Fall for Me (Danvers #3)(29)
“What? Oh, my God, no!” Beth felt all the blood draining from her face. “Did she answer?”
Nick looked over his phone muttering, “Yeah, looks like the call lasted for a couple of minutes.” Giving her a hopeful expression he said, “She probably couldn’t hear anything with the phone being under my butt.”
Beth cringed as she imagined his mother hearing her yelling, “Oh, Nick, harder, oh yeahhh.” She dropped to the couch in mortification. “I can never face your mother now, you know that, right? You will have to take the kids over there by yourself. I’m sure she would rather not have to face the slut that was doing her son while he called her.”
Nick laughed, not looking the least bit concerned. “Don’t get all worked up over it. I’m sure she had no idea what was going on. Hell, I can’t hear half the time on the damn thing when it’s directly against my ear.” At that moment, his phone rang and he winced. “It’s my mother. Just stay quiet and I’ll tell her I’m somewhere else.”
Beth slumped in a nearby chair, her face flushed with embarrassment. With a smile of reassurance, Nick answered the call. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?” He was silent for a moment, apparently listening to her talk. “Oh, sorry about that. I just left the gym. I had my phone in my back pocket and I probably butt dialed you by accident.” With an evil grin, he added, “They had the music on pretty loud, that’s probably what you heard. A p**n flick—I wish. What kind of gym are you going to?” he teased. He changed the subject on that note and Beth breathed a sigh of relief when he ended the call.
“Oh, God, why did you say p**n flick?”
Nick chuckled. “She said my gym sounded like the soundtrack of a p**n flick.” Wiggling his eyebrows he laughed. “That’s pretty accurate, huh?” She tossed a pillow at him that landed against the side of his head. Still grinning he said, “Speaking of p**n , thanks for the mighty fine welcome home, princess.”
She was surprised that she could still blush around him, but she felt her cheeks heat even more. “Blame it on the babies. My hormones are going crazy and you are the lucky beneficiary.”
Suddenly looking alarmed he asked, “Should we be doing that? I’m not going to hit them, am I?”
Beth threw back her head and laughed. “Kind of flattering yourself there, aren’t you?”
“Ha-ha, you know what I mean. This is safe, right?”
“The doctor said it was fine, remember? Of course, if you want to wait for nine months, I’ll understand,” she teased.
“If my welcome home was any indication, I don’t think you could make it, princess.” Rising from the floor, he held a hand out to her, giving her that signature grin she couldn’t resist. “Let’s go shower off and have dinner. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you wash my front.”
She could have played hard to get, but why bother? They both knew that she would love to do his front, and she knew he would return the favor. It was a win-win for everyone.
* * *
Around four in the morning, she woke up feeling sick once again. Couldn’t she have the normal morning sickness that happened after she actually got up? She lay in bed trying to fight off the waves of nausea consuming her. Finally, when she could delay no longer, she jumped from the bed and bolted to her second home: the toilet. She felt Nick’s hand on her back soon after and sagged against him weakly. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes; he just pulled back her hair and rubbed her back in between bouts.
When she had nothing left inside her, he picked her up as he usually did and sat her on the bathroom counter. She was surprised when he opened a new toothbrush for her. Seeing her questioning look, he said, “I bought you a dozen of these. I know you don’t want to use the same toothbrush after being sick.”
Beth was surprised at how his small act of kindness moved her. His thinking of something so small touched her more than she could say. She gave him a smile of gratitude and quickly brushed her teeth. He wiped her face with a wet cloth and then carried her back to bed. They had developed a routine in the last week. He supported her while she was sick, cleaned her up, and tucked her back into bed. He then curved his body around hers, gently stroking her until she drifted to sleep. He made the sickness bearable and, during those times, she felt cherished.
When she awoke a few hours later, Nick was already up and drinking a cup of coffee. She quickly showered and walked to her closet to pull out a pair of slacks. When she attempted to button them, something happened that almost stopped her heart: they wouldn’t zip. She felt the blood drain from her face as she noticed how tight the pants were. For someone terrified of gaining extra weight back, this was a nightmare come true. Nick walked in the bedroom as she was staring at herself in the mirror. He noticed her look of panic and came to a sudden halt. Alarmed, he took her arm and asked, “Princess, what’s wrong? Are you sick again?”
As tears started to roll down her cheeks, she shook her head no. Still looking worried, he asked, “Why are you crying then? Um, is this a hormone thing?” With another shake of her head, she pointed to the opening of her pants.
“I don’t have a clue what you are trying to tell me. Do you need me to zip your pants?”
“They won’t zip,” she wailed. “I can’t even pull them all the way together.”