Watch Over Me

by Sydney Landon

  Their conversation was interrupted by their server and they all placed their lunch orders. Beth, who had been one of the quieter ones so far, looked over at Gwen and asked, “So, Dominic, huh? Is he as good as he looks like he would be?”

  Claire, who had just taken a drink of her tea, ended up spitting it out as she started coughing. “Beth—God,” she groaned as she mopped up the mess in front of her.

  “My sister was a bit blunt, but we would like to know,” Suzy smirked as if not really expecting Gwen to answer.

  Gwen, however, surprised herself yet again by saying, “He’s unbelievable.” Knowing her face was probably on fire, she added, “I never knew a man could go like that. He never seems to get tired or—lose interest.”

  Just then, a female voice behind them said, “I made it! Ava’s a PMSing ball of female attitude this morning. Even out of the office she’s still torturing me.” The woman slipped into an extra chair at the table and looked around. “Okay, what’d I miss?”

  Claire spoke up, running through the introductions again.

  “Holy sexy ass,” Emma groaned in Gwen’s direction. “You’re dating one of the GI Joes? The things those men do for cargo pants should be illegal.”

  Gwen was grateful when Suzy changed the subject by turning her attention to Beth. “Hey, sis, you remember Mia’s boyfriend, Seth Jackson, don’t you?”

  Instead of looking embarrassed, Beth looked down at her watch and then held her hand out to Ella. Everyone at the table watched as Ella scowled before handing Beth ten dollars. Beth tucked the money in her wallet before looking at her sister. “I bet Ella ten bucks that you wouldn’t make it twenty minutes without mentioning Seth.”

  “Thanks a lot, Suzy,” Ella grumbled. “I didn’t think you’d bring it up after all this time.”

  “All right, what am I missing here?” Emma asked when she finished ordering her drink.

  Mia and Beth started laughing as if the conversation didn’t bother them. Finally, Beth said, “I had gone out with Mia’s boyfriend a few times before I married Nick and before Mia started dating Seth, of course. Our last date was a bit of a—disaster.”

  “Come on, spit it out,” Crystal urged Beth to continue.

  Beth rolled her eyes but said, “Well, most of you know that I was pregnant before Nick and I got married. Heck, it was a great big surprise that I was in serious denial over for a while.” Giving her sister an evil grin, she added, “It all started when Nick and I had sex on Suzy’s kitchen countertops. I think we slid all over the place—probably touched every available surface.”

  Everyone grinned as Suzy’s face turned red before she gave her sister a disgusted look. “You tramp,” Suzy mumbled before motioning for Beth to continue.

  “Anyway, before Nick came along, I had joined a dating service. I met Seth through it, and we went out a few times casually. After I had found out I was pregnant, I made another date with him just to prove to Nick that I wasn’t ready to settle down.” Shaking her head, Beth winced. “I know it sounds bad, but it was a confusing, hormonal time. Nick just happened to be at the restaurant where I met Seth, and he proceeded to tell him that he was living with me and that we were having a baby together. Seth didn’t waste any time getting out of there. I actually have to give him credit for remaining polite even when his face showed that he was appalled.”

  “That’s my man,” Mia said happily. “He can hold it together no matter what the circumstances. And don’t feel too bad, Beth. I managed to embarrass myself in the course of dating him as well. My meddling mother bought him for me at a bachelor auction!”

  “No shit.” Emma gave a thumbs-up, looking impressed. “Heck, I thought I was the only one who had to deal with crap like that from her mother. Mine tried to pimp me out all over our home state of Florida from the time I was eighteen. It was actually earlier than that, but it sounds kind of bad to use the words pimp and sixteen in a sentence, doesn’t it?”

  “What about now that you’re with Brant?” Claire asked.

  Twisting her lips into a wry smile, Emma answered, “Oh no, that man can do no wrong where my family is concerned. He could probably kick their cat and piss on the front door and they’d shove me aside while pulling him in and clapping him on the shoulder. My mother is thrilled that I’ve finally met a man who ‘meets all of my needs.’”

