by S Cinders
CHAPTER 10
Week 29: Baby kicks and stretches
Twenty-nine weeks into your pregnancy, or 27 weeks after conception, your baby can kick, stretch, and make grasping movements.
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (about the size of a) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain.
“DR. ROBERT’S, WITH all due respect, please don’t tell me anything more about hemorrhoids!” Mandy felt sick.
His lips twitched, “Constipation and hemorrhoids are a large part of the end of pregnancy. As the baby grows, there is less room and the bowels slow down.”
“La, la, la, la,” Mandy had her fingers plugged into her ear, “You can’t scare me with your wicked tales, Dr. Robert’s.”
There was a knock at the exam room door, and Tina poked her head in, “Oh hey, Mrs. Johnson!”
Mandy just ignored it, “Hello Tina.”
The assistant turned to the doctor, “I have those stool samples, did you want me to send them off to the lab?”
Mandy paled, “I am not giving you people my poo.”
From behind Tina, there was a stifled laugh. It was most decidedly male in origin.
Tina grinned, “Also, I have Mr. Brand here with me, he was wondering if he could wait in your office, Dr. Roberts. Apparently, the patients are becoming a little too friendly.”
Mandy could have died right then and there. She could not believe that she said the word ‘poo’ in front of her employer. It was bad enough that he had driven her to the appointment. It was the last one of the day, and she had meant to leave the office early and catch a cab.
Elliot would hear none of it and insisted that he take her on their way home. The way he said home made her heart thump and her blood race. But she knew that it was all a lie. Once he found out she was carrying his baby, she shuddered not even wanting to contemplate the consequences.
Dr. Roberts laughed, “We are finished here, Elliot. If you want to come in and gather up your favorite employee.”
Mandy’s blush deepened, and Elliot entered the room. Suddenly it felt much smaller than it had moments earlier.
“Oh,” Dr. Robert’s turned to Mandy, “We were going to see if the baby had turned into position. Tina, would you come in and do a quick ultrasound and jot the results on her chart?”
Tina happily bustled in and before Mandy could protest she had her shirt up and was squeezing a goopy gel on her abdomen.
Mandy’s eyes shot straight to Elliot who was looking on wide-eyed.
“I can,” he sounded hoarse, “I can leave if you want.”
Tina looked at him like he was an idiot, “She isn’t getting naked, Mr. Brand.”
His eyes widened for a moment, and he adjusted his stance. The last thing he needed to be reminded of was Mandy naked. It already haunted his every thought of every day.
Mandy shook her head, “You don’t have to go, Elliot. This shouldn’t take long.”
She was trying to be nice, but Mandy noticed that the moment she had told him he could stay. Elliot’s eyes were glued to the monitor where their baby was.
He asked Tina all sorts of questions. Mandy could hardly keep up. And then he moved in close to study the black and white screen. Tina showed Elliot all of the baby’s features, the little hands and fingers, the feet and toes, and Elliot loved every minute of it.
He turned to Mandy with such a look of reverence in his eyes that it formed a knot in her throat.
“Why are looking at me like that?” she whispered.
A slow smile broke across his face each movement causing butterflies to fill her stomach.
Tina went on to tell them that the baby was at the current moment head down, but it was possible for the baby to move positions clear up until delivery.
Mandy’s chart was noted, and the goop wiped off her stomach.
“Do you know what you are having?” Elliot asked as they walked out of the doctor’s office.
Mandy shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to know. At first, she was in denial about the entire affair, but once she had come to terms with it. Mandy wanted to be surprised.
“No,” a blonde strand of hair blew into her eyes and Elliot stopped to tuck it behind her ear before opening the door to the black town car. “But my sister, Kim, thinks that it is a boy.”
Elliot knew that Mandy had been spending a lot of her free time with her sister. Mandy had explained to him about Kim’s marriage falling apart. Elliot had often dropped Mandy at The Grind after work, but he hadn’t come in.
