Proving Paul's Promise(20)

I laugh. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Lock it so I won’t come to you in the middle of the night. I’m nosy, too.”

“I’ll take my chances,” I whisper as I close my door. I hear his footsteps creak across the floor as he walks away. I fall back against the door and finally allow myself to breathe. God, what have I gotten myself into?





Paul

I know Friday is pregnant before even she does. She’s been here for just over a week, and she’s woken up sick for the past two days. Is it bad that I kind of wish she had a virus? I crack the door to the bathroom and ask her if she needs anything.

She grunts and heaves. “Go away,” she growls.

I don’t open the door because we haven’t established that kind of intimacy yet. So, I just talk through the crack. “Want a wet cloth?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says quietly.

I open the door and find her leaning against the wall with one knee raised, her elbow resting on it. She’s wearing a T-shirt and panties, and I can see the elastic of the leg. I look away and get a washcloth from the cabinet, get it wet, and wring it out. I pass it to her, and she slaps it onto her forehead.

“Thanks,” she says.

“Want me to help you up?” I hold out my hand to her.

She burps into her closed fist. “Not yet,” she says, then she’s suddenly bent over the toilet again, heaving her guts up.

I just woke up so I get out my toothbrush and brush my teeth. I don’t want to leave her like this, but I can’t stand here and do nothing, either.

“When do you go to the doctor?” I ask.

“Tomorrow.”

“They’re going to be two happy motherf*ckers,” I say. That part makes me grin. Garrett and Cody are going to be over the moon.

I reach down, and this time she takes my hand and lets me pull her up. She reaches for her toothbrush and sticks it in her mouth, but even brushing her teeth makes her gag. I rub her back gently, and she glares at me in the mirror.

“Go away,” she says around her toothbrush.

“Nope.” I cross my arms and lean my rear end against the counter. “I kind of like watching you get ready for the day.”

She pulls the shower curtain back and turns on the water. “You sure you don’t want to leave?” she asks, her eyes glinting in challenge.

“Not if you need me.”

She shrugs and then pulls her T-shirt over her head. She tosses it into the hamper, and suddenly she’s wearing nothing but a pair of pink panties. I can see the expanse of her naked back, and she has a large phoenix tattoo that I would have never guessed she had, along with a few others that are smaller.

“That is so not fair,” I say. She’s facing away from me toward the shower.

“I did warn you,” she taunts over her shoulder.

She hooks her thumbs in the hips of her panties and drags them down her bottom. She has these two adorable little dimples at the small of her back. And her ass, it’s just as round and perfect as I imagined in my wet dreams.

I turn to face the door. “Jesus Christ, Friday,” I grit out.

She makes a noise, but I can’t tell if it’s a laugh or if she’s still feeling sick. “Next time, you should give me some time alone when I’m in the bathroom,” she yells over the noise of the water.

“Can I go to the doctor with you tomorrow?” I call back. I wince. Why the f*ck did I ask her that?

She jerks the curtain back and glares at me. “Why do you want to go?”

I shrug and look everywhere but at her. “I just do.”

“Ten o’clock,” she says, and she jerks the curtain closed.

I want to pump my fist in the air because I feel like I finally won a battle with Friday. All this week has been one fight after another. She fights to pick up after Hayley. She does the dishes and the laundry when she knows I’m planning to do them. She made dinner for me and Hayley twice this past week. Even Sam liked it when he finally dragged his ass home.

I’m not used to having anyone take care of me, and I can’t figure out if I like it. I have been taking care of everybody around me for a long time, but Friday has come in like a steamroller and changed my whole f*cking life.

“Hey,” I say. “I want to take you somewhere special with me.”

“Where?” she asks over the rush of the water.

“My dad used to take me to this old movie theater. It’s closed down now, but it’s my favorite place in the whole world. We would have to break in, but the last time I did it, the projector still worked. We would just have to turn it on.”

She sticks her head out of the curtain. “I’ve never heard you say anything nice about your dad before.”

I shrug. “It’s just a movie theater.”

“No, it’s not,” she calls back. “I guess we could go one day. Is it the one with the old ticket booth out front.”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to go there.”

My heart warms. “Good.”

Her voice jerks me out of my thoughts. “Can you pass me a towel?” she asks.

I open the cabinet and get out the biggest and fluffiest one I can find. It must be hers, because none of what I have is this nice. She reaches around the curtain, her skinny little tatted arm waving impatiently at me. God, she makes me laugh.