  “Ugh, tell me she doesn’t mean sexually?” Crystal shuddered. “Our mom,” she added, pointing to her sister, Ella, “pretends that we were born from Immaculate Conception and frankly that’s one of her lies that I’m more than happy to believe.”

  Ella wrinkled her nose. “You’d all have been my age with the V-card as Suzy calls it if you’d lived with our mother. When she walked in on Declan and me in bed together while we were dating, I didn’t think I’d ever recover.”

  “I’m surprised Declan was able to get it up again after that,” Crystal added.

  Looking like a woman well satisfied, Ella added, “He NEVER has a problem with that—and I mean never.”

  Gwen was so wrapped up in the conversation around the table that she jumped when their server put the pizzas that they had ordered on the table. She had been nervous about joining a bunch of strangers for lunch, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much fun or felt such a kinship with a group of women. She loved how they spoke so freely as if they knew that no one at the table would betray their confidences. Even with her earlier worries about her relationship with Dominic, she felt lighter now. Not that she necessarily would, but she could see herself talking to any one of these women about her problems without being judged. She had a feeling that there were many unofficial therapy sessions held during the lunch hour. She had just taken a bite of her pizza when Suzy said, “Gwen, we all want your ass.”

  “Pardon?” she choked out around the food in her mouth.

  Claire nodded her head, looking at her enviously. “I seriously envy your body. I don’t know how to say this without sounding—weird—but you have the best backside.”

  “It’s true,” Beth added. “If I gain a pound, I just get a fat ass. I’ve never had that perfect, round Jennifer Lopez butt.”

  “I even got a tattoo on my lower back as a way to bring some attention to mine. I mean, it’s there and all, but it doesn’t stand out. I’m not sure why it matters to me though since no one but me sees it,” Crystal mused.

  “I like my butt okay,” Emma added next. “I mean, it’s nothing to write home about, but Brant seems to enjoy touching it—a lot.”

  “I’ve always been happy with mine, for the most part, until we became friends,” Mia teased. “Now, when we’re together, I can’t stop looking at yours. I’ve even thought of asking you if I could touch it before, just too see how it felt, but I figured that might give you the wrong idea. I’m totally team penis.”

  “I’m team penis, too,” Suzy tossed in, “but I stare at your ass whenever you’re around. I mean, if you were in a room full of women with their boobs hanging out, you’d look wouldn’t you? I keep trying to get Gray to admit that he checks out the size of other men’s peckers when he’s standing next to them at a urinal, but he claims that never happens. He says it’s guy code that all eyes are to face forward.” Winking, Suzy purred, “I’ll tell you one thing, whoever is standing next to my man is going to leave that bathroom with a major case of envy.”

  “God, yes, mine, too,” Gwen moaned, before slapping a hand over her mouth.

  Crystal tossed her napkin and crossed her arms as she glared at Gwen. “So, it’s big, and he knows what to do with it. You totally suck, and I’m also reconsidering this whole friendship thing with everyone at this table.”

  Suzy took a drink of her iced tea before zeroing in on Crystal. “Don’t you worry, girl—we’ll get you a big one of your own. Last time I checked, there was another GI Joe available.”

  “Gage is really cute, too,” Ella jumped in. “Declan says he’s a bit of a . . .”

  “Man whore?” Emma chimed
in. When everyone gaped at her, she shrugged, saying, “What can I say? Brant and I talk about everything.”

  When lunch was over, Gwen found herself doing something that she rarely did. She walked out of the restaurant first and grinned peacefully knowing that the ladies behind her were looking at her butt with envy. Yeah, what a difference a good group of friends could make.

  * * *

  “So, how long until you find out if Gwen has a bun in the oven?” Gage asked, as tactful as ever.

  Dominic settled further into the passenger seat and rubbed his fatigued eyes. It had been a long day of overseeing the security setup at a new customer site. It was already almost midnight, and they had just left Charleston. He really just wanted to close his eyes and catch a nap, but he knew that along with being nosy, Gage was also trying to make conversation to stay awake. “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “She hasn’t mentioned it lately.”

