“Drew Bradford?” Aidan murmured, testing the name and…
Melanie realized that she was going to have a different last name than her son. It was something that she’d never really thought about until now. She’d always thought she would meet the right man who would sweep her off her feet, they’d fall in love, get married, have a family, and grow old together, but that hadn’t happened. It might never happen, she realized, unable to help but smile as she felt her baby boy push against her stomach.
&
nbsp; “You like Drew, baby boy?” she asked, placing her hands on her belly, chuckling when he pushed against her hands.
“Does he like it?” Aidan asked, shifting so that he could reach back and place his hand over hers without looking, respecting their unspoken agreement that allowed her to take a bath without dying of mortification.
“I think he does,” Melanie said, smiling.
“Then Drew Bradford, it is.”
*-*-*-*
“Why are we watching this?” Aidan couldn’t help but wonder as the small woman bundled up in a shitload of blankets next to him absently took a bite of the blueberry cake donut that he’d been eying for the past hour.
“Research,” Melanie said absently with a nod that had him looking from her to the crime show that they were binge-watching and back again.
“Research?” he repeated only to sigh with relief when he saw what time it was.
“Time for another walk,” Aidan said, hitting pause before tossing the remote aside.
“But I didn’t find out why the acid didn’t work on the body yet,” she said with a disappointed sigh as she reluctantly saved what she was working on before closing her laptop so that he could set aside the laptop table that he’d picked up for her yesterday when it became apparent that her old one wasn’t pregnancy-friendly.
“You’ll just have to wait until after your walk,” Aidan said even though there was no way in hell that he was going to be able to sit through four more hours of this.
“Fine,” Melanie mumbled with an adorable pout as she pushed the blankets off, carefully got to her feet and waddled towards the bedroom to put her shoes on as he found his gaze lowering to her generous ass and-
He forced his attention back to the article that he was reading, reminding himself that sex wasn’t an option, something that Aidan had to remind himself at least a hundred times a day. He didn’t think that it was a good idea to cross that line, not if he wanted this to work. It didn’t matter how good she felt in his arms at night or how much he’d thought about her since that night, she was off-limits. Unfortunately, even knowing that nothing was going to happen didn’t stop him from thinking about that night
The only thing that he remembered about that night was just how fucking good it felt when the condom broke. He’d never felt anything like it. The feel of her tight sheath wrapping around him as she’d moved on him, the feel of her walls had been like warm honey, caressing the tip of his cock with a wet kiss as she’d moved on him and-
Deciding that it was a bad idea to sit here thinking about it, Aidan stood up and headed towards the bedroom to see if Melanie needed any help. He walked into her bedroom and found himself sighing, just fucking sighing when he spotted the woman that was supposed to be getting ready so that they could go for a walk, curled up on the bed, fast asleep.
For a moment, Aidan debated waking her up, but since he already knew that wouldn’t end well, he decided to let her sleep. He should probably use this time to catch up on patient charts or finish reading all those articles that were waiting for him on his iPad, but she needed sleep and he knew that she slept better in his arms. At least, that’s what he told himself as he took off his clothes and tossed them on the chair. Once he was down to his boxers, Aidan carefully climbed in bed behind her and wrapped his arm around her as he reminded himself one more time that nothing was ever going to happen.
*-*-*-*
There was something seriously wrong with her, Melanie decided, somehow managing to stop herself from nodding in agreement as she laid there, closing her eyes as she bit back a moan that would probably make this awkward.
Not that she really thought that was possible.
God, he felt so good, Melanie thought as she struggled against the urge to push back against the very large thing that she was doing her best to pretend didn’t feel good pressed against her bottom. She should move, she told herself only to amend that by reminding herself that she shouldn’t push back, because that would be wrong.
So very wrong.
Okay, she was going to move, Melanie told herself even as she allowed herself another moment to simply imagine all the possibilities only…
It wasn’t possible.
Sex wasn’t an option.
At least, that’s what she kept telling herself, but since neither one of them had brought sex up since McDreamy suggested it, she wasn’t entirely sure. No, she was definitely sure that sex wasn’t a possibility, Melanie told herself even though she really, really wanted to have sex.
She’d never wanted sex as much as she had in the last few weeks. The first six months had been spent trying not to think about what could happen if her doctor couldn’t figure out a way to get her morning sickness under control. Now instead of wondering if she was going to make it to the bathroom in time, she found herself thinking about sex.
All. The. Time.
