“It did. I reacted badly. There wasn’t any call for it. I really am not a troll or the devil, though I probably haven’t given you cause to think otherwise. I’m just a normal person. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I’m overly defensive about it. I can be a dick when challenged. I grew up here though. I’m a small town kid at heart. I want to be taken seriously for who I am, not what I can do for people. Sometimes I wish that people could just see me, not the suit, not the company, not the money.” He was back on the broken record track. How romantic.
Teela nodded again, but then her face changed. It went from serene to panicked. Her eyes widened and her face paled dangerously. Ross stood up and was about to ask her what on earth was wrong, because it was clear something was horribly wrong, when she threw her plate to the side and ran out of the room like she’d just realized the house was on fire.
Stunned, Ross trailed after her. Because he was a dipshit he finally figured out what was going on when Teela hurtled into the bathroom just down the hall.
He’d never actually held someone’s hair back while they were throwing up, but he was about to get a crash course.
It was crazy to think he’d woken up that morning and his biggest worry had been the store. Life had been relatively normal.
How quickly his world was upended. Everything was different. He was holding back Teela’s hair and tracing small patterns over her back while she retched in the small bathroom. He’d never actually seen himself as a dad. The thought was just so abstract, something saved for the future and for maybe’s and for whenever his mom bugged him about giving her and his dad a grandchild. He was their best hope given that he was an only child.
Twelve hours ago, life was normal.
Now he was smack dab in the middle of a parenting/pregnancy crash course.
Strangely enough, he didn’t hate the idea of being a dad. He didn’t hate the idea of having a child with Teela. Which meant he probably needed to have his head examined. ASAfreakingP.
CHAPTER 9
Teela
If there was a list of ultimate mortification, the major items would be thoroughly checked off. Answer the door in a tiny, see-through nightgown. Check. Have a strange heart to heart with enemy numero uno. Check. Give in and admit The Troll wasn’t such a troll. Double check. Admit that said non-troll is actually ridiculously attractive. Hard check. Puke all over said attractive non-troll. Check, check, check, a million times, check.
Okay, maybe she hadn’t puked on him or all over him but puking in front of Ross was pretty mortifying.
And Teela had to hand it to him, Ross didn’t so much as bat an eye. Just turned on the tap and filled up the glass she kept by the sink and passed it to her along with a clean washcloth he found under the sink.
Ross must have had a pretty good mom. In that moment, as she sipped water to erase the horrible taste from her mouth, she realized he’d be a good dad.
He wasn’t the devil. He wasn’t a troll. He was actually pretty damn nice.
Teela turned to face Ross, who was leaning up against the doorframe, giving her some space. “Er- sorry,” she mumbled. “I’ll just brush my teeth and then I’ll be out.”
He didn’t move. Or blink. He might as well have been made from stone. Really good looking, super attractive, panty melting stone. “This happens often?”
“Uh- not that often. Every other day maybe. Sometimes not. I don’t know. It’s worse when I get nervous. Or anxious. I guess those butterflies start it and uh- the nausea, which is always kind of there, finishes it off.”
One dark brow arched. “I didn’t mean to make you nervous.”
“You didn’t. I- it’s okay. I feel worse at night. And in the morning. I’m better after I eat something when I get up but then it kind of starts up with the heartburn around eight and it just burns and burns and if I try and eat something, sometimes it fixes it, sometimes I end up- uh- here.”
“I’m sorry.”
That caught Teela off guard. She reached out and gripped the pedestal sink’s lip. “Why? You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“For all the upheaval these past few days. It can’t be good for- you or the baby.”
Teela glanced in the mirror and when she realized she was a sweaty mess, with her hair clinging damply to her forehead, she nearly groaned. She quickly reached up and swiped the sticky strands back where they belonged.
“You don’t have to be sorry. You didn’t know that buying one more store was going to be such a challenge.”