Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

“Yeah,” she giggled.

“Well, if that’s not fate, then I don’t know what is,” I said, absolutely floored. “Congratulations, momma.”

“Congratulations, daddy,” she said happily. “We really know how to throw a party.”

I couldn’t believe it, not only had it been confirmed that she was indeed pregnant, we had managed to knock it out of the park before we even knew we loved each other. Talk about a twist of fate walking into a hot and sexy lovemaking session. Most other men might be upset, but I was extremely excited and almost felt like I had hit the jackpot. I set my coffee mug on the counter and reached forward, grabbing Tiffany around the waist and pulling her in close. She smiled as her lips moved to mine, kissing me gently before pulling up and kissing my forehead, too. Her touch was gentle and sweet, and it made me love her even more than I already did. Her belly was pressed against mine, and I couldn’t help but think about the baby growing inside. I glanced up as Jordan walked into the break room, stopping for a moment to roll his eyes and shake his head at our public display of affection.

“Talk about weird fucking timing,” he mumbled. “Get a room, preferably in another city.”

I looked up at Tiffany and smiled, ignoring his ignorant ass statements. I was not going to let him take this moment from us. He had ruined so many things for Tiffany, and I could tell by her face that she was not going to let his petty words ruin this one, too. I kissed her nose and took in a deep breath, letting the news wash over me.

“Would you come to dinner with me on Sunday at my parent’s house?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling wide.

She backed up and stuck her phone in her pocket, her face beaming with excitement. I wanted to talk about everything, be super excited with her, but we weren’t ready to tell anyone yet. It had to stay a secret, and I wanted to make sure there was nothing stressful about any part of it for her. I knew with the PCOS, pregnancy could be tricky, and I wanted her to get through everything with as little stress as possible. She was carrying my child now, and I was feeling ten times more protective than I had been at the beginning. Part of me wished I could stick her in a bubble and keep her safe until the baby arrived. She shivered, goose bumps rolling up her arms, and I reached forward, rubbing my

hands down her arms and warming her up. She looked like she was on another planet, but instead of worry like the other night, she looked completely infatuated by the whole realization that she and I were going to have a baby.

“So, since your coming to dinner on Sunday,” Jordan said, walking over to us. “Just want you to know Rosalie won’t be there for you to bond with. We broke up. Things were just getting too serious too fast, and I needed to stretch out and weigh my options. It would be dumb of me to end my marriage and shack up with the first broad I found. Besides, she was weirded out, kind of like everyone else, with this whole my-brother-dating-my-ex-wife thing.”

“Mmhm,” Tiffany said, not hearing anything Jordan had to say.

“Sorry to hear that, man,” I replied, refusing to acknowledge his weak attempt to sound like he was playing the field. In all reality, the poor girl probably knew exactly what was up, how much of a D-bag Jordan could be, and ran for the hills, just like Tiffany should have done. But then again, if she had never married my brother, it was unlikely I would have ever gotten to know her the way that I did, and we wouldn’t be standing here daydreaming about the child we were about to welcome into the world.

“What is up with you two?” Jordan wrinkled his nose and stared at our blank expressions.

Neither one of us answered, still standing there staring off into space. It seriously felt like I was part of another world there for a second. It wasn’t that I didn’t hear my brother talking. It was that he wasn’t important enough to interrupt the amazing thoughts I had going on in my head. The baby, Tiffany, and dinner at my parents had filled every crevasse of my mind. My brother’s voice ended up just being background noise for me. It was the kind of noise you know is there, but you train your body to ignore so it doesn’t drive you absolutely mad. My brother had a way of doing that. To be fair, the fire alarm could have gone off, a space ship could have crash-landed on the roof, and I could have been surrounded by little green men and still wouldn’t have paid any attention to what was going on. It was like we were both stuck in a trance, not giving two shits about coming out of it. All I wanted to do at that point was run away, so I didn’t have to hide anything in our lives anymore.

“Hey, earth to asshole,” my brother said, tapping on my head. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah,” I said, pulling myself from my happy place and taking in a deep breath. “I heard you.”

“So, what’s going on?”

I looked at Jordan for a moment and turned back to Tiffany who pulled herself out of the clouds as well. I picked up my coffee and took a sip, trying to decide whether to tell him or not. I knew Tiffany didn’t want to tell anyone anything yet, at least not until the dinner. I looked back at Tiffany who had just completed processing what Jordan was asking. She shook her head no to me and winked. I understood why we needed to keep the information to ourselves, but I just loved watching my brother completely deflate when he was in a mood like the one he was currently in. His cockiness had reached an entirely new level, and news like this would deflate him in about two seconds flat. But I let out a deep breath as she shook her head, knowing I had to respect her decisions on this one.

“Sunday,” she said staring into my eyes.

“Gotcha,” I replied. “Sunday.”

I looked over at my brother and shrugged my shoulders. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, pouring more black coffee in his cup and walking out of the room. I was glad he left us alone again, but I had to tear myself away from Tiffany in order to get any work done. It was bad enough that I was going to be sitting there processing the news, but on top of that, I wanted to hold Tiffany and care for her. I knew if I was nervous about all of this, she was, too. And I knew if I was happy about all of it, she would be, too. So, I mustered up my strength of focus and leaned in, kissing her on the chin before heading back to my office. From my chair, I watched her walk down the hall and turn into her room. She looked kind of like a sleepwalker, her eyes glazed over and her steps not as graceful as usual.

I guess I couldn’t blame her. She was pregnant, and we were about to unleash that information on everyone we loved the most, including my brother Jordan. It was his response that I feared more than anything. Hopefully, he could keep his cool.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tiffany

I’m pregnant. I’m freaking pregnant. I just kept telling myself that repeatedly all day long. It didn’t matter what I was doing, from brushing my teeth to putting gas in my car, the feeling of knowing I was growing a person in my body was completely blowing my mind. I had never gotten a piece of news that affected me in the way this was affecting me. I just couldn’t believe after all of that, one lunchtime sex session after days of sexting, led to me being pregnant. Jason was really impressed that we knocked it out after just the first time. I was impressed that after being told that I had a higher chance of hitting the lottery than getting pregnant, I knocked it out of the park. Either I needed a new doctor, or I needed to start playing the lottery because the reality was, I was pregnant. Until now, I’d never really understood what a woman felt like when they found out they were expecting. I was in shock and awed at how amazing all of it really was.

I was sitting at the table at John and Lily’s, chewing the steak that Lily had prepared. Was the baby supposed to even have steak? I suppose I’d have to learn all this now. I knew very little about pregnancy, having never been around any pregnant women or small children for that matter. I knew that my doctor would fill me in on everything I was and wasn’t allowed to have, but the thoughts kept popping into my mind. I didn’t mind it, though, since it kept my mind off the fact that we were about to reveal our big secret to everyone, including Jordan who was sitting across the table scowling at me as I ate. I didn’t know what his problem was, but if he thought he was pissed at me now, just wait until he finds out the news. I was almost nervous about letting him know. I shouldn’t have been because he was no one to me anymore other than my baby’s uncle. Still, the idea of letting everyone in on our secret was more than a little terrifying.

“So,” Jason said putting down his fork. “Tiffany and I have something we’d like to tell you.”

“Sure, honey,” Lily said, giving him her attention. “What is it?”

“Well,” he said, taking in a deep breath. “It wasn’t planned, and we had no idea it could even happen. This took us completely by surprise, but we found out recently that we’re having a baby.”