An Act of Persuasion(90)

In fact, he loved doing that for her. He just hated the erection he got thanks to the sounds she made—relief was a long way off. Another four weeks or so of pregnancy then another six weeks of healing time—he had already asked the doctor—then the decision to resume sexual activity would be left up to her.

Of course they would have the baby to consider then. They would be up doing feedings. Ben certainly didn’t plan for her to take on all the work. The breast pump he’d purchased would allow her to store her milk so they could divide the night feedings.

Still, he’d heard about the perils of sex after the baby from some of the fathers in the Lamaze class they attended. Fathers who were on their second and third child. Some stories he’d heard referenced months...and months before being invited anywhere near their wives. Those men had appeared very stressed-out to Ben.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

Easing off her side, she rolled toward him. He made room for what they had recently nicknamed The Great Beast—her stomach and their child.

She smiled serenely. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You want me to do your feet?”

“Nah, I’m good. I’m tired. Even sleep is getting hard for me. I can’t seem to get comfortable in any position and then as soon as I do The Great Beast goes ballistic on me.”

“You know we’re going to have to stop calling it that. What if it can hear us and develops a complex? Because it can hear. It says so in all the books. It hears us calling it it, too. Yeah, we’re probably well on our way to screwing the kid up.”

“It will be fine. After all, there was Cousin It in the Addams family and he always seemed very chipper.”

“Excellent. Gertrude if it’s a girl and Cousin It if it’s a boy. Settled.”

“Hardeehar. Hey, here’s shocking news. I need to pee.”

Ben chuckled and watched as Anna rolled off the bed and onto her feet. She reminded him of the girl in the Willy Wonka movie that the Umpa Lumpas had to roll away. He heard her puttering about in the bathroom and he thought this was it. Domestic bliss.

They had really settled into coupledom. He rubbed her back. She made jokes about how often she needed to pee. Their baby was only a few weeks away.

“Anna,” he called out to her.

“Yeah?”

“Why won’t you let me move in with you?”

There was no response and he knew it had been stupid to ask her while she was in the bathroom and he couldn’t see her face. At this very moment she was thinking and retrenching. He should tell her what an amazing operative she would have been—Anna was never without a plan.

She returned and he thought how sweet she looked in the white nightgown that covered her from her neck to her toes. Sweet, but conniving.

And her face looked a little pale. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she said too quickly. “I noticed there was a little spotting...you know...down there. Is there supposed to be spotting? Now?”

“Should we call the doctor?” Ben instantly reached for his cell phone on the nightstand.

“No, it wasn’t like, ah, there’s a lot of blood. It was just a little. I’m sure it’s related to my cervix stretching or whatever. My appointment is tomorrow. I’ll check with her then.”

“I can’t be with you tomorrow. I have that meeting in D.C. We talked about that.”

“I know. It’s fine. Geez, Ben, you’ve been to almost every single doctor’s appointment. You see what they are. I hand over my sample, I get poked and prodded then we’re done. When they start doing the internal stuff I’m not even letting you in the room.”

“Anna, I know what’s down there. I spent the past three months becoming quite familiar with it.”

She had become quite familiar with what he did, too. Was, in fact, eager to have him there. He believed he made her happy in bed. Happy in bed. Happy in life. So what was her problem? It didn’t escape him she still hadn’t answered his question about him moving in.

“It’s not the same,” she said. “Keep your appointment tomorrow. I’ll call if the doctor says there is anything to worry about.”

Ben had already canceled the appointment mentally. It was a communications company looking to use Greg as their human lie detector for an upcoming hostile takeover. Given the antagonism between the two companies Ben had wanted to be in attendance. But, in truth, Greg could handle any squabble that might occur.