Chapter 9 Blake
BLAKE
Getting out of bed, I shivered, rushing over to the dresser to pull out my warmest socks.
One thing I hadn’t adjusted to yet was the chill I felt deep in my bones every morning.
Montana was unlike anything I’d experienced before, and not because of the breathtaking sunrises, but the never-ending cold that always seemed to linger in my body.
“Babe?” Parker grumbled from bed. “What are you doing?”
“Coffee,” I murmured, barely awake yet.
“Come back to bed.”
I couldn’t. If I laid in bed too long, the baby decided to find other ways to wake me up, and I definitely didn’t want that.
Grabbing a sweatshirt, I tugged it over my head and stumbled to the kitchen, pressing the button on the coffeemaker.
If I had been smart, I would have set it to go off fifteen minutes ago, but I hadn’t been thinking last night as I hauled my tired ass to bed.
Warm arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me into his muscular chest. Sighing, I rested my head back and let his warmth envelop me. There was nothing like being held by Parker. He just made everything better.
“Is this your new wakeup time?” he asked around a yawn.
“It’s when the baby wants me to get up. If it were up to me, I’d sleep for another four hours.”
He pressed a kiss to my neck before shuffling around me to the cabinet, pulling down two mugs.
“Do you want something to eat?”
“Just crackers,” I murmured, slumping down in a chair. “Ugh, I had no idea pregnancy could make you feel so shitty.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Well, I feel nauseous about seventy-five percent of the time, but I never throw up. I wish I could because then maybe I’d feel better. I’m exhausted and all I want to do is sleep, but the only time the baby lets me lay down is at night.”
“So, go to bed early.”
“Yeah, but not before nine o’clock, because apparently, that’s too early.” Resting my hand on my belly, I sighed. “He’s a picky one.”
“He?” Parker asked with a grin.
“It has to be a boy. I’ve never met anyone so difficult.”
“You know, they usually say that about females.”
I would have been offended if I could muster up the energy, but I couldn’t, so I let it go.
When the coffee finished, Parker slid a mug across the table to me, then sat opposite, staring at me for a ridiculously long time.
“What? Why are you staring?”
“Because I like to look at you.”
“Well…don’t. It’s freaking me out.”
“That I’m watching you?”
“Yes. No one stares at anyone like that unless they’re planning a murder.”
Quirking a smile at me, he took a sip of his coffee. “So, what are we doing today?”
I had no idea. I wanted to do something, to feel like I was going somewhere, but with a baby on the way, I didn’t know where to go from here.
“I don’t know. What about you?”
“Pop said that Liam was planning on expanding the cabins. I thought I’d look into that after I stop in and see him at the hospital.”
“Is he talking to you?” I asked, knowing all too well how strained their relationship was at the moment.
He shook his head. “Very little. I can’t tell if he’s just in pain or if he hates me that much.”
“Why would he hate you?”
He looked down at his mug, but didn’t say anything for a moment. “Not sure.” Huffing out a laugh, he looked away as he spoke. “You know, I thought when I returned, everyone would be happy to see me.”
“They are,” I assured him. “Give it some time.”
“I bet your family would throw you a parade if you came home.”
“Well, the town is trying to plan that for us now,” I reminded him.
I grabbed a cracker he had set before me and munched on it as the silence extended. I didn’t know how to help him with his family, but then again, I didn’t feel like I was of much use anywhere at the moment.
How had I gone from having a job and a purpose to floundering in the wind? Even right now, I had a baby on the way, but no idea where to go from here. I was lost, and I’d never once been lost in my entire life.
“We should get you a car.”
I looked up at Parker, confused by the sudden change. “What?”
“Well, it’s not like we live in town. I can drive you pretty much anywhere, but there’ll be times you’ll need to get around.”
“Can we afford that right now?”
“We have our bonuses from Reed Security.”
“Right, but shouldn’t we hang onto that for when the baby comes?”
Smirking at me, I knew what he was going to say. “The bonuses were more than enough, and you know that. Tell me, how much was yours?”
Gaping, I slid out of my chair and headed for the fridge to grab some creamer. “I’m not telling you that.”
“Why not? We’re going to be married, and married people share everything.”
“But we’re not married yet.”
I spun around, gasping when I found him pressed right up against me.
“Why don’t you want to tell me?”
“Because…it’s none of your business,” I lied.
Smirking, he moved impossibly closer. “You think you made more money than I did.”
“What? Don’t be silly,” I laughed, trying and failing to duck under his arm.
