Love Me Like You Do: Winter Lake

by Rhian Cahill

  And while he wasn’t happy about being away from her, maybe it would give him time to get his libido under control.

  “You already agreed to me going; you can’t put strings on it now,” she said as she shoved her feet into her new boots.

  “I said I’d check your pressure so it’s an existing string, I’m just reminding you of the conditions of you going.” He reached for their coats, smiling at the sight of them together on the coatrack.

  “How about we let Dr. Groves decide?”

  He could see this going against him but nodded. “If he says it’s okay, then I won’t say another word against it.”

  Jackets on, he opened the door and quickly got the house locked up and Cov into the warmth of his truck. Cranking the heat, he reversed out of the driveway and headed for the center of town. The clinic was close enough to walk, but in this weather and with Cov being pregnant that wasn’t happening.

  Pulling up into the spot closest to the clinic door, Tris was out of the truck and round to Cov’s side before she’d managed to undo her seatbelt. He’d admit some of the rush was the excitement he’d been trying to keep at bay since Jared had said he want to do a scan today.

  He wouldn’t be the first dad to anticipate seeing his unborn child. Cov had the changes in her body as proof but other than the ones visible to the outside world, he only had her word that their babies were inside her.

  Not that he doubted her at all; it wasn’t that. And it wasn’t that he needed to see to believe; it was more that he wanted to see them. Wanted to put his own eyes on them and make that connection.

  The emotional connection was already there. It surprised him a little how quickly that had formed. Especially when he’d been completely blindsided by Cov’s pregnancy. Shit. He’d even thought someone else was responsible for knocking her up.

  “You okay?” Cov stared at him from the passenger seat.

  He smiled. “Yeah. I’m just a little nervous. This is the big moment.”

  “The big moment.” She cocked a brow. “I’m pretty sure the big moment was four months ago.”

  “Ha ha.” He helped her out of the truck and closed the door. “It’s the moment we meet them for the first time.”

  Opening the clinic door, he let Cov go in first. Georgia greeted them and took them straight back to the exam room they’d used the day before.

  “I’ll just let Jared know you’re here and then we can get started. You can either pop a gown on or just lower your pants enough for us to get at your tummy. My advice it to go with the gown. That way you won’t end up with gel on your clothes,” Georgia said before slipping from the room.

  In a few moments he’d get to see his children. His future. He already felt connected to them. It was different from the way he felt about Cov. He wanted her by his side, wanted to be a family with her and the babies they’d made, but the babies…

  They brought out an emotion he’d never experienced before. It was an extension of himself somehow, entwined with the deepest part of him and he hadn’t even laid eyes on them yet.

  “Are you ready?”

  Tris turned to find Cov already stretched out on the table, gown on. “How? What?”

  Laughing, she reached out a hand. “You were lost in thought. Care to share?”

  “Huh.” He shook his head. “No. It wasn’t important.” He couldn’t tell her what he was thinking when he couldn’t really work it out. Maybe once they saw the babies he’d be able to explain it.

  “Let’s do this,” Jared said as he came through the door. “Before we start, are we wanting to know the sex if possible or are we keeping that as a surprise?”

  “Can you tell this early?” Cov asked.

  “Sometimes. I just want to be sure I don’t spoil the surprise if that’s what we’re going for.”

  Tris looked at Cov and shrugged. “I don’t think I care either way so whatever you want to do.”

  “I don’t want to know.” The words rushed out of her mouth. “I mean I do but not yet. Can we find out later?” she asked Jared.

  “Sure. For now I won’t mention anything I might see.” He smiled. “Now let’s take a look. The gel will be cold at first but will warm up quickly. Tristan, if you head around the other side of the bed, you’ll have a better view of the screen when I’m ready to show you.”

  Doing as told, he made his way to Cov’s other side and grabbed her hand. He watched the scanner move over Cov’s belly, listened to the clicks of the keyboard as Jared measured and photographed. As the seconds ticked by, sweat broke out on his brow, slicked his back.

  Finally he’d had enough of the torture. “Is there a problem?” he asked, the panicked edge clear in his voice.

  “Not a thing, just takes a little longer when there are two bodies to measure and check. Ready to see?” Jared asked, his gaze still glued to the screen they couldn’t see, his fingers clicking away at buttons.

  “Yes,” they chorused.

  Chapter 13

  “And that right there is arm number four.”

  She blinked. Stared at the black and white image on the screen and wondered how Dr. Groves could tell what anything was.

  He was pointing out another arm and she still hadn’t worked out the last one. Or the one before that. Or that. It was all some weird deep space looking image to her.

  Tristan on the other hand seemed to know before the doctor could point things out.

  “Even when you tell me what I’m looking at, I can’t see it,” she murmured.

  “It takes some getting used to. The pictures should help,” Jared offered.

  Tris waved a fistful of snapshots with a wide grin.

  She was helpless to do anything but return his smile. He’d been so quiet when Dr. Groves had first turned the screen toward them. Covington was pretty sure he hadn’t drawn a breath for a full minute.

  The tears that filled his eyes had her own stinging, her throat tightening, and she was just a little proud of herself for not bursting into tears.

