Giving Her My Baby
I watch her walk away and want to follow her, but I hold myself back knowing that if I do, her mom will show up while I’m deep inside her daughter. Probably not the best introduction to each other.
I want her mom to like me. I know how much she means to Eleanor, and I know how much my own mom means to me. Hell, this is how everything started. Because of my mom and wanting to protect her against a con artist—it all led to my woman.
I shake the thoughts from my mind. Right now, I need to focus on getting through tonight.
I go to the kitchen and check on the pasta I requested be made ahead of time. Then I start pulling out the sides the staff had prepared to go with it. I set the table and make sure everything is perfect just as Ella comes walking into the kitchen. She’s wearing a light blue dress and her feet are bare. Her long dark hair flows behind her and she’s practically glowing. I’m pretty sure she’s pregnant just from the light around her. I can’t stand the distance between us, and I pick her up by the hips and sit her on the counter.
“I’m a little nervous to tell my mom about everything,” she admits. Her small hands lock together in her lap as she bites her lip.
I use my thumb to pull her bottom lip out from between her teeth. Then I give her a quick kiss before I rub my hands up and down her arms.
“It will all be fine,” I tell her. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“You can’t control everything.” She shakes her head at me.
Maybe not, but I sure as fuck can get pretty close to it. I stand between her legs and she rests her hands on my chest.
“I want this so bad. This all feels so right. I want my mom to like you. I want your family to like me.”
Her sweet words warm me. I run my hands down to her hips and grip her there. I drop my forehead down to hers and take a deep breath. Fuck, I need to tell her about my family. I should have done it from the beginning, but I didn’t. Now I just need to do it and get it out there already.
Leaning back, I look into her eyes and open my mouth.
“Eleanor—” I begin, but my words are cut off when I hear my own mother’s voice coming from the front of the house.
“Brooky! I was in the neighborhood.”
Her always-chipper voice carries from the entryway. Fuck, I should have told the front gate to let me know if my mom showed up. They never alert me when she arrives. She’s cleared to come and go as she pleases, and now I should probably change that. I don’t want her or anyone else walking in here while I might have Ella laid out on the kitchen counter. I’ve just never had that worry before now.
Although as panic settles into my chest, I realize that this might be the moment when it all blows up in my face.
The sound of her heels clicking her way to us is foreboding. I pray that my mom is alone, but when I see her walking into the kitchen, I realize my luck has run out.
12
Ella
Brooks’s whole body tenses. I try to turn around to see the woman who called him Brooky. It better not be that neighbor again. I might lose it this time. Now that I know Brooks is all mine I can stake my claim all I want. I also know he thinks that woman is bat-shit crazy and his lawyer was supposed to have handled all of it. I was all too happy about that. I don’t want Brooks anywhere near her.
I’m not worried about her, though. I know Brooks only sees me. When we were out today most people knew who he was. Women openly stared at him, but he didn’t even notice. All his attention was on me. In fact, he was the jealous one. Any guy who tried to even talk to me he either growled at or he barked at them to get away from me. I’d had to fight laughter most of the day because of it. Maybe I was wrong in finding it funny and adorable. The truth is that it made me feel wanted. As if he was scared someone might try to steal me away from him. My finger goes to the diamond ring on my finger. Both Brooks and I keep playing with it absently.
Brooks’s big body blocks my view of whoever it is that just walked in. “I brought Vick with me,” I hear her say.
“Fuck,” Brooks grits out, his voice irritated and angry.