When they pulled up, Mandy was more than a little surprised when he shut off the engine.
She looked at him questioningly.
“Nothing horrible,” he smiled, “I promise. I just want to meet your sister and this Freddy fellow.”
Mandy swallowed her nerves and led the way into the little coffee shop. There were only a few customers, many of whom were regulars and said hello to her.
She saw that Freddy was behind the counter and walked up to hug the man. Freddy looked badass and scary as fuck, but he was more like a teddy bear than anything else to those that truly knew him.
Elliot wasn’t sure how he felt about Mandy going into the tattooed man’s arms like she had done it a thousand times before. But he swallowed that twinge of jealousy and shook hands with the younger man.
Kim came out shortly after. She had the same look about her that Mandy did. Although there was a depth of sadness that was almost tangible. Elliot hadn’t known her husband, Andrew. But he was shocked that someone would walk out on this beautiful woman.
She was almost as lovely as her sister. Elliot looked over at Mandy, almost.
“Mandy!” her sister took Mandy in her arms, and they hugged briefly.
Mandy had asked how she was feeling and if morning sickness had been a problem. Elliot felt himself zone out on most the rest of the conversation. It was a cute little shop, but there didn’t seem to be enough traffic coming and going. He wondered if Kim’s shop was in the red and if Mandy knew about it.
Elliot would love to pitch in and help. But he was dealing with a huge multinational merger at the moment. There had to be someone who could look at the books, that is if Kim would let them.
Once he had grabbed a coffee for him and a peppermint hot chocolate for Mandy, he asked her about it.
Mandy blinked, “I think that they are barely in the black, that is why she doesn’t hire more staff to help. I am very worried about her working these long hours especially with a baby on the way.”
“Would you be willing to speak to her about it?”
THIRTY MINUTES LATER Nate was swearing up a blue streak as he strode into the little coffee shop in an area that was on the border of being sketchy.
“What in the hell is the emergency, Brand?”
Mandy scooted a little further away from the angry man, but Elliot just smiled.
“I have a dare for you. If you want, we can even make it interesting.”
Nate’s eyes perked up, “Do tell?”
“I dare you to triple the sales of this coffee shop by Valentine’s Day.”
Nate scoffed, “Please, what do I need with a coffee shop?”
It was true that he too was a busy man, but Elliot was fully aware that his workload was light at the moment.
“If you manage to triple the sales by Valentine’s Day, I will give you the Bugatti,” Elliot knew that Nate had been eying his car for quite a while now.
“You’re shitting me,” Nate breathed in excitement.
“Do we have a deal?” Elliot grinned extending his hand.
Nate grasped it in a heartbeat, “We sure as fuck do!”
CHAPTER 11
“I am going to kill that idiot if he steps foot in my shop one more time.”
Mandy looked over at her sister Kim who had come into her office fuming. Her cheeks were pink, and for the first time sinc
e Andrew walked out on her, Kim had fire in her eyes.
“He can’t be that bad,” Mandy tried to soothe.
“Not that bad?” Kim’s voice rose, and her sister winced. “He’s a fucking lunatic, Mandy. Freddy wants to walk out the door!”
This surprised Mandy because Freddy was usually pretty mellow.
“What did Nate do to Freddy?” Mandy rubbed the spot between her brows that was beginning to ache.
Elliot had only asked Nate to help out a few days ago. Surely, he couldn’t have pissed off everyone at The Grind.
“That ass hat told Freddy that he had to flirt with the ugly ones as much as the pretty ones or he wasn’t allowed to flirt at all.”
Mandy’s lips twitched, it sounded like good advice. But she replied, “The nerve of him!”
Kim’s gaze narrowed, “He also told Freddy that he would get more tips in tighter jeans and a better-fitted shirt. He wants to change the uniform altogether!”
Mandy quirked a brow, “There is a uniform at The Grind?”
The only thing Mandy had ever put on was a largely stained apron.