  It helped that the images on the screen—pictures of what was happening inside her—had her struck dumb.

  They were moving. Arms. Legs. Fingers. Toes. Heads. Everything seemed to be in perpetual motion and she couldn’t feel any of it. Not even a flutter. She’d been struggling to grasp the concept of two little humans growing inside her and now…

  Now she wasn’t sure she’d ever fully comprehend the miracle that was occurring inside her body. And if she believed Dr. Groves, and let’s be real, the man was a doctor—he knew what he was talking about, she was making those two miracles happen without doing anything.

  Vomiting, crying, and falling over not included of course.

  Every goal she’d ever had and reached paled into insignificance beside what she and Tristan had managed to create.

  “Hey.” Tristan leaned over, his eyes on hers, and hand cupping her jaw. “You okay?”

  The tears she thought she’d escaped burst out. It was as if someone pulled a plug and let them free. Within a second she was a stammering, blubbering, dripping, snotty mess, pressed against Tristan’s chest, soaking his sweater.

  “Shh… it’s okay. Everything’s fine. Jared said the babies are healthy and growing at the rate they should be.”

  “I know,” she sobbed.

  His hand cupped the back of her head, pressed her face right over his heart, and she knew he didn’t understand what had her crying buckets. Again.

  He just held her tight, cradling her against him with one hand, running soothing strokes down her back with the other.

  She had no idea how long it took for the tears to dry up but when she finally managed to get herself together enough to lift her head, they were alone. The equipment turned off, the lights on low.

  “Where did—”

  “He was already finished taking measurements and checking the babies so he took the reports to his office.”

  “Oh.”

  “You okay now? Want to talk about what that was?” Tris
asked with a skeptical lift of his eyebrows. “Or not.”

  “Hormones?”

  Chuckling, he tucked her face against his chest once more. “I see a pattern here.”

  “It’s all so overwhelming.”

  “Well, I’ll be honest, I’ll take a crying jag over a panic attack any day of the week.”

  “Don’t joke about it. It’s not funny. I’m a mess and I can’t seem to control it or even understand why it happens.”

  “I think we just witnessed why it’s happening, Cov.” He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “You’re incubating two perfect little people inside you, and if you weren’t feeling overwhelmed I’d be worried.”

  “I’m worried it’s a permanent state.”

  “What is?”

  “Being overwhelmed.” She tried not to rub her face on Tris’s sweater but she needed something to clean up soon or she wouldn’t be able to help herself. “We’re having two babies. One baby is scary enough. Two…” She shivered.

  “It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. We’ve got each other, and the second I tell my mother, you can bet we’ll find her on our doorstep.”

  Oh God. She hadn’t even thought about telling their parents. Her father wouldn’t care. Her mother she wasn’t so sure about, but Tristan’s mother was the sweetest most genuine person Covington had ever met, and she hated the thought of disappointing the woman.

  “She’ll hate me,” she muttered. What woman wouldn’t hate the one who trapped her son with an unplanned pregnancy?

  Tris laughed. “She most definitely will not. She likes you better than me.”

  “How can that be possible? I’ve met her three times.”

  A sigh lifted his chest beneath her ear. “She asks about you every time we talk. She’s been very upset with me these last few months because I’ve had no new Covington news to impart.”

  “Better no updates than the one she’s about to receive.” She pushed out of Tristan’s arms. “Do you see any tissues?”

  He handed her a box he grabbed from somewhere behind her. “Here. And please, don’t worry about what my mom will say or think. You’re the only woman I’ve ever introduced her to where she not only remembers your name but asks about you regularly.”

  Cov mopped up her tears and blew her nose. She hoped Tris was right. Her own parents hadn’t been neglectful exactly but they certainly weren’t affectionate. In fact she couldn’t recall a single time either of them had told her they loved her.

  Mary Harding was the complete opposite.

  The first time she’d met Tristan’s mother, she’d been with Gavin and while Mary had welcomed Cov into her house with a warm hug, she’d barely said hello to Gavin.

  Cov had never questioned Tris or Gavin about it; maybe she should have, or at least taken notice of the way a woman who appeared so generous and welcoming would dislike someone so obviously.

  “You should probably call her and tell her,” she said, yanking another tissue from the box. “It’s not like we need to wait any longer to be safe like everyone suggests.”

  “We’ll call her next week. After you’re all settled and I’m on more than a forty-eight hour break.” He tipped her chin up and examined her face. “Do you want to head home to clean up before I drop you at Lindsey’s?”

  “I’m still going?”

  “You don’t want to?”

  “Yes. Yes, I want to, I just thought…never mind.” She waved a hand between them. I’ll use the bathroom here and wash my face. No need to head home.” She pushed Tris back and slipped off the table.

  She’d change and freshen up, then go spend some time away from Tristan and the thought of disappointing his mother. Funny how her own mother’s opinion didn’t faze her but Mary’s did.

  Cov had spent years under the disinterested eye of her parents and given up any hope of gaining their approval long before she became an adult.

