Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5)

by Katmore, Anna

  When he helped me out of my dress and dragged me with him into my bed, I knew his first year at college was going to be hard on both of us. “All these long periods of not seeing you…how will I ever stay sane until next summer?” I whined, sinking against his chest.

  “Maybe that’s the wrong way of dealing with it. Don’t think about it as a whole block of time. Instead, focus on staying sane for the next couple weeks until I come home again.” His lips pressed against my brow. “That’s what I’m doing.”

  “But still…an entire year.”

  “Yeah, but there’s Thanksgiving, and winter break, and spring break, and who knows what else. You’ll see, I’ll be home more often than at campus.” His teasing didn’t manage to lift my spirits. He wrapped his arms around me, his warmth seeping through my skin. “And before you can count to three, you’ll be at college with me and we can share a room.”

  That prospect, on the other hand, made me smile.

  Any thought about college and the future slipped away when Chris started kissing me, and I closed my eyes, giving in to the temptation of my sexy boyfriend.

  *

  The sounds of a car engine pulled me out of my sleep. I listened carefully, but only silence remained. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the dark room. Cautiously, I lifted Chris’s arm off of me and slipped out of bed. Sneaking to the window, I chanced a quick peek outside. My dad’s car was parked in front of our house and I could see the shadow of my mom through the passenger window.

  Heck, it was after one o’clock in the morning. Where had they been so long? Did Dad take a detour all around California to get her home?

  Warm hands touched my sides and made me jump with shock. “Chris!” I hissed as I turned to face him. The moonlight breaking through the window caught on his smirk.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Go back to bed.”

  “I will, if you come with me.” He glanced over my shoulder, out onto the street. The breath of his chuckle caressed my neck. “So they’ve finally come home.”

  “Yeah, a bit late, don’t you think?” I whispered.

  “Why? You should be happy. They were probably having a nice birthday.”

  That’s what I hoped. But leaving them alone after so long could backfire. They hadn’t had a chance to fight in a while. What if they caught up with that now? It was killing me not to know what they’d been talking about—and were still talking about. Neither of them got out of the car.

  “Come on, sweetness, give them some privacy,” Chris taunted me and pulled me away from the window. Maybe he was right. This wasn’t my business. But when a car door slammed outside and another a split second later, I yanked my hand out of his and rushed back to the window, pressing my face against the glass.

  Excitement made me shiver as they both walked toward the house. Squealing, I pivoted to Chris and grabbed fists of my hair, my eyes and smile wide. “They’re holding hands!”

  “Yeah?” He smiled, too. “Things happen. Now don’t think about going downstairs. Nosy as you are, I won’t let you ruin their evening.” Dammit, he knew me too well. He crawled back into bed and held the covers open for me. “Come here.”

  Well, that was an invitation I could not possibly reject. Snuggling up to him, I let him warm my fingers and feet. He got a soft good-night kiss—and a second and third, and just one more for good measure.

  “Sleep tight, sweetness,” he whispered in my ear.

  I did.

  And you know what? Dad’s car was still there in the morning.

  Epilogue

  THE TIME BEFORE Christmas was my favorite of the year. I couldn’t help it, it just reminded me of the days when Chris and I had started dating. Hah, well, dating might be stretching it a bit, but it was the time when I first fell in love with him, and that’s not something a girl ever forgets.

  Staring out the window of our two-story house that—since last night—had been decorated with chains of lights, I tried to catch a glimpse down the street. Chris should be home any minute. He’d called me from the restaurant earlier, telling me to stay where I was. Today, he wanted to come with me to my important meeting with Dr. Lois Tallaware. In fact, he was taking me everywhere these days.

  “You know what the Dr. Lady said,” he argued with me every time I insisted on driving the car myself. “You have to be careful.”

  Yeah, I was probably going to hear that warning more often in the future. And as annoying as it could be at times, his overprotectiveness only made me love Chris more. If that was even possible.

  A smile dented my cheeks when his car rolled up the drive. Quickly, I pulled up my hair, which was a lot longer than it had been back in high school, and fastened it into a ponytail with the hair band I always wore around my wrist. Grabbing my coat and purse, I hurried outside and locked the door. When I turned around, Chris stood right in front of me.