The muscle in Kim’s cheek twitched, “The skirt that he tried to get me to wear was indecent. But I suppose the new black aprons with our logo aren’t that bad.”
It sounded like Nate was trying to sex up the shop, but Mandy knew she couldn’t say that to Kim.
“Have you tried talking to him?”
Kim spluttered, “Talking to that Neanderthal? Mr. ‘I think with my dick?’ I don’t think so.”
There was a knock-on Mandy’s office door, and she called out, “Please come in.”
Elliot entered the smaller office that resided just outside of his own. She was wearing a cream sweater dress that wasn’t meant for maternity wear. Meaning, the skirt was much shorter after covering up the peanut.
Even Elliot and Mrs. H had started referring to Mandy’s baby by her affectionate nickname.
“Is everything okay in here?” Elliot glanced to where Kim sat with a clenched jaw, and her hands were gripping the sides of the chair.
Kim glared at him.
Mandy’s cough sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and it warmed him all the way through.
“My sister and your friend are having disagreements as to how to help The Grind grow its business.”
That was putting it mildly. Nate had already called and unloaded on Elliot that morning. There was a lot of complaining, and most of it centered around Kim. But Elliot had noticed that Nate hadn’t wanted to quit, only bitch about the sassy owner.
If Elliot were a betting man, he would think that Nate had a thing for Kim. It wasn’t like him to care this much about something, even for a wager. And as everyone knew, all businessmen were betting men in some way or another. Elliot was counting on Nate’s attraction to see this through.
He had baited Nate with talk of forgetting everything if the task was too hard or if he couldn’t get along with one small pregnant woman. Nate had bristled just as much as Elliot figured he would.
Trying to soothe the waters Elliot took a step inside Mandy’s office, trying to ignore the way her perfume licked at his senses every time he came within ten feet of her.
“Do you want me to speak with him?” Elliot said calmly. “I know that some men are difficult to handle.”
Was this manipulating? Of course, it was, and Kim bristled every bit as much as Nate had. They were so similar it was amusing.
Kim rose to her feet much as a queen would in front of her minions, “I do not need assistance in dealing with that man.”
Mandy wanted to interject that she had been asking Mandy to do something about him all morning. But she wasn’t about to get involved. Mandy wanted to see who would be victorious at the end. She figured that Kim and Nate were evenly matched. So, let the games begin!
Kim turned to her sister, “Thank you, for seeing me on such short notice.” Mandy hadn’t had a choice, Kim had barged in. “But I need to get back to the coffee house.”
Mandy walked around the desk and tugged on her dress that seemed much shorter than it had when she put it on that morning. Perhaps it was Elliot’s presence or the way his eyes kept traveling down to her thighs only to jump back to her face with a heated glow.
Kim hugged Mandy to her, “I am a bitch to go on the whole time. How was your appointment?”
Elliot answered, “We got to see the peanut! Those ultrasounds are incredible. You could see fingers and toes! I thought I saw boy parts, but the nurse just laughed and said it was the umbilical cord. She could be lying though. Rita has a warped sense of humor.”
Both sister’s jaws dropped.
“You took your boss to your appointment?” Kim squeaked.
Mandy felt her face go up in flames. But before she could respond, Elliot stepped in again.
“Oh no, I bullied my way in. Mandy wanted to take a cab after work, but since I always drive us home, I insisted on taking her.”
Always—the word rang in Mandy’s ears. It was like he had been driving them about for years and not a handful of days that could be counted with fingers only and not toes.
Kim’s face said it all. She knew how fiercely protective Mandy was about her privacy. For hell's sake, she was her older sister and didn’t even know who the baby’s father was.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Mandy stressed.
Elliot looked like he wanted to argue but then he saw how embarrassed that Mandy was in front of her sister. This was the first time she had seemed almost guarded with Kim, and he wondered what was behind it.
“I am sorry to interrupt,” he went on as if nothing had happened, “We have a meeting with HR in five minutes.”