  Between her parents and Tristan’s mother, it was Mary who she wanted her children to know, who she wanted to know. She could only hope that this unplanned pregnancy didn’t destroy their existing relationship.

  For the second time in as many hours, Covington watched Tris walk away. Oh, he wasn’t walking away walking away, but he was leaving her at Lindsey’s. Again.

  He’d delivered her to the book club gathering an hour ago satisfied she was in good hands and her blood pressure at an acceptable level. Not even a little bit high. Even after her emotional meltdown in the doctor’s office.

  The second reading—only minutes ago—showed it even lower in the normal range so he couldn’t argue the night out was too much excitement for her.

  She’d nearly died when he’d waltzed into Lindsey’s house five minutes ago. He’d scanned the room and as soon as his gaze locked on her, headed in her direction.

  Tris had always been alpha and Covington wasn’t going to deny getting a little thrill out of it but having it directed at her? Holy hell. It was a wonder her blood pressure hadn’t gone through the roof.

  It was certainly spiking now while she watched his jeans-covered butt strut out of the room. She sighed. Suddenly wishing her pressure had been up so he’d insist on taking her home with him.

  Kirby’s laughter drew her gaze.

  “What? What did I miss? What’s funny?” she asked, bringing her attention back to the women in the room.

  “You two are,” Kirby managed between chuckles.

  Terra put her hand on Covington’s arm. “What she’s trying to say is you and Tristan are too cute. Sneaking looks at each other while the other isn’t watching. It’s kinda painful to watch actually.”

  “He looks at me?”

  “Oh yes, he looks at you. Like he’s a starving man and you’re an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Willa added.

  “He doesn’t. Does he?”

  She knew he’d been interested in her earlier—she’d felt the physical evidence pressed against her stomach—and she couldn’t deny they had chemistry. They’d proven that the night they spent together. But did his attraction come from the fact she carried his babies or because he wanted her? And did it go deeper than a physical attraction?

  Covington frowned when Kirby laughed again. “I’m not sure this is funny,” she muttered.

  “No. It’s hilarious. You two are so wound-up in the madness of your unexpected pregnancy, you can’t see you’re in love with each other.”

  “He doesn’t love me. He’s just being the upstanding guy he is and taking responsibility for his future children.” It was the babies that had his attention. Her by default.

  “Didn’t you tell us he asked you to marry him before he knew the babies were his?” Kirby prodded.

  “Yes, but he—”

  “I’m pretty sure that goes well beyond upstanding guy,” Addy pointed out.

  “I…” Covington stumbled over Addy’s words as they ricocheted through her head.

  Did it go beyond Tris’s honorable good-guy character?

  He’d always helped her. When Gavin hadn’t been around, Tristan had. In fact, now that she thought about it, Tris had been around far more than Gavin in the last year of their engagement. She’d even called Tris a few times when she couldn’t get hold of her fiancé.

  And he’d come running, every time.

  Lindsey patted her arm. “You don’t see how he loves you because you’re too busy hiding how you feel about him.”

  “Oh, I don’t…” Her heart did a funny squeezy beat thing. Oh god. Did she?

  Had she been so involved in the drama of her life, she hadn’t taken notice of her own feelings?

  She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t attracted to Tristan, but lust was only chemistry and a relationship couldn’t be based on that alone. Gavin had taught her that. And while she’d had more in common with Tristan than her ex-fiancé, she’d never looked closely at their friendship—at how deep it went.

  Now that someone else pointed it out…

  “I need a drink.”


  “You’ve got one,” Lindsey said, waving her hand at the virgin daiquiri she’d made just for Covington.

  “I need a real drink,” she clarified. “Something strong enough to give me the courage to talk to Tris.”

  Kirby smiled. “You don’t need liquid courage for that.”

  “You’re right.” She swallowed. “I already feel like I’m going to throw up.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Lindsey patted her arm again. “Trust me. No man looks at a woman the way Tristan looked at you just now and rejects her.”

  “From what Josh has told me, Tris has been torturing himself over something since he arrived in Winter Lake. The guys at the station all had money on it being a woman. Seems they were right.” Jess frowned. “They actually did put money on it too.”

  “Yeah, I, um, may or may not have made fifty dollars when you rolled into town,” Dana said with a sheepish grin.

  Covington stared at Tristan’s fellow firefighter. “You bet money on Tris being twisted up over a woman?”

  “Nope.” Dana grinned. “I bet he’d fall like a house of cards at the feet of the first woman to come looking for him.”

  “But…how…what…?”

  Dana laughed. “Don’t get all worked up. It was obvious the guy was head over heels in love—”

  “He’s not. He can’t be. He left!”

  Dana arched one eyebrow.

  “Okay, so maybe he had a reason, but still.” Covington sighed. She had no idea what still was. “I can’t believe how fucked up this whole thing is. I was engaged to his friend the morning these babies were conceived. What does that say about me? About him?”

  “Considering you’re here, I’d say it says you’re in love with him,” Lindsey said.

  “I’m pregnant with twins and he’s the father; in love or not, where else would I be?”

  And that was the million-dollar question.

  If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, would she have come looking for Tristan?

  Chapter 14