24. Chapter 24
Chapter twenty-four
Lauren
Wyatt beamed at me when I joined him behind the coffee bar the next morning. “You look like you’re feeling better.”
It’d been weeks since I’d worked with him. He handled the opening shift with Rowan since that’s when my HG hit the hardest, but today I woke up feeling half human and texted her to take the morning off.
“I’m just not hurling. Yet.” I tied my Karma apron around my waist and tossed my long braid over my shoulder.
Wyatt bumped my hip. “You look good, Lauren. Accept the compliment.”
“Thanks.” I crossed to the other side of the coffee bar and peeked in the fridge to do a quick count for my weekly milk run. Halfway through the oat milk, Wyatt cleared his throat. I was onto the macadamia milk when he cleared it again. It was a tick he had sometimes when his blood sugar dropped. I looked up from the notepad where I’d been keeping a tally and found him leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, staring at me.
“Do you need to eat? You’re doing that throat thing.”
“I was just trying to get your attention,” he said quietly.
His intent expression suggested he wasn’t about to ask me to add more coconut whipped cream to the list. “What’s up,” I said, rising.
“Are we good?” he asked, uncrossing his arms to motion between us.
“Why wouldn’t we be?”
He blew out a breath. “Look, I’m sorry I cut back when I did. I never would have if I’d known how sick you were going to be. I’ve been really worried about you.”
I swatted him with the notepad. “I wasn’t pregnant when you ditched me. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”
He nodded, but the worried look didn’t leave his face. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Don’t jinx it. I’m going to place the grocery order before the rush starts. Yell into the back if you need me.”
Wyatt gave me a look I couldn’t decipher but nodded and went back to stacking coffee mugs. His shoulders looked tense. He probably wanted to ask when he could go back to Aiden’s crew now that I wasn’t running to the bathroom as often. I added up the final milk count and pushed through the door into the back.
“Hey, Princess.”
I let out a yelp and jumped. Aiden was standing in the small commercial kitchen with his own notepad and measuring tape.
“What are you doing here? And how did you get in?”
“I wanted to measure, and I used my key.”
“Your key?”
He shrugged. “Made myself a copy when I made ones for Cammie and Wyatt.”
“That’s creepy.” I held out my hand for the key, and he placed it in my palm.
“Noted,” he said, leaning in to place a gentle kiss on my cheek.
Once again, my traitorous vagina ignored every signal from my brain. I fought the urge to wrap myself around him and took a few steps back for good measure. “What do you need to measure?”
Aiden flashed me a mischievous smile. “Your kitchen and bathroom in the apartment.”
“You’re not remodeling upstairs. It’s fine.”
“Let’s not bullshit. It sucks. Even if I can’t convince you to stay at my house, I want to make the apartment comfortable for you and the baby. That way you could work during naps or run up for feedings if someone babysat. Not that you have to breastfeed, but it would be easier to do if you and the baby were close together. The paint probably has lead in it, but I’m not touching that while you’re living there. I want to measure for a dishwasher today and get that in to make things a little easier for you now.”
I could love this man. The thought came out of nowhere and with it my mother’s smoker voice, slurring the only advice of hers I’d ever chosen to follow: Never fall in love. It ruins you.
Dark spots hovered at the edge of my vision.
“I noticed you didn’t have a window unit in the back bedroom,” Aiden continued. “So I figured I could do that today. I want to make sure you’re comfortable this summer and adding another unit should make it easier for the ones in your bedroom and living room to keep up with the heat. Ideally, I’ll add an HVAC for upstairs later or tap into the downstairs unit.”
The darkness crept from all sides until only Aiden’s face remained. His eyes widened and he rushed forward to catch me as I pitched backward. My feet left the floor, but instead of crashing down, my body became weightless as Aiden put his arms under my legs and pressed me against his chest.
He yelled my name, and the dots receded back until his terrified eyes came into view. The door beside us flew open and Wyatt appeared.
“Open the door to her apartment,” Aiden said.
My stomach lurched. “Sink,” I said weakly.
He carried me there just in time. As soon as I finished emptying my stomach, Aiden lowered his head into the sink and did the same.
Wyatt stared at us. “Is there a carbon monoxide leak or something?”
“Nah,” Aiden said, spitting into the sink and flipping it on with his elbow. “I have a sensitive stomach.”
Wyatt laughed. “Good luck being a dad.”
Aiden chuckled. “I’d puke a hundred times for my kid.”
My stomach twisted again. Aiden shot me a worried look and switched off the sink. “Your stomach settled enough for me to carry you upstairs, Princess?”
I nodded and buried my face against his chest to hide the tears stinging my eyes.
“Mind walking behind me, Wyatt?” Aiden asked, the worry clear in his voice. “In case I trip or something.”
By the time he’d carried me carefully upstairs and laid me on my bed, I was shaking.
“Should I call a doctor?” Wyatt asked from the doorway of my bedroom. “She was fine a few minutes ago.”
I shook my head. “Go back downstairs. I’ll be OK.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Aiden said without taking his eyes off me. “Are you cold?”
“No.” I was terrified.
Aiden ran his fingers across my forehead. I wanted him to crack a joke or say something obnoxious, but he just kept touching me with tender strokes.
“I’m sorry,” he said after the silence between us stretched uncomfortably. “I should have asked for a key, and I should have asked if you wanted to change your apartment.” He cleared his throat. “The truth is, I’m excited. And I haven’t felt this way in years, not since before Logan died, if I’m being honest.”
“You really want this baby?”
He tilted his head like I’d spoken in a foreign language he didn’t understand. Of course, he wanted the baby. He’d made that clear from the moment I’d told him I was pregnant. He smiled, his eyes soft. “I’ve never wanted something more. But it’s not just the baby. I want you too, in whatever way works for you.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me, Lauren. But I want us to be a family.”
And sweet karma, I wanted that too. A family is all I’d ever wanted. But I couldn’t have both, Aiden and the baby. He’d grow to hate me because I’d never be the mother his child deserved. And by then, it’d be too late. I’d have a taste of his love, and it’d ruin me. Worse than my mother, who fell into a deeper hole of depression with each failed relationship because, unlike the assholes Mom dated, Aiden O’Malley was a good man. Maybe even a great one. Which was why I knew he’d never stop fighting for his perfect dream family. He’d fix my apartment and his house. He’d improve my life every chance he had. He wouldn’t stop until I fell in love with him. The only way I could stop it from happening was to make him hate me.