There was a soft moan and then, “That’s better,” Melanie said as Aidan knelt there, slowly exhaling as he slid inside her and-
“And I didn’t want to give up carbs, but I also didn’t want to lose. So, I may have umm, made a few tactical decisions that I kind of feel bad about,” she said, making him frown as he tried to figure out what she was talking about only to chuckle when she admitted, “I left baked goods, chocolate, and candy in the breakroom every day and made sure that all the healthy options quickly found their way to the dumpster out back.”
“Did you win?” Aidan asked, running his hands over her back.
“No,” came the sadly mumbled answer. “My love of carbs ruined my chances.”
“All that for nothing,” he said, chuckling only to groan when she gave her ass another pointed wiggle.
“I know,” she said with a sniffle and another wiggle that had him deciding that they could finish her five things later…much later.
Chapter 29
She was going to be sick, Melanie thought as she opened her eyes and found Aidan sitting across the room, watching her and reminding her of the morning that she wanted to forget. Swallowing hard, her grip tightened around the comforter as she laid there, waiting for him to say something that would destroy her only to feel herself relax when his lips pulled up into a devastating smile.
“Good morning,” Aidan said as he stood up and walked over so that he could lean down and make everything better with an incredibly sweet kiss.
“What time is it?” she asked as she reached up to run her fingertips along his jaw.
“A little after twelve,” he said, pressing a kiss against her chin.
“I slept late,” Melanie said with a heavy sigh even as she had to admit that she wouldn’t mind going back to sleep only to end up deciding that being awake definitely had its benefits when she felt Aidan’s hand slide beneath the covers and cup her breast.
“You had a late night,” he said, kissing a path down her neck as his hand gave her breast one last squeeze before sliding down over her belly and-
“Oh, no,” Melanie mumbled as the reminder that she’d slept in late had her struggling to sit up.
Without a word, Aidan moved so that he could brush his lips against hers one last time before he helped her sit up, handed her one of his shirts so that she could pull it on while he helped her stand up. Once she was on her feet, she mumbled a quick, “Thank you,” winced, sort of cringed, and prayed that she was able to waddle her way to the bathroom before she made this morning truly memorable.
Twenty minutes and an empty bladder later, Melanie walked back into the bedroom, freshly showered, hair combed, and teeth brushed to find Aidan lounging on the bed, reading something on his iPad. Without a word, she walked over to the bed, somehow managed to climb onto it without losing her towel and then promptly moved between his legs, laid back, closed her eyes, and felt herself relax.
God, he was comfortable, she thought as Aidan wrapped his arms around her.
“Better?” Aidan asked, placing his hands on her belly.
“Yes,” she said, sighing with relief as she laid there, more than ready to have this baby.
“Only two more weeks,” Aidan said, reading her mind.
“I feel like I’m ready to explode,” Melanie said, making him chuckle as she placed her hands over his.
“It will be over before you know it,” he told her as he pressed a kiss against the top of her head.
“Promise?” she asked because she wasn’t really sure that she was going to be able to make it another two weeks.
“Promise,” Aidan said with another kiss before they fell into a comfortable silence. For a while, they sat there as Aidan caressed her belly while she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed being in his arms until it was time to get back to reality.
“I have to go back to work,” he said, not sounding any happier than she was about it.
“I know,” Melanie said, wishing that they could spend all day like this. She’d never been big on cuddling before, but then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one had ever held her the way that Aidan did. He made her feel safe and cherished, something that she’d quickly become addicted to.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted with another kiss, making her smile.
“But you have to go to work,” she said, biting back a disappointed sigh.
“I have to go to work,” Aidan said, sighing before adding, “and I have a double shift at the hospital that I couldn’t get out of afterwards.”
“So, I won’t see you until tomorrow morning?” she said, understanding probably better than most people would since up until seven months ago she’d been a workaholic as well.
She’d never had time to slow down, never wanted to because she’d loved what she did. It hadn’t always been that way. When she was in high school, she’d been forced to choose between taking theatre and a programming class, which really hadn’t been much of a choice given how much she hated musicals. She’d regretted her decision within the first five minutes of class. That had been followed by asking to go to the front office and finding out that there were no other options.
It had taken her twice as long and required her to stay after school for extra help, but by the end of the first semester, she’d earned her first F and an unhealthy hatred for all things computer related. That had been followed by her marching down to the front office and demanding that they let her take the class again next semester.
