“I’m going to take care of her,” Aidan said, hoping that would be the end of this discussion so that he could check on Melanie and find a way to push back his appointments this morning without giving his father another reason to be pissed at him.
Nodding, Rebecca said, “I already figured that out with the kidnapping.”
“Then what would you like to know, evil one?” he asked, sighing heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“You know that this isn’t going to end well, right?” Rebecca asked absently as she pulled her phone out of her backpack, already bored with this conversation.
“What isn’t going to end well?” Aidan couldn’t help but ask as he dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, beyond fucking exhausted.
He’d spent most of the night trying to clean the other apartment only to come to the realization that it was going to need a complete gut job. Once Aidan realized that there wasn’t much that he could do until he ordered a dumpster and got his hands on some tools, he’d spent the rest of the night going through Melanie’s file, checking on her, and trying to figure out how he was going to make this work.
“She’s not going to marry you,” Rebecca said, making him frown.
“I don’t remember asking,” Aidan pointed out with a sigh as he glanced over at her.
“That’s probably for the best,” she said, texting something on her phone. “Because you’re not her type.”
“I see,” he murmured thoughtfully, “and what makes you say that?”
Not that he was interested in Melanie any longer because he wasn’t, and even if he was, that wasn’t an option anymore. Not with a baby on the way. This was going to be difficult enough, but he was curious about a few things.
“Many things,” Rebecca said with a shrug.
“Not planning on clearing that up?”
“No, but you know what I’ve been wondering?” she said, sounding bored as she leaned back against the wall while he stood there, narrowing his eyes on her.
“What’s that?”
“How you’re planning on fixing this?” Rebecca asked, throwing him a curious look.
“I’m already taking care of everything,” Aidan promised her, hoping that it was enough, but of course, it wasn’t.
“Really? Then you figured out why my best friend who used to tell me everything refuses to tell me what’s wrong or why she always looks like she’s about to cry?” Rebecca asked as he tried to figure out how to answer that only to shake his head with a sigh as he admitted, “I have no fucking idea,” because he honestly had no fucking clue what he was going to do about that.
Chapter 8
“Oh, damn!” Melanie whispered, searching frantically for somewhere, anywhere, to hide, but there was nowhere to go unless she was willing to crawl beneath the kitchen table and she wasn’t, not when she wasn’t sure that she would be able to get back up again.
“Melanie?” Aidan called absently as he strolled into the living room while she looked frantically around the messy kitchen for a way out, taking in the piles of dirty clothes, grocery bags, trash, and stuff that she didn’t really want to think about, but there was nowhere to go.
Except for the backdoor, she amended with a groan a few seconds later when she spotted the perfect escape too late.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Aidan asked with a frown, tossing aside two large suitcases that looked like the ones that she threw in the back of her closet a few years ago.
“Why am I out of bed?” Melanie asked, hoping to buy herself some time while she tried to think of a reasonable explanation that would explain why she, a woman who was supposed to be on bed rest and taking it easy, was in the kitchen searching for food when he’d left her with a lifetime supply of baby carrots and celery sticks by the bed this morning.
“Is everything okay?” Aidan asked, immediately coming to her side and-
“Are you checking my pulse?” she asked, not really sure how she should respond because this was definitely a first for her.
“Yes,” he said absently as he released her hand, grabbed a black stethoscope off the back of a chair, dislodging a stained tie, raised her shirt, and placed the cold metal end of the stethoscope against her stomach while she stood there, deciding that yes, yes, this was in fact weird.
“Why aren’t you in bed?” Aidan asked, shifting his attention to another spot on her belly.
“I was hungry,” Melanie reluctantly admitted as her stomach growled, reminding her that she was here for a reason. She didn’t care if it was in the form of cookies, Pop-Tarts, donuts, or day-old bread as long as she got her carbs and she got them soon. The only thing that she cared about was making the vicious cravings driving her out of her damn mind go away.
“Well, that’s why I’m here,” Aidan said, gesturing towards his room with an understanding smile.
“Oh, thank god,” Melanie mumbled as she allowed him to lead her back towards his room, relieved that she was finally going to get some real food.
“Let’s just get you tucked in. Then, I’ll go grab you some oatmeal and maybe a bran muffin and be back before you know it,” Aidan said, giving her that well-practiced smile that almost made her miss something important.
“Oatmeal?” Melanie asked, praying that she’d misheard him because she honestly didn’t think that she was going to survive another hour without real food.
“Mmhmm,” Aidan murmured absently as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started going through his emails.
“I see,” she murmured as realization hit.
He was determined to treat her like a patient and that just wasn’t going to work for her.
*-*-*-*
“Aidan?”
“Hmm?” he murmured as he scrolled through his emails, forwarded some to his secretary, deleted some, flagged others all while debating running out to get some fresh prunes to add to Melanie’s breakfast and grabbing some pancakes and eggs for himself.
Christ, he could go for some pancakes.
And home fries.
Maybe some bacon.
“Aidan?”
“Yeah?” he asked, double-checking his schedule to make sure that there weren’t any last-minute patients added to his day.
“I don’t want oatmeal.”
“It’s good for the baby,” Aidan said absently, forwarding an email to his father, who wasn’t talking to him at the moment and-
“I’m going to say this once and only once,” Melanie said as she wrapped her small hand around his tie and gave it a tug so that they were almost eye to eye. “Do not come between me and my food or I will hurt you.”
“I-”
“I will hurt you, Aidan. If you shove one more baby carrot or freaking plain, fat-free yogurt at me, I will tear you apart with my bare hands,” she bit out with a glare that told him that she’d start with his balls.
“I-”
“I’m not one of your patients,” she informed him.
“I-”
“So, stop treating me like one,” Melanie said before abruptly releasing his tie, turning around and waddling towards the bed only to pause to give the tray of fresh veggies that he’d left for her a look that made his balls pull up tightly in fear before climbing back into bed, curling up on her side and glaring at him with a look that dared him to offer her another baby carrot.
He opened his mouth to point out that she needed a wide variety of fruits and vegetables during her pregnancy, but the look she was giving him had him quickly shutting his mouth and clearing his throat. “What can I get for you?”
In seconds, the glare was gone and in its place was that beautiful, sweet smile that had knocked him on his ass the first time around.
Oh, fuck no…
“I could really use a Bradford Special from the Fire & Brimstone,” Melanie said while he nodded in agreement because he could definitely use one of those as well.
*-*-*-*