  “How long does it take to find out?” Gage asked, sounding as if he had no clue. To be truthful, Dom didn’t know either. Like most men, other than maybe a doctor, he didn’t know that much about how a woman’s body worked.

  “Hell, if I know,” he admitted.

  Dominic could hear the other man’s brain working as he drove down the unusually quiet interstate road. “Well, if they have a period once a month, then it’s probably less than that. How long since the first time you two slept together?”

  Thinking back, Dominic replied, “Two or three weeks. She did say something about just having had her period so maybe another week, I guess, before she would know.”

  Gage grunted in answer before snapping his fingers. “Hey, what about that pregnancy detector thing that they advertise on television? It says you can find out five days early.”

  Shaking his head in amazement, Dominic said, “First off, put both of your hands on the wheel and watch where you’re going, and second, why are you able to quote a pregnancy test commercial line for line? I turn the channel when shit like that comes on. No wonder you’re always telling Mac and me to go buy tampons. I thought it was an insult, but you’re probably an expert or something, aren’t you?”

  “Fuck you, Dom,” Gage muttered sounding embarrassed. “For your information, I lost the remote to my television one night and was stuck watching commercials and all. You have no idea how many chick products they advertise during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. All I have to say is that women have a lot of problems to deal with. It’s pads or tampons. Razors or some hair removal shit. Hormone pills for menopause, whatever the hell that is, and those damn split ends. And don’t even get me started on the wrinkle cream. If they don’t use that stuff night and day, apparently their skin will dry up like the Mojave Desert.”

  Dominic couldn’t help but laugh. Gage sounded overwhelmed at what he had learned from one night of commercial watching. “You know, man, you’re going to make someone a mighty fine wife someday,” he teased.

  As was usually the case, Gage chuckled good-naturedly before saying, “Laugh it up, big papa. I’m not the one wondering if I’ve got a baby on the way. You should have probably already been checking into this stuff. Don’t you want to know as soon as possible? I mean what if Gwen thinks you just don’t give a shit since you haven’t asked her.”

  Shrugging his suddenly stiff shoulders, Dominic admitted, “Yeah, I guess I’d like to know. It’s a big thing, but I’m not sitting around having a nervous breakdown over it every day, and I don’t think Gwen is, either.”

  Gage sounded bemused when he asked, “You’re not? I don’t think I would have been able to focus on anything else, including more sex, until I knew for sure. I mean, how do you perform, wondering if the baby magic’s already at work?”

  “Baby magic?” Dominic choked out.

  “Hell, yes.” Gage removed one hand from the wheel long enough to throw some imaginary dust.

  “You know,” Dominic began, “if you say stuff like this around women, it’s probably why none of them stays around for long.”

  “Trust me, there’s no talk of babies when I’m with a woman,” Gage smirked. “They mainly stick to one-syllable words like ‘yes!’”

  Despite his fatigue, Dominic found himself laughing along with Gage’s crude comments. You had to admire a man who was that confident in his abilities between the sheets. After a few minutes, the conversation died down once again, and he pondered the other man’s questions. He had been honest when he said that he hadn’t asked Gwen when she would know if she was pregnant or not. Maybe a part of him was afraid of rocking the boat. Things had been going so well between them that he was afraid to do anything to change that.

  Unlike Gage, he wouldn’t freak out if she was pregnant. Sure, it would be a shock, even the possibility had taken some adjustment to get used to, but he’d never been one to run from a challenge. Now that he had been forced to think about it, he found that he did want to know one way or another. He wanted to have a normal relationship with Gwen without either of them stressing over what-ifs. He figured he was probably driving her crazy, trying to monitor what she ate and drank, and her activities . . . just in case.