After a thirty-minute meeting with the school psychiatrist to make sure that she wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown, they’d reluctantly allowed her to take the class again with an offer of letting her take double gym classes instead if she changed her mind. With a glare that may have been a bit too much at that point, she’d headed to the library and took out every book on computers and programming that she could get her hands on and read them over Christmas break, determined to pass that damn class.
At the end of Christmas break, she’d somehow managed to hate the class even more, and by the time progress reports came out next quarter, she wanted to curl up into the fetal position and stay there all while she was tempted to give up. She still wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but somehow, she’d made it through that class with a C- and found herself signing up for another programming class.
By the time she’d graduated high school, she’d fallen in love with programming and had been teaching herself skills that they hadn’t offered in school, which had led to designing websites, databases, apps, and a few dozen tech skills that had allowed her to support herself by the time that she was nineteen. She loved what she did and always looked for jobs that would challenge her. When she wasn’t working, she was reading, researching, and trying out new ideas.
Over the past few months, she’d been too sick to do even that. After Drew was born, she was going to have to work her ass off to catch up on everything that had changed in the past few months, which unfortunately in this field, was going to be a lot. She’d figure it out, Melanie thought as she reluctantly sat up so that Aidan could leave.
“My brother Duncan is in the living room so that he can keep an eye on you and keep you company until Arik gets off work. He’s going to crash on the couch if you’re okay with that,” he said as he climbed off the bed.
“It’s like you don’t trust me,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head.
“Because I don’t,” Aidan said, chuckling as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers with a, “Behave.”
*-*-*-*
“Dr. Stanford to curtain one,” came the PA announcement as Aidan dropped down into an abandoned wheelchair and pulled his phone out of his pocket only to smile a few seconds later when he saw the text message Melanie sent him earlier. He started to reply only to realize just how late it was.
Shit!
He’d planned on calling her earlier but the intoxicated fourteen-year-old currently yelling, “I’m Super
man, bitches!” as security carried him back to his room and the stabbing that came in a few hours ago had kept him busy for most of the night. He’d been hoping to stop by the apartment and see Melanie before his shift at the ER started, but he’d been held over with a new patient who’d showed up in tears because she was having problems and her old doctor wasn’t listening to her.
He’d sat down with her and went through all her medications, ran tests, and was able to figure out the problem. That led her to thanking him and telling him all about her new grandbaby, which had Aidan showing her the sonogram images of Drew that he carried everywhere and telling her about his son.
Only two more weeks, he thought, unable to help but smile as he sat there, wondering if Drew was going to end up having his mother’s addiction to carbs or-
“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” someone said as a plate covered in aluminum foil was placed on his lap.
Frowning, Aidan looked up and found himself trying to figure out who the woman smiling down at him was. When she noticed his frown, she playfully rolled her eyes and said, “It’s Caitlyn. Melanie’s sister.”
“Of course,” he murmured, biting back a sigh and forced a smile as he picked up the plate and stood up even as he couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing here.
“I heard that you were stuck working here tonight and I thought it would be a good idea to stop by and say hello and to see if you needed anything,” Caitlyn said with a sweet smile as she gestured towards the plate in his hands.
“Thank you. That’s really nice of you,” Aidan said, sliding his phone back in his pocket.
“It’s a grilled chicken salad,” she said before squishing her face up in what she probably thought was an adorable expression as she added, “I figured that you could use a break from cafeteria food.”
“I usually grab something out of the vending machine,” he said, still trying to figure out why she was really here at eleven o’clock at night.
“I figured that I should bring you something to eat since I know that Melanie would never think of doing something like this,” Caitlyn said, smiling only to pout when “Dr. Bradford to curtain six,” was announced over the PA system.
“Melanie is eight months pregnant with my son, so I’d probably spank her beautiful ass if I caught her out this late since she needs her rest. Thank you for dinner,” Aidan said, thankful for the reprieve as he placed the plate down on the nurse’s station and headed towards the back, hoping that she was gone by the time that he was done.
“What the hell happened?” Aidan asked when he walked into exam room six and saw his brother Reese lying on the stretcher with a bag of ice pressed against his shoulder.
“We told him not to do it,” Mikey, the adorable little girl that his brother adored, said with a sad shake of her head and a pitying sigh.