As much as I wish she’d just stay with me at my apartment, she’s still living with Shelly. But I feel like we’re taking a step in the right direction with her calling my place her home, since it’s for damn sure going to be where she lives as soon as I can talk her into it. And now that I know she already thinks of it that way, I’m shaving some time off of how long I’m willing to wait for that to happen.
“Go back inside the building and sit tight, sweetheart. I’ll be there in less than ten minutes to pick you up, and then I’ll take you home and get you whatever the fuck you want.”
“Okay, Justin.”
Her easy agreement reminds me how tired she is, and I step on the gas to cut down on how long it’ll take me to get to her. At the first red light I hit, I send a quick text to Kenton’s woman, Autumn, to ask her if she has time to run out and buy a few things for me and drop them off at my place. She’s curious as fuck about why I need a fuzzy blanket and Aubrey’s favorite tea but says she’ll take care of it right away.
With that taken care of, I manage to make it across town in eight minutes, and as I pull onto the street where her doctor’s office is, I can’t help but think about how different it is from the neighborhood where Dolly’s is located. I hate the idea of her working there, but we aren’t at a place yet where I can insist she quit her job and let me take care of her. I’ve worked too hard to get close to her to fuck it up by being pushy. Or at least I keep reminding myself of that anytime the urge to chain her to my side gets too strong.
For now, I need to be satisfied with what she’s willing to give. One of those things is normally letting me be her ride to and from work, since her car really is a piece of shit. It’s a win-win for me, because I don’t have to worry about her getting stuck on the side of the road somewhere, and it sends a reminder to everyone at the strip club that she’s mine, even if she isn’t ready to admit it yet.
A few days ago, when she let me drop her off, I pulled her boss Johnny aside and had a talk with him about keeping her safe while she’s there. He knows I work for Kenton, and that alone would have been enough to get him to agree. But he surprised me when he turned that shit around on me and acted like a big brother as he grilled me about my intentions toward her. He wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Once I made my place in her life crystal clear, he told me how relieved he was that Aubrey had someone in her life who gives a shit about her.
Giving a shit doesn’t begin to describe how I feel when I pull up in front of the building and she walks outside. My heart belongs to the cute little blonde with the big baby belly making her way to my Rover. Leaving the engine running, I hop out and hurry around the front so I can open her door and help her up into the seat. Then I pull the seat belt around her, laughing when I feel her baby girl kick my hand. “It’s almost like she knows I’m here and is saying hello.”
Aubrey smiles up at me. “We spend so much time together; I wouldn’t be surprised if she recognizes your voice.”
“If she doesn’t yet, she will soon,” I promise as I shut the door and go back around to my side. I like the idea a fuck of a lot more than I’m willing to admit to her. I don’t think she’s ready to hear that I already feel as territorial about her daughter as I do her. I might not have been there when she was created, but the baby is more mine than the piece of shit who’d gotten Aubrey pregnant. The thought of how scared Aubrey sounded when she mentioned him has my hands clenching into fists. I take a deep breath to calm myself down before I climb into the SUV and pull away from the curb.
“You want me to stop and pick anything up on our way home?”
She lets out a deep sigh and rubs her belly. “A magic pill that will put me into labor?”
“Sorry, sweetheart. I don’t think they carry those anywhere around here.”
Folding her arms over her belly, she sighs again. “We should invent them. I bet we’d make millions off something like that.”
Even with a frown on her beautiful face, she’s so fucking cute I can’t help but chuckle. “How good are you at chemistry?”
“Not good enough for something like that,” she grumbles. “I only took it in high school, not college. My classes there were all pretty much focused on my accounting degree. It was the only way I could convince my brother to pay for it.”
Her blue eyes go wide before her gaze darts to the window. She barely ever talks about her family, and whenever she lets something slip about them, she acts like she’s waiting for me to grill her about them.
Instead, I ignore the mention of her brother and change the subject. When she’s ready to share more, I’ll be here to listen. “Then I guess we’ll have to come up with some other idea to make our millions.”
“It’s not even the loss of money that disappoints me.” She rubs her hands over belly. “It’s just that I’m more than ready to give birth to my baby girl, but she seems to be happy staying right where she is.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“I’m not technically overdue until I’m past the forty-two-week mark.”
Thinking about her appointment last week, I ask, “You’re forty weeks now, right?”
“Yup, today, as a matter of fact. It’s supposed to be my due date.” She looks down at her belly and adds, “Which means you’re supposed to come out now.”
“Only five percent of babies are born on their due date.”
Her blonde hair spills over her shoulder as she tilts her head to the side. “How do you know that?”
I shift in my seat and shrug. “I looked it up online.”
“I guess I should’ve asked; why do you know that?”
“Researching shit is kind of my thing.” I run a hand through my hair as I stop at a red light then look at her. “And I figured it couldn’t hurt if I knew more about pregnancies.”
“Couldn’t hurt, huh?” She quirks a brow at me, her lips tilting up at the edges. “You shouldn’t try to play this down when it’s super sweet that you went to all that effort for me.”