  Worse yet, could she possibly think that he was indifferent as Gage had suggested? That wasn’t the case at all. He just didn’t have any experience with trying to keep up with a woman’s cycle. Hell, men weren’t supposed to know stuff like that, were they? It was already completely weird that he and Gage had been discussing Gwen’s period. He wanted to be supportive of his woman, but that made his balls shrivel just a little.

  He’d never admit this to Gage, but maybe he needed to take one piece of his advice and ask Gwen about when she would be taking a test. If there was a remote possibility that she felt like he didn’t care or wasn’t interested, then he needed to show her that was not the case. Fuck, what was the world coming to when he was taking advice about women from a man who only exerted as much effort as was necessary to get into the next woman’s panties? Mac was going to laugh his ass off about this one.

  Chapter Ten

  Gwen tried to hide her delight at seeing Dominic waiting for her in the parking garage of Danvers the next morning.

  He walked toward her in all of his masculine hotness and opened her door before extending a hand and helping her out. “Morning, babe,” he said in a voice that was still slightly sleep-roughened, and oh, so very sexy.

  She went into his arms willingly as he pulled her close. The smell of his cologne had her snuggling into the curve of his neck and hoping he didn’t catch her inhaling deeply. “Good morning,” she finally managed to reply before he pulled back enough to kiss her. The contact was light since they were in a public place, but Gwen felt it all the way to the tips of her toes. “How was your trip?” She knew her voice came out in a high-pitched squeak, but as always, her body betrayed her any time that he was near.

  Rubbing her back, Dominic said, “It was good. We got in around two this morning. Needless to say, I’m going to be running on fumes today.”

  “Poor baby,” Gwen teased him gently as she took in the smudges under his eyes. “Didn’t you have anyone to cover for you so that you could sleep in for a few hours this morning?”

  “I’m fine, babe, just need a big cup of coffee. Plus, if I’d slept late, I would have missed seeing my girl this morning and that just wasn’t acceptable to me.”

  They had just started walking through the parking lot when a hesitant voice behind them said, “Good morning.” As they stopped and turned, Gwen felt herself instinctively stiffen as she recognized Ava. The other woman smiled warmly, but her fidgeting hands at her side gave her nervousness away.

  “Hey there, Blondie,” Dominic greeted her easily. Gwen knew by the quick look that he shot at her that he was afraid she was uncomfortable.

  Determined to show him that she was okay, Gwen gave Ava a warm, answering smile before saying, “Good morning, Ava.” Then taking everyone by surprise, including herself, she added, “Thank God for our lunch last week or this would be a
n insanely awkward moment, right?”

  Ava’s eyes had widened before laughter exploded from her. “I know, right! Like it wasn’t bad enough there for the first minute with Dominic looking like he didn’t know whether to stay or run.”

  Dominic looked down at Gwen in disbelief. “You had lunch with Ava last week?”

  Nodding, Gwen said, “I did.”

  “We only pulled each other’s hair once before things turned civilized,” Ava joked as Dominic continued to look stunned at their banter.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, and then without waiting for Gwen to answer, he turned back to Ava. “Does Mac know?”

  Ava looked a bit sheepish as she shook her head. “No, I haven’t mentioned it to him. I know how strange men are about stuff like that. I mean, look at you, we didn’t even date and you have that whole jerky feet thing happening.”

  Gwen looked down to see that he did indeed seem to be shifting nervously. “Don’t worry,” she patted his arm reassuringly. “Ava didn’t say anything bad about you. Actually, she was pretty complimentary.”

  They had all begun walking toward the doors. As they stepped inside the building, Gwen had her second awkward moment of the morning and it was far worse than the first. Mac stood in the lobby speaking to a man wearing an East Coast Security uniform. Ava smiled brightly as her new husband’s eyes landed on her. Mac grinned lazily at her before seeming to realize that Gwen and Dominic were standing just inches away. Gwen saw shock and discomfort flit quickly across his face before he turned to say a few parting words to the security guard. Gwen thought he probably needed a few seconds to regroup. She was going to excuse herself on the pretext of needing to get to her office early, when he returned as if nothing was out of the ordinary.