Most of the time, she was able to distract herself, but late at night when she had problems sleeping, that’s all she could think about. She wondered what would happen if she pushed back against him, how good it would feel to have Aidan run his hands over her before he slid his hand between her legs and-
She told herself that it was never going to happen.
Chapter 20
Two Weeks Later…
“Don’t overdo it,” came the warning from the man that didn’t trust her for some reason.
“I won’t,” Melanie said, blinking up at Aidan as he continued to glare down at her.
“That’s what you said last night,” Aidan said, and although it had technically been this morning when she suddenly felt the need to reorganize the nursery, she decided, mostly because of that glare, not to point that out.
“And now it’s done and I can relax,” Melanie said, also deciding not to mention that it was done because Aidan had been forced to help her when he’d discovered her sitting in the middle of the nursery, crying hysterically because she couldn’t decide which side the changing table should go on.
“Then why did I find you eying the kitchen cabinets a few minutes ago?” Aidan asked, narrowing his eyes on her as he shoved his iPad in his briefcase, and thankfully, had decided to stop worrying about going back to work and leaving her here alone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Melanie said, deciding that she probably shouldn’t tell him that she planned on reorganizing the entire kitchen while getting some much-needed baking in since that would only end with another lecture on taking it easy that she didn’t need to hear because she planned on taking plenty of breaks.
“Don’t leave that couch, woman,” Aidan said, pointing at the couch that she was currently cuddled up on with all her favorite blankets, her laptop, and snacks.
“I thought I was supposed to get more exercise?” she reminded him as she took a sip of her chocolate milk.
“I’ll be back at lunchtime to take you for a walk. So, until then, don’t leave that couch,” Aidan said, shooting her a glare as he grabbed his bag and headed for the door only to stop, glare one last time and finally leave while Melanie sat there, shaking her head with a sigh, wondering why he didn’t trust her as she pushed her blankets aside and climbed off the couch.
The man definitely had trust issues, Melanie thought with a sad sigh as she headed into the kitchen and decided that she should surprise him with cupcakes…and brownies. Definitely brownies, Melanie decided only to turn right back around when she realized that she forgot her iPad in her bedroom. Twenty minutes and a bathroom break later, she was walking back into the kitchen, searching through KaseyCooks.com for recipes and trying to decide between two different brownie recipes.
After some much-needed soul searching, Melanie realized that she didn’t have a choice in the matter. She had to make them both. Decision made, she poured herself another cup of chocolate milk, grabbed the mixing bowls and set to work. Twenty minutes later, she had both pans of brownie batter in the oven and somehow found herself grabbing a mixing bowl for chocolate chip cookies wh
en she suddenly got a craving for oatmeal raisin cookies. That somehow led to a craving for lasagna, fettuccini alfredo, and buttermilk biscuits, which eventually led to her standing in the middle of the kitchen, hugging her cookie spatula against her chest and struggling not to cry as she watched the timer, waiting for the moment when she could go curl back up on the couch and pass out.
Unfortunately for her, she still had thirty minutes left on the lasagna and twenty on the apple crisp that she’d decided to make to go along with the homemade French vanilla ice cream that she’d made while the cookies were cooling. Really wishing that she’d taken a break after making the cupcakes, Melanie released a sniffle as she reached over and helped herself to one of the aforementioned cupcakes and-
“Dr. Bradford?” came the somewhat desperate words followed by pounding on what sounded like Aidan’s door. Curious, Melanie broke off a piece of cupcake and headed to the hallway to see what was going on.
“I-I will kill you,” the small woman with long curly black hair pulled back into a ponytail and sporting a Black Jack’s tee-shirt bit out as she glared at the large incredibly handsome man wearing a Bradford Construction tee-shirt that Melanie had seen around the Fire & Brimstone.
“Aw, aren’t you an adorable little thing?” the man that could only be a Bradford said as he reached over and patted the angry-looking woman on the head.
With a murderous glare, she slapped his hand away with a, “Don’t make me kill you.”
“That hurts, pumpkin,” the man said with a heavy sigh as he absently reached over and plucked the cupcake out of Melanie’s hands and finished it off in one bite while she stood there trying to make sense out of what just happened and when she did…
“Oh, shit,” he said, eyes going wide as he took in her bottom lip trembling to the large swell of her belly and back again before adding another, “Oh, shit.”
“What is wrong with you?” the other woman demanded as she slapped the white envelope in her hand on Aidan’s door with some tape before walking away, shaking her head in disgust.
“Many things,” he murmured absently as he focused his attention on Melanie. “I’m sorry.”