  Like every other time he came home and I hadn’t seen him for most of the day, his roguish cornflower-blue eyes and the sexy smile took my breath away. But more than his looks, the kiss he surprised me with right now was devilish and hot, like the chili he’d cooked us last night.

  “Hey, sweetness,” he breathed, running his hands down my sides. I jumped as he pinched my butt. “Ah, happy to see me, are you?” he teased.

  I smacked him on the shoulder, but he only chuckled, intertwined our fingers, and led me to the car, holding the door open for me and helping me inside. I gave him an eye roll that read: You’re so overdoing it, baby.

  One hand on the headrest and one on the dashboard in front of me, he leaned down and kissed me again, softer this time. “Just being careful,” he whispered against my mouth.

  Funny, how fast he’d adapted to the new situation. When we got the test results four weeks ago, he’d gone pale as the little vampire he turned into each time he sensed a chance to nibble my neck. And frankly, so had I.

  Outside the doctor’s office, we’d both looked at each other, no one speaking during the drive home, still in shock. Hours later and after baking a double-decker chocolate cream cake—cooking had become his stress-release button—he’d sat down beside me on the porch and started rocking us softly on the porch-swing. “I want you to stop playing soccer,” he’d said then.

  Soccer wasn’t my life nor was it a career I’d chased after high school, but I still loved playing a friendly game twice a week with the girls from the town’s team. It was fun and balanced the hours I spent in an office chair as an editor at a publishing house.

  “Promise,” Chris pressed when I hadn’t given him an answer. “The damage is done and I don’t want you to risk anything now.”

  “The damage?” Both my eyebrows had gone up at that.

  I still remembered how Chris had rubbed his neck and dipped his head back against the backrest, his gaze moving to me. “You know what I mean.”

  He hardly ever asked anything from me, so this was clearly important to him. He only wanted the best for me, and that’s why I’d relented in the end. “Okay, I’ll stop until everything is back to normal.”

  His look had filled with an unspoken message. It didn’t take much to understand. Nothing would ever be back to normal again. A diagnosis like that out of the blue would do that to a couple who’d graduated from college two years ago and just started to lead a normal life.

  “What are you thinking about?” Chris’s voice broke my train of thought when he halted the car in front of the doctor’s office.

  I managed a smile. “Nothing. Let’s go inside.”

  “Wait.” With that order, he ran around the car and opened the door for me again. Apparently, I couldn’t do that on my own anymore, because my condition was tying my arms to my side, making me a complete and utterly helpless invalid. I grunted a sigh. We really needed to have another chat about that tonight. His wry grimace told me—yep, he’d read my expression correctly.

  Doctor Tallaware’s practice was inside a neat, yellow bungalow, part of which wa
s her home. I’d never seen anything past the waiting or examination rooms, but if this part of the house was any indication, the rest must be a warm and cozy place, too.

  “Hello, Mrs. Donovan,” the receptionist with the black bun on top of her head greeted me across the frosty glass counter. “You can go right in. The doctor is waiting for you.” Then she smiled at my husband, her cheeks turning a little flush. “Mr. Donovan, would you mind signing a card for my nephew? It’s his tenth birthday Saturday and he’s one of your biggest fans.” She must have been hoping that I’d bring Chris today, because she held out a basketball card with his picture on it.

  Though Chris had stopped playing basketball last summer in order to be home more and was now working at his brother’s restaurant, the kids in town all loved and remembered him. He could deny it all he wanted, but the gleam in his eyes every time someone asked him for an autograph spoke volumes.

  He signed the card with his smirking face on it for the receptionist’s nephew and afterward followed me into Doctor Tallaware’s office.

  “Ah, Susan,” the woman with short chestnut hair and freckles said and shook my hand. “I see you brought support.” She offered Chris a stool next to the examination table.

  Cutting Chris a wry grin, I laughed and told her, “Yeah, he barely let’s me go anywhere alone since we left your office the last time.”

  “Just taking care of the little bump,” Chris murmured.

  At the defensive but also caring expression that crossed his face, my heart melted for him…and for the little bump, too. I squeezed his hand as I reclined on the examination table and mouthed, “I love you.” He started to rub his thumb over my knuckles, his gaze going tender.

