Chapter 13
Pushy and sweet – a combination Nova finds difficult to resist
Nova
I groan and curl into a ball on my bed. I thought morning sickness would improve as my pregnancy progressed but it hasn’t yet. Fingers crossed the second trimester will be better.
I message Maya. I’m sick. I’ll be in later.
Maya: You better be. I have questions.
Sophia: Correction. We have questions.
So much for keeping the conversation between Maya and me.
Chloe: Lots and lots of questions.
I’m certain they do. I’m also certain I don’t plan to answer their questions.
When Hudson and I finished our little talk Saturday at Chloe’s party, I snuck out and drove home. By the miracles of mermaids, my girlfriends let me be yesterday. I expected them to storm into my house and demand answers.
Me: Later.
Paisley: I have some ideas to help with your nausea.
I love my nerdy friend. She won’t push me.
Me: Thanks. I’m going to take a nap. I’ll come into work later.
Maya: No rush.
I throw my phone onto my nightstand and nestle into the covers. Hopefully I’ll feel better after a few extra hours of sleep. I’m afraid I can never get enough sleep, though. Growing a baby is exhausting.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I startle awake at the sound of banging on my front door. I glance at the clock. It’s nearly noon. I guess my friends decided they were done waiting for answers to their questions.
I haul myself out of bed and stumble down the hallway to open the door.
“Why are you banging on the door? You have a key.”
“I don’t have a key but a key is a good idea,” Hudson says, and I jump.
“I thought you were Maya.”
He smirks. “I’ve never been confused with a girl before.”
I scowl. “Maya is a woman. Not a girl.”
He clears his throat. “Of course. My apologies. Can I come in?”
He doesn’t wait for my response before barreling his way past me into my house. He sets a bag down on the kitchen counter and begins unpacking it. “I brought you some essentials. Pre-natal vitamins, ginger ale, crackers, and all the ingredients for chicken noodle soup. Mom said you might be feeling nauseous and—"
“Mom? You told your mom already?”
I wasn’t ready to tell him about baby Sprog, let alone his parents. They’re going to hate me for ruining Hudson’s life.
He grins. “She had already heard through the smuggler’s grapevine. She’s excited to be a grandma. She’s also surprised I’m the son who’s giving her, her first grandchild. She was convinced my younger brother, Brooks, would be the first to knock up a girlfriend.”
“Knock up a girlfriend?”
“Brooks is a bit of a player. I had to give him the condom talk when he was thirteen.”
“The condom talk? Thirteen?”
“If Sprog is a boy, I’m prepared to do the talk. But if she’s a girl?” He grimaces. “You’ll be up to bat for the talk then.”
My knees nearly give out. He’s going to be around to give my child the sex talk? I haven’t thought through Hudson’s involvement in the baby’s life. I was too afraid the man who hates me would abandon his child.
“Where do you want these?” He waves a box of crackers at me. “In the pantry or left out in case of emergency?”
“What is happening?” Am I having a super realistic dream? Am I still in bed sleeping?
Hudson’s brow wrinkles. “What do you mean? I’m helping you.”
“Helping me?”
He motions to my stomach. “With the baby.”
“I thought your involvement wouldn’t begin until Sprog arrives.”
He grunts. “My involvement starts now.”
My chest warms at the determination in his voice. Hudson wants to be involved. I worried he’d wake up yesterday morning and decide to wash his hands of me and the baby. But he didn’t. He’s here.
“You’re not obligated to get involved until Sprog is born.”
He growls as he prowls toward me. He palms my neck and squeezes. “I’m not letting you go through pregnancy alone, Sunshine.”
I bristle. “Not letting me?”
“I’ve been researching pregnancy. It’s not an easy time for a woman.”
My jaw drops open. “You’ve been researching pregnancy?”
He ignores my question. “I don’t want you to be alone through this time. I want to support you.”
“I have my friends,” I argue.
I can’t rely on Hudson. I can’t depend on him. My body may yearn for him, but he’s only here because I got pregnant. He doesn’t want me. He wants to be involved in his child’s life. Not mine.
“And now you have me too.” He kisses my forehead before stepping away and returning to the groceries. “Now, where do you want these?”
Huh? What? I have no idea what he’s talking about. I’m too busy feeling all warm and gooey from a kiss on the forehead.
Pull yourself together, Nova. The grumpy resort owner is not the man for you. He’s here because of the baby. A week ago, he would have scurried the other way if he saw me coming.
“I’ll put them away later.”
He glares at me. “Where do you want these?”
“Grumpy McGrumperson has returned to the island.”
He shakes the crackers at me. “Where?”
I blow out a breath. “The pantry is fine.”
He scans the area until his gaze lands on the small door next to my kitchen table. He places the ginger ale and boxes of crackers on a shelf.
“Now,” he says when he’s finished. “Have you eaten?”
I shake my head.
He frowns. “It’s nearly noon and you haven’t eaten yet. You need to take better care of yourself.”
“Easy for you to say. You didn’t spend hours throwing up this morning.”
“It’s normal to feel nauseous in the first trimester.”
I blink. “What?”
“I told you I’ve been researching.”
“I…” My response is cut off when my stomach rumbles. Loudly. Great. This conversation wasn’t awkward enough.
“Sit,” Hudson orders.
When I stare at him, he walks over to me, picks me up, and places me on a barstool.
“Stay there.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“No. You’re the woman growing my baby. You need to rest and let someone else care for you for a change.”
It’s a good thing I’m sitting because those words would have me melting into a puddle on the floor. No one’s taken care of me in a long time. Even when Mom was still alive, it was me taking care of her for the last months of her life while she fought cancer.
I have my friends. They’re the best friends a girl could ask for. But their idea of taking care of me is grilling me over when I had sex with Hudson and why I didn’t tell them.
“What do you want to eat? I can make you chicken noodle soup.”
Chicken noodle soup does sound good. “The can opener is in the drawer next to the stove and there are microwave-proof bowls next to the microwave.”
“I’m not feeding you soup from a can.”
My nose wrinkles. “You can cook?”
“I told you I’m the oldest of five sons. Mom didn’t always have time to cook considering she was raising four hellions and working full-time.”
“Four hellions? Not five?”
“Between football practice, going to the gym to lift weights, running every day, and helping to raise my brothers, I didn’t have time to be a hellion.”
“But you did have time to date every cheerleader in high school.” I nearly slap a hand over my mouth when I realize how jealous I sound. But Hudson doesn’t appear to notice.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of dating. There were a few girls who insisted on helping me with my homework. They referred to our library study sessions as dates.”
And bragged to the entire school population about how they were dating the great Hudson Clark. I was beyond jealous of those girls. For nothing as it turns out.
He hands me a packet of crackers. “Here. Nibble on these while I cook.”
He finds a cutting board and knife and begins chopping celery and carrots. I’m fascinated as he prepares the soup. It’s obvious he’s comfortable in the kitchen as he chops and sautés.
“Did your mom teach you how to cook?”
He pours the broth into the pan before answering. “She taught me how to chop and sauté when she had time on the weekends. During the week, she’d write me notes with very detailed instructions on how to prepare dinner.”
“You can follow instructions?” I tease.
His eyes heat. “I can follow instructions when I’m interested in the results.”
I squirm in my seat as I remember how I ordered him around when we had sex during the night we conceived Sprog. I shove a cracker into my mouth before I instruct him to get to his knees and deal with the ache I feel whenever he’s around.
I place my hand over my stomach. I can’t give in to temptation. I need to think of Sprog.
Because no matter how sweet and sexy Hudson looks in the kitchen. He’s not here for me. He’s here because of the baby.