There Are No Words (The Morelli Sisters #3)

Chapter Fourteen

Brady

“Brady, did you get the box that was delivered?” Allegra shouted from the bathroom where she’d informed me she was peeing for the fifth time since she’d woken up (two hours ago, might I add).

I cut open the seal on the box and placed the scissors on the coffee table beside it. “Yeah, I’m opening it now,” I yelled back. “Which sister bought this for you again?” The this was still a secret. Allegra had said they’d told her it was a surprise, so we were both in the dark.

“Bianca,” she answered, strolling into the room as she fixed her shirt, pulling it down over her stomach. “Why? What is it?”

I wanted to answer, wanted to do something, anything, but I couldn’t because my eyes were fixated on her stomach. I swallowed, thinking about how big she was going to get. In no time at all, a blink of a damn eye, she was going to grow bigger. Which meant this baby was becoming less of a pea and more of a. . . being.

“You know, pre-baby bump, men would stare at my boobs. Now I feel like all anyone sees is my belly or my ass. It’s like I know, I know, I’m pregnant .”

I shook my head and dragged my eyes up to meet hers. “What men?”

She shrugged. “All men. All the time. I don’t know. Men stare. You stared.”

I wet my lips. “That’s different.” Your rack is a thing of beauty.

“How so?”

Because I like you. “Because we’re having a baby together.” Good job, Brady, that’s the dumbest answer.

“Sure, now we are, but we weren’t when you stared at them. You liked my boobs, admit it, but now all you can focus on is the fact that I’m carrying our baby.”

My jaw twitched. I was starting to really hate it when Allegra had no regard for the way I felt about her, the way I saw her. Not that she knew about my secret crush—it wasn’t called a secret for no reason—but still. It would’ve been nice if she opened her eyes and took a look around once in a while. Hell, I’d gone to a food mart at an ungodly hour for her. No man did that unless they wanted to get into a woman’s pants or were whipped. And, in case you needed a refresh, I had already been in her pants. I rather liked it in there and definitely wanted more of that sweet pussy of hers, but that wasn’t why I was doing any of this.

I liked Allegra. Simple as that.

“You’re fucking gorgeous, Allegra, and our daughter is going to be beautiful just like her mother. I already know I’m going to have to fend off so many fuckers.” I gritted my teeth, seeing red the more I thought about it.

She walked over to me and smoothed a hand over the V in the middle of my forehead. “If you keep this up, you’re going to have high blood pressure before she’s born.”

I growled as she backed away, dropping her hand.

“So are we going to find out what’s in this box before Christmas?” She angled her head and nodded it to the box that was still flapped closed on the table.

I ran a hand through my hair. “Right. The box.” I opened it to reveal. . . “What in the world is this?” I slowly pulled out a long. . . well, I didn’t know how to describe it. It was wrapped in plastic, but it was long, pink, soft like a pillow. It had two eyes and a smile on the top. On the bottom, hanging on either side were two. . . balls?

All right, why did it look like a penis?

I looked over when Allegra snorted. She was holding a hand over her mouth and one to her stomach as she practically keeled over in laughter.

“Is this a joke or some crap?”

She was still laughing. Allegra placed a hand on my arm, and I paused, staring at the fire I felt burning in the spot she was touching. “This is such a Bibi gift to get me.”

“It looks like a penis. Is this supposed to be a stuffed toy for you or our baby?” And was her sister out of her ever-loving mind?

She nodded. “It’s a pregnancy pillow. For me, silly.”

“This thing is going back.” No way was any woman carrying my baby going to be snuggling up with a phallic-shaped pillow.

Coming down from her laughter, Allegra smiled. “Oh, relax. It’s funny. I told her how I’d been having a hard time sleeping lately, so she probably thought this would help.”

“Why the hell do you need this thing?”

She shrugged. “Just look at that shape. It’s going to curve against my body like nothing else in this world.”

Raising an eyebrow, I stared at her, the tick in my jaw starting up again. “Yeah, well, it’s going back. You want something against your body, you can have my cock.”

“Excuse me?” She crossed her arms and raised both her brows.

Okay, that came out wrong. I narrowed my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Actually, I don’t think I do. If it’s supposed to help me, what’s your problem? Why are you being such a baby about this?”

And there was the problem—she had no idea what I meant. Because I’d never actually said what I wanted. That I didn’t want Allegra sharing a bed with this stupid penis-shaped pillow or any other penis for that matter. Not now or in the future.

I didn’t want our baby spending weekdays with Allegra and her boyfriend or fiancé or husband, or whatever the hell he’d be to her, and weekends with me. I couldn’t imagine seeing Allegra with anyone else. But she was a great woman, and she definitely wouldn’t be single for long. There were too many things about her that enticed a man.