  “All right, let’s see how this darling is doing,” Doc Tallaware said while she squeezed a cold liquid from a plastic bottle onto my tummy and ran her ultrasound device over my lower belly. After a few seconds, she pressed a little harder and a clear picture emerged on the screen in front of her. The monitor was turned so that also Chris and I could see what was going on.

  Using her finger to point, the doc explained what exactly the light and dark gray images on the screen were. “You see, this triangle is the cone of the ultrasound. Here’s your uterus, Susan, and this”—she smiled at both of us—“is the little Donovan that will soon move in with you.”

  My heart started to pound at the sight of our baby, even if it was no bigger than a strawberry right now. Chris held my hand tighter. When I shot him a glance, he gave me a proud-as-hell daddy-smile.

  The doctor moved the device on my lower belly again, trying to catch the strawberry from a different angle. As the picture on the screen changed, she suddenly stilled. Moving the ultrasound around and around, her gaze was glued to the screen. And so was mine.

  “Is…is that normal, Doc?” Chris asked in a concerned voice that gave me uncomfortable shivers. When I looked at him again, a frown marred his brows and I knew I was mirroring it. We both focused on the lady in the white coat as she cracked a smile.

  “Well, it certainly happens more often than you would think. Congratulations, Susan. From what we can see here, you’re going to have twins.”

  “Twins…” The word left my mouth in an appalled whisper. “This—this is— I didn’t plan this!”

  “Few ever do,” Doc Tallaware replied, amused.

  My chin dropped to my chest. When Chris’s hold of my hand eased and finally slipped away, I tilted my head to him, preparing for the shock in his eyes to make this even harder to cope with. Slowly, he dragged his hands through his tousled, blond hair and down his face. When they came off, he began to laugh so hard that he startled both the doc and me. What the heck? He thought this was funny?

  “Well,” Chris choked out through continuous fits of laughter, “Uncle Ethan and William are going to love that.” He got up from his stool, turned around, and headed out the door without another word to me or the doctor.

  Through the window to my left, I could see him walk to our car and bang his head on the roof. Twice. His laughter never ceased.

  The End

  Playlist

  Far East Moment ft. Justin Bieber – Live My Life

  (Outside her books)

  Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud

  (A ruined birthday party)

  Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie – Just A Dream (cover)

  (Alter ego?)

  Volbeat – Still Counting

  (The wrong room)

  Sam Smith – Stay With Me

  (Caffè latte & dessert)

  Lilly Wood & The Prick and Robin Schulz – Prayer In C

  (Basketball)

  Ricky Martin – Le Mejor De Mi Vida Eres Tú

  (Soccer backward)

  Vito Lavita ft. Toni Tuklan – Danzare

  (Cooking for Sue)

  Disney’s Frozen – Let It Go

  (What’s the temperature in hell?)

  Leona Lewis – Run

  (Falling apart)

  Christina Perri – Jar Of Hearts

  (He had his chance)

  Dion and The Belmonts – Runaround Sue

  (Twisting on a date)

  Ben E. King – Stand By Me

  (The kiss that shouldn’t happen)

  Kodaline – High Hopes

  (Chris and Beverly)

  Tyler Blackburn ft. Golden State – Save Me

  (Get the fuck out of my way, Hunter!)

  Coming next in the series:

  Chris Donovan’s point of view!

  The GROVER BEACH TEAM series:

  Play With Me

  Ryan Hunter

  T Is For…

  Kiss with Cherry Flavor

  Dating Trouble

  The Trouble About Dating Sue

  Other books by Anna Katmore:

  Neverland (Adventures in Neverland, 1)

  Pan’s Revenge (Adventures in Neverland, 2)

  *

  Summer of my Secret Angel

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ANNA KATMORE prefers blue to green, spring to winter, and writing to almost anything else. It helps her escape from a boring world to something with actual adventure and romance, she says. Even when she’s not crafting a new story, you’ll see her lounging with a book in some quiet spot. She was 17 when she left Vienna to live in the quiet countryside of Austria, and from there she loves to plan trips with her family to anywhere in the world. Two of her favorite places? Disneyland and the deep dungeons of her creative mind.

  For more information, please visit her website at www.annakatmore.com