“That’s it,” he teased. “You think you made more than me, and you’re scared I can’t handle it.”
“Could you?” I challenged.
“Baby, it’s not a contest.”
“Then why do you want to know?”
“Call me crazy, but we should probably know what we can afford moving forward. We just bought furniture with the last of our savings, but we still have those bonus checks. Do we need to run out and get jobs right away? Should we invest the money? Do we pay back the money for the house? What about after you have the baby?”
“What about it?”
“Are you going to stay home or go to work?”
That was a lot to throw at me, and frankly, I wasn’t all that comfortable with it. Having looked after myself for so many years, I wasn’t used to someone needing to know things like this about me.
“It’s not that hard, baby. You just have to open your mouth and share with me.”
“You first,” I said, refusing to give up the high ground.
Chuckling, he slid his fingers through my hair that I pulled back in a bun. “You sure are demanding. But I concede. I will always concede for you,” he whispered just before pressing his lips to mine.
My knees went weak from his kiss, but that didn’t distract me from the fact that he hadn’t shared the information with me yet.
“Parker,” I whispered.
“Yeah, baby?”
“How much did you get?”
Chuckling, he kissed me again. “A hundred thousand.”
I flinched back in surprise, but not for the reasons he thought. His happy face suddenly turned panicked.
“Oh shit. Did they not give you that much? I just assumed—Blake, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything! I shouldn’t have—”
“Would you stop it! I’m not upset!”
“Then why are you yelling at me?”
“Because they gave us two hundred thousand dollars!”
“I can’t believe it!” Parker shouted. “What kind of psychos are they?”
“The very generous kind,” I returned his exasperated yell.
“We should call them and complain.”
“Absolutely. Who do they think they are?”
He scoffed, shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. “We don’t need handouts.”
“Not at all,” I agreed.
“And we definitely don’t need to be seen as charity cases.”
He put it on speakerphone and waited for the ringing to stop and the man of the hour to answer. Which he did in a way too cheerful mood.
“Does this mean you’re coming back to work for me?”
“I’m pissed,” Parker snapped.
“Oh, shit. Did you break up with Blake? Did she shove you through a window again?”
“No, she didn’t shove me—well, she shoved a kid. And the sheriff.”
“She shoved the sheriff through a window?”
Glaring at Parker, I spoke up. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t realize we were that close!”
“And the kid?” Cap said in amusement.
“Hey, he stole my purse. What was I supposed to do?”
Cap was silent for a second. “Um…not shove him through a window?”
I rolled my eyes at the ridiculousness of that statement. “You know, you all judge me, but he had it coming!”
“Yeah,” Cap agreed in a rather dull manner. “I can see it now. Criminal gangster, up to no good. So pathetic, he stole your purse—probably for money for food. What other reaction would you have?”
This was getting nowhere fast, and the longer we stayed on the phone, the more pissed off I got. “That’s not why we’re calling.”
“Really? Cuz I just thought this would be another situation I had to clean up.”
“I want to know why you gave us two hundred thousand dollars,” I snapped.
“Did you not want it? I mean, I can always take it back if you don’t want it. There are a few pieces of equipment I wanted to get—”
“Why did you do it?” Parker interrupted. “We’re not a charity case, you know.”
“I never said you were.”
“And we don’t work for handouts,” I added.
“Guys, I think you’re misunderstanding how a job works. See, I hand out a case. Then you do the work, and in return, you get paid for it. Generally speaking, I’m not sure how you misinterpreted that.”
“Wait, so you really were paying us for the job?” Parker asked in confusion.
“Well, you did help save the world. Honestly, I feel you should have gotten more, but things were a little tight. Not to mention that Alec went behind my back and purchased a howitzer for the company. I’m not sure when we’ll ever use it, but he claims it’s for our protection.”
Come to think of it… “That is pretty cool,” I agreed.
“Good, then you can give me back the two hundred thousand, and in return, I’ll give you the howitzer.”
“Well, let’s not rush into negotiations,” Parker added quickly. “I mean, you have much more use for a cannon than we do.”
“Right,” I chuckled. “The town might get a little nervous if they saw us carting that around.”
“Because it’s so easy to cart around a cannon?” Cap asked.
“Well, generally speaking.”
“So…that’s it? I can get off the phone now? There are no issues we need to work out?”
“I guess not,” I frowned.
“Good, because as much as I love having nonsensical conversations at the ass crack of dawn, I have other things to do.”
“You didn’t get Maggie pregnant again, did you?”
He sighed heavily. “Yeah, that’s really funny.”
“Seriously, did you?”