Mandy blew out a sigh of relief, “I will make sure to have the files ready. Do you want coffee or soda? I was going to grab something for Charles as well.”
Elliot frowned, “You don’t have to be getting drinks for anyone, Mandy.”
Kim’s eyes flew from her sister to this large man who if the critics were to be believed was ruthless. But he was treating her sister like a kitten. Something didn’t add up.
Mandy lifted her chin, “I know I don’t have to, I want to. There is nothing wrong with being kind to others, Elliot.”
Kim stifled a smile, that was the sister she knew and loved. And it was beyond hilarious that she was chastising the man for being kind when he seemed to melt like butter every time Mandy was around.
Feeling better than she had all morning, Kim kissed Mandy’s cheek and went to the elevator to leave. It was the strangest thing, but she could have sworn that the smell of cheeseburgers was lingering in the elevator.
As Kim was walking out, she stopped to say goodbye to Ian at the front desk. He was flamboyant, sassy, fun, and way too outspoken for a mere receptionist.
“Hello, Gorgeous,” Ian winked playfully at her, “When are you going to steal me away from here and be my Sugar Momma?”
He was a good-looking man, no doubt about it. But he also enjoyed good-looking men, and Kim was too close to her break-up to even think about dating.
Kim laughed, “Doesn’t one have to have money to hold that title?”
Ian grinned, “Semantics, love.”
Kim sighed and rubbed her forehead, “Thanks for allowing me up, Ian.”
He winked at her, “Anything for Mandy’s sister. Did you know that she brings me a muffin every morning? I happened to mention to her that I missed breakfast the first day she started and from that point forward there has been a pastry on my desk. You are good people, the both of you.”
Kim cocked her head, not wanting to start gossip, but intensely interested.
“How does she seem to get along with, Mr. Brand?” Kim said innocently.
Ian huffed out a breath, “That’s the craziest thing. Nobody lasts that long working with him because he bites their asses off until the escape. But today he has me ordering cheeseburgers because she’s been craving them lately.” Ian eyed Kim, “If I weren’t here the day that
they met, I would swear that they already knew each other. But she was so fucking nervous. There is no way she knew him beforehand.”
Kim nodded, “It’s true, they met through a mutual friend.”
But Kim knew that there had to be more to the story, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
CHAPTER 12
“What is it you are opposed to most? The fact that you might actually look sexually attractive in the workplace or the fact that I came up with the idea?”
The look that Kim was giving Nate had scared lesser men away. A glare was really much too simple of a way to phrase it. Her jaw twitched as her mouth flattened into a thin line.
Nate, who enjoyed riling up the honey blonde haired beauty, stood before her with two uniform options.
“I am not selling sex in my shop,” Kim said through gritted teeth.
Nate who was a bit fairer than Kim raised a surprisingly dark brow. His laid-back, beach bum shaggy hair was in sharp contrast to his bright green eyes and tanned skin. When Kim had first met him, he was wearing a suit.
Some men end up having their suit wear them. They look uncomfortable, much like penguins or little-stuffed birds. But there are some men, that wear a suit like they were born to it. It becomes yet another weapon in their arsenal as does the swanky shoes and silk tie.
Nate was most certainly in the latter category. So, Kim had thought that she had seen him in his prime. But when he showed up today in a pair of jeans molded to his muscular legs that rested low on his hips. She almost swallowed her tongue.
He was wearing a t-shirt that looked a size too small, at least to her. She hadn’t wanted to know he worked out, but it was obvious in that black t-shirt. But that wasn’t the worst of it. On the pocket had her logo for The Grind.
But when he turned around in silvery letters it said, ‘The Grind is the only way to start your morning.’
To most people, whose minds didn’t frolic in the gutter, this might be just a cheeky advertising slogan. But when Nate had turned around to look at Kim knowing full well what she had just read and said that for him a good grind was imperative to a good day she saw red.