Chapter Twenty-Two
“Ididn’t know there was so much stuff you need for a baby,” Elizabeth said as they made their way from the large store back out to Kevin’s truck.
She was more than a little stunned by not just the variety of the things you thought about but all the little things in the store.
Pacifiers, bibs, nipples, nipple cream, blankets, bassinets and more.
She had a couple of friends from school that had children, but she’d never spent much time around them.
She had no clue where to start and what she needed and what was just fancy crap to sell to a new parent who had no clue, but that they would never actually use. And she was sure there was more than a little in there that she would never use, she just didn’t know what.
“I’m sure we won’t want or need all of it, but I don’t know what we will and what we won’t,” Kevin said as he walked her around to the passenger side of his truck.
“We’ll need to talk to someone and get some opinions before we start buying stuff.
” He helped her up into the seat, closed the door and went around to the other side.
“We need to think about when we’re going to tell people.
The only person I can think of that I’d trust to ask is Mother, but if we tell her, she’ll tell your mama, so we can’t do that until we’re ready to tell her. ”
Elizabeth covered her face with both hands and cringed inwardly at the thought of what Mama would say.
She loved Mama, but Mama worried too much about things that just plain didn’t matter, at least in Elizabeth’s opinion.
Mama had always been more concerned with what people thought than what was actually happening and since Elizabeth had been old enough to think it through, she hadn’t agreed.
This wouldn’t be the first time Elizabeth had been on the wrong side of what Mama thought was right, but it would be the biggest issue. And Mama would be horrified.
Elizabeth knew she should tell Mama herself, but right now she couldn’t even think much about it. The thought of Mama’s reaction, what she would say, made Elizabeth’s stomach churn and her chest ache.
“Can I think about it a while?” She dropped her hands and looked at Kevin.
He didn’t look away from the road as he nodded. “Of course. The last thing I want to do is push you into something you’re not ready for, but this is something that you’ll only be able to hide for so long.”
He glanced her way, as if trying to gauge her reaction to his words.
He was right. She knew her body would give away her secret all too soon.
She didn’t need that long but a couple of days to get used to the idea and steel herself for the things she had no doubt Mama would say? That would be helpful.
“I know. I’ll have to do it soon, but I don’t want to.”
Kevin reached over and took one of her hands, squeezing it gently.
“I’ll go with you if you want.” He glanced her way again. “Anything I can do to make it easier for you, if I can do it, I will.”
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand back, some of the churning in her belly easing. She trusted him. She always had.
Looking back at it now, she knew that was why she had come to him all those weeks ago. Her trusting him was how she’d gotten in this mess, and it seemed fitting that even though he wasn’t the one who’d created the mess, that was all on her, he would help her through it.
Maybe it was a sign of what was to come.
She needed to learn to lean on someone. She’d known for some time that Michael would never be the person she could lean on.
He would never be the kind of person she could trust to handle things when she couldn’t manage, even for a brief time.
And if he’d tried, it would only have made things harder for her, because he would have made sure she knew how much of an inconvenience it was for him.
That had been something she’d never cared for about him, but it had been something she thought she could ignore.
Now, as she leaned on Kevin and all he did was offer to take more for her, she knew she’d made the right decision.
“What do you want to do with the rest of the evening?” he asked, glancing over at her in the waning light. They’d spent most of the afternoon in the baby store and now the sun had almost set.
“I have a couple of ideas, if you’re up for it…” She let her words trail off as she watched him. What she really wanted to do was to go back to the house and climb him like a tree, then pass out and sleep the rest of the night, but didn’t know if he had anything he needed to do.
“Do I want to know?” Kevin shot her a suspicious look before turning his gaze back on the road.
“That depends. I thought we might get naked and see what we can think of to do after that.”
Kevin didn’t reply but the truck sped up.
Elizabeth guessed he was onboard.
At the house, he helped her out of the truck and once they were inside, he stopped by the door and toed off his boots, leaving them on the rug next to the door.
Then he hooked an arm around her waist and tugged her close.
She looked up at his face, only a few inches away and tried to figure out what to say.
He saved her from having to make a decision by kissing her, gently at first then with more hunger.
She felt the thick proof of what he wanted pressed into her belly.
After a moment, he broke the kiss, pulling away slightly.
“You still want this?” he asked, his voice husky with testosterone.
“More than anything,” Elizabeth said, pulling at the leather vest he wore. She wanted him close, closer than they were now and the only way to get that was to get rid of their clothes.
He shrugged out of his vest and hung it up, then swept her into his arms and carried her through the house.
“Where are we going?”
“The bedroom. I want to stretch you out on the bed and watch you as I lick and touch every inch of you.”
“What if that’s not what I want?”
“You’ll get what you want. I’ve been dreaming of this for years. Now that we’re both sober and on the same page, I’m going to take my time and show you all the ways I can make you come. I won’t stop until you’re screaming my name. I might even make you beg me to stop.”
She could only laugh as he kicked the bedroom door closed and dropped her on the bed. She bounced once then sat up and started peeling off her clothes.