I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling, hoping this came out right. “I don’t want you to date and get married to some other man. I don’t want you sleeping with anyone but me. I want our daughter to have parents who are a couple, not just roommates. Not that we’d even be that if you meet someone.”

Her eyes widened, and she blinked rapidly, stumbling backward, almost like she’d gotten the wind knocked out of her and was having trouble standing upright. “You think I don’t want that for my child? You think I want to ever see you bring another woman around her? Because I don’t. But that doesn’t mean we should just get together because doing that to only break up would be worse.”

I raked my hand through my hair. “How do you know we’d break up?” She sounded so sure of it, like it was a guarantee. Nothing in life was a guarantee, though.

In answer, she only angled her head and smacked her lips.

I closed my eyes and brought my hands to them, squeezing them shut even more as I tried to think of a better way to say this. “I didn’t plan for any of this,” I muttered and immediately hoped she hadn’t heard me because I knew how that sounded. Shit, nothing is coming out right today.

What I meant was I’d never planned on a one-night stand becoming the mother of my child. Not that there was anything wrong with Allegra being the mother of my child. If I was being honest, I knew she’d make a great one—a fucking fantastic one —and our daughter would be lucky to have her as a mother. I supposed I couldn’t have knocked up a better one-night stand. Only I didn’t want her to be a one-night stand. I wanted her to be more. Damn it, why couldn’t she just know that? It might have helped if I just came out and said it, right? Easier said than done. Once I said it, I didn’t know what would happen.

Never mind this beating around the bush bullshit. I couldn’t do it. So, I decided there was nothing else to say, but. . . “I want to discuss the prospect of us being together.”

When her mouth fell open but no words came out, I continued, “I mean, really be together. Like as a real couple without planning on breaking up before we even get started.” As though that wasn’t clear. Fuck, I was an idiot. I should get it tattooed on my forehead.

“You—” she cut herself off, turning on her heel, a hand to her belly as she paced the small area. “I—” She let out a breath, clearly doing those deep breathing techniques she loved.

Damn it. I now knew why men and women weren’t roommates. And for all of those who were, I could only hope they were poor suckers like me. At least then I wouldn’t be in this alone.

* * *

Allegra

What could I say?

All right, well, I had a couple of options here.

1. Bolt. I could tell him I had to pee and leave. That would definitely be believable since I’d drank a lot of liquid and had a small bladder, and Baby certainly wasn’t helping matters lately. Brady had to know that by now.

2. Crush this whole talk of getting together like a bug. Brady, you’re delusional if you think I wanted anything more from you than a great lay. I wanted you to make me feel good. Now I want to move on with our lives. But that would be lying to him because that was so far from the truth, it wasn’t even funny.

3. Tell the truth. After all, people said the truth set you free. Brady, I want to be with you more than anything. I’m seriously attracted to you, obviously, but it’s more than that. I want to hold hands with you and go on dates like a real couple. Of course, then there was always a chance that he’d wake up one morning and change his mind. Other men had. But he was too much of a good guy for that. Especially because of Baby. So instead, he’d stay with us, feeling trapped and resenting me until one day he hated me so fiercely the little family we’d formed would implode.

And I hated every single one of those options. I needed a sign.

“You know what?” Brady asked, and I turned around, our eyes meeting. He looked pained, like he couldn’t handle this. I didn’t blame him. But then why did he have to come out and say something stupid? He didn’t understand that we would never, could never make a good couple. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Then he ruffled his hair, clearly frustrated. Same, pal. “And you should keep the damn pillow.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Once again during this conversation my voice had failed me.

Maybe it was best not to say anything at all. Said no one ever.

He walked out the door and closed it behind him.

I heaved a sigh and sat down on the couch. What was I going to do? Brady deserved an answer.

But I deserved time.

Time to figure all of this out.

If I made the wrong choice, I didn’t know if I was strong enough to come back from having a man like Brady stomp all over my heart.

I opened the group chat I had with my sisters and began typing, sending off a quick message.

Allegra: I think we should have a sister sleepover.

Perla: I’m down. What’s going on?

Bianca: Did you get my present?

Allegra: That’s sort of the problem. Stupid penis pillow. Thanks a lot, Bibi.

Bianca: Oooh! Did you two sleep together again?

Maria: I really hope not. That’s only going to confuse things more.

Allegra: You guys! Pregnant woman wants the talking stick.

Perla: Sure, sis, you’ve got it.

Allegra: Thank you. Brady wants to see where he and I can go.

Bianca: Like on a trip?

Allegra: Yes, we were thinking Tahiti, but I had my hopes set on the Maldives. So now you see the problem.

Bianca: I’m sensing sarcasm.

Allegra: He wants us to be a couple!

Maria: And what do you want?

Allegra: I don’t know. What I do know is I want a sleepover with my sisters, and I do not want to talk about this.

Bianca: At all?

Allegra: At all. I mean it. Not a peep from any of you.