“Looking up stuff about pregnancies online didn’t take a whole lot of effort.” I take her hand and brush my lips over her knuckles before setting it back down on her belly. Compared to everything I want to do for you, it’s barely a drop in the bucket, I think but don’t say. “There are a lot of reasons why it would be hard for the doctor to pinpoint when you’re due.”
“I know exactly when my baby was conceived.”
I clench the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turn white. The thought of her with another guy sparks an irrational jealousy inside me. It’s not like I don’t have a past of my own or even that I think she wants to have anything to do with that asshole again. Especially not with the darkness I saw in her bright eyes the one time she mentioned him to me.
“Hey,” she whispers, reaching out to stroke my arm as I pull into the parking lot at our apartment building. “The only good thing that came out of that night was my baby.”
I want to ask for the whole story, but she’s going to have the baby any day now and the last thing I want to do is cause her additional stress. “I’m sure it’s hard to wait a little longer, since you were hoping to have her by today, but another two weeks is hardly any time at all,” I say, even though I’m sure I have the longest case of blue balls in the history of blue balls.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one walking around looking like a beached whale.”
“You’re beautiful,” I scold as I park then jump out. I help her down from her seat, and when her feet touch the ground, I move in. I cup her face with my palms and tilt her head back to stare into her eyes. “I’d probably go to hell for some of the things I want to do to you.”
Her plump lips go round as she whispers, “Oh.”
I claim her mouth in a deep kiss, and she has a dazed look in her eyes when I finally pull away. “But I figure burning in hell would be a small price to pay to have you.”
Chapter 5
AUBREY
I WAKE FROM my dream
, needy and a little breathless, feelings I’ve gotten used to since Justin and I shared our first kiss. Only now the desire is getting harder to deal with, especially when in my dreams we always share more than just a few innocent kisses.
I don’t even want to open my eyes. I don’t want to lose the last image I have in my mind of Justin and me together, but at the sound of low murmuring in the next room, I realize I’m not on Justin’s couch anymore. I open my eyes and look around his room, having no idea how I ended up here. The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was him rubbing my feet after making me eat something.
I start to smile as contentment fills my chest, but that emotion is wiped away when I hear feminine laughter filter through the door, mixed with his deep chuckle. A surge of jealousy courses through me at the thought of him spending time with another woman. I know I don’t have any right to feel that way, but that still doesn’t stop me from rolling me and my big belly off his mattress.
I walk lightly to the closed door and try to listen to what’s happening in the other room. When I don’t hear more than quiet murmurings, I nudge it open, hoping I can sneak down the hallway a little without getting caught. I should know better than to even try to be stealthy, since he has a way of sensing me even when he’s busy with something else. More than once he’s been in the middle of an Xbox game with guns going off or working on his computer and still alert enough to hear my breath catch if my girl kicks too hard.
“Baby, what are you doing up already?” Before I have a chance to respond, I hear him murmur to his guest, “Don’t leave yet. I’d like you to meet Aubrey.”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t care how big you’re getting now that you’re working out so much. You couldn’t pry me out of here with a crowbar. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to meet your mystery woman?”
Mystery woman? I can’t help but smile at the description, since I’m the furthest thing from it. The only thing mysterious about me is what a hot guy like Justin is doing spending so much time with me. Well, that and the life I left behind in Vegas, but nobody in Tennessee knows anything about that.
I only make it a few steps down the hallway before Justin rounds the corner. With his blond hair, scruff-covered cheeks, crystal-blue eyes, and muscular build, he looks like he could take down an army without help. But I’ve felt nothing but safe in his strong arms and experienced nothing but gentleness when he’s touched me.
“You okay?” he asks, and I realize I’ve been standing feet away staring at him.
“I heard voices,” I say, and his expression softens.
“Sorry, baby. You fell asleep, so I moved you to the bedroom and tried to keep it down to a low roar out here so you could nap as long as you needed.”
Now I know how I ended up in his bed, and I really wish I’d been awake for the experience of being tucked in by him.
“Autumn’s here. She brought some stuff over for you.”
“Autumn?” My brow wrinkles in confusion. Maybe it’s pregnancy brain or just that I haven’t woken all the way up from my nap, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of her.
“C’mon, she wants to meet you before she heads out.” He comes toward me and takes my hand. I let him lead me into the living room where a stunning redhead is waiting for us. She’s prettier than most of the showgirls at the big casinos in Vegas, and it makes me more self-conscious of my tousled hair, puffy eyes, huge baby belly, and swollen feet. She looks like the kind of woman Justin should date, not me. But she seems so excited to meet me that I smile back when she rushes forward to give me a hug.
“Oh my gosh! Look at you!” She slaps Justin’s shoulder. “Why have you been keeping Aubrey a secret from all of us?”
Justin pulls me into his side and wraps an arm around my waist. “Look at her. Can you really blame me for wanting to keep her all to myself for as long as I can?”
“Not at all.” She grins and pokes him in the abs. “Just don’t expect me to be as tightlipped about her as you’ve been. Kenton’s been wondering what’s been distracting you lately, and I can’t wait to brag about how I found out what it was before he did.”
