He fed her another piece. Chocolate syrup dripped on her forearm. Before she could get to it, Chase licked it off.
The sight ignited a whole different kind of craving and Zahara’s stomach fluttered. She ignored it, hoping the chocolate would satiate both desires. But Chase swept up a fingerful of the chocolaty liquid and brought it to her lips. As if it were second nature, she sucked it off.
“Ah, God,” he groaned.