I don’t quite understand what all Justin does for work, but I recognize his boss’s name. “Do you work for Kenton too?”
“Nope, I’m a nurse.” She lifts her left hand and flashes a sapphire-and-diamond ring with a matching band. “I’m married to Kenton.”
“Oh!” I feel a big wave of relief as I grasp her connection to Justin. She’s his boss’s wife, and very happily taken, judging by the gleam in her eyes when she talks about her husband. “Justin talks about him a lot,” I say.
“Should I be offended that you haven’t talked about me a lot?”
“Sweetcheeks, don’t fucking start.”
“Sweetcheeks?” I echo softly, stiffening a little.
“It’s a stupid nickname Justin came up with to mess with Kenton,” Autumn explains with a roll of her eyes.
“He makes it too easy.” Justin shakes his head then tips his head down to look at me. “The idiot knows she’s like my sister.”
“Again, I’m thinking I should be offended that you haven’t talked about me,” Autumn inserts, and I relax completely, listening to their banter and better understanding their relationship.
“Well, I better head out. I have a few more errands I need to run before I go home, and we both know Kenton will only be able to hold off calling me for so long, wondering when I’ll be back.” She gives us both a hug before walking to the door and turning to look at me over her shoulder. “I’d love to hang out together some time.”
I pat my belly. “I’d love that, but it’s hard for me to make plans right now, because my daughter is due any day now.”
“You’re having a girl?” She grins. “Is there anything you need? Or can I go crazy buying tiny, pink clothes for a baby gift?”
My cheeks fill with heat. “Oh! That wasn’t a hint for gifts or anything like that.”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.” Justin tucks me in closer to his side. “Autumn’s just looking for an excuse to go shopping.”
She nods. “I really am.”
“Well then, I guess whatever you want to buy will be wonderful. Thank you.”
“My pleasure!” She pulls the door open. “Since Justin’s like a brother to me and I can see from how he looks at you that he thinks of you as his, that makes you and the baby mine too.”
“Umm, okay,” I whisper as the door shuts behind her, not sure what she means.
“She’s a bit of a whirlwind, but she means well.” Justin tugs me over to the couch, gets me settled on the cushions, and hands me a shopping bag from a department store at the mall. “And she’s got great taste in shit like this.”
My head is spinning as I pull three blankets out of the bag. The first one is made from a fuzzy cream material, the second is a beige faux fur, and the third is super soft and pink. “They’re amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He sits down next to me and kisses the top of my head as I spread the beige blanket over my lap. “We’ve got to do what we can to keep you relaxed. Stress isn’t good for you or the baby.”
I cuddle against his muscular chest. “Sorry I was such a mess earlier. These pregnancy hormones are no joke, and I was hoping for better news from the doctor today.”
“You don’t owe me any apologies, sweetheart. I’m here for whatever you need.”
I tilt my head back and search his blue eyes. The only thing I see in them is complete sincerity. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Of course,” he replies softly, and my throat burns.
I know my parents and brothers love me, but I ran away from Vegas because they couldn’t see past their anger and be there for me in the way I needed.
It’s been a long time since I felt like I had someone who was really on my side. It’s really, really nice. So nice that my silly hormones go crazy and I feel my eyes fill with tears. I try to fight them back, bu
t one slips through my lashes then another and another.
“I wasn’t trying to make you cry.” He swipes his thumbs over my cheeks. “Being here for you is supposed to be a good thing.”
I nod and sniffle while I wipe away what’s left of my tears.
His blue eyes fill with worry. “Am I fucking up? You need me to back off?”
“No!” That’s the last thing I want. After what happened to me the night I got pregnant, I didn’t think I’d ever want to get close to a guy, but Justin isn’t just anyone. He’s kind, funny, and crazy hot. And so patient with me. He’s somehow managed to work his way past the wall I’d put up to protect myself before I even realized what he was doing. Now he’s inside there with me, close to my heart. Honestly, I didn’t stand a chance when it came to falling for him. I grip his wide shoulders, pull him closer, and brush my mouth against his, whispering, “Please don’t back off.”
“Never,” he groans. “That’s the only thing you could ask me for that’d be almost impossible to give.”
I smile up at him and tilt my head to the side. “What if I want a pony?”
“That’d be doable.” His eyes light up and he grins. “The landlord allows pets, but I’m not sure what the rules are when it comes to having a horse. If we couldn’t keep one here, we can buy some land.”
“I like that idea, but every penny I have is going to the baby right now,” I admit as my stomach fills with unease. I hate the idea of him thinking I’m using him for anything. I know he’s stable. Even in his twenties, he’s living a life most guys would envy. He has a job he loves, where he works from home a lot of the time, and it must pay well, since he has an eighty-two-inch television in his living room and another in his bedroom. He seems to have every game system known to mankind, and uses a computer system unlike anything I’ve ever seen before with six monitors and a desktop that must be custom-built. Then there’s me, living with a roommate, pregnant by another man, and working at a strip club because it’s the only job I could get when I moved here.
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